Seeing Through the Cracks

Chapter 20

Knowledge is the key to my understanding Jake's chronic pull towards the online world of video gaming. After last semester's crisis, I searched and found some good research and information about the concept of video gaming obsession and/or addiction. Jake's story is not unique, and gaming addiction is a serious issue. I admit that I danced around it before, and that I didn't take the steps required to deal with the issue diligently. With the recent discovery that he is still using gaming as a tool for avoiding school, it is even more important that I reconsider the addiction research data, get real about the problem, and provide the kind of support that Jake requires.

In my search for more information I have learned that seventy-two percent of teens play video games on their computer, game console, and/or portable device, such as their cell phones, and a larger number of these teens are boys. In the past twenty years, video gaming has evolved to increase the opportunity to interact and socialize with others while playing, without being in the same room as one's opponent. Of these "gamers", eighty-nine percent play with friends they know in person, fifty-four percent play with friends they have met online, and fifty-two percent interact with others who are not their friends.[1] I believe that in terms of these statistics, Jake is a typical gamer.

More than half of teens have developed friendships online, which involves the use of both gaming and social media sites, and of these teens thirty-six percent of them say that they met their new friend(s) while engaged in video games. Twenty-three percent of teens report that they would give a new friend their gaming handle as contact information. Thirty-eight percent of these teens are boys, while only seven percent of teen girls would share the same information. Ninety-one percent of video-gaming boys say they play with others whom they are connected with through online multi-player networks like Xbox ™ Live or PlayStation ™ Network, and one third of boys say that they engage and play this way every day or almost every day.{1} Clearly, Jake falls into the former category: a daily user.

Fifty-nine percent of teens who play video games online with other gamers use a voice connection, much like speaking over a telephone, while they play. This then becomes a great vehicle for attracting friendship and social interaction. Of these, seventy-one percent are boys. And the older the teen, the more likely it is for them to connect with voice. A whopping seventy-five percent of boys, aged 15-17 are using voice connection when they play online. {1} Jake has told me that he uses voice chat when playing with friends he knows, online, and otherwise uses a text-based chat system to communicate.

Teenagers love video games not only because of the social value these games add, but they also provide a challenge and an escape from today's stressors; mental and visual stimuli can help a gamer to forget his or her problems, and for hours on end, forget where they are. As well, they find a sense of value and esteem while playing video games. If you're not a cool or popular kid in school and/or feel powerless in your own daily life, you can become a virtual athlete, a rock star, secret agent, or warrior in a game. Gaming may be the only place that some kids feel totally in control of their lives.{2} As for Jake, I am now aware that gaming has once again become his escape from school.

Interestingly, Atari ™, the brand name of one of the original video game platforms, in Japanese means "you're about to become engulfed". It is appropriately named, as this is what happens for many gamers; they become engulfed in their video game, lose track of time, and stop caring about anything outside of that focus. They lose valuable time that can take away opportunities for these teens to learn other hobbies, activities, and sports. And it can rob them of time to spend on homework and time interacting with their family.{2}

Video games are made to be, in a sense, addictive; game designers are always looking for ways to make their games more interesting and increase the amount of time one will spend playing them. Consequently, games are designed to be just difficult enough to be challenging, but still allowing players to experience small accomplishments, along the way, to compel them to keep playing. And massive, multi-player online role-playing video games can be especially addictive because there is no ending. Teenagers, who are easily bored, have poor relationships with their families, feel like outcasts at school, or tend toward sensation-seeking, may be prone to become addicted to gaming. And those with anxiety, depression, and/or other mental illness issues may be at risk due to the fact that dopamine levels in players' brains double while they are playing. Dopamine is a mood-regulating hormone that is associated with feelings of pleasure, so it's in essence like taking a drug to make one feel much better. But, in Jake's case, it is ultimately just a temporary fix, and when the gaming continues for lengthy periods of time, affecting one's ability to cope and to even live, the mental illness can take on a more dramatic and dangerous state. Once a gamer has reached high levels of dopamine while playing video games, it can be difficult to find other activities that duplicate this kind of high. This places one at a higher risk of feeling the low and having depressed feelings of withdrawal when they aren't actively gaming. The designers of these games seem to understand this: they build video games that create the high dopamine effect, thus making it harder to put down the console. Video games always have a virtual purpose and a goal to reach, and outside of this activity, finding something that matches the high and also has purpose may be difficult.[3] This seems to be the case for Jake. Although attending school has the goal of getting a degree, studying and learning in class just doesn't match the same sensation he experiences while gaming. It creates self-doubt and stress for him, at times. I can understand Jake's need to want to escape into gaming, and feel this dopamine rush, each time he starts to feel insecure about his ability, and enormous pressure, while trying to make his grades in school.