“Normal” people don’t simply get addicted to things. People who have a predisposition to addiction become addicted to things. Those things can encompas ANYTHING from video games, surfing the internet, clean, cooking, driving, drugs, alcohol – not just silly little games like FarmVille.

Any things can become an “addiction” when it meets a few main criteria, such as encouraging the addict to neglecting normal, life-requiring activities just to ease or appease your addiction. Once it starts to interfere with your daily life, it is time to seek help.

Could this woman be “addicted” to FarmVille – sure. Is “Doctor” Phil qualified to “diagnose” this “addiction” – that is debatable in my book. He is basically a shock-jock, but set in day time and on TV instead of radio.

One of the common threads among those with addictions is that they use the “addiction” to replace or compensate for something they feel is missing in their life.

I myself was once mildly addiction to Final Fantasy XI Online – back then, I HAD time (I was in college, and not working). But I used the game less as a “game” and more as a social network. I had a group of friends that I was “popular” with – something that I have always lacked in my life. When I finally gave up the game (which was actually LONG after I actually stopped playing regularly because I had graduated and got a real job), it was hard. Not because I loved the game so much, but I felt I was leaving behind the only place where I had ever been “popular”. The game was fulfilling my need to “fit in”, and until I overcame that psychological desire, it wouldn’t matter WHAT game or things I participated in, I would have kept up with it to the point of obsession just to fulfill that need.

Clearly this woman seems to be “missing” something in her life. Perhaps it’s a feeling of success (we all feel “successful” when we gain XP or earn “ribbons” or level up our farms). Maybe there is some other deeper psychological reason for her “need” for the game. But the fact is, it is an addition to her because she is filling the gap of something else in her life.

In order for her to recover from that (or any other psychological addiction – and I do differentiate here from physical addictions, like drugs and such), she will need to determine what it is she is missing in her life and come to terms with it. Until then, even if she stops playing FarmVille, there will be something else she will become “addicted” to in order to fill that gap.

It isn’t the games fault. It isn’t the video game industry’s fault. It lies in the personal psychological needs of the woman in question. If she can get to the bottom of the need that FarmVille is supplying her and try to either come to terms with that or find a positive substitute for that, she will remain addicted. It might not always be FarmVille, it could be FarmTown, Maffia Wars, Buddy Barn, WoW, FFXI, compulsive posting on forums – anything that fills her “need”.

To demonize the game is like pretending it is the needle’s fault someone has a heroin addiction. The game is just the tool, not the REASON.

I have never had faith in “Doctor” Phil, and I’m not surprised that he has chosen the bandwagon to jump on that demonizes the internet and video games. Yes, people can become addicted to all sorts of things, but (with the exception of drugs) they do so because they are filling some sort of gap with in themselves, not because of the game. Some REAL psychologist needs to examine this issue and explain the truth behind addictions before people start point fingers and laying blame on anyone.

And some people are simply predisposed to addiction. It is not surprise or secret that people raised by alcoholics tend to become alcoholics – but they often do so because of example. The alcohol they witnessed their parents (or whomever raised them) use was a method of escape. That is often taught to the child by example, leading the child to believe that drinking (or drugs or whatever) is the BEST avenue, or at least the easiest avenue, of dealing or not dealing with the real issues at hand.

Most people who play online video games, or video games in general, are not addicted. They set themselves limits (even if they are rather lax limits), and they have a LIFE beyond the game. If video games were SO horribly addictive, the world would come to a screeching halt. Only a small minority of people become addicted – the rest of us enjoy the games, but we let our real lives come first.

It is a shame that “Doctor” Phil has decided to demonize the tool rather than try to help the PERSON. I thought that was what psychologists were supposed to do – help the PERSON, not attack the tool. If someone was to take away FarmVille from her, she would simply replace it with some other unhealthy addiction. Treat the cause of the disease, don’t just complain about the symptoms.

Good luck to her. Maybe someday she’ll discover her issue and learn how to overcome it, then games like FarmVille can become to her what they are to most of us – a fun TEMPORARY distraction, but not a LIFE in and of itself.

Prayers to her, and to”Doctor” Phil. Maybe someday he can see that harm he’s doing some of these people on his “entertainment” show and get down to REALLY helping people, not just continuing being a day time shock jock.

-mk

Farmville’s just a game…how many other games have come out that are similar to Farmville in sense…the Tycoon games come to mind first. People just think it’s a waste of time, but how is it any different than spending hours playing a video game? You don’t need to spend countless hours on Farmville, just enough time to harvest, plant, gift, and fertilize neighbours’ farms…

People say Farmville is unproductive…THAT’S BECAUSE IT’S NOT A REAL FARM! It’s a game, for the purpose of adding something to your day. People just do it as a moment away from their normal lives, and just enjoy playing it.

It’s just for fun…I really don’t see why people are so bent-out-of-shape over it…