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BIPOLAR disorder, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder and now videogame and Internet addiction?
According to a report from the Wall Street
Journal’s Health Blog, the American Medical Association (AMA) will
be deciding this month whether or not to recommend that videogame
and Internet addiction (VGIA) should be included in the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The House of Delegates, the AMA’s
decision-making body, will vote on the issue later this month and
should it decide that excessive gaming constitutes a mental
disorder—a decision that will then be passed upward to the
American Psychiatric Association, which will make the final
judgment.
The “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, 4th Edition or DSM-IV, is published by the
American Psychiatric Association and covers all mental health
disorders for both children and adults. It also lists known causes
of these disorders, statistics in terms of gender, age at onset, and
prognosis as well as some research concerning the optimal treatment
approaches.
Considered the “bible” of mental health
professionals, this manual is used when working with patients in
order to better understand their illness and potential treatment. It
is also used worldwide by researchers as well as insurance
companies, pharmaceutical companies and policy makers.
The DSM uses a multiaxial or multidimensional
approach to diagnosing because rarely do other factors in a
person’s life not impact their mental health.
The recommendation for a decision comes from
Mohamed K. Khan—chairman of the Council on Science and Public
Health—in a 10-page report entitled “Emotional and Behavioral
Effects, Including Addictive Potential, of Videogames.”
Khan’s report states that “although
videogame overuse can be associated with any type of videogame,”
the most common to exhibit signs of addiction were players of
massively multiplayer online role-playing games, such as World of
Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, or EverQuest. He stated, “Current data
suggest these individuals are somewhat marginalized socially,
perhaps experiencing high levels of emotional loneliness and/or
difficulty with real-life social interactions. Current theory is
that these individuals achieve more control of their social
relationships and more success in social relationships in the
virtual reality realm than in real relationships.”
It also compares videogame overuse to the
behaviors associated with pathological gambling. Alongside adults,
dependence-like behaviors were also said to be found in children,
although it was unclear whether gamers experienced traditional
“withdrawal symptoms” when unable to play. The report reads,
“Some excessive users do not exhibit any ‘cravings’ for the
games if they are unavailable, while other users insist they cannot
reduce the time they spend on the games.”
Now considering the millions playing Warcraft,
Ragnarok, MU, RAN and other MMOG’s, just imagine how many rehab
centers will sprout out if excessive gaming is categorized as a
mental disease. And since most of these individuals are introverts
who need to socialize more to lessen their addiction, think of the
excuse letters parents would probably be writing;
“Please excuse my son from being absent, he
had a VGIA attacks and had to party all night as his therapist
prescribed.”
PS3 price drop looming?
Your dreams of getting a PS3 this Christmas
might actually become reality as Sony chairman and CEO Sir Howard
Stringer expressed “awareness” that there is “no question”
consumers want a lower price tag.
Stringer confirmed that Sony would be looking to
cut the price of the PS3—although he gave no specific amount, but
indicated that the company was looking to make a decision before the
holiday season. He said that the amount of price cut is what they
are still trying to define.
And despite the not so stellar figures, the Sony
CEO said that he “was not worried” about the PS3 at all stating
that “while people haven’t bought as many PS3s, it is no
different from the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation in terms of
sales.” Stringer said the PS3 was following the sales path of the
previous two consoles, both of which over time ended up with market
dominance. He added that the PS3 was using a mere 20 percent of its
full capabilities and that once the full bandwidth, the game
experience will be “dazzling.”
Let’s hope the price cut is significant enough
so that we can finally put one underneath our Christmas trees.
Datablitz picks of the week
Lara Croft Tomb Raider Anniversary-Collectors
Edition
In 1996, the original Tomb Raider was launched.
The 3D game design, controls and graphics were truly ground breaking
for their time. Furthermore, gamers were also presented with a
unique, female human playable character with which they could become
emotionally attached, Lara Croft. The original Tomb Raider sold over
7 million copies and is still heralded as an absolute classic and
one of the best action adventure games ever. Tomb Raider defined the
PlayStation and changed the way that people played games.
Star Wolves 2
Six years have passed after the events of 2226
A.D. The balance in the galaxy has been restored as transgalactic
corporations have been deported to the outskirts of the galaxy and
deprived of their power.
The Empire, just as before, continues to fight
against the Aliens. As a rule armadas of battleships aren’t used
in such conflicts. Small maneuverable squadrons that can attack and
retreat quickly are better suited for this type of war. This means
that the famous Star Wolves team is back in action!
Star Wolves is a 3D space RPG with deep strategy
and tactical elements. The game thrusts players into a world of
freelance space hunters during a time of war for the all-powerful
Empire. Human space pirates, rogue AI computers that rebelled
against humanity and Aliens roam space in search of easy prey and
planets to conquer.
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