Quote #3

The quote "It is important that people realize that playing a lot is not the same thing as pathological play. For something to be an addiction, it has to mean more than you do it a lot. It has to mean that you do it in such a way that it damages your life" appeared to have an important to message to me. I had always heard that playing online games a lot and being addicted to them were pretty much the same thing. What this in mind it has let me think about addiction differently than before. What I've come to understand is that with addiction it's not so much how you are doing it; it's what you are not doing instead. This is important because it helps to separate out those who just play a lot with those that have a genuine problem and might need to seek help. I also know that some online games are designed to be played for long stretches at a time. They favor those who put in many hours to get real results from the game. Of course people can just little bits at a time, but some games are not designed with that play style in mind. Then again just about any game can be played for a long amount of time if the player is enjoying themselves. When it comes to addiction I think that a person's personality and what is happening in their life plays a major role