Does video gaming ruin people's lives? | Antonius van Rooij | TEDxGhent

Summary

This video explores the impact of video games on individuals, using personal anecdotes and research data. The speaker reflects on how extensive gaming can lead to addiction-like symptoms for some, while others balance it well. The discussion covers the role of parents, the gaming industry, and gamers themselves in managing gaming habits. It encourages a balanced approach, promoting responsible gaming, parent involvement, and industry accountability. The video concludes with advice on how to help someone who may be gaming too much by engaging in open, non-judgmental conversations.

Takeaways

• 🎮 Video games can be enjoyable, but excessive gaming can negatively impact one's personal life.
• ⚔️ The speaker recounts a friend named 'Stealth' who was a successful gamer but faced issues in real life like poor academic performance and social isolation.
• 🧐 Media often attributes gaming addiction to parents, the gaming industry, or gamers lacking willpower, but the issue is more complex.
• 📊 Research shows that only 1% of teenagers who play games experience serious problems, but 7% play four or more hours a day.
• 🛑 Excessive gaming doesn't always mean addiction, but a small group of heavy gamers does report issues with controlling their gaming habits.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Strict, controlling parenting often backfires, leading to defiance and frustration in children.
• 🎮 The gaming industry uses sophisticated methods to increase engagement, but with great power comes responsibility.
• 💻 The speaker references a professional gamer, Sushi Licious, whose parents misunderstood his gaming hobby until it led to career success.
• 💬 Parents should take an interest in their children’s gaming, approaching it like Iron Man—curious and involved, not like the Hulk—angry and destructive.
• 🏠 Balancing gaming with other life activities is crucial for healthy engagement, and the speaker encourages gamers to explain the significance of their hobby to others.

Q & A

What is the main issue discussed in the video transcript?

The main issue discussed is video game addiction, its effects on personal lives, and how different groups such as gamers, parents, and the gaming industry respond to it.

Who is 'Stealth' and what happened to him in the context of the video?

Stealth is a gamer mentioned in the video who was highly successful in a game, leading groups and defeating dragons. However, his life outside the game suffered—he did poorly in school, stopped seeing friends, and neglected other activities.

How does the video define video game addiction?

Video game addiction is described as an inability to control gaming behavior, which can lead to problems like neglecting schoolwork, social life, and sleep. Only 1% of gamers report such severe symptoms, but some heavy gamers do experience issues.

What does the research mentioned in the video reveal about gaming behavior among 14-year-olds?

The research found that not all 14-year-olds play games, and those who do don’t always engage in online games. Only about 7% of gamers play more than four hours a day, and a smaller group, 1%, reports significant negative effects from excessive gaming.

Why is extreme parental control over gaming counterproductive, according to the video?

Extreme parental control, such as unplugging computers or hiding consoles, can lead to defiance and frustration in children, causing them to play more or engage in unhealthy gaming behaviors.

What responsibility does the gaming industry have according to the speaker?

The gaming industry has significant power over player behavior through game design and systems like notifications. With this power comes the responsibility to ensure they don’t exploit players by making games overly addictive.

How did the parents of the professional gamer Sushi Licious react to his gaming, and how did their perspective change?

Sushi Licious’s parents initially viewed his gaming negatively, calling it 'junking away' behind the computer. However, their attitude changed when he was invited to Korea to compete professionally, showing them gaming can have real-world opportunities.

What does the video suggest gamers do to help alleviate negative perceptions about gaming?

The video suggests that gamers should advocate for themselves by explaining to others why gaming is meaningful, how it can be a serious pursuit, and acknowledging when it becomes less enjoyable or even problematic.

How does the speaker compare parents to superheroes in their approach to gaming?

The speaker compares parents to the Hulk when they become angry and destructive over gaming issues. Instead, they suggest parents should be more like Iron Man—curious and engaged with technology, encouraging understanding over conflict.

What is the 'fish trap' metaphor in the context of gaming?

The 'fish trap' metaphor refers to how some people become increasingly invested in online games, prioritizing their online status and friendships at the expense of their real-life responsibilities and well-being.

Outlines

00:00

🎮 The Allure of Video Games

The speaker introduces the topic of video game culture by acknowledging that many people play video games, with some perhaps playing too much. He shares a personal story about a friend named Stealth, a highly skilled gamer who excelled in the game world but struggled in real life, suffering academically, socially, and physically. The speaker raises the question of whether Stealth was addicted to video games and highlights how media often simplifies the issue by blaming parents, game developers, or the players themselves.

05:01

📊 The Reality of Video Game Addiction

Drawing on research conducted with 14-year-olds, the speaker provides data on gaming behavior. Contrary to common belief, not all teens play video games excessively, and many don't play online games at all. However, for those who do, particularly online gamers, time spent gaming can be substantial. The speaker highlights that only 1% of these gamers show signs of addiction, like difficulty controlling their playtime and its negative impact on daily life. Despite the small percentage, one in seven heavy gamers may know someone who struggles with their gaming habits.

⚖️ Parents' and Industry's Roles in Gaming

The speaker discusses how parents often react to excessive gaming with extreme restrictions, like taking away devices. However, research shows that overly controlling parenting can backfire, causing children to rebel and game even more. On the flip side, the gaming industry holds significant power over players' behaviors. With access to player data, companies can make small changes that increase engagement, like adding notifications or making early levels of games hard to fail. The speaker emphasizes that this influence comes with responsibility, a discussion that is often missing.

🌏 Gaming's Global Impact and Advocacy

The speaker shares an anecdote about a professional gamer named Sushi Licious, whose parents initially disapproved of his gaming until they saw him being invited to Korea for competitions. This highlights that gaming can have legitimate professional opportunities, though they are rare, like winning the lottery. Sushi Licious now advocates for responsible gaming, encouraging a balance between gaming and other aspects of life. The speaker advises parents to engage with their child's gaming interests and for gamers to advocate for themselves, explaining their gaming habits to others.

📻 The Evolution of Media Panic

Concluding the discussion, the speaker notes that every new form of media has sparked moral panic, from radio to television, and now video games. The concern is that people will spend too much time indoors, detached from reality. The speaker likens video games to a 'fish trap,' where players can become too immersed in their virtual lives at the expense of their real-world responsibilities. To help prevent this, he advises engaging with gamers in a non-judgmental way, understanding their interests, and encouraging activities outside of gaming, like board games or social outings.

Keywords

💡Video Game Addiction

Video game addiction refers to a pattern of excessive or compulsive gaming behavior that negatively impacts a person’s life. In the script, the speaker discusses a friend named 'Stealth' whose gaming caused him to neglect school, friends, and sports, leading to a question of whether this behavior indicates addiction. The term is explored in depth, with a focus on whether certain gaming habits constitute addiction or are simply a result of overindulgence.

💡Online Games

Online games are video games played over the internet, often with or against other players. The script highlights how these games are especially time-consuming, and it is this genre of games that tends to be linked with addiction problems. The speaker points out that while not all players are addicted, online games, due to their social and immersive nature, can lead to excessive play.

💡Parental Control

Parental control refers to the actions parents take to regulate their children's video game usage. The speaker notes that parents often react by being overly restrictive, such as unplugging the computer or hiding consoles, but emphasizes that these methods can backfire. Such extreme control can lead to defiance and increased gaming, which contradicts the goal of reducing screen time.

💡Addiction Symptoms

Addiction symptoms are behavioral indicators that someone might be addicted to a substance or activity. In the context of gaming, the speaker describes symptoms like problems controlling behavior, neglecting homework, or failing to reduce playtime despite the desire to do so. Only a small percentage of gamers experience these symptoms, showing that not all extensive play is addiction.

💡Gaming Industry Responsibility

Gaming industry responsibility refers to the ethical obligation game developers have due to their influence on player behavior. The speaker suggests that with their ability to make small tweaks that significantly increase playtime, game developers should be more responsible. The discussion includes a reference to how games like Candy Crush use notifications and near-impossible levels to keep players engaged.

💡Social Impact of Gaming

The social impact of gaming is how gaming affects a player’s interactions with the outside world. In the video, the speaker describes how extensive gaming can lead to isolation, as was the case with 'Stealth' who stopped seeing his friends or participating in activities outside of gaming. The speaker also contrasts this with the professional gaming world, where gaming can offer social and career opportunities.

💡Defiance Behavior

Defiance behavior refers to the rebellious actions children take in response to overly strict parental control. The script discusses how parents who impose severe restrictions on gaming, such as hiding the console, can inadvertently push their children to play more. This counterproductive result is framed as a psychological reaction to controlling behavior.

💡Professional Gaming

Professional gaming is the practice of earning money through competitive video gaming. The speaker mentions a friend named 'Sushi Licious' who became a professional Starcraft II player, surprising his parents when he was driven to Korea for a gaming competition. The script highlights that while professional gaming is a legitimate career for some, it is as rare as winning the lottery, and not a realistic goal for most.

💡Media Panic

Media panic refers to the alarmist reactions society often has to new forms of media. The speaker compares the panic surrounding video games to past worries about radio and television, where people feared that these media would lead to social isolation. This historical perspective is used to illustrate that concerns about gaming are part of a broader pattern of reacting to new technology.

💡Gaming Balance

Gaming balance is the idea of maintaining a healthy relationship with video games while also prioritizing other aspects of life. The speaker refers to the concept when discussing how former professional gamer 'Leonard' now advocates for responsible gaming—enjoying games but not letting them dominate one’s life. The message promotes moderation and balance in gaming habits.

Highlights

Video games can impact real-life relationships, academics, and physical activities when played excessively.

Only a small percentage (7%) of teenagers play video games for 4 or more hours a day, but most do not experience addiction symptoms.

1% of heavy gamers report experiencing problems controlling their gaming habits, impacting homework, sleep, and social interactions.

Online multiplayer games are more likely to consume significant time and lead to potential problems than single-player games.

Parents often take an overly restrictive approach to controlling video game usage, which can backfire and lead to defiance.

The video game industry can influence player behavior through minor game changes and reward systems, extending playtime.

Games like Candy Crush are designed to make players continue playing through mechanisms like notifications and nearly impossible-to-fail early levels.

The game industry has a responsibility, like Spider-Man's moral lesson, to consider the impact of its games on player behavior.

Not all cultures view gaming the same way, with some accepting professional gaming as a legitimate career, as seen with Sushi Licious's story.

The majority of gamers are not aiming to become professional gamers, as the chance is low, much like winning the lottery.

Parents could engage with their children’s gaming interests instead of being angry, like Iron Man’s curiosity with technology.

Media panic over new technologies is not new—similar fears were expressed over radio and television, now it's gaming and virtual reality.

Excessive online gaming can act like a 'fish trap,' pulling players deeper into the virtual world, sometimes at the cost of real-world performance.

Gamers themselves can play a role in educating others about why gaming is meaningful to them and advocating for balanced behavior.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balance between gaming and other aspects of life, including social activities.

Transcripts

[Music]

you probably know somebody who plays uh

video games maybe you even know somebody

who plays video games a little bit too

much maybe the guy or girl sitting right

next to you right now is secretly

playing Candy Crush uh have a look it's

it's okay with me so I played games for

a long while and I knew a guy who played

video games extensively his name was

stealth and he was actually my hero in

the game he had a thunder sword as you

can see he was leading groups of 40

people and he was defeating the biggest

dragons so he was doing quite

well until one day he had a little bit

of a breakdown and he told us that while

he'd been building up status and and

performance in the in the game

environment his life outside of the game

had actually been suffering he did not

do so well in school it did not see his

friends outside of the game anymore and

he was not participating in any sports

anymore so is he addicted um that's an

interesting question if we look at media

reports we tend to see very negative um

impressions of video games and more

often than not they also attribute the

cause to a single party either the

parents should be controlling their

children better the video game industry

is simply making these massively

addictive games and they should know

better or the children themselves simply

lack willpower and it's their own fault

you know control yourself so that's

three perspectives on that subject well

from my background as a as a gamer and a

researcher myself I I have some

information on the subject

and well firstly some hard data uh we

did research in a group of 14-year-old

students and looked at their gaming

Behavior basically and what you see is

that first of all not all of these kids

are actually playing games some of them

don't play and this is less and less

every year of course but if they do play

some of them don't play the online games

that are played with others and it is

specifically these games with which are

played with other people which are

incredibly time consuming and most often

associated with problems so if you play

these online games you don't have to

play them for extensive amounts of time

so we look at that as well and if you

remove those players who only play for

maybe an hour maybe two hours every

night or not even every night you end up

with a group of approximately 7% who

play four or more hours per day so

that's what they report anyway but

playing extensively if you're still

doing quite well in school maybe because

you're smart or otherwise doing well

doesn't necessarily mean you have an

addiction right so we can look at um are

these people actually reporting

addictive symptoms are they having

problems controlling their behavior

should do they want to be playing less

and are they unsuccessful in doing so

are they experiencing problems with

homework and going to bed in the evening

well you already see it coming that's

only 1% who actually reports that so

small problem nothing to worry about

perhaps on the other hand if you look at

it from the perspective of the heavy

online Gamers who are playing four or

more hours per day one in seven of them

is actually experiencing problems so

most of the Intensive Gamers will

actually know somebody in their group of

friends who is not entirely happy with

their own playing Behavior so that's

another perspective on the same

numbers now from the perspective of the

parents um very often the reaction tends

to be extremely restrictive and one

thing you hear a lot is unplug the

computer uh switch off the router hide

away the console at night just get it

out of there

and actually from a psychological point

of view VI and based on our research

data as well extremely controlling

parenting can be very

contraproductive it actually elicits

Defiance behavior on the part of the

child and they end up playing more or

being generally frustrated so that's not

a very helpful approach for the

parents and looking at the game industry

you might be tempted to think that they

crank out addictive game after addictive

game or so it seems well actually it's

quite hard to make a good game and many

companies fail however obviously a small

group of companies does succeed in

reaching a large audience and if they do

they gain access to an incredible player

base and sophisticated tools to monitor

players Behavior so small changes they

make in the game and they can do that

might result in millions of people

playing for example 15 minutes more on a

daily basis so that's a very real and

and hard influence they have over

people's behavior and well if you want

information that they're actually

capable of this look at notification

systems or try to faill the first level

of a Candy Crush it's uh pretty much

impossible so but I think the the lesson

to take away from this is that if you

have this power over people's behavior

there's a certain responsibility

attached to that and that's a debate

we're often not having

so looking at it from the perspective of

the gamers themselves well they're often

angry they they feel misunderstood and

one person I know is a professional

gamer called Sushi Licious he's uh

fairly good at Starcraft too so he plays

a lot and his parents were always

complaining about his gaming Behavior

they refer to it as him junking away

behind the computer until one day a taxi

cap sh showed up to drive him away to

Korea and yeah so his parents were

fairly surprised and that's the moment

they realize that this hobby actually

extends beyond the boundaries of the

bedroom and not every culture thinks

about it in the same manner so yeah

everybody become a pro gamer perhaps

well

unfortunately it's rather hard to do

that it's like winning the lottery so

many people will not be able to become a

professional gamer and that's not

something you would recommend to people

and what Leonard is now actually after

retiring as a professional gamer is

actually involved in is promoting

responsible gaming so and enjoying the

gaming Behavior but also keeping it in

balance with the rest of your

life now to summarize these uh three

perspectives what what we see for the

parents is they tend to become angry

they blow up they become larger and

larger and they start destroying things

so what does that remind of us well the

Hulk

basically and that's not an optimal

position I think maybe they could try to

be a little bit more like Iron Man Who

is fairly interested in technology and

always tinkering with it so for the

parents open YouTube see what your child

is playing and dive right in there from

a position of genuine interest looking

at the position of the video game

industry I would argue that with

enormous power over human behavior comes

some responsibility pretty much like

Spider-Man and from The Gamers position

themselves they're often in their

cubicle gaming feeling angry well what

would really help if is is if you would

come out of the cubicle every uh once in

a while and do some advocacy explain to

people what you're what you're actually

doing why it is Meaningful for you and

also why sometimes it's not as much fun

as you would expect so that can be

helpful

there and to Su to summarize the overall

uh picture there has always been Panic

about New Media when radio first

appeared people thought well those

persons are never leaving the house

anymore they'll be listening to radio

indoors all day big concerns television

the same now we have gaming and in a few

years we'll have virtual reality no

doubt but also for the gaming we do see

that some people are sensitive to

fleeing into these online worlds

spending a little bit too much time it

functions basically like a fish strap

the further you go in the more committed

you become to your online status and

your online

friends the less well you sometimes do

in the surrounding environment so that's

an issue so what can you do well maybe

you know somebody or you will encounter

somebody who plays a little bit too much

and then it's your job to reach out

talk to that person about their Hobbies

inquire in an honest and non-judgmental

way what they're actually doing and most

optimally get them out of the house for

some board games or drinks and maybe

just maybe you might prevent them from

swimming into the fish trap a little bit

too far thank

you