Multi-user domains have become the perfect tool for a person to escape their ultimate reality. People become completely absorbed in a game or an Internet chat to the extent where the outside world is completely shut out. A person would do anything to get rid of their worries or to even just temporarily dispose of them, and so a great sense of relief comes over a person when those thoughts and worries are not their main focus.
If a person is unsatisfied with their reality, they can very easily through the usage of MUD’s assume another identity as far from their own as possible. They can experiment with their personality and role play in various ways, but how serious can this issue be when one becomes obsessed? Face to face social interaction is a vital essential of life, and never facing the reality of your circumstances can cause sometimes serious psychological issues.
People are continuously becoming to addicted to drugs and alcohol. How might those addictions be similar to obsessions with MUD’s? What kind of health issues can be associated with both?
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4 comments:
The mental and physical problems of video game addiction are diverse, but the story of the man who let his son die because of Everquest is the worst I've heard.
I think the addictions serve the same purpose- to allow the users to escape from real life. And, even though something like crack would have much more damaging on effect on the brain, constant video game use leads to severe health problems like heart disease and obesity.
Your thoughts on addiction are interesting, Stacey, though it might be fruitful to make clear a difference between psychological addiction (that could come about with the wish-fulfillment aspect of a video game) and chemical addiction like drug addiction, alcoholism, etc. because there is a biochemical dependency created (and certainly chemical addictions could and often do stem first from psychological ones).
-Prof. Castle
I agree with Steven that it is important to differentiate between chemical and psychological addiction. I find video game addiction incomparible to drug use on many levels. A more appropriate comparison might be alcoholism, in which the chemical affects on the body do not create a need for drinking.
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