ADDICTED!!Follow

I'll bite.

Define "normal".

Whats normal for one person is not normal for another etc. But Its very common to be absorbed into MMO or some games, they are designed to suck you in and keep you playing. But think of it this way, you're paying one 15 dollar a month sub for a lot more entertainment than the 60 dollar triple-A game with maybe 10 hours of game play.

How much time spent in game is equal to how much truly free time you have in a day. Tues-Thurs. I focus on college classes so I dont play many games but Friday-Monday Ive spent up to 10 hours playing, if I don't have any plans that day. But someone with daily school or a full time job might binge play sat/sun and fit in an hour here or there during the week.

Behavioral addictions aren't "addictions," they're different manifestations of compulsive disorders (under DSM 5). There's little evidence to suggest that the game itself can cause this disorder, but it does give the symptoms a place to latch on in terms of the dopamine cycles of the brain.

Essentially, what games like WoW revolve around are small actions that lead to small rewards, which give the player a small hit of dopamine from the brain. Someone with a compulsive disorder values those dopamine releases far more than someone without one, leading to them seeking those releases.

But it's not anything unique to video games. Behavioral compulsions form around anything that gives that dopamine hit; food, exercise, sex, lying, etc.

Essentially, anything that's low effort with a decent-enough reward in terms of happiness can trigger these compulsions.

The fault isn't with the game; all the game does is make you happy, and it does it in a way with simple investment -> reward formula. The person needs medical intervention (through some combination of therapy and medication) to help them manage their ability to regulate their responses to positive stimuli.

This isn't like with substances, with cause actual, chemical changes to brain chemistry to create a physical addiction. This is a person with a separate disorder that happens to be manifesting itself to that particular game. It's not possible to purge life of those simple reward situations (like eating), but encouraging treatment, removing the stigma around it, etc. are all possible. But if you focus on getting rid of the stimuli, you're not really going to help anyone; you're just going to send those people to other compulsions.

I think you're asking a lot of questions, Mr. Zaboomafoo07.

I don't think he's a troll per se, probably just writing a paper on how video games affect our lives or something.

Now it's a solid 3 out of 3. So no, no kidding.

that makes no sense at all