What makes video games 'addictive'?

It's obvious why videogames are so addictive. Kids these days have low or no self esteem. So when they are able to have control over a character in a game, it makes them feel poweful. Partly to blame on this is the parents. My mother bought me a Nintendo when I was 7-8 years old. I remember when my school grades started to slip, my mother made the Nintendo disapear until my grades improved. I had almost straight A's in both grade school and high school. I am now 25 years old. I own both a XBOX 360 and a Nintendo WII. I am a gamer. However, I am a responsible gamer. Thanks to my mother.

Most parents out there need a parenting instruction booklet. Sooooo many idiots out there.

I don't think it has everything to do with low self-esteem. Yeah I agree about the parent's involvement in helping children to become more responsible gamers, but there is a huge pull with video games and the technology and graphics as well. I'm a football fan, but I'm more a fan of playing a game of Madden because I make the choices. Does that mean I need control because I hate myself? No. Who wouldn't want to be the coach of their favorite team by putting a disc in an XBox

There are many aspects that make games addictive, but my opinion is that the human drive for curiosity and exploration is a major factor. "What happens if I do this?" and "What if I try that part again, but do it this other way?" are two things that I have seen and experienced in my long life of playing games, watching friends, play, and so forth. Exploration, and experimentation are two things that a lot of people do not get anymore these days. I remember when I was younger, before games, and even after I got my Atari, I spent a lot of time exploring the woods behind my house. We moved to a more established neighborhood and stopped going outside because there was nowhere to explore, so I explored the computer games I had. I'm grown up, why do I go explore the real world? Because it takes a week of vacation, and more money than I have to go visit a national park, for example, while a new game costs all or a fractions of a single day's wages for many hours of play. The top games are those with a lot of replay value for the "What if's" to keep being tried again and again.

Oh, it's absolutely the social aspect as well as doing something most gamers love (ie: playing). You give them a video game with gorgeous graphics, something they'd play for hours anyways, then you drop other gamers in there with them? Why leave the convienence of your home at that point? It's the reason why mushes and places like Second Life are so popular as well. You can hide from whatever problems you are and socialize as well as play from your home.

What makes games addictive? 1) most defintely game companies will strove to make them very drawing in and addictive, with little carrtos pulling a person further and further in, little by litte in the same way that casino companies rig their machines to keep people gambling...win a little, keep going, loose alot. For manufacturers, it's all about money. 2) You also do have weaker people that are going to succumb easier, just as you will with gambling, or simply watching television, lacking the intelligence or willpower to recognize its destructiveness. We really are "Amusing Ourselves to Death" as Neil Postman has appropriately titled a book of his. 3) Dr. Jane Healy's (Ph.D.) very informative book, "Endangered Minds, Why Children don't Think and What We can do About it" also addresses two additional issues: One, children growing up in front of screens miss alot of very valuable neuron connections in brain developement that can only occur through a rich, hands-on, nuturing environment. When certain neurons connect in each individual's brain is completely unique to the individual. As parents, we are responsible for our children's exposure to the wide variety and range of enriching factors that will bring the proper developments at their unique timing. Too many parents themselves have missed the boat there, with our ever-growing, insatiable appetite to be entertained. Two, she also brings up evidence on a chemical imbalance developing in our brains, causing the addictiveness to be worse. She is not the only one to introduce this concept. I actually also learned it from a friend who had become addicted to gaming, and after two years, and quite alot of Biblical counselling was able to pull out of it and be the father/husband/leader that he needed to be for his household. Dr. Healy states that it is difficult to get really good research evidence though, as the neccesary funds for such a project "aren't available" from our government, who lacks the interest and concern. I would also suggest because research propositons are heavily argued against and blocked by the gaming companies themselves, in the same way that gambling organizations pay vast amounts of money to prevent research against their very lucrative, and mentally devastating businesses. Who looses? The consumer, and everyone around them....ultimately the entire country, as we loose our work ethics, standards, values and principles in the name of gaming and entertainment. Who then, will have the intelligence or education to lead this country? For example, compare the current presidential lineup of candidates for 2008 to the candidates and victors of our first 6 Presidential elections. Compare the characters of each; Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain to George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams, from their own statements and writings, and you can't miss the difference. What we have then, is a repeat of Rome, who also fell apart from the inside out, and entertainment had a large hand it their demise as well. History repeats itself if we don't learn from it.

I believe the majority of people are drawn by two things: The socialization that is able to happen virtually where it would otherwise not in the real world, and the fact that they feel they are achieving something; again probably addicting due to a lack of achievement in the real world.

I am 25 years old and have been playing video games since I was around 10 years old. I love sports games and I find them addicting because you can take your favorite franchise and make all the moves that you wish your favorite team would make, but don't. It's fun to play manager with any team you'd like to manage across pretty much every league depending on which game you buy. It allows you to be "the man" making all the moves yourself and building a dynasty from the bottom up. This is especially appealing to fans of teams who have struggled consistently year in and year out, as they can make the changes they feel are necessary and then control their favorite players en route to a virtual championship. So what if your favorite baseball team is 15 games under .500 at the all star break in real life, in the virtual world of sports you can make them contenders year in and year out and get satisfaction out of it. People just need to remember that they need to play responsibly and not have their life revolve around it, after all, playing video games doesn't get you anywhere in life besides maybe a virtual championship.

Well, for one, I was addicted to video games. I had used to play roughly 35-40 hours a week, but I also held a part time job, but it effected me in a terrible way. Although drastic, because of video games I'm a college drop out. I did not know how to portion work, school, and games, and I just dropped out. Currently now I'm an Asst. Manager for a bank. Games can be addicting, and I think because my parents never let me play until I graduated from High School, I was making up for lost time.

Parents are the molders of their kids clay. Let them play, but make sure to limit it. Most kids enjoy the fantasy of being a warrior in a fantasy world, the owner of their favorite baseball team, or a plumber making his way across the galaxy, but make sure they know when to put down the controller, and when to pick up the book. Make gaming a reward for a job well done in school, or doing chores.

What makes some games addicting is the growing content in games. Video Games such as World of Warcraft get new levels, new monsters, and new quests to do. Video Games like Counter-Strike Source gives you online competition where you thrive to be the best.

I had an addiction, and I still play games. I'm around 15 hours a week, but during that time I'm socializing with friends, surfing the internet, and I also play tennis 5 days a week, play in a disc golf league, and bowl, as well as go to the bar a few nights a week. Sure I get those splurges to play games for all day long (see Lan Parties on wikipedia) but I know when to stop now.

In balance and moderation Video games in general is just a form of entertainment. Watching a movie for 2 hours can no more stimulate your thinking than playing a video game, in fact I notice my hand and eye coordination getting better from playing this war style game. Now I am not advocating that all games are good either, some games due to their ratings can be more harmful than good to a young child verses flipping on a instructional movie. My main point is that America is all about business and having a competitive advantage over the next person so it's only natural for the game industry same as the movie industry to raise the bar to entice people to purchase their titles or watch their movies. Also given the increasing number of households with High Definition television sets this makes the newer gaming consoles more enticing to see what the gaming industry has to offer. I personally still read, and go outdoors but it is 2008 and I also like to see what world of technology today has to offer.

Since I was four years old, I have been a gamer. My favorites are first person shooters, platformers, sandbox games, and RPG's. When I was 12 years old, I played one online game for an entire summer (6 hours minimum per day). When I realized how fast my summer had ended, I realized that I needed to play something finite and that online games were not for me. Today, I still game but only when time permits.

Game developers have attempted to make ways to makes games last longer for years. It started with two player mode in Contra on the NES, then came the Legend of Zelda and it's open approach to playing the game's quest. In Zelda, one could play through the journey how they wanted to and when they wanted to largely in part to it's personal save abilities. Zelda had it's restrictions on certain areas that could not be accessed until the player successfully completed specific puzzles. Soon thereafter, the first major multi online game came available entitled Air Warrior on the GEnie online service. Shortly after this breakthrough, Nintendo attempted to allow four players to play the same game simultaneously with a four player port adapter for the NES. This idea did not catch steam until Super Nintendo's Super Mario Kart was released. I remember playing battle mode on this game for hours with three of my buddies. In 1994, the unthinkable occurred, a small company named Catapult Entertainment created a modem apater for the SNES and Sega Genesis called XBAND. This allowed gamers to play a match of Killer Instince or Mortal Kombat, baseball, soccer, or even race against another person from anywhere in the United States. XBAND failed to gain popularity and was abandoned a few short years later. The four player adapter officially exploded with the launch of the Nintendo 64 and it's array of awesome multiplayer games (Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, and Perfect Dark to name a few). During Nintendo's innovations, game developers attempted to respond by different means starting with Quake's launch in June of 1996 and it's online abilities . Quake Online was a huge breakthrough for online gaming though it was not the first with predecessors such as Neverwinter Nights and Warcraft 2: The Tides of Darkness, Quake's online play became so popular that tournaments started to form, more games began to become available to gamers through servers, and the Online Revolution had begun.

Online games are fun but I believe they are to time consuming for several reasons. When one sits down to play an online RPG, a person has the ability to chat with others, so right away one can get lost by having a great conversation with somebody before they even undertake their adventure. Next, there are a multitude of quests that one can choose from, these quests are so plentiful that they add to what many gamers call the "Replay value." The more quests, the more there is to see, do, and conquer within the game itself. The rewards from these quests include story, status, items, and especially abilities are what many gamers strive for. Also, the hardcore gamers really attempt to conquer all of the facets of the game itself.

For RPG's, developers began to add a final dungeon or two filled with extreme monsters that dismantle all but the strongest of parties. These dungeons contain vast riches, extensions of story, or unfathomable abilities but at the price of immense difficulty. The largest difference between an online game and a regular console game is the story. In a console RPG, the story begins with a hero, a villain, and a quest. At the end of the quest, the hero slays the villain, the story wraps up, and the credits roll. With an Online RPG, the story is so open that you make your own story, you live your own life, and you go on your own adventures but the journey itself does not end.

With the rise of online capabilities a plethora of games have become online accessible. From Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Pool, Mario Kart, Need for Speed, even Scrabble are online and running. To younger gamers, in the days of Goldeneye, Super Mario Kart, and Street Fighter 2, a buddy or two would have to play on the same television until one had to go home, do homework, etc. With online playability, the fun never has to stop because there is always someone to play against; thus, the phrase "Just one more" takes on a meaning in its own right for the gamer's self-control. This is the core of what makes a game addictive. What is the individual's limit? How much is too much? Is this game more important than your job? Are the games more important than your significant other? More important then sleep? Games today are wonderful to have a vast number of elements to extend play time but a game is addictive when the player cannot stop because of their own self-will. A gamer has to know what matters more and when it's ok to pick up the controller or don the Dwarf's avatar and when one must put the controller down.

Having been a gamer, and one who's quit and rejoined many times; I find the social aspect is probably one of the most alluring features of the gaming world. For example, many times people join a "guild" in games like World of Warcraft (WoW). Once you join a guild, you're responsible to them. If they need help, you need to help them. If you don't help, then (odds are) your guildmates will become very bitter and not look at you fondly. In MMORPGs, there's a rather large aspect of playing together. For "instances" in WoW, one needs at least four other people playing with you. You NEED to play with other people eventually to progress, and once you start doing that the game becomes very addictive.

My fiance and I have run guilds a few times. Rather recently we began running a guild, and it became relatively large (approximately 80 people). It was a casual guild, you didn't need to be on ALL the time etc. One reason we chose to do that is because we're getting married in two months, and we have our own stuff going on. Although it was a casual guild, when you have around 80 people in a guild, there's always going to be someone who needs help. My fiance and I were spending more time helping others than playing for ourselves. When we realized this and slowly backed down, helping people less and less, our guildmates got angry and several left (around 10 people).

When you participate in an MMO, you become dependent on others, and they become dependent on you. Relationships like this create an environment which is difficult to leave. I'm quitting WoW again, but still hop on now and then to talk to people. I truly feel that beyond the social aspect--the aspect of interpersonal relationships--is what makes this game so addicting.

People like to lay blame on the games, but this is a cop out. There are people who are addicted to TV shows like soap operas to the exclusion of everything else, movies, books, and music. Video games are only a small sliver of the problem but because they are so popular they are a target for rabid zealots who froth at the mouth over the subject with insane obsessivenesses; aka Jack Thompson. The truth is video games are no more addictive than anything else that might draw people in and give them a way to escape from the real world for a while. Our hectic, always on the go high pressure world is the cause of the problem. To solve it civilization as a whole would have to make a drastic change to eliminate the Rat Race, eradicate the need to always rush around and get things done as fast as possible. A fundamental change in society as a whole is necessary, and should be undertaken no matter how hard it might seem. Our lifestyle is killing us with excessive stress. Life was never meant to be like this, and its about time that we as a people decided enough is enough and just say NO to all the things that are causing us such pain day in and day out. The time has come for Humanity to take stock of itself and understand that there is no need to be rushing about all the time. Some say its just a fact of life in our modern age. I ask the same question over and over again and nobody is able to answer me, when I ask this they can't come up with anything thus proving my point. That question is .... WHY?

I think the main reason for addiction in video games is the leveling system. In all video games with experience points, the higher level you are, the more experience you need to get to the next level. People then start what is known as the 'grind,' or killing monsters for extended periods of time to achieve the next level.
People just need to find the right amount of balance so that the video game does not become their sole focus throughout the day. I don't play for more than 2.5 hours in a day, and I think that I've found a good balance so I can focus on my other activities.
Moderation is the key when it comes to gaming, it could mean the difference between simply being a casual gamer and a hopeless addict.