Pena 1 Abel Pena Professor Bevill ENGL 1302-06 21 October 2016 - Video Game Addiction When video games were first introduced in the 70s, they captivated people of all ages. Since then, the amount of people who game has risen drastically. According to a report by the Entertainment Software Associ ‘Americans playiviceozames/@;hoursioniiOROPERWEAR A large amount of Americans play video ‘games; so how does this affect players? The most popular type of videogames is social, which integrate some sort of interaction between real world players. A study conducted by Douglas A. Gentile showed an estimated 72% of American households play video games while 9% of the participants in his study showed signs of video game addiction. Video game addiction leads to social and physical problems with long term and short-term effects) | aby Many players who are addicted to gaming suffer from serious social problems. These players will spend a large amount of time away from friends and family isolating themselves watts from social interaction} The video games players play fulfill the social needs they have, further isolating themselves from social contact and indirectly leads to a decline in their social skills. A study published in the journal of Addiction and Health comparing the social skills of students addicted to computer games with normal students found that those who were addicted had lower social skills than those who didn’t further showing that those who are addicted avoid social relations and affect their social skills. Another social problem addicted players have is the decline of relationships they may have with family and friends. A study conducted by SelenPena2 Demirtas Zorbaz. at Hacettepe University showed that students who had discouraging relationships with their parents were at risk for video game addiction. This shows why someone would become addicted to video games Video games satisfy the social needs and substitute positive social relationships that damage players social skills further. Weak relationships with family or friends lead to players seeking more of a video game where there are more likely to find positive and rewarding relationships with other players and characters in games. This continued behavior will lead to players further neglecting social outings with friends and family to play more of their video game.{Those who continue to neglect their real world responsibilities can end up seriously damaging their social skills, “Suddenly, he's 21 but has the social skills of a 15-year-old. He doesn't know how to make friends, talk to girls, or just “hang out” and enjoy people's company”,@\ This usually leads the player right back to the game that caused the lack of social development] Those addicted to video games can spend more than 24 hours a week () playing games, which also leads to financial and academic problems.{Those who play Massive subscription to play, drain players financially over the course of however long the player is interested in the game, which can be years due to the never ending nature of MMORPG's which do not have a definitive end as more content is regularly released, sucking players into playing more and more) The amount of time players spend neglecting their responsibilities and obligations at home can lead to very negative outcomes academically. In a study by Douglas Gentile, 1178 young Americans were surveyed about their game use, 20% said their schoolwork suffered due to the time video games drain from players §. Addicted players’ obsessive use of video games negatively affects player’s social skills, relationships and may lead to financial and academic problems down the road. aw Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG’s), which usually require a monthly’ wuPena 3 Those who are addicted to playing video games spend long hours in front of televisions and monitors which often times leads to physical problems. A. study conducted by Eshrat Zamani analyzing the physical effects of gaming addiction found a direct relationship between addiction to computer games and physical disorders such as anxiety, sleep disorder and depression (3) This shows a strong correlation between those with a gaming addiction and physical problems. ‘These problems are worse depending on the current health of the person who plays as poor physical health in teenagers draw them to video games. Lengthy gaming sessions often consist of the player sitting in the same position for hours, an unhealthy addiction that can become the Gayo Video game addiction leads to many social and physical problems. At first, these source of chronic back problems. According to Video Game Ad problems may seem insignificant and minor while the user is unaware of the strain they are putting on themselves. These minor problems may lead to more serious and problematic consequences if these problems are not addressed before they get out of hand. Addicted gamers may experience a pene nie affected by video game addiction should seek help and consider these consequences when deciding if gaming is something they should continue doing.