Video game addiction: A new diagnosis?

[BobMurdoch]

Actually this is the link that lets you check up on them....

Morgon on MGC :: MyGamerCard.net Xbox Live Profiles

plug in your gamertag at the end of that to take you straight to your page of achievents which shows how long your account has been online. If there is a space in your gamertag use "%20" in place of the space.... Otherwise just login with their gamertag to be taken there....

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

Kids are 9,7,6 and I limit them to no more than a hour during summer and 30 minutes during school year of playing 360 or PC. Of course there are exception...rainy days, snow days, etc.... but the line is clear. I always harken back to when video games first came out and what we did before them when I was really young. No internet, no VG's, no HD, no cable in our house in 70's. I managed to grow-up fine. Now I play much too much but RHIP

 

[Ramy]

Kids are 9,7,6 and I limit them to no more than a hour during summer and 30 minutes during school year of playing 360 or PC. Of course there are exception...rainy days, snow days, etc.... but the line is clear. I always harken back to when video games first came out and what we did before them when I was really young. No internet, no VG's, no HD, no cable in our house in 70's. I managed to grow-up fine. Now I play much too much but RHIP

I remember the days without video games and cable. We played outside all the time.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Ah, the dark ages.....

Actually, I was right on the cusp.... Got a Sears Pong/Breakout combo game system in 5th grade. Atari 2600 in 6th Grade,.... Coleco Arcade in 8th (three sided system with a racing game with wheel, a pong side, and a side with a gun and a quick draw game).... Got away from them through high school and college (although I played some text based Infocom PC games).. Got a Nintendo NES in 1989....

 

[tawhite]

I do think they are correct.

My 13 year old tunes out the world and plays video games, from the time he gets up til the time he goes to bed (and we have caught him going to bed then getting up a little later on and playing at 2am in the morning)

He won't do anything including eat while he is playing games.

If we want him to do anything we make him shut the XBOX off and then he moans on how we are wasting his time. Its getting quite bad actually.

I need to figure out a way to use my router to kill XBOX live at certain times. I have blocked certain ports which are supposed to block XBOX live (and it does if he turns on his XBOX after those ports have been locked, however if those ports are blocked after he is already logged in, he can play all night long without getting booted.

Sounds like you need to be setting some limits on the gaming time. We are shutting the TVs down from 12-6PM during the summer to encourage the kids go play outside. Yes, they complained at first but are adapting.

If you catch your kid playing when he is not supposed to ground him from it. IF he does it again make the time longer and longer until he learns. It is real eay to find out if he has been playing as been mentioned above.

 

[riffjim4069]

Well, if all else fails...you can always introduce the XBox to a baseball bat. Problem solved!

 

[Tom_P]

Well, if all else fails...you can always introduce the XBox to a baseball bat. Problem solved!

Ahhh that great feeling, well a couple of years ago my son tested me, he tought that I didn't have the guts to do it. Well I didn't use a baseball bat, but a 10 pound hammer did the job pretty good, it was an original Xbox, along with a PC, and a Portable CD player. The thought that because I really like the Xbox I will never do it... Bamm!! Uff I ended up losing all my HD info , but we have extenal Hard drives now..The same day I bought a new one, he spent all summer without VG.
But believe me the violence didn't solve the problem, rules did, at least until this semester, and thank God he doing Great in Summer School, he ruined his summer vacations, not me.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Wow, you guys are rough. Usually I just have to confiscate his TV remote and his controllers for a few hours and he snaps back into line.

I think I'm gonna go home tonight and hug him since I have it so good in comparison.

 

[mastermesh]

I remember the days without video games and cable. We played outside all the time.

Ahhh... memories of the the good ol days of climbing in trees and falling to break an ankle, throwing yard darts at one another, and riding bikes on ramps as fast as you can so that you can jump and likely end up with a little blood as your skin smoothly brushes against the soft rocky surfaces on the non-paved roads... I remember there was one year I think I had to get stitches 5 times!

 

[beast37799]

I remember the days without video games and cable. We played outside all the time.

So do i however nowadays if it isnt someon trying to kidnap/kill your child . its the childs parents sueing you for injuries while the children were playing together . or the goverment saying yoor your child cant do this or that outside without so much saftey equipment as to make you or the child not even bother .

 

[highspeed57]

Well, if all else fails...you can always introduce the XBox to a baseball bat. Problem solved!

a part of me would die a little on the inside

 

[mikley28]

I need to figure out a way to use my router to kill XBOX live at certain times. I have blocked certain ports which are supposed to block XBOX live (and it does if he turns on his XBOX after those ports have been locked, however if those ports are blocked after he is already logged in, he can play all night long without getting booted.

Use the Linksys Wireless-N Gigabit gaming router, put your 360 (or all your consoles) on a static IP and then restrict usage to the internet to certain times for that IP address(es).

 

[tonyp56]

It all has to do with no one wanting personal responsibility anymore. I play hours and hours of video games, instead of doing my homework, because I'm addicted to video games. Where is the personal responsibility there? That's right, no where!

I've got an idea, if your 15 year old is playing hours and hours of video games instead of doing his/her chores and homework, be a parent and TAKE THE VIDEO GAMES AWAY!!!!!!!!! Don't push video game addiction on everyone else!

Just like, "X killed 15 people because of violent video games" (or movies, music, etc.) instead of "X killed 15 people because they were flipping crazy, and should have been locked up when they killed 5 kittens with the lawn mower 5 years ago!"

Everything is answered with this same answer! I'm fat, but it is because of my addiction to food. I'm a drunk, but it is because I'm addicted. I'm a loser, but it is because of my drug addiction. How about some personal responsibility, instead of blaming everything on addiction. I drink because I choose too. I eat because I choose too. I play hours of video games because I like it more than I do doing my homework! Tired of people wanting an easy way out of their responsiblities.

 

[tawhite]

It all has to do with no one wanting personal responsibility anymore. I play hours and hours of video games, instead of doing my homework, because I'm addicted to video games. Where is the personal responsibility there? That's right, no where!

I've got an idea, if your 15 year old is playing hours and hours of video games instead of doing his/her chores and homework, be a parent and TAKE THE VIDEO GAMES AWAY!!!!!!!!! Don't push video game addiction on everyone else!

Just like, "X killed 15 people because of violent video games" (or movies, music, etc.) instead of "X killed 15 people because they were flipping crazy, and should have been locked up when they killed 5 kittens with the lawn mower 5 years ago!"

Everything is answered with this same answer! I'm fat, but it is because of my addiction to food. I'm a drunk, but it is because I'm addicted. I'm a loser, but it is because of my drug addiction. How about some personal responsibility, instead of blaming everything on addiction. I drink because I choose too. I eat because I choose too. I play hours of video games because I like it more than I do doing my homework! Tired of people wanting an easy way out of their responsiblities.

AMEN!!!

 

[meStevo]

I can relate to what is likely some kind of addiction I suppose. When I was playing Everquest, the feeling of community and the friends that were made is something that I can only compare to the best years of High School, where it is downhill and everything is in your favor. As a result of these good times, I have not been able to ever rekindle that kind of feeling again playing games. I haven't been able to stick to playing any kind of online game since. I play one for a month, maybe two, only to cancel and try another. This becomes a cycle as I go back to games that I quit a number of times a year. It sucks.

Part of it is certainly the times changing, but the other part is nothing can ever 'feel as good' as it was then.

If that was addiction, I don't know. I had to quit more or less cold turkey when my hours changed and I suddenly couldn't raid (participate in events with 40-70 of these online friends to kill big stuff). It sucked but I am professional and so I made it work.

Iif anything made me a better person for the social skills and whatnot it imparted on me in the process. Would I have turned out differently if it had been several years of Team Fortress and Counter Strike? Maybe a little, but I wouldn't be a ticking time bomb because I am not a psychotic moron.

 

[mastermesh]

I play one for a month, maybe two, only to cancel and try another. This becomes a cycle as I go back to games that I quit a number of times a year. It sucks.

Sounds like you need to stay away from monthly subscription games and just go with free download ones that are free to play.