Video Game Addiction

Why is this an important issue?

Video game addiction is an important issue because 65% of households play video games, and 25% of Video Gamers are under the age of 18. Many say that the violence in certain video games are affecting our youth, when only 15% of all video games are rated M for mature, as rated by the ESRB. And studies show that 8% of all children and teens are affected by video game addiction.

How IT users can protect themselves and when the issue arose.

IT users can limit the amount of time they spend playing video games, or try and focus more on educational video games. I could not find when video game addiction arose, but World Of Warcraft, one of the most addicting games out there released in 2004. IT users can also become aware of some of the symptoms of video game addiction.

• Significant interference with school, work, or relationships
• Often avoiding other commitments in order to keep playing
• Frequently turning down social invitations in favor of gaming
• Using most or all of one's free time for gaming
• Regularly playing late into the night and which results in poor sleep habits
• Loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities
• Regular gaming "binges" of 8 hours or more nonstop    

What is the goverment and business' doing to help the issue?

For one the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board, founded in 1994) was created to let parents know what video games contained, from violence, to coarse language. In South Korea, they are implementing a gaming curfew.

My personal experience with the issue.

I have been playing video games for the majority of my life. I started playing games on my Nintendo 64, and Super Nintendo when I was around 5 or 6, with games like Kirby Return to Dreamland, or Super Mario World. I have not had issues with video game addiction yet, I have plenty of friends, and I go biking with them every so often. I personally think that the issue of video game addiction, isn't really a big problem. And that it could just be another attack on video games in general, like all of the accusations that violent video games are corrupting our youth, and making them more violent.

Who is affected?

Everyone that plays video games are affected. Video games do not have a specific audience people of all ages play video games, from teenagers to adults, to grandparents.

Where does this affect.

This affects everywhere that people who play video games resides. It is most prevalent in Japan, with stories about suicides over video games, and people dying from exhaustion.because they didn't eat, sleep, or take breaks.