Gaming Addiction: A New Commodity
As the 21st century advances, the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology. With that, different forms of tech emerge constantly, and are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible. This is what makes markets such as the gaming industry such a profitable and mainstream concept. As consumers are constantly looking for more and more content to engage in, video games have become one of the most common hobbies and time passers to date. Unfortunately, this can often lead to extreme cases of addiction and behavioral changes to individuals, if held long enough from games. There have been a multitude of profound cases for video game addiction. One case that may seem to be extreme, but is in reality, quite mundane, is seen within a magazine article My Son’s Story of Electronics Addiction and Recovery. It’s become so common that treatment to mitigate the issue is in development, and is being tested as well, displayed in texts such as Video Game Addiction Tries to Move From Basement to Doctor’s Office and a research article written by the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University, Craving Behavior Intervention in Ameliorating College Students’ Internet Game Disorder: A Longitudinal Study. Recently, the situation has become so rampant that the World Health Organization had made a revision to the International Classification of Diseases(ICD) in direct regard to video games, as seen in a ‘Question and Answer’ posted on their website, Gaming Disorder. Through these pieces of literature, it is evident just how common gaming addiction has become.
There have been debates about whether video games increase violent tendencies in children, and if they have detrimental effects on children’s brains. In 2018, the World Health Organization made a revision to the International Classification of Diseases in direct regard to video games. The online ‘Question and Answer’ titled Gaming Disorder dives into some common questions in regards to video game addiction and the World Health Organization’s decision to include gaming disorder in the International Classification of Diseases. The authors include the thousands of people who beg questions such as “What is Gaming Disorder?” in addition, the World Health Organization responding to these questions. The intended audience for the website is the general public. By having an online question and answer response, the purpose of the text is to spread awareness and inform the public about gaming disorder. This is evident as the answer to the question “Should all people who engage in gaming be concerned about developing gaming disorder?” is “…gaming disorder affects only a small proportion of people…However, people who partake in gaming should be alert to the amount of time they spend on gaming activities…”(WHO). By stating a small population is affected, and then using “However…” the organization attempts to state that anyone can be affected considering how common gaming is, and to be wary of it. The medium of the text is a website, as this is how the information is accessed, and the genre is an online question and answer. Both of these help compliment the goal of spreading awareness, as the general public’s questions are answered, and the information is available whenever online on the website. The language of the text is rather serious; phrases such as “ increased attention” and “relevant measures” indicate that this is a subject that requires awareness and exudes a sense of being stern, while also being comprehensible by the public. This is evident where the text states the reason gaming disorder has been included in the ICD-11; “The inclusion of gaming disorder in ICD-11 follows the development of treatment programmes for people with health conditions identical to those characteristic of gaming disorder in many parts of the world, and will result in the increased attention of health professionals to the risks of development of this disorder and, accordingly, to relevant prevention and treatment measures.”(WHO). This helps the audience understand the inclusion of gaming disorder in the ICD-11 is significant, as treatment is in development in order to minimize the effects and spread of gaming disorder, due to its harmful symptoms. The stance is that gaming disorder is a serious issue, and this is evident by including it in the ICD; “The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is the basis for identification of health trends and statistics globally and the international standard for reporting diseases and health conditions. It is used by medical practitioners around the world to diagnose conditions and by researchers to categorize conditions.”(WHO). This highlights how relevant the issue has become in light of gaming today. As a result, tone is formal as it works to inform people about a grave and widespread issue that affects a large portion of the population.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a pyramid that displays the basic necessities of humans in the order they should prioritize them. Video game disorder symptoms often result in those who engage in video games to take “increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences”(WHO). The research article Craving Behavior Intervention in Ameliorating College Students’ Internet Game Disorder: A Longitudinal Study explicates how video game disorder can impact the foundations of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The research article defines the cravings of those with IGD(internet gaming disorder), how it affects their lives and essentially “aims to test the effectiveness and detect the active ingredients of craving behavior intervention (CBI) in mitigation of IGD among young adults.”(Deng et al 1). The authors of the article consist of Faculty of Education and Psychology at Beijing Normal University: Lin-Yuan Deng, Lu Liu, Cui-Cui Xia, Jing Lan, Jin-Tao Zhang, and Xiao-Yi Fang. The intended audience are other researchers who are researching IGD and concepts alike. This is evident through the language of the text, as it is extremely straightforward and specialized for a specific audience to understand. There’s no elaboration on terms the audience may not understand, as the audience is expected to know and understand what’s being stated. An example of this is in the introduction; “Internet gaming disorder (IGD), with the morbidity of IGD about 8–13.7% in mainland and 46% in Taiwan area as the most prevalent subtype (57.5%) of Internet addiction disorder.”(Deng et al 1). The stance is due to internet gaming disorder becoming increasingly widespread, the authors have published their findings and what they can do to mitigate the disorder. The research paper portrays an informative tone, as it informs others about the effects of IGD and cravings in a behavioral study. The purpose is to share their findings of the article with others in their field of study and inform them of their findings. This is evident from the vast information provided throughout the entire article The genre is an experiment based journal, as the text is based off of the experiments. The medium is the website. Due to the intended audience of the article, the tone is very formal and succinct, in order to clearly get the points across.
The magazine article My Son’s Story of Electronics Addiction and Recovery is an excerpt of the author, Cynthia Mcnulty’s experience when her son is addicted to video games to the point of being away from them for too long results in severe withdrawals. It’s extremely devastating for both her and her son, as both of their lives became much more difficult when treating the addiction. The intended audience are other parents who might deal with similar issues, as video game addiction is an extremely common circumstance. By telling her own story, the author’s purpose is to inform others about her experiences in hopes that others can relate in addition to preventing the issue within other families. Both the audience and purpose are supported by this statement at the very end; “And I’m sharing our story in hopes that it helps someone else not be too late in helping their child.”(Mcnulty 4). The tone is casual, yet stern; “Electronics addiction is very real, particularly for children and their developing brain. And, it can have lifelong repercussions if is not addressed. I hope I wasn’t too late helping my son.”(Mcnulty 4). The author’s stance is quite positive and hopeful – “Will I be able to keep electronics away from him forever? I realistically know that I cannot. What I hope Matthew does learn from this though is that he can live a fun, happy life without electronics being a priority or a crutch.”(McNulty 3). The author understands that life isn’t perfect, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to be hopeful of, despite the struggles. This is why the language is shifts in the text, to show both sides of the story, the positive effects, but also the negative process. The genre is a personal journal, as the experiences are written from first person view of the author, and the medium is a website.
The newspaper article Video Game Addiction Tries to Move From Basement to Doctor’s Office, written by Tiffany Hsu, intends to inform the audience of how the increasing prominence of video game addiction is leading more and more people from their screens to places where they can receive treatment. As a newspaper article, the intended audience would be towards those who read the newspaper, who can be anyone considering how available they are. The newspaper is the genre, as it strictly informs opposed to making predictions and giving opinions unlike other texts. The article has an heavy tone, as it gives multiple accounts of people who suffer from video game addiction and how they act and are affected, and include concerning cases. An example retelling a doctor’s experience states “I have patients who come in suffering from an addiction to Candy Crush Saga, and they’re substantially similar to people who come in with a cocaine disorder.”(Hsu). The stance works to inform the audience that there are many cases of addiction, but not too many options are available for those who require treatment, as does the purpose of the text; “…reliable treatment for gaming addiction can be hard to find, demand is high. A residential recovery program near Seattle, ReStart, charges adult patients nearly $30,000 for the first seven weeks of care. It has a monthslong wait…”(Hsu). The medium is a website, as this is how the New York Times presents the article. The text’s language portrays a dark tone, such as mentioning “…lives are ruined, their interpersonal relationships suffer, their physical condition suffers.”(Hsu) to show how dark the effects of video game addiction can be.
Overall, through whatever medium or genre, one thing is certain; video game addiction has become an extremely prominent issue in modern society. The WHO has listed severe cases as a disorder, treatment is in high demand but little supply, some compare the symptoms to being on drugs, and the issue is generally well known and wide spread. Regardless of the genre, each had portrayed a similar tone, purpose, language, stance, and intended audience. For many, the primary issue is how seamless video games can be at first. But in developing minds, the behaviors exhibited can be destructive, and the issue then becomes what can be done to mitigate and decrease the destructive behavior. This will be an ongoing issue, as the gaming industry will not slow down by any means. As it stands, the next generation isn’t capable of containing or even alleviating the wave of video game addiction..
Works Cited:
“Gaming Disorder.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 14 Sept. 2018, www.who.int/features/qa/gaming-disorder/en/.
Hsu, Tiffany. “Video Game Addiction Tries to Move From Basement to Doctor’s Office.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 June 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/business/video-game-addiction.html?searchResultPosition=1.
McNulty, Cynthia, and Spaceboy. “My Son’s Story of Electronics Addiction and Recovery.” ADDitude, 19 Mar. 2019, www.additudemag.com/video-game-addiction-digital-detox/.
Deng, Lin-Yuan, et al. “Craving Behavior Intervention in Ameliorating College Students’ Internet Game Disorder: A Longitudinal Study.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 22 Mar. 2017, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00526/full.
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