According to The Parent Report, “the excitement of video games makes playing them addictive” (The Parent Report) It suggests that it is not necessarily the video games themselves that are addictive, rather the excitement that they generate within the player that becomes addictive. Other scholars, like George Randall and Joe Ahn from Clemson University, suggest otherwise, claiming that a game like World of Warcraft is “inherently addictive,” since its primary focus is keeping people in the world to play collaboratively (Ahn, Joe and George Randall). They suggest that people stay in the game not because it is addictive or exciting, but because it is “the only comfortable social medium for them” (Ahn, Joe and George Randall). People who enjoy playing the game for this reason are not necessarily dependent upon the game, but are attracted to the human interaction that the game provides them with. Peter Wiemer-Hastings further supports this claim through research that he conducted, which contrasted the amount of time people who considered themselves gamers but did not play MMORPGs played with people who played MMORPGs. The results showed that across the board, gamers who played MMORPGs put in a lot more hours than the other gamers (Wiemer-Hastings, Peter and Brian Ng). I believe that all of this evidence shows that video games themselves are not inherently addictive, however certain games that appeal more towards users’ emotions, such as MMORPGs, can be addicting because they satisfy these needs.

Works Cited

"Video Game Addiction". The Parent Report. 3/25/2008

Ahn, Joe and George Randall. "Computer Game Addiction." Clemson 25 Mar 2009 .
Wiemer-Hastings, Peter and Brian Ng. "Addiction to the Internet and Online Gaming." CyberPsychology and Journal 2005, 25 Mar 2009
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