Hi. My name is Gad, and I'm a game-a-holic

[Gadfly2317]

This article cracked me the hell up. Actual in-patient rehab for gamers. The sweats and shakes. The sudden need to take a crap when you are about to buy a new game.

Nintendo is LSD,Esctacy and Mushrooms. Xbox (Live) is Methamphetamine, and Ps2 is, well, Beer. Looking back at this paragraph, I just realized normal people don't capitalize drug names.

And by the way, has anyone noticed the DS Lite lid is a pretty passable surface off which to do a line of coke in a pinch?

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/08/D8I489R80.html

Detox Clinic Opening for Video Addicts
Jun 08 4:12 PM US/Eastern


By FIA CURLEY
Associated Press Writer


AMSTERDAM, Netherlands


An addiction center is opening Europe's first detox clinic for game addicts, offering in-house treatment for people who can't leave their joysticks alone.

Video games may look innocent, but they can be as addictive as gambling or drugs _ and just as hard to kick, says Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants.

Bakker already has treated 20 video game addicts, aged 13 to 30, since January. Some show withdrawal symptoms, such as shaking and sweating, when they look at a computer.

His detox program begins in July. It will run four to eight weeks, including discussions with therapists and efforts to build patients' interests in alternative activities.

"We have kids who don't know how to communicate with people face-to- face because they've spent the last three years talking to somebody in Korea through a computer," Bakker said. "Their social network has completely disappeared."

It can start with a Game Boy, perhaps given by parents hoping to keep their children occupied but away from the television. From there it can progress to multilevel games that aren't made to be won.

Bakker said he has seen signs of addiction in children as young as 8.

Hyke van der Heijden, 28, a graduate of the Amsterdam program, started playing video games 20 years ago. By the time he was in college he was gaming about 14 hours a day and using drugs to play longer.

"For me, one joint would never be enough, or five minutes of gaming would never be enough," he said. "I would just keep going until I crashed out."

Van der Heijden first went to Smith & Jones for drug addiction in October 2005, but realized the gaming was the real problem. Since undergoing treatment, he has distanced himself from his smoking and gaming friends. He says he has been drug- and game-free for eight months.

Like other addicts, Bakker said, gamers are often trying to escape personal problems. When they play, their brains produce endorphins, giving them a high similar to that experienced by gamblers or drug addicts. Gamers' responses to questions even mirror those of alcoholics and gamblers when asked about use.

"Many of these kids believe that when they sit down, they're going to play two games and then do their homework," he said.

However, unlike other addicts, most gamers received their first game from their parents. "Because it's so new, parents don't see that this is something that can be dangerous," Bakker said.

Tim, a gamer who is currently under treatment, agreed to discuss his addiction on condition of his last name not being used. He said he began playing video games three years ago at age 18. Soon he wouldn't leave his room for dinner. Later, he began taking drugs to stay awake and play longer. Finally he sought help and picked up other hobbies to occupy his time.

Symptoms of addiction are easy to spot, Bakker says. Parents should take notice if a child neglects usual activities, spends several hours at a time with the computer and has no social life.

Bakker said parents of game addicts frequently echo the words of partners of cocaine addicts: "'I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what it was.'"

[Cuddly Knife]

I would probably be classified as an addict, but I'm really not(denial). I know for a fact that I never really jones for gaming when I'm occupied with outdoorsy or sweety involved activities. I do get excited when a game is about to come out that I really want, and I occasionaly get grumpy if I can't get a hold of a game when I should be able to, but I'm not about to cream my pants when Halo 3 or MGS4 come out.

I am becoming a Gamerpoints addict though. For instance, the first game I play every day is Mutant Storm Reloaded because I'm trying to unlock the last achievement, but it's so F-N hard! That makes me want it all the more.

[Gadfly2317]

I would probably be classified as an addict, but I'm really not(denial).

I wonder what the most gaming-addict like confession someone on this board has. Sold blood to buy a game? Pestered a Wal-Mart employee at midnight to try to get a game first thing on release day? Call the game store 10 times to see if their tuesday UPS shipment has arrived? Shoplift a game? Get fired for spending too much time at work surfing game sites? Sell drugs to buy games? Game for more than 24 hours without sleep? Choose gaming over a girlfriend (I'm looking at you no1gamer.) Or worse yet (gasp) take a soul-sucking corporate job to support your habit!

Me, I can quit anytime though. Except for maybe my DS.

[Renzatic Gear]

...Choose gaming over a girlfriend (I'm looking at you no1gamer.)...

Whoa, I must've missed out on that little bit of juicy gossip. Get me up to speed here.

[Gadfly2317]

Whoa, I must've missed out on that little bit of juicy gossip. Get me up to speed here.

WoW. Enough said.

[Superior Beatslayer]

I wonder what the most gaming-addict like confession someone on this board has. Sold blood to buy a game? Pestered a Wal-Mart employee at midnight to try to get a game first thing on release day? Call the game store 10 times to see if their tuesday UPS shipment has arrived? Shoplift a game? Get fired for spending too much time at work surfing game sites? Sell drugs to buy games? Game for more than 24 hours without sleep? Choose gaming over a girlfriend (I'm looking at you no1gamer.) Or worse yet (gasp) take a soul-sucking corporate job to support your habit!

Me, I can quit anytime though. Except for maybe my DS.

the only one of those I've done was selling dope to buy Halo 2.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

I would probably be classified as an addict, but I'm really not(denial). I know for a fact that I never really jones for gaming when I'm occupied with outdoorsy or sweety involved activities. I do get excited when a game is about to come out that I really want, and I occasionaly get grumpy if I can't get a hold of a game when I should be able to, but I'm not about to cream my pants when Halo 3 or MGS4 come out.

I am becoming a Gamerpoints addict though. For instance, the first game I play every day is Mutant Storm Reloaded because I'm trying to unlock the last achievement, but it's so F-N hard! That makes me want it all the more.


Yeah I saw you playing King Kong not to long ago. I started to send you a message screaming "GAMERSCORE WHORE!!!!!!!"

But I didn't.

[BoyVsCar]

Sweats and shakes? That's ridiculous. But there are regiments or drugs for everything these days. If it has a name it's OK... and that becomes a crutch.

Thankfully I am not addicted to gaming. I can stop whenever I want. But I don't want to and if you try and make me I'll bust your kneecaps...

[J_Cunningham]

Game for more than 24 hours without sleep?

I did this the day I picked up Final Fantasy VII. I then crashed and slept for another 24 hours, only to wake up with a headache and images of Aeris everywhere.

I haven't gamed for more than 6 hours straight since. :p

[Cuddly Knife]

LOL #1
Yeah I saw you playing King Kong not to long ago. I started to send you a message screaming "GAMERSCORE WHORE!!!!!!!"

But I didn't.
You shoulda, then I woulda challenged you to a fight!

You know who's the real whore? The guys with over 30,000 GP! I've seen 2 of them so far.

LOL #2
Thankfully I am not addicted to gaming. I can stop whenever I want. But I don't want to and if you try and make me I'll bust your kneecaps...
That's the truest thing I've ever heard maybe.

[Gadfly2317]

I saw an article about "rehab for blackberry addicts." This one though wasn't a real rehab, it was a resort hotel that offers a "cold turkey" method for blackberry addicts by locking up their "crackberry" for the duration of the stay. You know, for those that would like to enjoy their vacation but can't stop checking their email under their own willpower.

But the inpatient game rehab. . . the rehab industry is just that, an industry, and it is cashing in by trying to define more and more behaviors as "treatable illnesses." Reminds me of the manson lyric Norm life baby, "we're rehabbed and we're ready for our 15 minutes of shame." F#$K straight culture.


Norm life baby
"we're white and oh so hetero
and our sex is missionary."

Norm life baby
"we're quitters and we're sober
our confessions will be televised."

You and I are underdosed and we're ready to fall
Raised to be stupid, taught to be nothing at all

Norm life baby
"our god is white and unforgiving
we're piss tested and we're praying."

Norm life baby
"I'm just a sample of a soul
made to look just like a human being."

Norm life baby
"we're rehabbed and we're ready
for our 15 minutes of shame."

Norm life baby
"we're talkshown and we're pointing
just like christians at a suicide."

You and I are underdosed and we're ready to fall
Raised to be stupid, taught to be nothing at all

"there's a hole in our soul that we fill with dope
and we're feeling fine."

I don't like the drugs but the drugs like me
I don't like the drugs, the drugs the drugs

[ThaMaskedGamer]

I can't understand young single guys who sit at home and play videogames. To me that's kinda sad. I mean when I was young and had no family my friends and I had and would play videogames, but not on a Friday or Saturday night when we could be in a club or a bar, not on a nice day when we could be playin' ball or be outside definitely not when you could be out with a girl or in with one. But who am I to criticize I guess people can live their lives the way they want and I guess nobody ever got HIV from a game console or a DWI while playing PGR.

[Gadfly2317]

I can't understand young single guys who sit at home and play videogames. To me that's kinda sad. I mean when I was young and had no family my friends and I had and would play videogames, but not on a Friday or Saturday night when we could be in a club or a bar, not on a nice day when we could be playin' ball or be outside definitely not when you could be out with a girl or in with one. But who am I to criticize I guess people can live their lives the way they want and I guess nobody ever got HIV from a game console or a DWI while playing PGR.

Carpal Tunnel is worse than a DWI. . .but yeah, I know what you are saying. Pretty much skipped most of two whole gens because of sex, drugs, rock n' roll and hitting the books.

Still miss games in bars, too: pool tables, darts, trivia, videogames, whatever.

[BoyVsCar]

Check these Gamerscore whores out... sick.

http://www.mygamercard.net/leaderboard.php

Put down the controller...

You know maybe these guys do need help. Come to think I stopped playing games almost entirely to chase girls until I met my wife. [She games too... best of both worlds.]

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

I can't understand young single guys who sit at home and play videogames. To me that's kinda sad. I mean when I was young and had no family my friends and I had and would play videogames, but not on a Friday or Saturday night when we could be in a club or a bar, not on a nice day when we could be playin' ball or be outside definitely not when you could be out with a girl or in with one. But who am I to criticize I guess people can live their lives the way they want and I guess nobody ever got HIV from a game console or a DWI while playing PGR.


I know what you mean. I have young kids so on the weekend either I go out or my wife goes out if I'm playing the game more than likely she's out. It gets hard sometimes with the kids sitting there bugging me. The other night when we were all playing GRAW I sat out those two rounds because of the kids.

Funny story on the old Xbox I used to give my son a controller to hold and he would think he was playing with me. But now on the the 360 he knows his ring of light isn't on so he realizes he isn't playing. So I actually have to let him play it now. And my game time is limited (not so much now I'm on vacation) and I have to let him use up some of it.

Speaking of going to bars BW's (Buffaloe Wild Wings) charged $10 admission fee because of the fight. F-that me and my homeboys went to my house and ordered the fight and got to watch it in widescreen hi def (I made them buy the chicken and beer) and then we ended up playing fight night. Since I'm already so far off topic and just rambling anyway. I thought Hopkins would beat Tarver but damn he beat the living $!@# out of him. Tarver didn't stand a chance.

[Cuddly Knife]

So B-Hop won, huh? Awesome. Isn't he like 42 years old? Maybe not, but I was watching some interviews with those two and they kept bringing up something about age.

[Wan-Fu]

My gaming only goes up with work stress. And, consumption of the sticky. Personal stress doesn't do it. Work is killing me now, so I'm gaming non-stop as soon as I get a chance, as a matter of fact, I am playing more video games than I have in a decade. I haven't stayed in on a friday or saturday night to play, but during the week...sheeesh.

I walk through both Halo's on legendary with utter impunity, and that's even insisting on my friendly AI surviving whole levels. Man, I have this emotional attachment with those marines, I will kill myself if they all die :cryin:

[trebor]

I think I'm actually more addicted to buying games over actually playing games.

I mean, hell, how long do most games actually last these days before you move on from them - 10 hours, maybe 20 if you're lucky? Compare that to the months of anticipation you go through while reading previews, hunting down screenshots, and analyzing trailers - it's not even in the same scope of time. We're talking months, or even years in certain cases (I'm looking at you Twilight Princess), compared to maybe a couple weeks of entertainment.

It's not just the addiction itself, but the securing of the addiction that makes being an addict such a rush. Who else has had those moments when the stash has all been smoked and the entire town is just dry? Then, when you finally score a bag, it's the greatest feeling in the world.

Looking back, it's kinda pathetic when you don't have a consistant kind hook up. :thumbsup:

[Pandarbock]

I think I'm actually more addicted to buying games over actually playing games.

Oh God me too only probably worse. I am up too somewhere around 200-250 games across 4 of the current platforms console/handhelds. Most of which have either not been played much or haven't been opened.

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

So B-Hop won, huh? Awesome. Isn't he like 42 years old? Maybe not, but I was watching some interviews with those two and they kept bringing up something about age.

Yeah, Hopkins is 42, or very close to it. I believe he retired after the fight, but mentioned he would come back for a $20 mil payday.

[Superjoint Ritual]

If I'm stoned, I far too lazy to ever try. Which is why I don't like weed.

If I'm on 'shrooms, I'd rather think while listening to A Perfect Circle.

If I'm on X, I'd rather talk to people.

Ditto on coke.

Guitar Hero is the only game I've ever enjoyed while drunk. Other wise I'd rather find girls to annoy or post stupid topics on vgr that should get me banned.

I'd rather burn my favorite songs on iTunes while on Meth ( which I rarely do btw ) seeing how I own around 3,000 cd' s and usually don't have the patience.

I doubt if this has anything to do with the topic, but whatever. Point is, for me, drugs and videogames don't mix.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

If I'm stoned, I far too lazy to ever try. Which is why I don't like weed.

If I'm on 'shrooms, I'd rather think while listening to A Perfect Circle.

If I'm on X, I'd rather talk to people.

Ditto on coke.

Guitar Hero is the only game I've ever enjoyed while drunk. Other wise I'd rather find girls to annoy or post stupid topics on vgr that should get me banned.

I'd rather burn my favorite songs on iTunes while on Meth ( which I rarely do btw ) seeing how I own around 3,000 cd' s and usually don't have the patience.

I doubt if this has anything to do with the topic, but whatever. Point is, for me, drugs and videogames don't mix.

I love this guy, seriously I do.

Hop claims he retired but I think Hopkins Roy Jones Jr (provided Roy can actually beat someone to get people excited about him again) will be to big of a payday for him to resist.

Like Trebor I got to the point where I was more of a collector than Gamer. I was posting on Message boards going to gaming sites more than I was actually gaming. I stopped collecting (although I have 5 360 games and havent had the system a month) and cut back seriously. This is the only board I post on now. I hardly ever read up on games on actual sites anymore unless I read something in another forum (I read TXB forums but don't post there much). I used to be so hype for a game then get it and that's the rush not actually playing but just getting it. I've routinley bought new games and didn't play them for a while. When I picked up my 360 I played a bunch of OXM demo disc and downloaded a bunch of other demos which I didn't even play all the way through. Still haven't finished the lost Planet Demo and I was frothing at the mouth to get that.

[Cuddly Knife]

If I'm stoned, I far too lazy to ever try. Which is why I don't like weed.
It's the opposite with me. If I don't have any smoke, I lose my will to play games. I'd rather be doing something else. Anything else. A lot of games get really boring to me when I'm sober, but when I'm faded or buzzing, I can play like the champ I am.

For example, I've been making a map for Far Cry for the past 5 hours. If I wasn't balzed up, I wouldn't have been able to do this. I'd be cutting weeds.

I also prefer to smoke by myself than with other people. Not because I'm tight with my stash, but because I'd rather be discussing my ideas with myself than with other people who usually know nothing of what I'm trying to get across.

Unless I'm online. :)

[BoyVsCar]

You all are making me feel rather straight...

Are you guys all from the left coast? I suddenly feel like the midwesterner I am...

[Superjoint Ritual]

It's the opposite with me. If I don't have any smoke, I lose my will to play games. I'd rather be doing something else. Anything else. A lot of games get really boring to me when I'm sober, but when I'm faded or buzzing, I can play like the champ I am.

For example, I've been making a map for Far Cry for the past 5 hours. If I wasn't balzed up, I wouldn't have been able to do this. I'd be cutting weeds.

I also prefer to smoke by myself than with other people. Not because I'm tight with my stash, but because I'd rather be discussing my ideas with myself than with other people who usually know nothing of what I'm trying to get across.

Unless I'm online. :) My attention span reaches zero when I'm blazed. I'll start doing something, then completely forget why I started to do it in the first place. But I rarely blaze, so I don't have much of a tolerance. I can literally hate what I'm watching on TV, but refuse to get up to change the channel even though the remote is barely out of reaching distance. I hate myself when I'm stoned... But what you described sounds a lot how I feel when I'm on shrooms.

Give me four or five shots of JD, however, and I'll play Cowboys from Hell on expert like I'm Dimebag himself.... RIP. :(