I'm not saying that that gaming addiction is not a problem right now or no action should be taken. But before we call it disorder or disease, we need to know for sure before we do that.
Calling something more than they actually are causes overreaction. Overreaction goes both ways, in favor of it and against it. If the goal is to raise funds for further research, presenting the current findings in honest and straightforward ways will go a long way. Overstating things gives excuse to undermine them.
This happens a lot especially in current years. There are people calling other people "sexist", racist", "nazi", etc. just because they disagree with them even when the conversation doesn't involve sex, race, or the political party. This is extremely harmful to actual victims of sexism, racism, or the political party because those words are so casually thrown around that when they are used properly the victims are not taken as seriously as they should be.
I agree that actions need to be taken. But more research should be conducted before calling it something it may or may not be. Using proper words to describe something is better to gain more sustainable recognition than fear mongering and overstatement.
By the way while we are at it. If we are going to hope the gaming industry especially AAA publishers going to do anything to help more research on video game addiction, forget it. They WILL try to undermine it and lobby against change. They literally hire psychologists to psychologically manipulate players into addiction to their "live service" games. Messed up stuff.
Can you give me an example of overreaction to video game bans, other than someone's opinion? I've heard of the odd parent who won't let their children play games. I've only seen over-reaction to gaming violence or to a lack of 'positive female roles', but mostly warning were just slapped onto the games, or it was left up to the industry itself.
I do agree the gaming industry won't do a damn thing if left to themselves. I mean the odd company may give it a try, but most of the successful ones are interested in making things profitable and fun.
There is a fine line between addiction and fun. As the games get better and better, it will become a bigger problem.
These are pretty recent.
https://www.pcgamesn.com/playerunknowns-battlegrounds/pubg-banned-india
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/14/18265945/college-students-arrested-pubg-india-ban-police
Well, games do get better and better production value over time but I wonder if it actually becoming more fun. It is becoming more addictive due to devs incorporating psychological tricks on games. That's not the fault of the medium, is it?
#sbi-skip
That is interesting. It seems they are banning PUBG mainly because of violence but also because of addiction. Since it is only a single game, I would like to think it's mainly because they have a problem with that game specifically and not addiction in general.
I don't live in India, so it doesn't affect me. I also guess since that game was made in Korea and not India, they are acting like the Chinese on the matter and mostly upset that they aren't making much money on the game. Me thinks there is a nationalist and not globalist agenda here.