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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 3644234" data-attributes="member: 2067">I respectfully disagree about the cheapens. I think it can be just has hard for some people to kick, but it seems to me that kicking the gambling habit is more a matter of pyschological mindset. You don't get the shakes and cold sweats and the miserable physical pain of, say, kicking heroin. You might be sad and snippy, but it strikes me as pretty crazy to call both of these things the same thing. 100% true! The need is entirely mental. That's part of why it can be displaced on so many different things (anything that can bring you fun can be this kind of &quot;addiction&quot;), and why kicking it requires changing your thoughts, rather than changing both your thoughts and enduring some of the horrors of detoxing your physical body as well. These people who loose themselves in DDO are still entirely in control of their own actions, and entirely responsible for their own behavior. DDO didn't make them think or do anything. Being under the influence of DDO isn't a mitigating factor like, say, being under the influence of alcohol is. But calling both videogames and alcohol &quot;addictive&quot; conflates them.Really, all that videogame addicts may need to do is take control and responsibility. I shouldn't suggest this is easy, by any means, but I can't imagine it's the kind of torment that coming down off of hard, addictive substances is. Which is why it seems very incongruous of me to call them both the same thing.Basically, I'm echoing the sentiment that the problem with videogame addicts isn't with the videogame, it's with the addict. Whereas the problem with, say, heroin addicts may be partially with the addict, but it's definately with the heroin, too.Y'know, making a distinction between something that's highly addictive, and someone who can narrow their focus to exclude everything but their sad, obsessive little joy.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 3644234, member: 2067"] I respectfully disagree about the cheapens. I think it can be just has hard for some people to kick, but it seems to me that kicking the gambling habit is more a matter of pyschological mindset. You don't get the shakes and cold sweats and the miserable physical pain of, say, kicking heroin. You might be sad and snippy, but it strikes me as pretty crazy to call both of these things the same thing. 100% true! The need is entirely mental. That's part of why it can be displaced on so many different things (anything that can bring you fun can be this kind of "addiction"), and why kicking it requires changing your thoughts, rather than changing both your thoughts and enduring some of the horrors of detoxing your physical body as well. These people who loose themselves in DDO are still entirely in control of their own actions, and entirely responsible for their own behavior. DDO didn't make them think or do anything. Being under the influence of DDO isn't a mitigating factor like, say, being under the influence of alcohol is. But calling both videogames and alcohol "addictive" conflates them. Really, all that videogame addicts may need to do is take control and responsibility. I shouldn't suggest this is easy, by any means, but I can't imagine it's the kind of torment that coming down off of hard, addictive substances is. Which is why it seems very incongruous of me to call them both the same thing. Basically, I'm echoing the sentiment that the problem with videogame addicts isn't with the videogame, it's with the addict. Whereas the problem with, say, heroin addicts may be partially with the addict, but it's definately with the heroin, too. Y'know, making a distinction between something that's highly addictive, and someone who can narrow their focus to exclude everything but their sad, obsessive little joy. [/QUOTE]

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