The Harmful Effects of Video Game Addiction // World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Crossfire, Blade & Soul, Final Fantasy

The Harmful Effects of Video Game Addiction 

(Video games are growing in popularity. Pixabay. Free images.)

The Popularity of Video Games Is Increasing

Ryan van Cleave, a former World of Warcraft (WoW) player, tells how he was so engrossed in the game that he neglected his family and his job, missed sleep, and even thought about committing suicide. Speaking of his former time as a WoW gamer, van Cleave wrote: 

"Playing WoW makes me feel godlike. I have ultimate control and can do what I want with few real repercussions. The real world makes me feel impotent … – the littlest hitch in daily living feels profoundly disempowering." (Lush)

(Read more about van Cleave below.)

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Popular since the 1990s, Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have gained billions of dollars of revenue. In the year 2016, World of Warcraft alone had a revenue of $9.23 billion (Leack). And, in 2016, World of Warcraft had 5.5 million subscribers, but that number is slowly decreasing as people look for alternative ways of entertaining themselves. But, in spite of its decline, World of Warcraft is still holding millions of people captive and other MMORPGs are gaining much revenue around the world. 

There is a website called thegamerwidows.com, which was set up for the lonely spouses of gamers, who are engrossed in electronic gaming. If their gamer spouses leave World of Warcraft, sadly, it's likely that they will take up gaming in other platforms, unless they find true hope. (See the end of this article for more about true hope).

The global market for electronic games (nonphysical games) is very popular and it is growing each year. It includes games for PC, tablets, smartphones, and consoles. Multiple billions of dollars are raked in by the electronic game industry each year. Newzoo reported in April of 2017 that it was estimated that the "The Global Games Market Will Reach $108.9 Billion in 2017 With Mobile Taking 42%". (McDonald).


Video games can be like drugs.

Like an addictive substance, such as a narcotic, video games continue to attract millions of people. A number of years after narcotics were popular for many Americans, technology progressed to the point where video games came out that drew crowds of young adults, teens, and children. Many now are addicted to games such as World of Warcraft, League of Legends, and Crossfire. 

According to the article by The Verge titled, "If 'World of Warcraft' is a drug, Blizzard is a cruel drug dealer," a user of World of Warcraft, named Monkkicks, wrote this statement on the World of Warcraft forums:

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(Video game controllers. Pixabay. Free images.)

"Hi i play wow every day usually for 8 hours. I do not enjoy it, but i still play it. i don't even know why. [...]

i want to be able to play less but i just can't do it. all the people i have met in wow stopped playing or play less than what i do.

what keeps me drawing me back to this game? why am i addicted? does anyone know a good way to cut back on wow? or anything to get my mind off the game?

thanks for reading..." (Sottek)

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Ryan van Cleave, a former World of Warcraft (WoW) player, tells how he was so engrossed in the game that he neglected his family and his job, missed sleep, and even thought about committing suicide. Speaking of his former time as a WoW gamer, van Cleave wrote: 


"Playing WoW makes me feel godlike. I have ultimate control and can do what I want with few real repercussions. The real world makes me feel impotent … – the littlest hitch in daily living feels profoundly disempowering." (Lush)

The Guardian said this in an article ("At war with World of Warcraft: an addict tells his story") on video game addiction: 

"Over the past five years, stories in the media have described people suffering exhaustion after playing a game for 50 hours straight, teens killing their parents after having games taken away and parents neglecting infants while mesmerised by the online world." (Lush)

Another Guardian article, titled "Girl starved to death while parents raised virtual child in online game," said:

"South Korean police have arrested a couple for starving their three-month-old daughter to death while they devoted hours to playing a computer game that involved raising a virtual character of a young girl." (Mark Tran)

Some people find it very hard to break away from video games. And, unlike narcotics, video games are legal. They have become very popular as computer graphics and processors advanced greatly since the '70s and '80s. A whole website, thegamerwidows.com, is dedicated to the spouses of addicted video game players.

According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the video game industry is growing very rapidly and is raking in billions of dollars of global video game sales. Here is what ESA had to say about video games:

"The video game industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the U.S. economy. According to research firm Gartner, global video game sales will reach $111.1 billion by 2015. In 2013, computer and video game companies posted strong overall sales in the United States, with revenues exceeding $21 billion [...] Worldwide, sales in 2013 topped $93 billion, according to Gartner, due in part to the growth in mobile game play and the release of the eighth generation of game consoles." ("Games:...") [End quote]

How technology crowds out HOPE. 

(A smartphone. Pixabay. Free images.)

With all this abundance of video games, smart phones, and internet gaming platforms, people have less time to think about what really matters in life, such as eternity, God, and God's holy word, the Bible, which offers true hope to all people. It is often easier to use a computer than to seek God and read God's book, the Bible, but it doesn't have to be that way.

The human soul and spirit are deep wells, which are empty in their natural state. Without a deep relationship with the loving, Almighty God, these wells are empty and dry, and we tend to want to fill these wells with something. If we are not being filled with God, whatever we pour into our souls would be as lasting and as useful as liquid nitrogen, which boils on contact with any surface at room temperature.

There is nothing in this world or in any religion that can fill our soul or spirit except for a Spirit, the Creator God. Eating grass will never fill you up, and only eating dry crackers will never quench your thirst for water. Only the Water of Life can fill up your soul and spirit, and quench your thirst, and fully satisfy you. His Name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus said these words to a woman of Samaria in John chapter 4, verses 7 to 14:

[John 4:7-14]

"[7.] There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 

9. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 

10. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 

11. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12. Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 

13. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." [End quote] 


Conclusion

There is great hope for all who call upon God and who trust only in Jesus Christ for salvation. Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, occultists, and others, who have sought to know the Creator God, have been directed to the Bible and to Jesus Christ, the only One who can save us from our sins. 

You can go on YouTube or Google and find many testimonies of former Muslims or Hindus seeking to know the truth and turning to Jesus Christ for salvation after having dreams and visions about Him. I encourage you to truly seek God and read the King James Bible, and God will reveal Himself to you. 

 ➠ If you would like to know Abba God the Father and Jesus Christ (God the Son), and be saved from sin, click here to read more. 

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WORKS CITED


Leack, Jonathan. "World of Warcraft Leads Industry With Nearly $10 Billion In Revenue." gamerevolution.com. 

McDonald, Emma. "The Global Games Market Will Reach $108.9 Billion in 2017 With Mobile Taking 42%." newzoo.com. 

Games: Improving the Economy. theesa.com. Entertainment Software Association.

Lush, Tamara. "At war with World of Warcraft: an addict tells his story Guardian." theguardian.com. News and Media Limited.

Tran, Mark. "Girl starved to death while parents raised virtual child in online game." theguardian.com. News and Media Limited.

Sottek, T.C. "If 'World of Warcraft' is a drug, Blizzard is a cruel drug dealer" theverge.com. Vox Media.