[mabbo]

I don't know whether what I had (have?) meets this WHO definition, but I can tell you that at points in my life, I've had an unhealthy relationship with video games.

For me, and maybe others as well, it's about having control over something and feeling a sense of accomplishment, feeling like I'm achieving something. Video games give you that. For a small cost ($20-$50), you can have pure escapism from reality, think about things other than your shitty life and depression and instead feel yourself accomplish goals, achieve success, win. Unlike drugs or alcohol, it doesn't end- you can just keep coming back without paying anything. There's no chemical hangover, no blood test for it, no social stigma like drugs have. It's perfect.

My underlying problems have been dealt with now, but I still have to limit how long I play games for. The high is still there and I recognize it well. I just don't need it like I once did.

Looking back at my high school days, I had a good friend who was into drugs. I got him into EverQuest. I wish he'd gotten me into drugs instead- there are well understood paths out of drug addiction. And that game messed the both of us up.

[poisonarena]

I did both drugs and Everquest in highschool and I have to say I would rather walk through the Qeynos Hills than the other option.

[pwaai]

There have been some publicized cases about Everquest...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/addicted-suicide-over-everquest...

I remember seeing the Everquest demo trailer video in an Electronic Boutique store and reading about it in PC magazine, I was astounded by the sheer level of depth. Especially the part where you could setup a physical real estate and sell stuff you gathered form the virtual world (I'm not sure if this existed in Everquest, just recall seeing bits of it in a magazine).

[mabbo]

The accusations against Verant Interactive/Sony Online were that the EverQuest was designed to make you get addicted, play endlessly- that they knew what the consequences of these design decisions were.

An example: often bosses would spawn once every K hours- randomly. So you might have to wait a literal 24 hours in a row without ever seeing the boss you need to kill, and he has a 1 in X chance of dropping the item you actually wanted. There were no 'instance' dungeons- the whole server shared that one room with the boss, so maybe you go there to wait for the boss to spawn, and there's two other groups already waiting.

There is a lot about it that was akin to a slot machine and those people who sit and put money into the machine over and over, all day. The same reward mechanism in the brain was being triggered. And from the perspective of players, that waiting, that fighting bosses, all of that was work that you put in to get the reward. And that feeling of putting in work and achieving something- even something that isn't real- that was the addiction when it felt like you couldn't ever get that in real life.

Death in the game was a big deal too- you lost experience, lost maybe hours or days or work. You could lose a level! This triggered really complex fear-of-loss psychology, and for people already dealing with psychological issues (that's why they played EQ so much) there were always stories about the rage from dying. Just really unhealthy stuff all around.

I don't personally think it was designed to do this to humans, no truly malicious intent, but it did mess with people.

[mabbo]

I'm not entirely serious about the drug thing. I'm not saying I would have preferred a heroin addiction. I just wish he and I had instead done literally anything other than play Everquest.