Opinion – Page 2 – The Gaming News Corner

Should Gaming Addiction be considered a Mental Disorder?

Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared video game addiction is a mental disorder. For clarification from WHO, gaming addiction is prioritizing games over relationship building, interacting with others, daily activities and thought process. For it to be considered a gaming disorder, it has to be seen over the course of 12 months. Dr. Vladimir Poznyak, a member of WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, spoke further on the topic and stated only qualified doctors should be able to diagnose properly. While it stated it has to be seen over the course of 12 months, severe cases can be an exception. They have compared gaming addiction similar to gambling and substance use. Poznyak hopes” that inclusion of gaming disorder in the classification will stimulate debate as well as further research and international collaboration.”

Recently, BBC posted an article/video of a teen talking about his “addiction” as play games for 20 hours a week. The article became famous and spread throughout the internet on Monday which further villainized gaming. However, we should remain skeptical of the reasoning. Games have been villainized by organizations and government for causing violence and shootings despite huge lack of evidence. With the popularization of Fortnite in mainstream media, it has caused an even bigger target regarding gaming addiction.

Even researchers disagree on the gaming addiction as a mental disorder such as Anthony Bean, a licensed psychologist and executive director at The Telos Project, a nonprofit mental health clinic in Fort Worth, Texas. He stated, “I’m a clinician and a researcher, so I see people who play video games and believe themselves to be on the lines of addicted.” In his experience, they’re actually using gaming “more as a coping mechanism for either anxiety or depression.” He also noted that most clinical doctors aren’t too familiar with gaming habits, in general, to diagnose people with “gaming addiction.” If they aren’t familiar with a illness, how can you accurately state somebody with a mental disorder if you are unfamiliar with the topic? Bean also noted that different effects on different people. Someone playing “Minecraft” is going to be completely different from someone playing “World of Warcraft,” he said: “They’re two vastly different genres.” They have different effects because the games are in different environments and you interact with people differently.

Games often receive a harsh feedback because gaming isn’t age-gated like drugs or gambling. Anybody can play which is the beauty in it. Of course, anything done in excess is bad, whether it’s eating, watching television, or exercising. Scientist and researchers don’t have enough information to fully develop a conclusion on the effects of gaming because every game is different. Other countries like Korea and China have huge gaming addicts who go to PC cafes all day. Korea even has gaming rehab centers for addicts. It’s a tricky thing to solve but I personally believe considering gaming addiction as a mental disorder is too extreme.

What do you think about people who play too many games? Do you know anybody whose gaming has ruined parts of their lives?

Sources:

WHO statement on Gaming Addiction

NBC news

BBC – 20 hours weekly video

CNN – WHO and Bean’s statement on gaming addiction

Business Insider – South Korea rehab centers

Will the Next Generation Console be the Last?

As the video games industry evolves, so does distribution of video games. Recently, digital downloads have become the main form of distribution for all games. It ranges from indie titles to AAA games. Ubisoft‘s CEO, Yves Guillemot, predicts the next generation of consoles will be its last. Guillemot’s belief is that cloud-based streaming services will dominate the gaming industry and games will be available on any screen rather than console exclusive. Although streaming games aren’t common, Guillemot believes as technology advances, it’ll become the mainstream.

Microsoft spoke to Variety that gaming is about having the ability to access your game from any system. Smartphones and tablets bring in the highest profit for gaming companies and it can be argued that the growth is due to the ease of accessibility. Being able to play your games on a handheld from anywhere is consumer friendly than buying a video game console for dedicated players. Guillemot stated that streaming “is going to help the AAA game industry grow much faster…we have to work on the accessibility of those games to make sure they can be played on any device.”

Whose on board?

While Microsoft and Ubisoft see this as the future of gaming, Nvidia is already taking steps to start streaming video games to any computer. Nvidia announced their beta streaming service, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, this year at CES. It’s designed to offer digital games to even basic computers. It will even port your Steam games to GeForce Now so that you won’t have to repurchase your games. The games run properly as its stream from Nvidia datacenters throughout the United States.

Phil Spencer, Executive Vice President of gaming for Microsoft, is looking towards different ways Microsoft can do for gaming. They have a unique form of distribution as they sell computers and video game consoles. Spencer stated, “I care less that people can play Minecraft on an Xbox One, but that people can play Minecraft no matter what console or device they have in front of them.” Since 2016, Microsoft stopped announcing the sales numbers for the Xbox One. While clearly doing worse than the PS4, Xbox has tried alternative distribution of games such as cross distribution with the Windows Stores and Xbox Live and their stellar backwards compatibility. “I look at investing into three key areas: content, cloud, and community – that is, making great games, making the experience of accessing and playing them better and improving things for the players overall. It helps lead gaming for everyone – not just Microsoft – into a better place for everyone.”

What about PlayStation and Nintendo?

One example of streaming being utilized is for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard for the Nintendo Switch. Although there are physical versions, the Japanese exclusive port will be a stream version only. This may be a taste for things to come. However, Nintendo launched the Switch last year to rave reviews and has sold more than 1 million units in a year. The Switch is a unique console that can be a handheld and console. PlayStation didn’t comment on the trend towards streaming. However, John Kodera, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), stated that the PlayStation 4 is in its final phase for the life cycle. He also mentioned an interest in handheld gaming rather than streaming service. Hopefully, they’ll do a better job for their next handheld after the PS Vita which recently stopped manufacturing physical games.

Streaming Pros and Cons:

It cost less for companies as they don’t have to pay for packaging and discs. Video game development has become more expensive. A prime example is God of War (2018) which cost $44 million. This also saves money for companies. Retailers currently take a cut of the profits of $15 for new video game sales. The cost of making, packaging and shipping game discs to stores cost $4 each. Finally, not all games sell, so the expense of returning unsold inventory eats up another $7. A Con would be for consumers with Wi-fi issues. If you have a poor internet connection, your gameplay will be choppy or have a low framerate.

Do you believe the next step in delivering games is streaming?

Sources:

Variety

The Verge-Nvidia GeForce

Eurogamer – God of War COM

Cost to make Games

The Verge – RE 7 for Switch

PlayStation – John Kodera talks about PlayStation 4 life cycle

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition Price Issue

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition is out today. It comes with new additional content such as story additions, new cutscenes, expanded Insomnia map, a FPS mode, bosses, and more below in the video.

As much as I like FF XV as a guilty pleasure, the price is a bit steep, even if you owned the base game like myself. The “Royal Edition” add-on is $15 for the above but is $50 for all the previous DLC’s that were on the Season pass such as Episode Gladio, Prompto, Ignis, and the Comrades multiplayer pack plus additional weapons.

Considering that the Royal edition isn’t the final version of FFXV, the price is huge even if you already bought the game. $50 is practically the cost of a full game. By the time the “Complete Edition” comes out, I can’t imagine how much the price will be.

While I think it’s great that Tabata (Developer of FFXV) and Square-Enix are doing to improve the game and add additional features to create a better game, only the most hardcore fans will invest once again. I did like Final Fantasy XV despite the flaws. While I believe Square-Enix will give a great opportunity for people that didn’t buy the game initially, it may also alienate people who bought the base game. For myself, I’ll probably wait until there’s a big discount for Royal Edition or hope that the Complete Final Fantasy XV isn’t over $100.

What do you think about the price for Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition? Is it too much or do you think the price is okay?

Epic Games and Fortnite cheaters Lawsuit finished

Epic Games, creators of Fortnite: Battle Royal, settles their lawsuit with one of its cheater: Charles Vraspir. If you’re curious on reading more about the allegation, you can read my previous article here. The lawsuit was from Epic Games regarding Charles Vraspir‘s usage of using aimbots and using cheats the game to deliberating targeting Twitch streamers in the game. He was also banned numerous times before the lawsuit. Vraspir was agreed to delete all software related to Addicted Cheats from his computer. He is forbidden from cheating on Fortnite and any Epic Games in the future. If he were to violate the policy, he would be charge a minimum of $5,000. The cheats affected the game code which was against the company’s policy: Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Link to the injunction from Torrent Freak here.

In regards to the 14-year-old, Caleb “Sky Orbit” Rogers, his case is still being discussed. He was also caught using the same cheating software in the game but also creating tutorial guides on how to utilize cheats in Fortnite: Battle Royale. Epic issued a DMCA takedown on the video which Rogers contested. This led to legal action by Epic. However, they were unaware that Rogers was 14. Rogers’ mother contested the lawsuit based on his age that Rogers was not affected the sales of the game because it is free and the EULA was not binding because of his age. As of December 7, the lawsuit is still active against Rogers and the protection of anonymity is void because his mother put his name on her letter.

What do you think of Gaming companies taking legal action against cheaters? Do you feel that it crosses the line or that they have the legal right? Does making the game free affect your opinion on potential lawsuits?

Opinion:

I personally think suing the players is quite extreme. While I agree cheaters should be punished, I think permanently banning them or their IP address similar to Blizzard is more effective.

Sources:

Rolling Stones

Polygon