The Ethics of Addictive Video Games

Is it ethical for video game developers to purposely make their games addictive? Is it even a bad thing to be addicted to a video game? We've all heard cases of people being addicted to World of Warcraft and ruining their lives, but are those isolated cases enough to claim that the game is doing harm overall?

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!


Renegade Games Blog Post:
The posting was removed unfortunately.

Gamers Anonymous:
http://www.olganon.org/

Sunk Cost Fallacy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• world
• of
• warcraft
• wow
• starcraft
• gamers
• anonymous
• renegade
• games
• video
• game
• addiction
• developers
• ethics
• philosophy
• consoles
• video game
• gaming
• fps

[goffmen]

great points man... its a shame that people can lose their life over something like a video game... but what can we do... I know myself i am a video game collector but never to blow rent money on it nor ruin my social life because of it... great video man

[TheGamingPhilosopher]

@goffmen Many thanks! Video game collecting is a whole different situation in and of itself. I've never heard of someone being so addicted to collecting video games that they spent their rent money on games, for example, but it's certainly conceivable and I'm sure it does happen.

[TheGamingPhilosopher]

@goffmen Many thanks! Video game collecting is a whole different situation in and of itself. I've never heard of someone being so addicted to collecting video games that they spent their rent money on games, for example, but it's certainly conceivable and I'm sure it does happen.

[AxeBlack84]

Its the same argument as drugs imo. You as a person should be able to step outside the game, or take a look at your behavior to make sure your not doing or participating in something that you can't control. If gaming is taking over your life at destructive levels then you have a problem. Not the people who make games.

[TheGamingPhilosopher]

@AxeBlack84 Yeah, I think you're right about that.

[TheLoadingScreenz]

Great to see a new video from you! :D

I know some people who are addicted to video games, like one of my friends in high school. He will literally skip school more than one day a week and just sit at home and play video games all day. He fails almost all of his classes and he probably will never get into college.

I haven't been addicted to a video game where it gets to the extreme, but sometimes I will put in a long session of gaming.

[TheGamingPhilosopher]

@TheLoadingScreenz Yeah I have thankfully been aided by my relatively short attention span, which is also a hindrance in some respects. More often than not I move onto a new game before finishing the one I'm playing. I have a bit of admiration for The Completionist who has a channel on Youtube.

[PSNmrclean]

@TheLoadingScreenz Sounds like me but without the bad grades!

[ppaulomexx]

wow this helped me allot thanks, I am writing an essay on how addictions to video games can brake you down emotionally, and this video gave me 2 paragraphs worth in 5 minuits thanks man.

[tigertank945]

oh hey i got to level 25! but i got nowhere in life...

[tweirup]

Another excellent video man. I think instead of making a video game addictive, they should focus more on making a video game so good that they have a fan base and those people will buy anything else in the series that is released. A game that people will still play in 10+ years. For example: Mario games. People are still playing the original mario games (me included) and they have been around for roughly 25 years. Once an addictive game is beat, is it still addictive? Great topic!

[Paperclown]

Youtube and Facebook has become a greater addiction for many more people that still play wow.

Think its the "internet" in general. Too easy to lose track of time and neglect real life stuff.

[OldSchoolNYCGamer]

Well I can answer this due to my cousin playing Call Of Duty online since it was released how long ago now? I leave for work at 11AM and he playing it... when I get home at 3am this moron is still playing it.

The sad thing is he trash talks on it 24/7 and it very disruptive within my household.

I suffered from this a bit when I was in high school in the arcades but only in small increments. I believe developers shouldn't do it to the point that the "gamer" in question is way too much into it.