[Georgi]

I think it is overdramatising... I mean come on, "Angie said her live-in boyfriend spends at least 30 hours a week playing "EverQuest" as a female elf--a character choice she finds "weird and disturbing"--" Most people can play these games without being mentally deranged. This article offers an interesting perspective...

Quote:

I called Dr Mark Griffiths, reader in psychology at Nottingham Trent University, who has conducted several studies in this field. His opinion, however, was that only youngsters were at significant risk: "Once your development is complete, adverse effects are less likely." Games were, he said, safe in moderation. Aha. What about immoderate play? Could I possibly be addicted? "There are six components to addiction," said Griffiths. "Whether it's salient (the most important thing in your life); whether it reliably modifies your mood; whether you build up tolerance (enjoy it less); whether you get withdrawal symptoms; whether it conflicts with other life factors; and whether you relapse (ie, your CD-Rom breaks down but you get it repaired in record time)." Well, yes, all of those had probably applied at some point. Yet Griffiths seemed unwilling to diagnose the dysfunction I was seeking, basically because I was compos mentis enough to have held down my job and engage him in vaguely intelligent conversation - vaguely intelligent conversation about computer games, mind you.