Kotaku: Addiction

UK Treatment Group Preps For Next Big Addiction: Video Games

Brian Crecente — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EST

A UK-based charity treatment group is preparing for what they believe will become the next major addiction issue: Video Games. More »

Mother Says World of Warcraft Turned Her Child Into Aggressive School-Skipping Hunchback

Brian Crecente — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

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A mother writes in to Australia's Telegraph to complain that World of Warcraft has turned her 13-year-old son into an aggressive computer addict who skips school and threatens violence if pulled away from his game. More »

Lawyer Blames Games Addiction For Case Flubs

Jen Schiller — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:00:00 EDT

A Pennsylvania lawyer is blaming an addiction to video games for his shoddy work on a multitude of cases, the York Dispatch reports. More »

How Video Games Make It Harder to Quit Smoking

Mike Fahey — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:20:00 EDT

When attempting kick the cigarette habit, tasks and activities once associated with smoking make the cravings flare. In today's Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Peter Pan Complex struggles with video games as a catalyst for puffing his life away. More »

New Laws and Clinic to Combat Internet Addiction in South Korea

Jen Schiller — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:40:00 EDT

Internet Addiction is a growing problem for millions around the globe, but in more wired countries the problem is all the more prevalent. More »

How Do You Stop a Team Fortress 2 Addict From Playing?

Mike Fahey — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:20:00 EDT

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Playing video games is normally a harmless hobby, but when a game consumes every single waking hour of your existence there's a problem. Commenter Wtfisthisidonteven is looking for help breaking his little brother's Team Fortress 2 habit in today's very special episode of Speak Up on Kotaku. More »

Korea Institutes National Curfew For Kid Gamers

Brian Crecente — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EDT

South Korea this week passed a new law that would ban children under the age of 15 from playing online games between midnight and 6 a.m., The Chosunilbo reports. More »

Internet Gaming Obsession Claims Another Life In China

Mike Fahey — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:40:00 EST

The dangers of internet addiction in China were demonstrated yesterday, when an unidentified 30-year-old man collapsed in an internet cafe outside of Beijing following three days of nonstop online gaming. More »

Chinese Parents Are Able To Control, Ban Online Gaming

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:30:00 EST

There is a war raging right now in China, and it's against online addiction. The latest recruits aren't doctors or bureaucrats, but parents. More »

This Is How South Korean Children Battle Game Addiction

Mike Fahey — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:20:00 EST

It looks like torture, and for children In South Korea that are used to playing video games non-stop, ruining their grades in the process it might be. This is where parents send their children to learn a little self-control. More »

Study: Child After Child Is A Gaming Junkie

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:00:00 EST

Playing video games is normal. A new study tries to pinpoint when it isn't, claiming that one in ten are addicted. More »

Roger Ebert's Past Game Addiction Made Him Sad

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 06:00:00 EST

This year, famed film critic Roger Ebert said games could never be art — a mistake he later admitted. While Ebert might not be a fan of games, that doesn't mean he didn't used to play them obsessively . More »

Full House Star Sued Over Video Game Jibes

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:00:00 EDT

When Jodie Sweetin was 13, Full House was canceled. The actress, who played Stephanie Tanner, grew up, got married and started doing meth. But her second husband, she says, was a gaming junkie. More »

Why Do People Play Social Network Games?

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:00:00 EDT

Well, according to one expert, these games are designed to be addictive. More »

Chinese Youth Dies At Boot Camp

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:40:00 EDT

The Chinese government has taken swift steps to deal with teenagers that are addicted to online games and the internet. One step has been the creation of boot camps. More »

Game Obsessed Woman Neglects Children, Kills Dogs

Mike Fahey — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:20:00 EDT

When officers arrived at a house in Swanley, Kent, earlier this year to investigate appalling conditions reported by a neighbor, the game obsessed homeowner's two dogs had been decomposing in the dining room for two months. More »

NFLer Opens Up About His Games Addiction

Owen Good — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:30:00 EDT

Quinn Pitcock, the once promising defensive lineman who washed out of the NFL in 2008, citing games addiction, has opened up about his dark days in front of a screen. His game of choice was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. More »

NFL Player Returns From Games Addiction

Owen Good — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:20:00 EDT

Quinn Pitcock was an all-America defensive lineman at Ohio State, and a third-round draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts. But he quit the NFL in 2008, at age 24. The reason? Video games addiction. More »

Getting Prairie Voles Drunk Isn't Just For Fun Any More

Mike Fahey — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EDT

What small furry rodent do scientists turn to when they need to study the effects of alcohol abuse on humans? That would be the prairie vole: nature's frat boy. More »

Quitting World Of Warcraft

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:00:00 EDT

Internet person haiksterbnh spent nearly five years of his life playing World of Warcraft, clocking over 24,000 hours. He created a Level 73 Shaman and a Level 80 Priest. But after "having no friends...at all", he made an important decision. More »

Japanese Housewives, Online Gaming Addicts

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:00:00 EDT

A small percentage of Japanese housewives lose themselves in torrid love affairs. An even tinier percentage become heavily addicted to online games, a new book claims. More »

From Productive Writer To Cocaine Addict, Just Add Grand Theft Auto

Mike Fahey — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:20:00 EDT

Tom Bissell was a productive, healthy, and somewhat disciplined young award-winning author, before his passion for Grand Theft Auto helped transform him into a cocaine-addled gaming addict. More »

The Disturbing Ways Our Video Games Addict Us

Mike Fahey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:20:00 EST

Have you ever spent so much time playing a video game that you felt like a caged rat? That means it's working. Cracked's David Wong takes a serious look at how and why our video games won't let us go. More »

MMO Parents Take Care of Virtual Toddler While Real One Starves

Owen Good — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:20:00 EST

A Korean couple is said to have neglected their infant - to the point of starvation - while they fed their own online gaming addiction in Internet cafes. The Sun's reporting this, so, let's get our sensationalism detectors on. More »

iPhone Bejeweled 2 Gets Free Blitz Update

Mike Fahey — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST

What's the only thing more addictive than Bejeweled 2 on the iPhone? How about Bejeweled 2 with links to the Facebook version? A free updates from PopCap gives iPhone players just that. More »

Aussie Prof Connects a Lot of Dots Between Games and Gamblin'

Owen Good — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:00:00 EDT

A study of young people who are also pathological gamers, sooprise, turns up a connection to video games, in a report on Australia's ABC News. Notably, however, another researcher knocks down the suggestion of a causal link. More »

Japanese Newspaper Wonders About "Game Addicts"

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 EDT

The Mainichi Daily News is running a three part series on online game addiction. More »

MTV Seeks Gaming Addicts For Reality Show

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:00:33 EDT

MTV's documentary series "True Life" is looking for you, if you're addicted to playing video games to the point that that it's ruining your life. The decade-old reality show is seeking hardcore addicts for "True Life: I'm Addicted To Videogames." More »

News Show Looks At Death of Xbox Runaway, Dark Side of Gaming

Brian Crecente — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST

This Friday CBC News show The Fifth Estate takes a look at the sad case of teen gamer runaway Brandon Crisp. More »

Video Game Addict Is A Real, Sad Case

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:30:00 EST

Italian Boy 'Addicted' To Playstation, Says Actual Doctor

Stuart Houghton — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:20:00 EST

13 year old Lorenzo Amato was rushed to hospital by his father, where doctors at first thought he may have been suffering from a stroke or brain disorder. But no - after closer examination, the medics diagnosed 'Playstation Addiction'. More »

Video Game Addiction Support Group Opens In London, Canada

Stuart Houghton — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST

The US-based support group, On-Line Gamers Anonymous has opened its first chapter in Canada. Brad Dorrance - founder member of the London, CA chapter - came to the group after his 12-hour a day habit contributed to the breakup of his marriage and lead to an attempted suicide. More »

Warcraft Cited as Main Reason for Couple's Divorce

fdemarco — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:00:00 EST

It seems that World of Warcraft is the cause of yet another relationship breakdown. A gal named Jocelyn has divorced her husband of six years citing a crippling Warcraft addiction as the main cause. More »

Social Responsibility and the Chinese Gaming Scene

Maggie Greene — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:30:47 EST

Henry Jenkins, an MIT professor who was at the International Games and Learning Forum in Shanghai earlier this month, has some very interesting general and gaming-specific observations on his blog - perhaps most interesting of all were his thoughts on the issue of addiction, social obligations of game companies, the piracy issue and a lot more - his somewhat-lengthy roundup is a great little synopsis of what I imagine were some really fascinating discussions. The connection between the one child policy (and the attendant 'little emperor' syndrome) and fears about gaming addiction among Chinese youth is not one I'd really thought of before: More »

Game Obsession Blamed in Xbox Baby Murder Trial

Brian Crecente — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:00:30 EST

Video game obsession is what lead to the beating death of 17-month-old Alayiah Turman, an Assistant District Attorney said yesterday in the closing arguments of Tyrone Spellman's murder trial. More »

Abstaining From Gaming: An Experiment

Maggie Greene — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:30:56 EST

The latest Aberrant Gamer column over at GameSetWatch is an interesting summation of a challenge Leigh Alexander extended to herself and her readers: abstaining from gaming for a week. Any kind of gaming. Some dutiful readers were successful, Leigh was not - but it does raise some interesting questions on why and how we game: More »

College Freshman In China? No Computer For You!

Maggie Greene — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 12:30:04 EDT

Via Ars Technica comes a Chinese article on one of the latest (and potentially least offensive) ways officials are trying to combat internet addiction and people dropping dead of gaming binges: freshmen at a number of Chinese universities aren't allowed to bring computers with them to school. Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University recently joined the growing ranks of Chinese universities who have instituted such a ban. On the surface, I guess it makes sense - no computer = no easy access to the magical online = no WoW binges, at least in theory. But the plethora of internet cafes and quick and easy access to those oh-so-seductive games means many are suspicious about the efficacy of such bans: More »

Chinese Internet Deathcamp, In Graphic Video

Mark Wilson — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:00:32 EDT

China Opens Kinder, Gentler Camp For Online Addiction

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:20:20 EDT

According to Chinese state run media, some 13 percent of Chinese internet users are qualified as addicts—they're simply unable to cut the cord between themselves and internet porn, cybersex and, deadliest of all, online video games. While the American Medical Association appears to still be on the fence about classifying heavy players as addicts, China has no such qualms, initiating a program for those who need their electronic fix and need it bad. More »

Chinese Anti-Addiction Measures Not Going So Smoothly

Maggie Greene — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:30:35 EDT

Despite mandating that all Chinese companies install anti-addiction measures on MMOs and the like by the beginning of July, things aren't going as smoothly as intended: 20 companies have failed to implement the systems and the government isn't too happy about it. Notices have been sent out, and if the companies fail to comply with the requests of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), they will have their internet service suspended (and the games will be shut down until they do comply). More »