A Dangerous Diction

It is striking to me that time spent playing video games can be compared to the abuse of narcotics in various popular discourses. In Rob Cover’s paper, he quotes Kimberly Young who states that the frequent and time-consuming use of digital media forms is no different from “alcoholism, chemical dependency, or addictions like gambling and overeating.” I feel that Cover successfully overturns this argument through his point that gamers are drawn to gaming for purposes of engaging with and exploring their own identity and sociality; the ‘hit’ is in the interactivity, not any physical fix. It is all too easy for conservative critics of digital media to plaster the label of ‘addictive’ onto gaming, as the term ‘addiction’ conveniently connotes what these critics themselves do not have the balls to say upfront in their commentaries. To generalise and stereotype; as a greater mass plagued by crippling conservatism, we apparently associate addiction with the lower-class, the illiterate, and the dangerous. Therefore to attribute game playing with the term ‘addiction’ immediately implies that gamers and gaming itself have their roots in the less-than desirable part of society (the lower-class). It is funny how reading, for example, escapes the demeaning term- precisely because it is already well established within high-culture. Yet reading is highly immersive, and the avid reader will continue to read and therefore ‘escape’ from reality for hours and hours on end. Adopting the same mindset as the conservative critic, how then is that not ‘addiction?’ Jacques Derrida says that the drug addict “cuts himself off from the world, in exile from reality, far from objective reality and the real life of the city and the community,” which Young seems to draw on to describe the ‘addiction’ to digital media as an interaction with a “world of make-believe.” I’m pretty sure nine times out of ten a person reading a novel will invest themselves in some sort of world of make believe. Had gaming been an activity that predated reading, would we have associated it with a higher, literate culture? I would say yes, as the article Kevin referenced in tutorial a few weeks back made a very compelling argument for this- gaming is interactive, puzzling and challenging compared to reading, and this most certainly could be seen as having much value in shaping an actively thinking, individual mind. Books could comparably be seen as words on a page that dictate ideas and stories, things that do not entice the mind to think for itself. Comparing the so-called gaming ‘addiction’ and addiction to other digital media forms alike to chemical dependency is nonetheless ridiculous for the obvious reason that chemical addiction chemically alters the brain and leaves it wanting more as a result. The compulsion to immerse oneself in a game, however, should perhaps be thought of as an attraction to interactivity rather than an addiction to something ‘dangerous’.

Shavaun Scott in an interview makes a valid point that the idea of addiction to gaming is a somewhat redundant argument. The real crux of any issues with game playing lies in exactly how much gamers are playing games as opposed to addiction itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U1T9ZumALk

To compare this to drinking, for example, (bare with me I do have a point...) a person may drink excessively on a Saturday night to have fun, and may go overboard to the point that they embarrass themselves or say ridiculous things to others as a result of intoxication, but they are not ‘addicted’ to alcohol. Likewise, a school kid may play excessively for fun and then forget to do her homework. I like that Scott uses the terms ‘problematic play’ and ‘compulsive play’ to breakdown the issue of excessive gameplay rather than referring to addiction. This looks at the broader context of gameplay; her perspective does not simply lump gameplay into the category of addiction (rather, there are various different types of gameplay), and that like any other recreational activity there should be a healthy balance in terms of how involved a person may become.