Video games have always been a fun escape to a fantasy world.
However, an escape from reality can be dangerous and addictive at times.
Long hours spent staring at screens makes sense in a few cases.
Streamers or professional gamers who play competitively in tournaments for money will need to play consistently because it’s their livelihood.
However, there is a point when a casual gamer has gone too far with their gaming sessions.
The American Addiction Centers describes video game addiction as a process addiction, similar to compulsive gambling, because of the similarities in repetitive action with the interest of winning big in the end.
There are some groups, such as parents and select Psychology Today contributors who protest the comparison to gambling, arguing that it is too extreme.
Deniers of video game addiction say video games simply enhance cognitive skills, but there are numerous examples that state otherwise.
While some may believe the comparison to gambling is extreme and argue that games enhance cognitive skills, there are numerous examples that state differently.
With video games being accessible to players in home consoles, PCs, handhelds and smartphones, it is significantly easier for someone to become more hooked to gaming rather than gambling.
Both video game and gambling addictions share serious financial implications.
Some can argue that compulsive gambling involves real-world money while video games only involve game currency and experience points.
The thinking is that a loss while playing a video game has no real-world equivalent to crippling debt.
Most video games cost real-world money and many have in-game currency that can be acquired through spending actual money.
In-game purchases, also known as microtransactions, are often criticized
by players.
But the reason games have the option of payments in game is so that developers have the funds to manage and maintain it and develop future content for the game or
future releases.
It is a simple process that involves entering payment information and pressing a button on a controller.
That simple process is something that proved to be a major issue for 54-year-old Maine resident Bettysue Higgins.
According to a 2011 Kotaku article, a popular gaming website, Higgins embezzled $166,000 from her company to help pay for virtual coins in the Facebook games “Mafia Wars” and “YoVille.”
This compulsive spending isn’t limited to just older gamers.
According to the Irish Mirror, one unnamed mother in Ireland let her son use her debit card to buy “FIFA 18” on the PlayStation 4.
Her son still had access to the card information because it was linked to his “FIFA” account and continued to use it.
“This was my first Christmas working full time and then to go to your bank account and find it empty with the whole month’s pay and overtime in the buildup to Christmas just gone is horrendous,” the mother said in the article.
Sony refused to refund any of the money that was spent on the game.
People can go overboard spending money in video games, causing significant financial repercussions.
Not only could you find your wallet empty from gaming, but it can also result in death.
Aside from guzzling down stacks of Red Bulls which could make gamers’ hearts explode, malleable minds could experience mental distress.
There have been cases such as Russian
15-year-old Alexey Maximov who stabbed a 21-year-old university student repeatedly in the eyes, neck and chest.
During the investigation, the police found that Maximov had been “calmly” playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, according to the Daily Mail.
“I have always wanted to see when a person dies by your own hands,” Maximov said to the Daily Mail. “A voice inside my head told me what had to be done.”
24-year-old David Katz suffered a loss in a “Madden NFL 19” tournament in Jacksonville, Florida.
In retaliation he shot at his fellow competitors, according to The Guardian.
Two were killed and nine were injured before he turned the gun on himself.
According to CNN, authorities and others in attendance, there was no other motive for the shooting aside from Katz’s loss.
It cannot be denied that there are those who take a game too seriously, which results in the destruction of their life or the lives of those around them.
