Addictiveness of WoW
Posted by Mike | Filed under Games
This is another post regarding to negative effects of video games. There is an article citing that World or Warcraft is “more addictive than crack cocaine.” The article cited a report from Sweden’s Youth Care Foundation. I did some searching, but I could not find this report. Although I could not find this article, it doens’t mean that it doesn’t exist (it may not even be available in English).
I would be interesting in seeing any studies relating to the physiological effects of video game addiction. The reason being, the big thing with crack cocaine is that it releases a large amount of dopamine – which is what causes people to feel europhia. While video games may cause people to feel europhia, I am unaware of any studies indicating that playing video games causes the same physiological response as crack cocaine (releasing large amounts of dopamine).
I have found reference to a study by the Stanford University School of Medicine indicates that video games have addictive characteristics. The reason being, is because when people play video games, there is increased activity in the region of the brain associated with reward and addiction.
While this study provides some incite to the fact that video games could actually be addictive, it is not conclusive evidence that they are. If you actually read the article, there is one interesting point (even in the Abstract of the paper) is that the researchers do not attempt to highlight the existence of video game addiction, but simply refer to as becoming “hooked”
Tags: addictive, Commentary, Games, World of Warcraft, WoW
One Response to “Addictiveness of WoW”
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Chad Busson Says:
July 21st, 2010 at 11:25 pmThanks for taking the time to write that, I found it very educational. If you get a chance you should visit my blog as well. I hope you have a nice day!
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