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

Sony responds to Fortnite Complaints

Epic’s Fortnite is quickly becoming the biggest and most popular game in the world. Fortnite released in 2016 and is now on every major console, PC, and iOS. However, recent discoveries by users noticed that they couldn’t use their Epic accounts (Epic studio’s log-in) on other consoles. Sony and PlayStation have received massive complaints from Fortnite players regarding their accounts. If you connected your Epic Account, you were unable to use that account for the Nintendo Switch or any other platform and vice-versa. If you try to log in, you’ll see this image below.

The Nintendo Switch’s version of Fortnite allows you to play with Xbox One, PC, and iOS players while PlayStation players have no cross-console options. Sony didn’t inform players that they would be locked into one account. Essentially, all progress on PlayStation is non-transferable to other platforms including in-game items. Many players are frustrated, including fans of PlayStation such as Gameover Greggy and the PS4 subreddit.

 

Hey, Sony, it would be really cool to have my epic account unlocked for switch and be able to enjoy my money spent on the battle-pass from PS4

Unfortunately, Sony didn’t really respond to the feedback. On the BBC, Sony’s stated “”With… more than 80 million monthly active users on PlayStation Network, we’ve built a huge community of gamers who can play together on Fortnite and all online titles.” So not really a response but essentially they want to keep their players sticking to PlayStation.

Why did Sony do this?

The marketing answer is that Sony wants to focus on expanding their community. Fortnite recently reported that they have 125 million players. While the amount of each player per consoles remains to be seen, Fortnite is heavily promoted on the PlayStation Network and has been seen as the secondary platform to play it after PC.

Sony has a history of not allowing cross-platform for many of their games such as Rocket League and Minecraft. The business answer is Sony doesn’t want their player base to potentially switch to other platforms. By keeping their players to PlayStation consoles, they are less inclined to change over.

While Sony is stating this is for their community, it’s not good for consumers. Preventing players from playing with other consoles is harmful to their image especially if the Switch and Xbox One allow cross-platform play.

Sources:

BBC – Playstation statement

PSU – Fortnite Playercount

Reddit community backlashPolygon – Epic account locked due to PlayStation

E3 2018 Highlights

This year’s E3 was solid. Most of the conferences learned to just focus on showing games which led to less boring sections and dull moments in the conference. Personally, there wasn’t anything that blew me away. This is my favorite showings at this year’s E3.

Kingdom Hearts 3: January 29, 2019

I’m happy that Kingdom Hearts 3 is finally coming out. As a fan of the series, it’s great to see an actual launch date. The game looks absolutely gorgeous and the Pixar/Disney worlds are awesome. Having new Keyblade weapons for each world adds a lot of diversity into the gameplay. I only worry about the storyline and how it will connect everything. Nomura has stated this isn’t the last KH game so hopefully, I don’t have to wait 14 years for a sequel.

Super Smash Bros: Ultimate: December 7th, 2018

I like Smash Bros. Sakurai gave Smash fans every character that they asked for with Ridley and all returning past characters. (No Goku because that’s stupid) The game looks beautiful and I’m glad to have a new Smash game to play. All the gameplay changes look interesting for competitive but I’m more of a casual fan.

Daemon X Machina: 2019

I dunno what this game is about. It showcases awesome mecha action and the color palette is appealing.

Super Mario Party: October 5th, 2018

I’m excited to play a Mario Party on the go. It will be interesting to connect the Nintendo Switches to try out new mini-games. Thank god the cart is removed from the game and the new character-specific dices make playing your favorite Maro characters more interesting. There’s actually new strategies to the game and Stars return to the normal format. Yell at your friends again.

Overcooked 2: August 7th, 2018

When I play Overcooked, I understand why Gordan Ramsey yells at people in the kitchen. It’s so much fun as a couch co-op game but 2 brings online and wireless play (on the Switch). They improved the colors on the characters so that you stand out more and the kitchen environments have gotten even crazier.

The Last of Us Part 2: TBD

Finally gameplay footage. The gameplay shows that Ellie will be the main character which feels like the natural progression after the first game. She looks faster and just as brutal as Joel. All of the enemies are humans which are concerning because what happened to all of the infected? The story is still unclear but it looks like Ellie may be part of a surviving human faction and has a love interest.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: September 7th, 2018

I am a huge fan of Spider-Man and the game looks fantastic. The combat looks similar to the Batman Arkham games but that makes sense. The trailer shows more villains and the Sinister Six will be involved. Also, either Miles Morales or Venom is saving Spider-Man at the end of the trailer because you can hear the thwip noise.

We Happy Few: August 10th, 2018

A creepy dystopian world where people are intoxicated by joy. The story looks interesting and the gameplay confuses the player what is real and what is fake. The gameplay looks relatively slow but the environment and story are fascinating.

 

Square-Enix E3 Conference Review/Highlight

Square-Enix didn’t show anything that wasn’t already well -known. Except for Babylon Falls which is a new Platinum X SE game and The Quiet Man. 7/10

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (September 14, 2018)

  • An emphasis on stealth-based combat
  • Apparently, Lara Croft isn’t the tomb raider yet but she seems ruthless. Especially the stinger shot as Sephiroth evil.png

Final Fantasy XIV:

  • New patch and expansion
  • Monster Hunter Events! Monsters, the cat mascot, and even emotes are included

Babylon’s Falls:

  • New IP from Square and Platinum after Nier Automata
  • No date announced but it looks SICK!

  • Image result for babylon falls square enix
    Look at this video game!

The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit (June 26, 2018):

  • A new title in the Life is Strange series
  • Free for all consoles!Image result for awesome adventures of captain spirit

Dragon Quest XI:

  • No gameplay was shown but it looks like a classic JRPG and story. If you want a classic RPG, DQ has always been an exceptional game.

The Quiet Man:

  • Actually confusing. It didn’t reveal anything but it looks like a new IP based on noise and combat

Nier Automata, Octopath Traveler, and Kingdom Hearts 3 were all the same trailers that were shown before. No FF 7 because Square-Enix didn’t want to shoot themselves in the foot but showing anything and not having a release date. Perhaps they learned that promising a game with no official release date is ridiculous and annoys their fanbase. Examples: Final Fantasy Versus 13 15, Kingdom Hearts 3.