Online Gaming – Harmless Escape or Dangerous Addiction?

In a world spinning out of control, in which ordinary people have less and less power over their own lives, not a few of us find an escape in the virtual world on-line gaming. Take, for example, the case of Kim Myung.

Failing his university exams, pressured by parents, the 20-year-old began retreating to a place where he was invincible. Kim played for hours with other anonymous online gamers. As he destroyed zombies and ghouls, the flashing words “Excellent!” or “Masterstroke!” were like an upper. Kim played over sixteen hours a day, gaining 10 pounds on a diet of instant noodles.

“I guess I knew I was becoming addicted, but I couldn’t stop myself,” Kim recalls.  Now in a clinic where he undergoes counseling, he adds,  “I stopped changing my clothes. I didn’t go out. And I began to see myself as the character in my games.”

South Korea, is home to the world’s most extreme gamer culture – and authorities are getting worried about an epidemic of electronic game addiction. The Korean government opened a treatment center in 2002, and has launched a game addiction hotline. Private hospitals and psychiatric clinics have now opened units to treat the problem.

It is estimated that 2.4 percent of the South Korean population from ages 9 to 39 are suffering from game addiction. 10.2 are considered “borderline cases” at risk of addiction. The addiction is defined as “an obsession with playing electronic games to the point of sleep deprivation, disruption of daily life and a loosening grip on reality.” These are accompanied by depression and a sense of withdrawal when not playing, according to counselors.

10 South Koreans actually died last year from game addiction. Most of the deaths were attributed to disruption in blood circulation caused by sitting in a single, cramped position for too long. In one of the cases, a 28-year-old man died in the central city of Taegu last year after playing an online game for over two days with few breaks. He finally collapsed in a “PC baang ” a sort of  Internet game cafe, quite common in South Korea, where users play for about $1 an hour, 24/7.

“Game addiction has become one of our newest societal ills,” says Son Yeongi, president of the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity, which offers government-funded counseling. “Gaming itself is not the problem. Like anything, this is about excessive use.”

Although sociologists and psychiatrists identify South Korea as the epicenter of the problem, game addiction is spreading to the U.S. and Japan, as well as other industrial nations.  With the world becoming hyper-competitive, places over-crowded and people over-scheduled, it is small wonder that increasingly, this sort of escape would be sought out. In a highly conservative culture like South Korea, where drugs are practically unavailable and teen sex strictly taboo, it is understandable that escape from intense societal pressure through on-line gaming would be overwhelmingly attractive.

“I can understand my son’s suffering,” Kim’s mother said. “He could never satisfy his father and was failing at school. But when he plays his games, he becomes an undefeatable warrior.”

Kim’s doctor, Chin Tae Won, says, “There is nothing wrong with kids relieving stress through games, but parents need to watch for the warning signs of addiction. If a child gets violent when told to stop playing a game, that’s one of the first indications that there’s a problem.”

As the Buddha would say, “Moderation in all things…”

In a world spinning out of control, in which ordinary people have less and less power over their own lives, not a few of us find an escape in the virtual world on-line gaming. Take, for example, the case of Kim Myung.

Failing his university exams, pressured by parents, the 20-year-old began retreating to a place where he was invincible. Kim played for hours with other anonymous online gamers. As he destroyed zombies and ghouls, the flashing words “Excellent!” or “Masterstroke!” were like an upper. Kim played over sixteen hours a day, gaining 10 pounds on a diet of instant noodles.

“I guess I knew I was becoming addicted, but I couldn’t stop myself,” Kim recalls.  Now in a clinic where he undergoes counseling, he adds,  “I stopped changing my clothes. I didn’t go out. And I began to see myself as the character in my games.”

South Korea, is home to the world’s most extreme gamer culture – and authorities are getting worried about an epidemic of electronic game addiction. The Korean government opened a treatment center in 2002, and has launched a game addiction hotline. Private hospitals and psychiatric clinics have now opened units to treat the problem.

It is estimated that 2.4 percent of the South Korean population from ages 9 to 39 are suffering from game addiction. 10.2 are considered “borderline cases” at risk of addiction. The addiction is defined as “an obsession with playing electronic games to the point of sleep deprivation, disruption of daily life and a loosening grip on reality.” These are accompanied by depression and a sense of withdrawal when not playing, according to counselors.

10 South Koreans actually died last year from game addiction. Most of the deaths were attributed to disruption in blood circulation caused by sitting in a single, cramped position for too long. In one of the cases, a 28-year-old man died in the central city of Taegu last year after playing an online game for over two days with few breaks. He finally collapsed in a “PC baang ” a sort of  Internet game cafe, quite common in South Korea, where users play for about $1 an hour, 24/7.

“Game addiction has become one of our newest societal ills,” says Son Yeongi, president of the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity, which offers government-funded counseling. “Gaming itself is not the problem. Like anything, this is about excessive use.”

Although sociologists and psychiatrists identify South Korea as the epicenter of the problem, game addiction is spreading to the U.S. and Japan, as well as other industrial nations.  With the world becoming hyper-competitive, places over-crowded and people over-scheduled, it is small wonder that increasingly, this sort of escape would be sought out. In a highly conservative culture like South Korea, where drugs are practically unavailable and teen sex strictly taboo, it is understandable that escape from intense societal pressure through on-line gaming would be overwhelmingly attractive.

“I can understand my son’s suffering,” Kim’s mother said. “He could never satisfy his father and was failing at school. But when he plays his games, he becomes an undefeatable warrior.”

Kim’s doctor, Chin Tae Won, says, “There is nothing wrong with kids relieving stress through games, but parents need to watch for the warning signs of addiction. If a child gets violent when told to stop playing a game, that’s one of the first indications that there’s a problem.”

As the Buddha would say, “Moderation in all things…”