Episode #134 is just around the corner, and we're going to do our best to talk about the issue of gaming addiction. This has been a hot topic in the news in the past few years, as it typically tries to paint gamers in a bad light, and I think it's a topic that needs discussion. The news media always tries to do its best to point fingers and so forth, so I think it's time that we take a look at this topic and see whether or not it's something that actually exists, what might be some of the side effects of gaming addiction, and what we as gamers can do about it.
I do have a few questions written below for this show, but what we'd really like to have are your opinions on the topic as a whole. Start out by
Googling video game addiction and reading through what comes up. There is a lot of interesting stuff out there, and we'd like to be able to discuss as many viewpoints on the topic as we can. As usual though, here are some questions for you to ponder on:
1. Do you think that video game addiction is a genuine, serious problem? If you do, do you know someone who might be addicted to gaming, or have you felt that you might be (or have been, at one point) addicted to video games?
2. At what point do you think gaming becomes more than a hobby, more than just a past time, and turns into a full-on addiction? How much gaming, in your opinion, is too much?
3. What do you think it is about gaming that causes people to become addicted? The media, generally speaking, tends to thrive on the "games are violent, realistic, and immersive" approach - but what do you think? Are certain types of games more addictive than others, and if so, why?
4. For someone who is genuinely addicted to video games, what do you think is the best approach for helping them out? There are various "12-step" programs out there for this, such as
OLGA and
Video Game Addiction. Do you think these sites are successful at what they're trying to do, or is there a better approach in your opinion?
5. Finally, what do you think can be done to prevent gaming addiction from occurring in the first place? Should the games themselves have some type of built-in playtime restrictions, or should we leave this one up to the parents? What about your average college student without parental influence, for whom games are one of his only outlets - what can we do then?
Again, as I mentioned above, these are only a few of the infinite amount of questions that can be brought up for this topic, so please feel free to share any other opinions you have about the issue. If you have a story of someone you know personally that's been through gaming addiction and you want to tell us about it, go for it (just make sure you change the names and such.)
If you have your own questions that you'd like to have answered by fellow ITC listeners as well as ourselves, something that I didn't touch on above, by all means let us know and we'll post it on the blog and send it out to the mailing list so that other people can share their thoughts on your ideas.
Thanks in advance guys, I think we're all looking forward to this show.
-Phil
