Virtual addiction

[Jason Becker]

Just saw the report on CBS Investigatesa about 'virtual addiction?' as its titled. It was beter than I though it would be. They did the usual focus heavier focus the negative and emotional/melodramatic that they always seem to do. Like Ben Stein's kid and the mother of they guy that killed himelf. Spent very little relativly talking to the people that say they can enjoy it but know its not theit life.

The Sony guy Smeadly said it best. Should all entertainment be banned because a very small populataion might take it to extremes?

[Bub, Andrew]

Maybe I missed something... what happened to Ben Stein's kid? I remember thinking, from the way Stein talked about the kid in interviews, he was going to grow up very spoiled but... is he some sort of gaming casualty now?

[Jason Becker]

His kid got 'hooked' on the game, so they sent him to boarding school and now everythings "great" again...he's thinks EQ is very bad, and if Sony really "Looked into their hearts" as he put it they would stop.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I missed something... what happened to Ben Stein's kid? I remember thinking, from the way Stein talked about the kid in interviews, he was going to grow up very spoiled but... is he some sort of gaming casualty now?

Good Christ, I like Ben Stein and all (Where art thou Win Ben Stein's Money with Jimmy Kimmel?) but really, Stein screwed his own kid up more than EQ ever could have. I haven't seen the CBS drama-mentary, but I did watch the Stein Biography, and I came away with the singular impression that Stein's kid was going to grow up to be the most spoiled, self-indulgent brat imaginable. In just the short clips at the end of the show, it was obvious that Stein put his kid on a pedestal and indulged his every whim, IIRC, Stein even admitted it himself. The kid, not that I can blame him, took every advantage of it as well.

That Stein blames Sony without even really looking into his own heart just confirms my hypothesis: Ben Stein, smart guy, but a blind retarded monkey when it comes to his kid.

[Jessica]

My favorite was when the mom kept stating over and over that Sony had designed EQ to be so addictive that, once you started playing, it was impossible to stop. Literally, she meant that almost no one who played could escape a horrid fate of addiction.

Of course, 48 Hours failed to mention that her son had been seeing therapists for many years and had always been an odd duck; that was glossed over with something like "he was sensitive and he had emotional problems." The whole piece was made to seem like he was a functioning young man who was led astray by EQ, to his ultimate demise.

And the Stein piece: he proved a basic tenet of parenthood, in that if you spend time with your kids, you can influence or dictate what they do, so as to at least partially grow up in the way you feel they should.

I felt sorry for John Smedley, though he handled himself well, indeed. The interviewer had no intention of being objective. The questions were all slanted toward "you big old evil corporation, how could you do this to an innocent kid?" all accompanied by the patented CBS 'investigative reporter' skeptical grimaces and rapid fire sarcastic, "Oh, come on, you know you are doing evil' questions. I'd love to know if she was nice, understanding and patient during the original interview, and if her reaction shots were spliced in later, after she had a chance to review the film and practice. I did notice that during the interview, she was never in the same shot as Smedley.

All in all, the whole piece was another example of a supposed 'objective' media going in with a preconception and filming to match that preconception.

[Mark Asher]

Pretty crazy. Why can't parents just limit a kid's time on the computer? If you can't do that, then your child is already running the household.

The only negative aspect of games like EQ and gaming in general is that kids don't spend enough time doing phyical activities. I definitely spent more time outdoors playing sports as a kid than my kids do. Kids that get addicted to EQ would probably get addicted to something else -- D&D, Magic, etc.

[Anonymous]

The only negative aspect of games like EQ and gaming in general is that kids don't spend enough time doing phyical activities. I definitely spent more time outdoors playing sports as a kid than my kids do. Kids that get addicted to EQ would probably get addicted to something else -- D&D, Magic, etc.
Or they could become "addicted" to baseball, football, soccer, working out, reading, playing guitar or piano, whatever. There's obvious benefits to any physical activity, but moderation is key to everything.

Of course the funny thing is, the "baseball" addict probably stands less of a chance of learning some useful skill applicable to the "real world" than the EverQuest player, who likely knows the ins-and-outs of his or her computer, has knowledge of the Internet, and could probably sell the character on ebay for a lot of money. The baseball addict, well... there's that teamwork thing, but knowing how to throw a curve doesn't help you get a job. And chances are, there are a lot more jobs where even moderate computer skills are useful. (And yeah, maybe they'll grow up to be a major leage baseball player... uh huh.)

So kids, keep playing those games.

[Anonymous]

Of course, 48 Hours failed to mention that her son had been seeing therapists for many years and had always been an odd duck; that was glossed over with something like "he was sensitive and he had emotional problems." The whole piece was made to seem like he was a functioning young man who was led astray by EQ, to his ultimate demise.



They failed to mention many many things about that situation. He had severe epilepsy and was on medication that is known to cause deep depression. He was committed to an institution by his mother well before he discovered EQ. When he left the institution, his mother refused to let him move in with her, instead he went to a halfway house and then moved immediately into his own place.

Ugh, the media annoys me sometimes. 500,000 subscribers, of course there are going to be some loose screws.

I spose I have a hard to coming to grips on what they call an addiction. Admittedly, EQ has a bit of a gambling feel to it, with the whole idea of rare spawns and rare drops, that can get people hooked on the idea of getting gear. These rares make your characters better, giving people that competitive feel that keeps them striving for better stuff. But I would hardly call that a recipe for purposeful addiction. It's the same message that countless other activities rely on to keep you buying more stuff. Collectible Card Games being the main one that comes to mind.