Video Games Are Designed to Get You Hooked

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Cody Wheeler

This article originally appeared on The Fix.


Video games like Farmville and Words With Friends are specifically designed to get people hooked, with the industry even hiring psychiatric professionals to help  make them more addictive. And the tactic seems to be working. Recent research shows that video games can be  just as addictive as drugs, alcohol or gambling. ”It’s the same exact clinical symptoms: preoccupation, loss of control, inability to stop,” says Dr. Timothy Fong, who runs a UCLA clinic for behavioral addiction. “They keep playing the game despite harmful consequences so, in my mind, absolutely, I believe it is the same disease as alcohol or drug addiction.” While the stereotypical video game player is a nerdy teenager, Fong says that plenty of adults also find themselves unable to put down the controller. “The average age of our patients is about 40. We’ve seen housewives, doctors, lawyers,” he says. One addicted gamer, DiAnn Edwards of Pennsylvania, says she plays Farmville for up to eight hours a day, spending up to $200 a month on the habit. ”It just gets addicting,” she says. “I’m 51 and what am I doing sitting here playing a Farmville game? I don’t get it, but it actually drives me crazy.”