Clinic offers gamers path back to reality

CHINA DAILY / World


Clinic offers gamers path back to reality
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-14 06:14


Addiction expert Keith Bakker hopes the serenity of a 16th century townhouse on one of Amsterdam's canals will coax those snared in the fantasy world of online games back to reality.

The property, where sunlight warms the honey-coloured wood of the centuries-old floors, houses Europe's first clinic for people hooked on playing online games.

It is run by addiction consultants Smith & Jones, who felt there was a need for treatment even though experts are still debating whether excessive game playing is an addiction.

"We started seeing it about two years ago, people started coming in with gaming as sort of a secondary problem," Smith & Jones director Bakker, 45, said.

"Then, we got one kid in who was gaming 18 hours a day and I wanted to send him somewhere and we looked around and there was nothing, so we started looking into it," said Bakker, who struggled himself with drugs and alcohol in the past.

Smith & Jones began offering day programmes to help gamers, both those playing online and those hooked on video games.

"There are groups, however, that don't easily change or those that come in for a day programme and will tell you all the wonderful things you want to hear and go home and are online again," Bakker said.

Smith & Jones now offers in-patient programmes for a dozen people at a time, lasting four to six weeks.

Those checking in have often put their lives school, work, friends, personal hygiene on hold to keep playing, using anything from Red Bull to cocaine to stay alert.

Tim, 21, who has not played for a month since doing the day programme, said he hardly left his room for five years, gaining weight and using drugs.

Like many others he started out with a handheld GameBoy aged 12 but progressed to multiplayer online games that offer open-ended stories set in virtual universes that can support tens of thousands of players.

"I couldn't go to the toilet because then I would have to leave ... I would take an empty bottle and pee in it."

Keeping children quiet

Sometimes, parents are partly to blame for their children's behaviour, said Bakker, who was born in the United States.

"Often there are parents who are happy that the kid is on a game, at least it is quiet and off the streets," Bakker said.

"Or, they'll say 'why don't you go play, while mum and dad talk'."

The pull of games such as World of Warcraft, the sword and sorcery game EverQuest, racing game Gran Turismo or the 2006 FIFA World Cup game translates into a billion dollar industry.

The worldwide online games market is expected to grow to US$13 billion by 2011 from US$3.4 billion in 2005, according to market research firm DCF Intelligence.

Some 114 million people are expected to be playing online games by the end of 2006, the firm predicts.

Research suggests online game playing may trigger the release of the chemical dopamine in the brain. A study done in London's Hammersmith Hospital showed that increased levels of dopamine were roughly the equivalent of a dose of speed, an amphetamine that can be addictive.

The treatment offered by Bakker's firm is similar to that used to fight gambling or alcoholism. However, with gaming, the tricky part is the computer, which can hardly be avoided.

Treatment for excessive game playing is not covered by health care insurance, so patients have to cover the cost themselves 500 euros (US$640) a day.


(China Daily 07/14/2006 page6)

I was asked if suicide is selfish

it is selfish - when an individual commits suicide, he is doing what He wants to do, not what anyone else wants him to do... when an individual does what he wants instead of what others want, he is acting selfishly (and there is nothing wrong, at all, with acting selfishly).
Also, suicide is not cowardly. It's not an easy thing to do. It's not an easy choice to make, and it is even harder to carry out the act. Cowardly means taking the easy way out, but for most depressed people it is easier to just go on feeling depressed than to end it once and for all.
With all that said, I do not recommend suicide. Life is what you make of it, and just about anyone can make it into something they enjoy with some effort.
If you are considering suicide, please talk to people. Please talk to a suicide hotline. Please talk to as many people as you can, maybe someone will say something that helps you in some way. I think if you are going to do something as final as suicide, you don't have much to lose to go around and talk to a bunch of people about it. Sometimes talking to people can really change how you feel. Since it is a choice you can't reverse, you should be very careful making that choice, and should be absolutely certain you've talked to everyone who might make a difference, and be absolutely certain that you're making the correct choice. Contact me if you are still thinking about suicide. Thanks, hope this helps.
PS about 911 hijackers who committed suicide. The US media portrays them as cowards. They were not cowards. Do you have any idea how big your balls have to be to, with 3 other guys, take over a plane with over 100 people aboard with just box cuttes? Think about that! Wouldn't you be a little worried that maybe 20 of those people (or about 10% of the people on the plane) might come beat the crap out of you and throw you out of the plane? It took some guts just to do that.
It also took guts to purposefully fly the airplanes into things. If a US soldier fighting in Iraq is hunkered down in a foxhole, saying his final prayers because he is alone and there are 20 armed and angry Iraqis nearby shooting at him, our media would say he was brave and courageous if he started firing his machine gun at the enemy, trying to do as much damage as he could to the enemy before he died. Of course this is exactly the same thing the 911 hijackers were doing (damaging their enemy - the USA). For less than 20 men to kill ~3,000 of their enemies, and to do hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage is just incredible. From their viewpoint, the people they killed weren't innocent - the victims of 911 paid plenty in taxes which funded the US war machine. There is an old saying, "all's fair in love and war" which is essentially true, but there are always those on both sides who cry about the other side not playing fair.
Anyway, as per my statements above, suicide is a courageous and selfish act, and it was in the case of the 911 hijackers, also. I am not saying what they did was right. I'm not saying suicide is right, either. You see, to steal something takes courage (and selfishness). You can't rob a bank without courage. You can't do many things (whether they are good or bad) without courage. And just because you are courageous in an act, doesn't mean that act is right or good. It's not really necessary to call 911 hijackers cowards - they weren't cowards - it's not necessary to deceive ourselves about that.