A 'leading psychologist' has claimed that video games are addictive and cause depression in The Sun newspaper.
Steve Pope wrote in Saturday's newspaper that Modern Warfare was "highly addictive" and that games were "one reason we are becoming more violent" as a society.
Pope wrote: 'Last year a premier league football club called me in to try to find out why the players weren't playing well in away games. I found that on the coaches to the matches they were all playing computer games.'
He later adds: 'One of the games causing many problems is the warfare series Call Of Duty. It is highly addictive and people play for hours on end. They spend all day killing people, then come off it and have to go about their daily business. I believe such games are one reason we are getting more violent.'
In one final swipe, he comments: 'I've got several patients who are what would be clinically termed addicted to... computer games. These things set the brain up for a pattern of gross fluctuation, too many highs and lows. For a short time, they can make people feel valued and boost their self-esteem. When they realise these feelings don't last, some people - particularly youngsters - can become down, even having feelings of depression.'
I honestly believe that poeple who become addicted to anything are those who don't have much varity going on in their lives.
I'm getting a bit fed up of everyone ganging up on gaming. Other forms of media have aspects which are just as violent but don't get the coverage as much as they used too. I think eventually, this unhealthy obsession they have with videogames will calm down.
Peasgoods comments on the Titchmarsh show were an absolute joke. The woman was commenting on a subject she knows next to nothing about. My compliments to Tim for doing a good job defending our pastime up against a group of people who are attacking something based on 'what they've heard', rather than the actual facts.
The only thing that causes depression are stories like the one before this one 'more GT5 screenshots - still no release date'. Not the game, just not getting the game, thats depressing.
Not having enough money to buy all the games that come out that you want, thats depressing.
But playing games, never I won't hear it, not unless it's sub-standard when it had the potential to be a great game. In that case you should have researched whether the game was any good in the first place and saved yourself from depression.
Here's my rebutal. People that read the sun are retarded. If you don't have the intelligence to read a newspaper that has a higher reading age than 8 you deserve to be miss informed by hacks and nerdowells.
Gaming doesn't casue the depression, its what a lot of people turn to becasue they're depressed. What major instution helps to spread depression and mis trust. The bloody tabloids. If we were to listen to the sun then everyone you meet wants to rape your mother, kill your father and pinch your wallet and run off with your wife.
hmmmmm funny that Kelvin Mckenize was on the Tit show and he also writes for the sun............and then a story like this breaks in the sun.
And if anyone did read the paper on saturday there was a story about the sunderland lads playing warefare and they were lining up to play against chelsea. The funny thing is they were advertising some of the players gamer tags too. that sounds like a promotion to me.
and why is it always Modern Warefare that gets the flak? Isnt World of Warcraft proven to be more adictive? did China ban over use of that game on the internet?
I still dont understand how games can make you violent if you are a normal minded gamer. I think thats just an excuse to find a blame for violence on the streets.Getting really angry at all this s**t now.
Were not going to start listening to the Currant Bun are we? They wouldnt know an honest story if it walked into their newsdesk and politley sat on their lap!
yea and movies turn us all in to zombies and birds fly out off my ass this guy knows nothing but the s**t hes told to say
Can we concentrate on the real issue here, 'movies turn us into zombies and lordjamie4 has birds that fly out of his ass.' I know it's not in a paper but if he says it then it must be so. More importantly do the birds come out beak first or do they climb out with their little feet to prevent any discomfort????
Stupid w****rs. So that's the only reason that 'footballers' weren't playing well? Maybe they're a s**t team? Maybe their lives feel cold and empty because they can buy whatever they want but they can't buy happiness?
Who knows... But video games aren't addictive... I can play games all day and then not need to for ages. I don't get the SHAKES or anything because I haven't had my fix...
Drugs, alcohol and mind altering substances cause addictions. Gaming is just like watching a film, if anything, gaming can help me feel less stressed and more relaxed.
I am FED up of these stupid allegations against the gaming industry. Ignorant s**ts.
MW2 was only as addictive as the length of the first playthrough. And any depression was down to the huge let down this game was.
And I agree with Athrun888 also add drugs alcohol and poor parenting of most teenagers. Allow parents to strike their kids when needed again I say, It worked for most of us I'm sure.
No, Ibenzlewis. gaming is not like watching a film. You watch a film once or twice. You dont have choices to make while watching and you dont take control of the protagonist.
You play a game many times, for hours on end. You take control of the character and you become that character, so to speak.
MW2 is an awful game, and is bad for the gaming industry. Another game that is not needed, is the serial-kill' em-up Manhunt and its sequel. They paint a poor picture for those that do not understand gaming.
"They spend all day killing people, then come off it and have to go about their daily business. I believe such games are one reason we are getting more violent.'
Maybe I'm mistaken, I've been playing games for so many years that I just can't distinguish the difference between virtual reality and reality, but last time I checked the characters running about on the TV were NOT real!
I must admit though, Modern Warfare 2 did cause depression for me, mainly due to it being a **** game.
Anyway, today's rant is over, now to go about my daily business - where's that 50cal.
I thought it was common knowledge that away games are tougher football teams tend to play worse away. Probably related to the fact that they are surrounded by stadium full of drunk, hostile fans booing and throwing hotdogs and pints at them.
I don't know what this has to do with games. It did give me a good laugh though but the 1st of April is next week so it can't be a joke.
This is getting beyond a joke now, I've been playing video games all my life including GTA when I was seven and I'm not violent, racist or hateful however I do get annoyed at the fact that I keep having to justify my hobby to these people especially when my Mum's view on games is based on these peoples arguments that have no basis. What I will say is that video games are addictive but isn't anything as long as you get addicted to it, I'm addicted to pizza, I love it, the dominos 2 for 1 tuesday has been taking money off me for the last six months, my mum is addicted to diet coke (should see how ratty she gets without it), what about people who watch a soap opera every day, yes they're addicts too. Difference is games stimulate the mind, I think that I'm actually a more well rounded person because of them. I played Modern Warfare 2 and I did kill the civilians in the airport, why you ask because it's a game but give me an LMG when I'm stood in the middle of an actual airport I'm not going to shoot anybody because I can differentiate between the two, just like I could differentiate between seeing an erect penis on TV and a dildo, on TV at 5 in the afternoon Mistress Peasgood (I think that's her name)
Mr Solo Dolo - "I played Modern Warfare 2 and I did kill the civilians in the airport, why you ask because it's a game but give me an LMG when I'm stood in the middle of an actual airport I'm not going to shoot anybody because I can differentiate between the two,"
I went in guns blazing cause I thought there would be an achievement for killing the most civilians. It was only afterwards I realised people were kicking off about the "horrific" nature of this level. Just like Mr Solo, I can differentiate between reality and what happens in a game. I'm sure 99.9% of gamers also have this special ability. That left over 0.1% are probably just freaks of nature who'd be violent if games were based on bunnies bouncing around a green field or something stupid like that.
Next weeks headlines "Proven fact: Study shows Hitler developed early version of GTA - Games to blame for holocaust!" Ah guess today's rant wasn't over after all...
This old chestnut again, well I guess when you have jounalists with the professional integrity of Joseph Stalin, a readership of sensationalist loving morons and so called 'experts' looking for the next meal ticket you can always rely on the Sun to come up with the goods.
I would counter that reading Sun would be far higher up the list that any video game, or indeed any media form whatsoever, for causing depression. Day after day of mis-reporting, lucid scare mongering, senstationalism and all the irrelevant tripe you can stomach to present the very worst this great nation has to offer (cough) What's wrong, no footballers to demonise?, no biased reporting to do against the political party that isn't paying you a fortune to sing their tune or is it just that you miss the fact that the real causes of social problems stem from the very sources you claim to champion i.e. inadequate parenting, weak schooling or a waterthin judicial system.
MW2 is addictive and causes violent behaviour? I've had enough of this. I'm going to The Suns offices and I'm using SONIC BOOM on every employee, It will be OVERKILL and because I'm a sexaholic psycho I'm going to DOUBLE TAP the editors wife, making sure I get DEEP IMPACT with a STEADY AIM making sure I don't LAST STAND because I'm neglecting my EXTREME CONDITIONING, then with a final thrust of STOPPING POWER I will make my escape.
lol games promote racisim and sexisim? no, lets see her list the the games that do, more proof people like her dont know jack sh!t about games, i bet you there was a few hypocrites in that auidence cheering when they know they got thier child an 18 rated game
i also love how the parents topic got side stepped, typical of this country allways trying to avoid home truths when it comes too taking responsibility, then blame everyone else but your self when it goes wrong
I'm feeling pretty depressed at the moment. Nothing to do with the 50+ hours work I did last week. It must be linked to the 1 hour I managed to squeeze in on Mass Effect 2 last night!!!
I now officially have a Charlie Brooker man crush. I'm so depressed, maybe some Modern Warfare will give me a false sense of personal achievement and I can finally move on with my life.
yet another example of the UK's continuos slide towards a society that places no responsbility for actions on individuals themselves...
someone gets drugged up and then beats someone to death - it gets argued that the drugs are the problem and that the guy needs to be counselled nistead of locked up...what happened to 'hang on a minute - isn't it the guy's fault for taking them in the first place?'
people on the dole claiiming they can't work becuase they have an addiction to video gaming, which is now recognised as a legitimate "illness" - i'm sorry, but get of your fat-lazy-backside and do some f'ing work.
games now cause violence and recism and sexism and god-knows-what-else-ism...NO! this country seems more and more every day to forget that there's this little thing called free will. GTA didn't make you go and car-jack some random person, you mnight have seen it in there but you still had to decide to do it for yourself, jack-a$$.
it's the same as proposed plans to encourage people to lose weight by offering financial incentive, which will obviously come out of taxes - why the hell should i pay for some overweight (by eating, not metabolic - that's different) dousche to get slim?
as a country we need a serious step-change in attitude towards personal responsbility. The game didn't make you do anything, you're not addicted, you're just a weak-minded pri*k looking for a 'get-out-of-jail-free card' who needs a slap.
Stupid people are always looking for something to blame for there and entire ills o0f world,i believe its because the problem with games is sick people using them as a way to justify there actions and to give moaners something to moan about,its because real life is so depressing that we play games to alleviate boredom,boredom not games lead to depression,and if games aleviate boredom they aleviate depression,
Here's my rebutal. People that read the sun are retarded. If you don't have the intelligence to read a newspaper that has a higher reading age than 8 you deserve to be miss informed by hacks and nerdowells.
Agreed, except 8 is quite a high reading age for The Sun...
Games are a mirror to society, not the other way. People wouldn't be playing war games set in Irak of Afghanistan if there wasn't a war in the first place.
Why do we care so much about this idiots, it's a battle they'll never win.
its because real life is so depressing that we play games to alleviate boredom,boredom not games lead to depression,and if games aleviate boredom they aleviate depression
Well put! I’m getting tired of people who don’t understand, putting games down, but people who do actually understand them are unable to stand up and counter the biased misplaced arguments because they’ll just be accused of being addicted and too overly defensive due to games influence. I find the positive reinforcements in games make me happy, but I don’t come down again upon turning them off. When I get down, it’s because of something in real-life that’s getting me down, and instead of getting angry and over-reacting to the situation, I put a game on instead to take my mind off the problem for a few hours. When I come back off I feel much calmer and ready to deal with my problems in a better way. (How do games stop you playing well at football anyway? )
Its funny how the Sun has all of a sudden become concerned with violence, considering its jingoistic uncritical support for War since its was started in 1970.
I do psychology in college and am taking it in uni and basicly this is what is known as "pseudo-science" or fake science. Some random source of "scientific knowledge" suddenly appears in the media and states things are bad or good for you without any back up or evidence in a proven scientific method and everyone believes it is true. They try to mask to fact it has no evidence by getting a random politician or "doctor" to make a brief statement backing their claim, followed by some statistics and VOILA! the perfect news report to rile up dimwitted public outbursts against you name it (video games, eating eggs, drinking wine etc)
Just thought people should know the sneaky ways the media tries to brainwash us. Although, I don't know ahy The Sun is doing this cause all people read that is for page 3
Here we go again, another day gone, another misinformed report. Again, there are well articulated well thought out responses that cover everything I feel and more. There is always the one easy scapegoat, games are the only reason there is more violence, oh and suddenly they cause depression? Since when? They reverse it in my view. They temporarily alleviate the dull days of working and the drag of daily life. They offer an escape, a free pass to explore and challenge yourself somewhere unique.
These idiots who claim this is true are generalising and their explanations are so poor and lacking of real evidence they are just plain stupid. The sun is a sensationalist paper and by publishing a story many low IQ readers will think that because someone is depressed it is probably because they play MW2, not a whole host of other complex causes.
I am personally sick of this vindictive attitude why are people always claiming games are in the wrong? It always papers over the cracks of Society's real issues which seem to be the real reasons for "Depression" or some other mental illness.
Games set you free, they are my one past time I will never give up no matter what.
Games cause depression? WHAT!? No! games do not cause depression the two bloody jobs I have to work to keep politicians living a very comfortable life and paying for Junkies methadone, dental work and hospital bills is what makes me depressed, and lets not get started on the amount of money being spent on immigrants and foreign workers.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
