Slide number 1
Don't run from reality, because reality is what makes you human.

What is gaming addiction in children? A painful predisposition or a consequence of upbringing? How can you fight this?

Gambling addiction - the reasons are within us.
Today, gaming addiction is one of the most common problems. children's education, which affects mainly children from 8 to 16-18 years old.
Modern children often master computer literacy earlier than language or mathematical literacy: we live in an era of high technology and crazy speeds. In principle, this is neither good nor bad, the main thing is how to manage the resources we have. After all, the same computer and the Internet can become both a tool for creativity and obtaining new information, and doping is akin to drugs. Despite the fact that among children and adolescents computer addiction is acquiring alarming proportions, the public treats this fact rather condescendingly: they say, it will go away with age. They say it’s better when a child sits at home at the computer than hangs out in an unknown place and with whom. Computer games captivate and captivate, but at the same time they emasculate feelings, and real life ceases to be a source of pleasure.

Slide number 2
Many experts agree that humanity owes such terrible diagnoses as depression, burnout syndrome, chronic fatigue, alcohol and drug addiction, and suicidal tendencies to high technology. The task of parents is to form in their child an adequate attitude towards the computer world, to make his life so bright, interesting and rich that no virtual fun can compete with it.
Slide number 3
The child does not feel the difference
Until the age of seven, a child is not able to draw a clear line between fiction and real life. And if at such a tender age the baby “dives” into computer games and TV, they become his reality. But the experience acquired in the first seven years of life largely shapes our life attitudes and values. What kind of “baggage” does a young gamer get? Agree, the virtual world, at first glance, may seem much more interesting than the real one: the colors on the monitor are brighter, events change at any speed, and you don’t need to make any special efforts to win. In psychology there is such a thing as a sense of life: the ability to be surprised and rejoice at everything that surrounds us, to perceive life as a miracle, to live “here and now.” A child immersed in an illusory world is unlikely to be happy with, say, a blossoming flower - why, if with one click of a computer mouse he can “grow” a virtual jungle on the screen?
Spider-Man doesn’t gallop along real streets and dinosaurs don’t run around – but pseudo-reality is replete with characters that excite the imagination.
As a result, the baby becomes uninterested in exploring the world, getting to the bottom of things. Such a child does not see any other way of obtaining pleasure except to immerse himself in surrogate emotions and experiences.

Boys are at risk
Most often, it is boys who fall into computer addiction. Girls' games - the same as daughters and mothers - are full of emotions, so girls do not need to be fueled by surrogate experiences. Girls are “allowed” to cry, be offended, and throw tantrums. Boys are dominated by a historically established stereotype: you have to be strong. As a result, boys are forced to constantly suppress their true feelings and emotions. In addition, due to the peculiarities of male psychology, the stronger sex is more likely to “withdraw into oneself.” For boys, the “zone of productive solitude” is vital - for recovery, accumulation of strength, and analysis. And if this niche is absent in reality, the teenager will create it artificially. Well, then, the instinct of a winner has been in men’s blood since cave times - that’s why boys get hooked on all sorts of “shooting games” and “adventure games” (if girls play, it’s more likely to play strategic or logical games).

Where do legs grow from?
To claim that virtual fun is the root of all the troubles of “problem” teenagers means to confuse cause and effect. After all, a “different reality” can only aggravate existing problems.
In other words, a happy, harmoniously developing child is unlikely to experience an increased craving for the computer world.
“When parents complain at a reception that their child is stuck on the computer, I suggest they look within themselves for the reasons,” says Svetlana Roiz, child and family psychologist. – I ask moms and dads: “Who showed a child a computer game for the first time? What do you know about your child’s preferences, what games does he play? How much time do you spend with your child, what do you talk about? Name a few bright events in the child’s life in recent months.”
We, parents, must be aware: we sit our child in front of the TV, buy him computer games - after all, we have work, laundry, cleaning, and often we simply do not have time to play other (sports, board) games with our child. This position of the parents drowns out the seeker instinct in the child, assigning him a safer, at first glance, role of the spectator.
Dependence (any: alcoholic, emotional, computer) indicates that a person’s contacts with his immediate environment are disrupted. Think about how you communicate with your child, do you have access to his inner world? At the same time, it is important to remember that every phenomenon has both a negative and a positive side. Often very sensitive and creative children with a fine mental organization are immersed in the virtual world. The task of parents is to help the child reach his potential.

Slide number 4
The main causes of computer addiction may be:
1.Lack of communication with peers and people significant to the child.
2. Lack of attention from parents.
3. Lack of self-confidence and strength, shyness, complexes and difficulties in communication.
4. Children’s tendency to quickly “absorb” everything new and interesting.
5. The child’s desire to be “like everyone else” of his peers, to follow their hobbies, to keep up.
To some extent, computer addiction and gaming addiction may result from the influence of the school environment. Because when other children actively discuss games, then your child wants to take part in their conversations, to be part of this aspect of school, children's teenage life.
6. The child has no interests or hobbies, or any other attachments not related to the computer.
7.The formation of a child’s computer addiction is often associated with the characteristics of upbringing and family relationships.
For example, conflicts in the family, when a child runs away to an online club, into the computer world from the real world. Why? Because he lives there in a different reality, in one where there are no quarrels with his parents, where there are no quarrels between parents, where his life is simple and understandable.

Slide number 5

According to statistics, every fifth or sixth child with signs of computer addiction is cured of computer gaming addiction independently and without consequences.
However, one should not hope that dependence on computer games in children it will go away on its own; the fragile child’s psyche may not be able to cope with the influence of the addiction that has arisen.
If long hours in front of a screen make you worried about your child, pay attention to

Signs of computer addiction:
1. The child develops an obsessive desire to play on the computer (console, tablet, etc.) He will gladly prefer the company of an “iron” friend to any, even his most favorite pastime.
2. Friends suddenly disappeared somewhere. If someone comes to visit him, it is to play together on the computer. He himself goes to his friends for the same purpose.
3. An incomprehensible emotional upsurge, which is abruptly replaced by a bad mood. Taking a closer look, you will understand that all this is connected with virtual successes and failures in the game.
4. Staying at the computer all night and refusing to eat because there is a “very important battle” going on online.

Computer addiction develops much faster than any other traditional addiction: smoking, drugs, alcohol, gambling.

Thus, experts identify the main symptom of computer gaming addiction – a constant obsessive desire to play computer games.

Slide number 6
The dangers of computer addiction.
1. The computer becomes a powerful stimulus and the main object for communication.
2. At first, the computer can compensate for the child’s lack of communication, but then this communication may become unnecessary at all.
3. While playing or surfing the Internet, the child loses control over time.
4. A child may show aggression if he is deprived of access to computer games.
5. Permissiveness and ease of achieving goals in games can affect the child’s confidence that in real life everything is just as simple and you can “start” the game again.

Slide number 7 (continued)

6.Due to a neglectful attitude towards food, vitamin and mineral deficiencies may occur.
7. Many hours of continuous exposure to a monitor can cause blurred vision, poor posture, decreased immunity, headaches, fatigue, and insomnia.
8. Children stop fantasizing, the ability to create visual images decreases, emotional immaturity and irresponsibility are observed.
9.Depression may occur when you are without a computer for a long time. Home and family fade into the background. There may be problems with studying.
10. The child’s social circle decreases and, as a result, the lack of life experience and communication experience.
11. The child’s psyche and worldview may be disrupted.

A child who has become addicted to gaming gradually changes and changes quite dramatically.

Problems begin with studying at school, attention falls, and any interests outside of games disappear.
We observe in our school (!) that a child often cannot tear himself away from playing in class, during recess, and is constantly distracted during the lesson if some hero “lives” in his phone or other gadget (for example, a “tablet” or (sorry) “poop”), which must be served, cleaned up, fed, etc., in order to score the necessary points. This is becoming a craze, with catastrophic levels of involvement. Teachers here are sometimes powerless to change anything. We are no longer talking about the moral side of “serving” such game heroes. To what level of thinking are our children slipping at this moment???
Or simulation games, where children imitate completely adult relationships with vivid intimate components between a guy and a girl. Of course, after such an emotional shock, he will no longer be interested in studying...

Slide number 8
A lot of research has been devoted to studying the specifics of interaction between children and adolescents with computers. scientific research(O. N. Arestova, L. N. Babanin, Yu. D. Babaeva, A. E. Voiskunsky, S. A. Shapkin, M. Cole, etc.).
We would like to introduce you to the results of one of them.

The study involved 146 students in grades 5–6 of secondary schools in Nizhny Novgorod, of which 76 boys and 71 girls aged 10 to 12 years.
According to the results of the study, it was found that younger adolescents with a high degree of computer gaming passion have lower levels of mental abilities than their peers. This may be due to the fact that, unlike real games with peers, computer games have a destructive component for the full development of younger adolescents. Computer games developed according to a given (template) scenario cannot fully reflect life situations, simplify methods of solving various problems, do not contain moral tasks, and thereby contribute to the primitivization of thinking.
When studying self-esteem, we looked at indicators based on criteria such as: confident, capable, happy, sociable, hardworking, smart.
It was found that younger adolescents with a high degree of computer gaming orientation are more confident and less sociable compared to ordinary peers.
Discrepancies between the level of intelligence of a younger teenager and his self-esteem may indicate an inadequate attitude towards himself as a result of significant discrepancies between the “real self” and the “virtual self.” During the game, the psyche of a younger teenager forms its own virtual world, which has a certain degree of stability. Game reality acts as a kind of transformer of the child’s consciousness. At the same time, emotions are concentrated around the computer game character and the actions taking place with him. The altered state of consciousness reacts sensitively to the slightest changes in the playing space. The victories of the virtual character are perceived as personal achievements, the child feels like a hero. Victory is a positive self-esteem and positive emotions. The game becomes a medium for the formation of personal qualities, an indicator of success. Teenagers who have not undergone role identification in social reality find their image in the game.

The predominance of risk appetite was revealed in younger teenagers with a high degree
gaming computer orientation compared to younger adolescents with a low degree of orientation at the level of significance.
A computer game allows a child to experience a special excitement - a feeling of personal success and importance.
The delight of getting the desired result and the excitement of waiting for it become more attractive than all the other joys of life.
Children with a high degree of gaming computer orientation have low scores on such parameters of subjectivity as: the ability to reflect, freedom of choice and responsibility for it, understanding and acceptance of others, self-development.
Younger teenagers with a high degree of computer passion are characterized by insufficiently developed self-control and self-control in the process of activity.
The results of the study indicate that computer players have a poorly formed ability for reflection, which is a means of self-knowledge, in life situations they find it difficult to variably choose types of activities, social circles and ways of self-expression.
Volitional qualities in younger adolescents of the first group are significantly lower than in the second group.

When studying social environmental factors, it was revealed that in families in which parents often buy computer games for their children, the risk of adolescents becoming increasingly interested in computer games is significant. Most parents have a positive attitude towards the fact that their child has this form of hobby; they do not see the destructive functions of computer games; they specifically buy various games so that the child can spend more time at home under parental supervision.
The social circle of younger teenagers with a high degree of computer gaming passion mainly comes down to communication with friends and heroes of computer games.
All the leisure time of such children mainly comes down to playing on the computer. Low rates of communication with relatives and literary heroes were obtained.
A computer game serves as a means to satisfy those needs of a younger teenager that are not satisfied in real life, a means of compensating for life’s problems. The personality begins to be realized in the illusory game world, and not in the real one, this entails a number of serious problems in the development of personality, in the formation of self-awareness and self-esteem, as well as the higher spheres of the personality structure.
Taking into account such age characteristics of younger adolescents as weak volitional regulation, it becomes obvious that computer games provoke children to systematically fail to complete homework, as well as miss school classes; a child’s psychological separation from school with all the ensuing consequences is also possible.

“When a child’s main pastime becomes computer games, Internet chats and TV, his emotional and sensory sphere suffers first of all,” says Natalya Yeshchenko, a specialist in Waldorf pedagogy, teacher and art therapist. – Judge for yourself: becoming a superhero in a fictional life is much easier than in the real one. In order to win a virtual victory, mental effort, reaction speed and certain skills are enough. But in real life, success is impossible without the ability to feel, negotiate with people, hear your intuition, and use creativity! Computer games form a distorted idea of ​​life, lack of will and passivity, which are hidden behind bright exploits in the virtual world. Is it any wonder that, having grown up, yesterday's gamer refuses to take responsibility for his own destiny?! In recent years, doctors have increasingly had to deal with hyperexcitable, hyperactive children. There is a simple explanation for this phenomenon. It is very important for children, especially small ones, to experience emotions through the body (this happens, for example, during outdoor games). And when a child enthusiastically watches a cartoon or races in virtual rallies, his brain works very intensively. But the body remains static, it does not experience this activity! And then the parents wonder why the child turns the whole house upside down and wakes up every two hours at night.”
Slide number 9
Experts note that different types of computer games can have different effects on a child.
1. The most dangerous are considered to be role-playing games with the view “from the eyes” of a computer hero.
This type of games is characterized by the greatest strength of “dragging” or “entering” into the game. The specificity here is that the view “from the eyes” provokes the player to fully identify with the computer character, to fully enter into the role. After a few minutes of play (the time varies depending on the individual psychological characteristics and gaming experience of the player), a person begins to lose touch with real life, completely concentrating on the game, transferring himself to the virtual world. The player can take the virtual world completely seriously, and consider the actions of his hero to be his own. A person becomes motivated to be involved in the plot of the game.

2. No less dangerous are games with an outside view of “your” computer hero. This type of games is characterized by less strength in entering the role compared to the previous one. The player sees “himself” from the outside, controlling the actions of the game hero. Identifying oneself with a computer character is less pronounced, as a result of which motivational involvement and emotional manifestations are also less pronounced compared to games with a view from the eyes.
3. Strategic games, “leadership” games, are less dangerous, but can really engage a child. This type is so named because the player is given the right to direct the activities of the computer characters subordinate to him. In this case, the player can act as a leader of various specifications: the commander of a special forces detachment, the commander-in-chief of armies, the head of state, even a “god” who leads the historical process. In this case, the person does not see his computer hero on the screen, but invents a role for himself. This is the only class of role-playing games where the role is not given specifically, but is imagined by the player. As a result, the “depth of immersion” into the game and one’s role will be significant only for people with a good imagination. However, motivational involvement in the game process and the mechanism of formation of psychological dependence on the game are no less strong than in the case of other role-playing games.
4. Next come non-role-playing games: arcades, puzzles, speed games, gambling.
Slide number 10

Subconsciously, the child chooses exactly those games that best reflect his suppressed needs.
Strategic – the child lacks structure. At the same time, he has the potential to have leadership qualities; such a person can lead others. A positive “substitute” for computer strategies is chess, construction (by the way, “strategists” are the easiest to get rid of the craving for a computer).

Sports - activity is suppressed, perhaps there are some bodily blocks. If a child is chasing a virtual puck or ball (team games), he has a great need to be part of a peer group that is significant to him. Switch his attention to real sports fun.

“Shooters”, horrors – unlived aggression or suppressed sexuality. By the way, aggression is one of the emotions necessary for the survival of the species (in psychology there is even such a concept: normal level aggression). Another thing is how much there is and in what direction it is directed. Such a child needs to move more, and he also needs tactile contact (hugs, massage) with his parents.

According to the standards of the Ministry of Health, 7-10 year old children can spend no more than 45 minutes at the computer. per day, 11-13 year olds - two times for 45 minutes, older ones - three times.

Slide number 11

Who is more addicted to computer games?
1. Children of those parents who are most often not at home.
2. Children of wealthy parents or workaholics who are constantly busy.
3. Children of those adults who are often comfortable that the child is busy and does not distract them with requests to play.
4. Children of parents who are themselves dependent on the computer and the Internet.

As psychologist Anatoly Klivnik notes, the most dependent and, at the same time, undesirable age is 12-15 years.
For one dependent teenage girl there are up to 10 boys, this is due to the fact that the crisis of adolescence is more difficult for boys, and there are many times fewer computer games for girls.

A child caught in a computer addiction network needs help.

Slide number 12

How to deal with gambling addiction?
1. First of all, do not prohibit. The aggressive position of parents, aimed at a sharp, strict prohibition of the game, as a rule, will lead to the establishment of a barrier between the parents and the child. Moreover, the child will still play, but outside the home: at school, with friends, in online clubs.
When trying to “pull” a child out of the computer world, parents should act tactfully. The forbidden fruit, as we know, is sweet: the greater the resistance, the stronger the desire. You cannot forcibly take away a child’s computer without giving him anything in return.
Stereotyped behavior must be changed. Is your child used to getting a beating for his computer games and unfinished homework? Experts have proven that if a reaction is repeated 7 or more times, it slides into the subconscious. In other words, the child simply does not hear the reproaches addressed to him; for him they are nothing more than an annoying background noise. To change the situation, try to demonstrate sincere (!) interest in your child’s world.
As Russian folk wisdom says: “If drinking cannot be prevented, it must be led.” So it is here. If gaming addiction is already a reality for you, try to share it with your child. Discuss games with him, weed out those games that contain scenes of violence, encourage aggression in him or serve as a source of excessive drive. Play educational games with him together. Establish and deepen contact with your child, understanding that gaming addiction is, first of all, a call indicating that we have problems in mutual understanding with our child.

2. Other most important aspect- formation of interests in the child that are not related to the computer world. Thus, a sports section, where he can practice karate, football, roller skating, and skateboarding, can be a good alternative to gambling addiction, since there he will communicate with other children who also have interests outside the world of games.

And as a result, this will make it possible to ensure a normal healthy balance of interests for our child.

3. Remember that you yourself are an example for your growing baby. If you are constantly on VKontakte or Odnoklassniki, or constantly talking on the phone, then, first of all, you show your child that this is how you should spend your time.

You can awaken a child’s interest in real life only by your own example.
Find time for heart-to-heart conversations, read books together, share your experiences, organize joint leisure time with your child, sport games, trips to nature, fishing, ski slopes, etc.

Slide number 13

Prevention of addiction to computer games.

1. Personal example of parents - if you allow your child to play for some time a day, then you yourself should not spend more time at the computer.
2. List of joint activities, games, clubs, additional activities, etc.
Everything must be planned so that the child does not have a free minute.
3. Use the computer as a reward, for effective education, as encouragement.
4. It is important to clearly control the games the child plays. You should know what kind of game it is and monitor any deviations in the child's behavior after he has played the game.
Irritability, agitation, and insomnia may occur. All this indicates that either the playing time has been exceeded, or the game is not suitable for the child.
5.Give preference to educational games and sites. Discuss with your child those games that, in your opinion, would be more useful for him to play.
6. Treatment with the “beauty” of reality: exploring the world, museums, theaters, parks, traveling, communicating with interesting interlocutors.
7. Installation of special network filters and specialized software that allow you to control and limit the child’s communication with the computer.

Slide number 14
The mental and spiritual state of children is an indicator of the well-being or ill-being of the entire family. In psychology there is a concept - an identified patient. It denotes a person whose problematic symptom reflects disharmony that exists within the family. That is, something is broken in the family, in the relationships of its members with each other, but only one of them is the carrier of the symptom creating the problem.

When an identified patient appears in a family, for example, a computer-dependent child, the entire family, as a rule, sees the problem only in him and seeks help. psychological help in connection with it, formulating your request: “what to do with it?” or “how to fix it?” It is very difficult for a child to overcome computer addiction if the existing system of relationships in his family, which led to addictive behavior, does not change. If, without understanding this, you try to influence only the child, then it will be almost impossible to achieve good results. The right way out is to restore normal, mature family relationships.
Slide number 15
So, in principle, any child and teenager can become addicted to a computer, but the chances are reduced if:
– there is an atmosphere of friendliness, peace, comfort and trust in the family;
– the child has diverse interests and hobbies;
– the child knows how to establish positive relationships with others;
– the child knows how to set at least the smallest goals.
Slide number 16
The task of every child is to become an adult, an independent person who can make constructive decisions, be responsible for his actions, make informed choices and build his life based on healthy spiritual and moral principles. The task of adults is to help him in this difficult task. It is important to remember that the foundation of independence and responsibility is laid gradually, but you should start building it as early as possible.

And dictative behavior (from the English addiction - inclination, addiction; lat. addictus - slavishly devoted) is a special type of forms of destructive behavior that are expressed in the desire to escape from reality through a special change in one’s mental state. Synonym: addiction.

There are main types of addictions:

• abuse of one or more substances that alter mental state, for example, alcohol, drugs, medications, various poisons;
• participation in gambling, including computer games;
• sexual addictive behavior;
• binge eating;
• workaholism (workaholism);
• prolonged listening to music, mainly based on rhythms.

When addiction is formed, reduction occurs, i.e. simplification, smoothing of interpersonal emotional relationships.

The complex of symptoms of mental disorders caused by excessive use of computers or the Internet is described by psychiatrists under the name computer and Internet addiction or computer syndrome.

Pathological attraction to computer games and the Internet refers to non-chemical or behavioral addictions, that is, addictions that are not based on specific biochemical substrates (unlike alcoholism, drug addiction, nicotine addiction).

1. EFFECTS OF COMPUTER GAMES ON THE BODY

Scientists have made attempts to study the consequences of computer addiction at the psychophysical level and discovered the following.

Physical changes in the body are caused by the influence of several factors:

• prolonged sitting in a monotonous position, often distorting posture and internal organs person;
• flickering of the monitor;
• electronic radiation.

Doctors include the consequences of exposure to the above factors:

1. Decreased immunity (the body’s protective properties) – predisposition to infections and cancer.
2. Neurological disorders - there are a number of observations by pediatric neurologists about the development of convulsive attacks, provoked by the flickering effect of the monitor and frequent changes of the image during the game (photostimulation of convulsive activity of the brain occurs).
3. Neurovegetative changes - these include fluctuations blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, increased body temperature, headaches.
4. Vascular disorders. Due to monotonous posture, congestion in the vessels of organs, swelling, and varicose veins develop.
5. Change in posture.
6. Reproductive dysfunction.
7. Deterioration of vision.
8. Endocrine disorders.

Thus, in Japan, studies have found that computer games, for example, stimulate only a limited part of the brain in children, so they need to read, write and count more. In addition, to stimulate brain function and normal development, it is important for children to play outside with their peers and interact more with others.

According to American scientists, excessive involvement in violent computer games leads to disruption of the transmission of impulses between nerve cells and slows down brain function (which was confirmed by the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies conducted on adolescents participating in the study). This inhibition is especially pronounced in teenagers with behavioral disorders, in whom activity in the frontal lobe cortex (responsible, among other things, for emotions and impulsivity) is already significantly reduced.

According to statistics obtained in the USA, on average a sixth grader watches TV 4 hours a day - and this does not count the time he spends various games in front of a computer or TV screen. Children admit that they often play longer than they intended. It is not uncommon for them to neglect their studies because of this.

By some estimates, about 40% of American children ages 5 to 8 are obese. This, obviously, is caused by insufficient physical activity - a consequence of long hours spent watching TV or computer. One company has even developed special simulators that you can use while playing computer games. But wouldn’t it be better to devote not so much time to these games so that there is enough time for other activities necessary for the comprehensive development of the child’s personality?

And here’s another danger that electronic games pose: sitting in front of a screen for a long time can damage your eyes. Evidence suggests that at least one in four computer users have vision problems. One of the reasons lies in the reduction in the frequency of blinking, which causes dryness and irritation of the eyes. When a person blinks, it stimulates the release of tear fluid, which washes the eyeball, protecting it from contamination. Children, carried away, forget about everything in the world, and therefore can play at the computer for hours, almost without breaks. This leads to excessive eye strain and difficulty focusing. Experts recommend taking a break for a few minutes after every hour of working with a computer.

2. IMPACT ON THE PSYCHE. THE EMERGENCE OF GAMING ADDICTION

Today's pace of computerization exceeds the pace of development of all other industries. A modern person begins to interact with a computer constantly - at work, at home, in the car and even on an airplane. Computers are rapidly introducing themselves into human life, taking their place in our consciousness, and we often do not realize that we are beginning to largely depend on their performance.

Along with the advent of computers, computer games appeared, which immediately found a lot of fans. As computers improved, games also improved, attracting more and more people. The electronic gaming market is expected to expand steadily in the coming years. A whole class of people who are fans of computer games is being formed in society; gaming becomes their main activity. Their circle of social contacts is very narrow, all other activities are aimed only at survival, at satisfying physiological needs; The main thing is to satisfy the need to play on the computer. Experience shows that for many of them this hobby is not at all beneficial, and some seriously need help. Most of them are people with famous psychological problems: unfulfilled personal life, dissatisfaction with oneself, and, as a result, loss of the meaning of life and normal human values. The only value for them is the computer and everything connected with it.

For mental health The biggest danger of computer games is addiction. A person is most susceptible to addiction to computer games, since events in computer games are not repeated and occur quite dynamically, and the game process itself is continuous. Before the end of any game, there are certain logical stages, which, for the most part, are quite tightly tied to each other, which forces the subject not to be distracted, but to perceive the passage of the entire game from beginning to end as a single process.

Computer games, especially role-playing games, are one of the methods of so-called addictive implementation, i.e. escape from reality.

By completely immersing himself in the game and achieving certain success in it, a person thus realizes (virtually) most of his existing needs and ignores the rest. In any society there are people who prefer to run away from problems. Those who choose alcohol as this method are called alcoholics, drugs - drug addicts, work - workaholics, gambling - pathological gamblers. Internet addicts, computer games – cyberaddicts, etc. In the latter case, instead of solving problems here and now, a person immerses himself in a computer game. There, in the game, he feels good: he is strong, brave, armed, successful... Time spent playing the game does not make him stronger and more successful in real life. Therefore, emerging from the virtual world into the real one, a person experiences discomfort, feels small, weak and defenseless in an aggressive environment. And he wants to return to where he is a winner as soon as possible.

Complete immersion in the game creates the effect of the player participating in some kind of virtual reality, in some complex and moving process that exists only for him. It is this property of computer games that does not allow a gameaholic to interrupt the process to fulfill any social obligations in real life. Some of them sit at the computer all night long, falling out of real life. People around you are worried, but often don’t know what to do. One young computer gamer said: When I talk to people online, I seem smart and elegant to them. And when they see me in life, they advise me to lose weight.

In this way, a person escapes reality into a fictional world. Here's an apt description one observer gives to fans of computer games: For an online player, the fictional world is much more attractive than the real one. His life outside the game comes down to only earning the minimum amount of money necessary to continue playing.

Of course, the developers of such software products are interested in making the game as exciting as possible. The task of gaming software manufacturers is to create the maximum immersion effect, so that when the next series is released, a person addicted to computer games will buy their product without hesitation.

Computer developments are aimed at improving the transmission of multimedia effects, which is directly related to gaming processes. Today, there are many ways to create the effect of player participation in the process, ranging from game logic (first-person, team play, etc.) and graphic design (3D graphics, isometric view) to musical accompaniment (digitized voice, psychologically intriguing or intense music) and natural sound effects.

Computer gaming addiction is not an addiction to any one computer game, as it is more of a psychological chain reaction. Having completed one game in any genre that he liked the most, the gameaholic looks for other games of the same genre, made in an identical style and not inferior in psychological tension, and then - the desire to complete all (at least known) games of this type, of which in this moment there are a huge variety on the market.

Many games have combined game genres, which pushes the addict to move on to other types of games. It should be noted that completing a new computer game takes from 5-6 hours to several days, sometimes even weeks. In order for a gameaholic to play this or that game for as long as possible, the developers introduce additional small sublevels into them, the so-called secrets, the search for which takes a lot of time. A person obsessed with a computer game does not finally say goodbye to it until he finds all the secret levels, rooms, and collects all the bonuses. By creating secret sublevels, the producers seem to push the player towards a certain competitive feeling of who will win? , which is one of the many reasons for addiction to computer games.

Games in which events depend directly on the player, i.e. developing independently together with the player, focusing on his weak and strong points, or having many random parameters that the player sets, forcing the addict to go through them again and again. Each time, in each new situation, the player checks what will happen if events develop differently. Similar games absorb even more than those built on scenarios, since they provide even greater freedom of action to the player, giving him the opportunity to feel like the developers of a particular level or scenario of a computer game.

Another way to put a subject on a computer needle is to provide a software package included with the game for developing your own scenario levels of the game, and sometimes even for creating your own characters and replacing voice and sound effects, i.e. providing extensive multimedia capabilities. Such programs temporarily give a popular game a certain cult character. In virtual conferences and on fan sites, levels for a particular computer game appear, made directly by the players and made available for everyone to play and evaluate. If the game supports multiplayer systems (simultaneous play of two or more players), this further strengthens the psychological dependence of subjects on the game. Several players can compete with each other to see who has found the most effective game tactics, and a game against a computer is much less interesting than the same game, but against a living person. Moreover, playing against a person in a level developed by the player himself really excites his consciousness; at the moment of the game it seems to him that he is in his own virtual world, where he needs to prove his power, strength and gaming skills.

Thus, the negative consequences of computer addictions are also addiction, expressed in psychopathological symptoms (such as the inability to switch to other entertainment, a feeling of superiority over other people, impoverishment emotional sphere), and a narrowing of the range of interests, and difficulties in communicating with peers, and somatic disorders (decreased vision, fatigue).

Risk factors for developing computer addiction can be grouped into three groups:

1) Social

Insufficient preventive and explanatory work in the family, weakening control over occupational hygiene at the computer.

Massive enthusiasm among peers and adults (parents) around the child for computer games and the Internet.

Financial incentive – the opportunity to win money by playing betting, on-line casino.

Lack of alternative leisure time - reluctance or lack of opportunity to do anything other than the computer.

2) Hereditary-biological

Hereditary predisposition to the development of a certain type of higher nervous activity. In the human genome, 31 genes have been deciphered that are responsible for the production of mood hormones - neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, GABA). Individual mental characteristics largely depend on the rate of production and transmission of these substances in the central nervous system person.

Pre-, peri- and postnatal hazards (harmfulness of the neonatal period), neuroinfections, traumatic brain injuries, intoxications, and serious illnesses contribute to the development of organic inferiority of the brain and form certain characterological properties of the individual.

3) Psycho-characterological

Young people with low self-esteem, insecure, emotionally unstable, having difficulty communicating, immersed in the world of their own experiences (introverts), and feeling a lack of attention and support from family and friends are more susceptible to addiction to computer games and the Internet. He feels good in the game: he is strong, brave, armed, successful... Emerging from the virtual world into the real world, a person experiences discomfort, feels small, weak and defenseless in an aggressive environment, and wants to return to where he is the winner as soon as possible.

The young man gets so used to the realistic computer game that it becomes much more interesting for him than in real life. There are very specific tasks set, failure to complete which will not lead to any losses, bad grades, or scolding from parents. The mistake made can be corrected by replaying this or that moment of the game many times.

The future addict is attracted to the game by:

• the presence of his own (intimate) world, to which no one except himself has access;
• lack of responsibility;
• realistic processes and complete abstraction from the surrounding world;
• the ability to correct any error through repeated attempts;
• the ability to independently make any (within the game) decisions, regardless of what they may lead to.

It should be noted that since in childhood a person’s mental abilities develop in the process of interaction and adaptation to the environment, and, unlike an adult - a mature personality with formed psychological defense mechanisms, the child accepts without criticism what is offered to him, then he becomes dependent faster than an adult. Therefore, issues of early prevention of computer addiction lie within the competence, first of all, of parents.

In general, the mechanism of a person’s addiction and the formation of gambling addiction is based on partially unconscious aspirations and needs: escape from reality and acceptance of a role. These mechanisms are activated immediately after a person becomes familiar with role-playing computer games and plays them more or less regularly and work regardless of the person’s consciousness and the nature of his motivation play activity.

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTER GAMES

All computer games can be divided into role-playing and non-role-playing games.

Role-playing computer games are games in which the player takes on the role of a computer character, i.e. the game itself obliges the player to act as a specific or imaginary computer hero. Role-playing computer games generate a qualitatively new level of psychological dependence on the computer than non-role-playing games or any types of non-game computer activities. It is obvious that psychological dependence on role-playing computer games is the most powerful in terms of the degree of its influence on the personality of the player.

Let us highlight the criteria for a computer game to belong to the class of role-playing games:

A role-playing game should encourage the player to enter into the role of a computer character and the atmosphere of the game through its plot and multimedia (graphic and sound design) features.

A role-playing game should be structured in such a way as not to cause motivation in the player based on excitement - to accumulate more points, thereby breaking someone else's record, move to the next level, etc.

Although there is an element of excitement in any computer game, in a role-playing game this factor should not be of paramount importance.

The classification proposed below is not all-encompassing, complete or complete. It looks like this:

I. Role-playing computer games.

• Games with a view from the eyes of your computer hero.
• Games with an outside view of your computer hero.
• Leadership games.

II. Non-role-playing computer games.

• Arcade.
• Puzzles.
• Games for speed of reaction.
• Traditional gambling.

SPECIFICITY OF COMPUTER GAMES

I. Role-playing computer games

The main feature is the greatest influence on the psyche of the player, the greatest depth of entry into the game, as well as the motivation of gaming activity, based on the needs of accepting a role and escaping reality. Here, three subtypes are distinguished mainly by the nature of their influence on the player, the strength of their involvement in the game, and the degree of depth of psychological dependence.

1) Games with a view from the eyes of your computer hero. This type of game is characterized by the greatest force of tightening or entering the game. The specificity here is that the view from the eyes provokes the player to fully identify with the computer character, to fully enter into the role. After a few minutes of play (the time varies depending on the individual psychological characteristics and gaming experience of the player), a person begins to lose touch with real life, completely concentrating on the game, transferring himself to the virtual world.

The player can take the virtual world completely seriously and considers the actions of his hero to be his own. A person becomes motivated to be involved in the plot of the game.

2) Games with an outside view of your computer hero. This type of games is characterized by less strength in entering the role compared to the previous one. The player sees himself from the outside, controlling the actions of this hero.

Identifying oneself with a computer character is less pronounced, as a result of which motivational involvement and emotional manifestations are also less pronounced compared to games with a view from the eyes. If in the case of last person in the critical seconds of his hero’s life, he may turn pale and fidget in his chair, trying to dodge blows or shots from computer enemies, then in the case of an external view, external manifestations are more moderate, however, failures or death of himself in the guise of a computer hero are experienced no less strongly by the player.

3) Leadership games. The type is so named because in these games the player is given the right to direct the activities of the computer characters subordinate to him. In this case, the player can act as a leader of various specifications: the commander of a special forces detachment, the commander-in-chief of armies, the head of state, even a god who leads the historical process. In this case, the person does not see his computer hero on the screen, but invents a role for himself. This is the only class of role-playing games where the role is not given specifically, but is imagined by the player. As a result, the depth of immersion in the game and your role will be significant only for people with a good imagination. However, motivational involvement in the game process and the mechanism of formation of psychological dependence on the game are no less strong than in the case of other role-playing games.

II. Non-role-playing computer games

The basis for distinguishing this type is that the player does not take on the role of a computer character, as a result of which the psychological mechanisms of addiction formation and the influence of games on a person’s personality are less strong. The motivation for gaming activity is based on the excitement of passing and (or) scoring points. There are several subtypes:

1) Arcade games. Such games are also called console games, because, due to their low demands on computer resources, they are widespread on game consoles. The plot is usually weak and linear. All the player needs to do is move quickly, shoot and collect various prizes while driving a computer character or vehicle. In most cases, these games are very harmless in terms of influencing the personality of the player, because Psychological dependence on them is most often short-term.

2) Puzzles. This type of games includes computer versions of various board games (chess, checkers, backgammon, etc.), as well as various kinds of puzzles implemented in the form of computer programs.

Motivation based on passion is associated here with the desire to beat the computer, to prove one’s superiority over the machine.

3) Games for speed of reaction. This includes all games in which the player needs to show dexterity and quick reaction. The difference from arcade games is that they have no plot at all and, as a rule, are completely abstract and have no connection with real life. Motivation based on passion, the need to complete the game, to score more points, can form a completely stable psychological dependence of a person on this type of game.

4) Traditional gambling. This includes computer options card games, roulettes, slot machine simulators, in a word - computer versions of the casino gaming repertoire. The psychological aspects of the formation of addiction to these computer games and their real analogues are very similar and, therefore, we will not focus on this.

So, role-playing computer games to the greatest extent allow a person to enter virtuality, detach (at least for the duration of the game) from reality and get into the virtual world. As a result, role-playing computer games have significant influence on a person's personality.

4. SYMPTOMS OF GAMING ADDICTION

Manifestations of computer addiction syndrome increase gradually and do not immediately become noticeable to others. At the same time, addiction to computer games is realized primarily by the friends, relatives, and acquaintances around the subject, but not by him himself, which is very similar to any other type of addiction.

The main symptoms defining this disease are the following:

1. absorption, preoccupation with the game (memories of past games, planning for future ones, thoughts about how to find money for the game);
2. feeling of emotional uplift while working with a computer, nervousness and excitement while playing;
3. reluctance to be distracted from playing with the computer;
4. worries, anxiety or irritation when it is necessary to stop the game;
5. using games as a means to get rid of unpleasant experiences;
6. attempts to win back after a loss, to correct the situation;
7. lies and attempts to rationally justify one’s behavior in order to hide the true degree of one’s involvement in the game;
8. forgetting about household chores, responsibilities, studies, meetings while playing on the computer, deterioration in relationships educational institution, with parents, with friends;
9. borrowing money from others to purchase a new game.
10. neglect own health, hygiene and sleep in favor of spending more time at the computer;

If a person has four or more symptoms, it is already a disease...

5. WHAT TO DO?

Currently, scientists cannot say unambiguously whether there is a need to strictly solve the problems of computer addiction among young people. On the one hand, such addiction consumes a person, taking up a lot of time for development and education, excluding the subject from the active social process, on the other hand, addiction to computer games is a passing, temporary phenomenon.

Computer addiction differs from smoking, alcohol, drugs and gambling in that at some point in time saturation with the computer occurs. Then the subject either engages in it professionally, or the computer ceases to have such a significant place in his life. This question remains open primarily for the reason that it is never clear at what point a computer addict, in particular a gaming addict, will reach the point of satiety. Will it be too late to study and catch up? Will he lose his social status, being in the euphoria of computer games, in this case it means expulsion from school or college, dismissal from work, loss of title or position.

It is possible that the oversaturation of computer games in early childhood will require much less time than, for example, a university student. It is possible that the child will quickly get tired of the monotony of the screen, compared to the infinity of possibilities and undiscovered moments of the real world. But, unfortunately, there are no guarantees that the child’s psyche will not be damaged by such an unjustified experiment.

A proven way to prevent a person from becoming dependent on computer games is to attract him into real life so that he realizes himself in it. There are a lot interesting activities(communication with nature, yoga practices, reading educational literature, etc.), which not only allow you to explore your own world, develop vigilance and awareness, but also train the body and normalize the psychological state. Virtual reality is the intangibility of influence, the conventionality of parameters and ephemerality - it is not life, it is only its secondary part, a parallel, but not the main process. There is no point in ignoring computer capabilities; it is necessary to use them as needed, and combine entertainment in the form of computer games with real active actions in the real world.

Chapter from the book “I Can’t Stop. Where do obsessive states come from and how to get rid of them? Sharon Begley on how addiction to various computer games works - from Candy Crush Saga to World Of Warcraft.

Compulsive video game playing is different from all other compulsions. Most people do not become pathological hoarders, OCD sufferers, compulsive eaters, bodybuilders, or shopaholics. Due to their psychotype, they do not risk falling into the black hole of such behavioral patterns, since they have a fairly high resistance to painful anxiety.

But Video games and other electronic temptations exploit universal aspects of human psychology. As I have already noted, a person's compulsive behavior does not mean that he is crazy. On the contrary, an adaptive response to anxiety that would otherwise be unbearable is completely normal.

Nowhere is this more evident than in gambling addiction. Video games are extremely compelling because their creators have learned to tap into universal aspects of how our brains function. That's why Almost anyone can feel the attraction to games and the inability to resist it. John Doerr, the famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist who invested in game developer Zynga, told Vanity Fair in 2011: “It's true that these games aren't for everyone, but they're as close as anything to me. known."

I hoped that the reasons for this could be explained by game designers and scientists who have devoted themselves to a new field of research - the psychology of games. But first it was necessary to make sure that the games satisfied the necessary condition - the ability to reduce anxiety - in order to be a subject of compulsion, and not, say, addiction.

In a 2012 New York Times Magazine article, consulting critic Sam Anderson described his compulsive need to play Drop7, a Sudoku-like game released by Zynga in 2009 where you manipulate balls falling from top to bottom in a 7x7 grid of squares.

“I played instead of washing dishes, bathing children, communicating with relatives, reading the newspaper, and most importantly, writing,” Anderson admitted. “The game became for me a painkiller, an emergency escape capsule, a breathing apparatus, a Xanax.”

The game has become a digital sedative. He realized that with its help he was engaged in “self-medication”, he grabbed Drop7 “in any extreme situation,” for example, “after a conversation in a raised voice with his mother; as soon as I found out that my dog ​​was probably going to die from cancer.”

One online commentator confirmed that video games, at least for him, are inseparable from compulsion. “They reduce my anxiety and I confirm that I play Bejeweled for that purpose,” he wrote. “I didn’t pay attention to how much time I was devoting to this game until one day I realized that I was playing it on the exercise bike during physical therapy,” before falling off it.

Screenshot from the game Bejeweled.

Neil Gaiman described this condition in his 1990 poem "Virus":

You play - there are tears in your eyes,
Wrist aches
Hunger torments... and then everything goes away. Or - everything except the game.
In my head now there is only a game and nothing more*.

Tens of millions of people could subscribe to these words.

In May 2013, Dong Nguyen, a previously unknown game creator from Hanoi, Vietnam, released Flappy Bird, which he told reporters the following year: “It was probably the simplest idea I could think of.”

The game turned out to be the embodiment of the “dumb toys” despised by serious gamers, in which the lack of plot, visual appeal and full-fledged development is compensated only by the complete thoughtlessness of the process. In Flappy Bird, the player pokes his finger at the screen, trying to make the barely animated bird (it doesn't even flap its rudimentary wings - in fact, they are barely visible) to fly into the gap between the vertical green pipes.

However, despite the stupidity - or, conversely, because of it - the game became a sensation. At the beginning of 2014, it topped the lists of the most popular downloads on both Apple and Android, to the utter bewilderment of its creator.

“I don’t understand why Flappy Bird is so popular,” Nguyen told the Washington Post. Ian Bogost, a professor of interactive computer systems at Georgia Tech and a game designer, wrote that countless gamers are "amazed and depressed by the fact that they both hate this game and are captivated by it."

Video games: normal or addiction?

Of course, games are also played to relieve stress after a hard day, to feel at least a little bit of pride in one’s achievements, or to simply relax and disconnect from everything. And not every activity that is spent too much time on is compulsive. Excessiveness is not a sign of compulsiveness (even if we leave aside the question that the very concept of “excessiveness” is subjective).

There are many reasons why people play video games at the expense of other activities and at the expense of work, such as to relieve boredom or procrastinate, avoid socializing, or cope with loneliness. But, as evidenced by the above examples, as well as the study of the phenomenon of psychological attractiveness of video games, for some people this activity still becomes a compulsion, including a destructive one.

From the first decade of the 21st century to South Korea and China are opening “reboot camps” to treat children who are unable to resist the compulsive need to spend hours playing video games.

This does not mean, however, that compulsion is a mental illness. A panel of experts determining which disorders should be included in the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic Manual reviewed nearly 240 studies purporting to describe "online gaming addiction."

As a result, they decided not to include gaming compulsion among the officially recognized mental illnesses by science, agreeing only that this problem deserves additional study. Today, science says one thing with certainty: even a person with a perfectly sound mind can become addicted to compulsive gambling.

Flow, intermittent reinforcement and Angry Birds

Nikita Mikros appears for an interview in a T-shirt wet with sweat and with a helmet under his arm, rolling a bicycle next to him. We agreed to meet in an old warehouse building on the waterfront in Dumbo, a hipster Brooklyn neighborhood of cobblestones and coffee shops.

Mikros, a video game and arcade developer since the 1990s, invited me to spend the morning in his company and learn a lot of interesting things. For example, why the puzzle game Candy Crush Saga from the giant of mobile gaming applications King Digital Entertainment attracted 66 million players in 2013, Alec Baldwin allowed himself to be disembarked from a plane about to take off, just so as not to tear himself away from Zynga’s Words with Friends**, and Tetris According to the voting results, it turned out to be the most exciting game of all time.

Word With Friends

“We've learned a lot about how to make games seductive,” Mikros wrote to me in an email. “Unfortunately, some of the tricks make me feel creepy.”
Mikros quickly leads me into the premises of his game development company, Tiny Mantis. These are just two rooms and a dozen workstations. Among gamers, Mikros became famous for creating such things as Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom, Dungeonsand Dungeons and Lego Dino Outbreak.

The rooms are filled with flat-panel monitors surrounded by disposable coffee cups, and the surroundings include exposed communications, painted brick walls, holes in the ceiling and posters of Mr. Spock and a panda.

Mikros leaves for a minute and returns with a fresh T-shirt - black, with a picture of the Mona Lisa bleeding. I've been tuning in all morning to watch him play Diablo and Angry Birds, but he loads the presentation he prepared for me. Instead of gutting monsters, we dive into the ideas of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Psychologist Csikszentmihalyi proposed the idea of ​​"flow" - a state of mind characterized by complete unity with the current activity.

In a state of flow, you are so immersed in what you are doing that external world hardly penetrates into your consciousness, no other thoughts overcome your mind, the sense of time disappears, even hunger and thirst are not felt. Having been “in the flow,” many are amazed: “Honest mother, where did the time go and why do you want to eat so much?”

The best game developers, Mikros explains, put players in a state of flow: “You forget yourself, your sense of time changes. You start playing, and you won’t even notice how it happened, but - oops! - it's morning already. The experience of the game becomes an end in itself. But each person’s flow zone has its own dimensions. If you give players too many challenges, they'll become overly anxious and give up, and if it's too easy, they'll get bored and quit.

But being in the central zone, they are completely immersed in the process.” The flow is so attractive that the experience of experiencing it sinks into the soul, and it is very difficult to refuse it.

One way to keep players of varying levels "in the flow," according to Mikros, is to constantly adjust the difficulty. This method was used in the 1980s classic. Crash Bandicoot*. If the player found themselves fatally unable to, say, jump onto moving shelves, the game showed mercy by not rewinding too far back to the beginning if the character died, and by making it easier to navigate the obstacle-filled environment.

On the other hand, as soon as you gained experience, the game became more difficult. “Some people like it,” Mikros said. “Since I’m playing better and better,” they reason, let the tasks become more difficult, otherwise it’s just a walk.”

Another way to keep a player in a state of flow is to, for example, crush a monster by using a new skill against it, and then use only that skill in several subsequent situations.

“Your capabilities are growing, now you can defeat a monster that was previously invulnerable,” Mikros explained. “Good developers lead you through a narrow corridor in the flow zone, increasing the difficulty and then giving you a slightly easier task, increasing the level of difficulty again and again offering something easier.”

I admit that I don't see anything special about creating games that keep us in flow. Obviously, a game needs to have these characteristics to be attractive (since it needs to hold the player's attention long enough for them to be drawn in), but it seems to me to be a necessary but not sufficient condition. Universal recipe does not exist, agrees Mikros: “If we knew exactly what to do, every game would turn into Angry Birds.”

In the 4 years since the release of this game by Rovio Entertainment, it has been downloaded 2 billion times.

People can't seem to resist the temptation to use a virtual sling to hurl an enraged bird at an egg-grabbing green pig! Why? There are many reasons why playing Angry Birds is fun: simple game, no learning curve for you, and when hit directly, the pig explodes, to the delight of any inner preschooler.

But the reasons for the game's compulsiveness go deeper. If an action is guaranteed to be followed by a reward (successfully throw a bird - the pig explodes), then the dopamine production system is triggered in the brain. It was previously thought that its sole purpose was to produce a subjective feeling of reward or pleasure, but it turns out that the system is more complex: it calculates the likelihood that an action will provide a reward and adjusts the expectation module in our brain accordingly.

“The presence of dopamine signals to the brain that a reward is expected—like the splendid sight of houses made of glass and wood flying into the air,” psychologist Michael Chorost (who deleted Angry Birds from his phone to overcome his compulsive need to play) wrote in Psychology Today in 2011. ). “However, the brain does not know how large the reward will be.

Will the bird just glide across the surface or hit the bull's-eye? This uncertainty creates tension, and the brain craves relief. As a result, you will go to great lengths to find that relief.” For example, you will use a virtual sling over and over again.

It's no surprise that many people who can't stop playing Bejeweled or even FreeCell have a less-than-pleasant experience. They feel forced, unable to escape the shackles of the game, and inevitably continue to play, receiving almost no pleasure, except for rare moments of success.

Video games somehow “tap into” deep-seated properties of our psyche that make us expect pleasure, cause us unpleasant experiences and force us to constantly repeat the experience, although we know that disappointment and frustration are inevitable.

Games can be compelling without being particularly fun because their developers exploit 2 very effective psychological tricks: variable and intermittent (or probabilistic) reinforcement.

Reinforcement is intermittent with a variable probability of reward: sometimes you get a prize for your achievement (for example, a game trophy or moving to the next level), and sometimes... nothing - for the same action.

Variable reinforcement is a reward system in which the value of the reward for a given achievement varies. Slot machines are the quintessence of variable and intermittent reinforcement. When playing, you always perform one single action - pull the handle of a one-armed bandit - or, with the transition from mechanical devices to electronic ones, press a button. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose - but most of the time you lose. The input signal is the same, the output varies from jackpot to ruin. It is not surprising that the textbook image of a slot machine enthusiast is a man chained to the machine, seemingly hypnotized, mechanically pushing quarters into the iron guts. Compulsively playing until he loses everything and having to take the bus back home.

Like a slot machine, "Diablo uses variable rewards, and that's one of the reasons why it's so addictive," Mikros explained. Let me explain for the uninformed: Diablo is a 2012 release within a gaming franchise founded way back in 1996 by Blizzard Entertainment.

All three releases are action role-playing games with an emphasis on mass extermination of enemies in close combat (the so-called hack-and-slash, or simply “slash”). The player, aka the hero, leads his avatar through the kingdom of Khanduras, fighting vampires and other enemies to end the reign of Diablo, the Lord of Terror.

If you manage to complete 16 levels of dungeons and reach Hell, the hero will face Diablo in the final battle. Along the way, the player casts spells, receives weapons and other useful things, and interacts with various characters - a warrior, a robber, a wizard, and others.

At the beginning of the game, the rewards are essentially fixed: you kill a monster and something good happens, like going up a level or increasing your "experience" (essentially, combat power). However, as you progress through the game, the likelihood of being rewarded with an effective new weapon or other means of survival and advancement decreases, but the value of the reward increases.

“You still expect it, but you don't get it every time,” Mikros says. - You are already accustomed to the fact that destroying a given demon or monster will provide you with something useful, say, gold, a special sword or bow. But now you don’t know if you’ll get anything, and you wait impatiently, even anxiously, for that moment.”

Game developers call this effect the “compulsive loop.” It is rooted in the way our brains work and allows us to understand the essence of the hybrid nature of games. Like other electronic enticements like email and messaging services, video games are a textbook example of an activity in which addiction and compulsion flow into each other like a demon changing shape.

Gaming Addiction: Access to Dopamine

Addiction is fueled by a desperate need for another dose of pleasure. The reason for this is that addictions are born from pleasure - the initial experience is always pleasant, exciting, bringing joy and buzz. These sensations are formed in the so-called reward system in the brain.

The system is activated when we experience pleasure and consists of neurons that connect into a network under the influence of dopamine. “Connection into a neural network” is that the electrical signal, having reached the end of one neuron, passes through the synapse to the next neuron due to the fact that the first neuron released dopamine into the synaptic cleft.

Dopamine bridges the gap between two neurons and is assembled by the recipient neuron, just like ISS modules are assembled spaceship"Union". The “gateway” of the neuron is called the dopamine receptor. The fact of docking promotes the movement of an electrical signal along the entire length of the recipient neuron, and the process is repeated many times until it is perceived by us as pleasure - a subjective feeling caused by food, sex, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and the destruction of monsters in Diablo.

That is why all these substances and activities, being sources of deep euphoria, have such a pronounced reinforcing effect.

However, the processes occurring in the brain turned out to be more complex than scientists initially imagined, and the production of dopamine is no exception. The activity of the pleasure center is easier to understand if we think of it as an expectancy mechanism: it generates predictions about how enjoyable an experience will be.

To better understand how video game developers use the dopamine system, I turned to Jamie Madigan, a doctor of psychology who worked for many years at a game company. Madigan became famous in the gaming world thanks to the website psychologyofgames.com, where he posts materials on topics that interest me, including the “dopamine rush,” which, by his own admission, he himself could barely cope with while playing Diablo.

At the end of Diablo, he said, "you complete the storyline" of slaying vampires and monsters in order to get to Diablo and fight him, "and get increasingly more numerous and effective trophies to kill more monsters and get more stronger trophies." There are more than ten levels, “and the better equipment you acquire, the more tenacious the monsters become. There is no end to this. Gradually I realized that I was doing the same thing for 3 hours every evening, and I was no longer happy about it. If I, who knows what elements of the game make it sticky, got hooked...” He trails off.

But what are these elements that provoke compulsion? Nick Mikros gave another textbook example of a game that, like Diablo, exploits a variable/intermittent reward system. This is the super popular World of Warcraft, also known for its ability to drive players into compulsion by offering them unpredictable and unexpected finds.

World Of Warcraft

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), released in 2004, it has more than 10 million subscribers, each of whom chooses a character and completes a quest through many levels of the virtual world. In World of Warcraft, players choose a profession, such as blacksmithing or mining, and can master any of four minor skills (archaeology, cooking, fishing, or first aid).

They unite to complete tasks, either situationally or as part of permanent associations - guilds, inviting each other through the game's built-in messenger, group "text channels" or, in some games, voice communication systems.

In guilds, players gain access to tools that will be useful in quests - missions that form the backbone of the game and give players experience points, useful objects, skills and money. In addition, World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs provide the opportunity to escape into a carefully crafted, complex, interesting world where there are no parental attacks, tyrant bosses or ungrateful spouses. They exploit our desire for achievement, even if the achievements are defeating enemies, destroying monsters, rescuing princesses, accumulating wealth or increasing status and moving on to better things. high levels- are not entirely real.

This is, however, a psychologically obvious and relatively harmless pull factor for multiplayer games. Jamie Madigan fell victim to a different mechanism. He once virtuously exterminated bandits in World of Warcraft, earning a chance to replenish his arsenal of armor, weapons, or other consumables - trophies that would be useful in subsequent battles and quests.

Trophies come in different qualities, which are indicated by the color of the accompanying text: gray - the weakest, white - slightly more valuable, then green, blue, purple and orange. The character the player chooses as an avatar also has a specific place in the hierarchy. The “classes” - monks, rogues, shamans, warriors and druids - have their own style of behavior, determined by the weapons and defensive techniques available to them, as well as the skills, powers and magic that are earned by completing various stages.

His character was nothing special and could hardly count on valuable acquisitions, so Madigan “was shocked by the trophy that fell - a rare pair of “blue” mittens that perfectly met the needs of my class at that time,” he recalls. For a low-level character, “finding a blue item on a random enemy is a unique case, and I decided that I was in for a colossal breakthrough.

More importantly, at the same time there was a strong desire to continue the game and kill more bandits.” Intermittent rewards in the form of a rare trophy keep passions high in a way that expected and predictable prizes cannot. "It's an incredibly effective way to keep people playing because of the way the dopamine reward system works," Madigan explained.

As you may remember, “dopamine neurons” anticipate the surge of pleasure from a pleasurable experience, firing even before the reward arrives (for example, when the microwave signal tells you that your favorite dish is ready). “But this is just one of the reasons why games based on collecting trophies are so powerful,” he continued. - The main thing is that dopamine neurons simply light up as soon as your brain learns to predict an event, but they literally go wild when they receive an unexpected, unpredictable dose of dopamine, and turn you on even more. Something like “ Wow! One more portion - unexpectedly! Keep doing what you're doing while we try to figure out how to get a repeat!” And you keep playing».

So what if your rational brain convinces you to stop! If you're on an emotional high—for example, when you're slaying bad guys in an online shooter or hurtling through hellish Gran Turismo tracks with squealing tires—you don't remember that you have to take care of your daily bread, prepare for tomorrow's presentation, or finish your coursework.

« All intentions dictated by common sense are powerless - you are already thinking with a different brain, after some stinker broke your record in a shooter or you yourself accomplished an amazing feat in another game, Madigan explained. - Rationality creeps away with its tail between its legs, and you suddenly realize that it’s a quarter to three and there’s a work day ahead, but you still mutter that you’ll kill one more, and that’s all...»

Nick Mikros is not thrilled that video game developers have learned to exploit the dopamine system. It seems like half the basement spaces in Brooklyn are occupied by game designers building compulsion loops into their creations. However, not all people in this profession are proud of this skill of their colleagues, brought to perfection.

“The games that are the material embodiment of Skinner’s box make my hair stand on end,” Mikros admits at the end. - That’s not why I want to make games, not so that people can get food. I pressed the lever and got a pellet. I doubt that this is the path to human progress.”

Homegrown neuroscience

I was starting to feel like I was going through a Halo quest in hopes that the next room I entered—the next expert I interviewed—would reveal the rest of the secrets of the compulsive game. My next location was the New York University Game Development Center.

He was so new to the MetroTech business center in Brooklyn that his office key card, Frank Lantz, who met me at the elevators, did not work. (A graduate student helped us out.) The monitors in the break room were still wrapped in cellophane, and there were boxes piled up everywhere. Founded in 2008 as a department of the Tisch School of the Arts, the Center for Game Development offers a two-year master's program in computer game development.

Lanz is a legend in the gaming world. He is the co-founder of Area/Code (acquired by Zynga in 2011), which developed Facebook games such as CSI: Crime City and Power Planets (“Control the fate of your own miniature planet. Build buildings to ensure a happy life for the inhabitants, and... create energy sources to support the development of their civilization").

He has made many iPhone games, including Drop7. In Sharkrunners, which he created for Discovery Channel's 2007 Shark Week, players can feel like marine biologists interacting in the ocean with real sharks, which are equipped with GPS sensors that provide the game with telemetry data.

Lanz sat down at an almost empty table (his things had not yet been unpacked) and expressed satisfaction that game design was finally recognized as a full-fledged academic discipline, especially since ideas from such disparate fields as architecture and literature converge in this area. "Most game creators have creative goals, and that's a stronger motivation for them than wanting to make a game that players can't put down," he said.

However, while developers may be driven by aesthetic and other lofty considerations, game companies are more eager than ever to get a compelling game for their investment. In years gone by, a teenager would have shelled out $59.95 for a Gran Turismo, and that would have been the last of Sony's money on it. If a player lost interest, no one cared.

In the 2000s. a different business model took hold: instead of paying upfront, gamers received free, free access, often in the form of downloads on mobile device, but then they were given “micropayments”. For example, in Farmville, for one dollar you can buy magic that restores crops (those withered due to your neglect, damn those homework!) or speeds up their ripening (so you can pick vegetables before they send you to bed).

Farmville constantly encourages players to return to the virtual fields because it has a timer: the crops will die if you don't check them often enough. Many people hate losing what they have gained, and this effect is so strong that psychologists have given it a name - “loss aversion.”

Other games ask you to pay $1 or $2 to get around an obstacle, access to a more exotic part of the game world, a cool outfit for your avatar, or virtual food and drink for the virtual inhabitants of CityVille.

In the micropayout model, stickiness—an attraction so strong that gamers can't stop playing—is the alpha and omega. “The commercial operation is built into the game,” says Lantz. “This is causing a really big debate around game design because some of the techniques are perceived as manipulative.” They are not designed to improve the player experience or fulfill the developer's vision, but to push you towards micropayments. I doubt that game designers use behavioral psychology in a calculated way to get players to stick to a game. Very few developers know that they are creating a compulsion mechanism. They want people to review the experience and say it was cool and fun. However, they understand that they are relying on knowledge of psychology.”

And that's putting it mildly. Whether through trial and error or deliberate search, game makers have become frighteningly powerful at creating compelling games. According to Lanz, even something as simple as a leaderboard contributes to this, awakening the desire to get into it and, thus, exploiting our deep-seated need for high status, for the satisfaction of which we are ready to play and play until we break through to the top hundred (or our fingers will not wither).

Or, for example, “nested” goals. In the 1991 video game Civilization, players took turns to “build an empire that could stand the test of time,” as the blurb read. Each began his journey as ruler of the future empire in 4000 BC. with a single warrior and several commoners, whom he could move to organize settlements. Through exploration, diplomacy, and war, players developed their civilizations, building cities, accumulating knowledge (what will you invent first, pottery or the alphabet?) and exploring the surrounding areas.

“Why is this so addictive? - Lanz picks up my question. - Because urgent goals converge here: say, the resettlement of peasants or successful completion your character quest, medium-term, which must be achieved in the next 3-4 turns, for example the creation of a city, and long-term, designed for 10-15 turns [achieving the flourishing of civilization]. The game is permeated with rhythm, and when the immediate goal is achieved and the mind could rest, you are already thinking about the next few moves. The overlap, or “nesting,” of near, middle, and long-term planning horizons is incredibly exciting. In the real world, we often don’t even know what’s connected to what.”

Let's say we don't know what momentary achievement could later result in something greater. The digital world of a video game gives certainty: from “A” necessarily follows “B”.

Another developer trick to make a computer game sticky is instant reward. “You do an action and the character jumps,” Lantz explained. “This is very attractive because in the real world a lot of buttons end up broken.” You click on "work hard in school" but don't end up getting into your preferred college as promised, or you click "graduate from college" but it doesn't help you get a good job.

In video games, the button works as promised, "which is what makes them so addictive". World of Warcraft, which induces compulsive gaming through variable/intermittent rewards, has another psychological appeal, like a good novel, detective story or thriller. “That’s why you open War and Peace every night to read the next chapter,” Lantz says. “You want to know what happens next.” Ignorance causes anxiety - the same one that makes you compulsively gamble.“It’s not so easy to immerse yourself in a plot, follow it to the end and be able to part with it” - to overcome compulsion.

Ryan Van Cleve was convinced that not everyone can do this. Born Ryan Anderson, he adopted a new name in 2006, borrowed from World of Warcraft.

In 2007, on New Year's Eve, his passion for the game almost turned into tragedy. Van Cleve, a college professor, poet, and editor, was stripped of his teaching position because of his compulsive gambling: he gambled up to 80 hours a week and was completely alienated from his wife and friends. On December 31, he told his wife he was running to get cough drops, but instead drove to the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, where he planned to jump. Slipping, he almost fell into the icy waters of the Potomac, but caught himself at the last moment and managed to crawl away from the edge. In 2010, he published the book Unplugged: My Journey into the Dark World of Video Game Addiction, which chronicled his descent into gaming hell. The game became the most important thing in his life, to the detriment of everything else: his wife threatened to leave, his children hated him, and his parents refused to come visit. “I was so immersed in virtual worlds,” Van Cleave wrote, “that I barely remember what happened in real life. Almost everything passed me by."

Lantz is saddened to know that the skill and creativity he sees in game design can be the cause of such tragedies. “I think game development is a kind of homegrown psychology or neuroscience on the knee,” he noted. - An emotional experience is created, so, of course, the developers take psychology into account. Long before the advent of free-to-install games, the goal was to provide gamers with an immersive experience, but this meant creating a viable game, not just a slot machine.

The developers know that if they throw the resources players need: strength, opportunities, lives, weapons - for example, into every 4th trash bin, this will force people to continue examining the boxes. That’s the power of intermittent reward.”

“There is a lot of shamanism in all this,” Lanz concluded. - We still don’t know the exact reason for the popularity of Angry Birds. It's just something inexplicable." As I was about to leave, I asked him what his favorite game was. It turned out that Go is an ancient Chinese board game in which you need to make moves with black and white stones on a board of 19x19 cells.

Gaming Addiction: Digital Drug

The emergence of compulsion in a fan of video games is possible in an interval reminiscent of a narrow mountain peak: if you go down one step from the top, you will find yourself in a valley of excessive simplicity, in the other - in an abyss of excessive complexity. We quit games that are too simple or complex due to boredom or disappointment, so game designers use adaptations to always remain in the gamer’s “Goldilocks zone” (in astronomy, the habitable zone, or life zone. A conditional region in space, determined on the basis that the conditions on the surface of the planets located in it will be close to the conditions on Earth and will ensure the existence of water in the liquid phase).

One of the first such examples was Tetris. In this geometric puzzle, blocks of different shapes fall from the top of the screen to the bottom - in the form of the letters L, T, I, 2x2 squares - and the player must, during the fall, manage to turn and move them so that they form a solid wall below, Moreover, the filled lower rows disappear as the upper ones increase.

« They called it pharmatronic, this electronic thing that affects the brain like a narcotic drug " says Tom Stafford, a cognitive scientist at the University of Sheffield. According to him, Tetris is incredibly sticky, including because it uses a psychological phenomenon - the so-called Zeigarnik effect.

Once, sitting in a Berlin cafe, psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik (1901–1988) noticed that waiters perfectly remember orders that had not yet been delivered to customers. But as soon as the order is completed, it is immediately forgotten. “It's unfinished business that's remembered,” Stafford explained, “and Tetris takes advantage of that very well. This is a world of endless unfinished business. With each completed line, new blocks fall from above. Every block you put in place creates a new space where the next block can be placed.”

We remember unfinished tasks, and this makes us need to finally get things done and worry until it is completed. “The game of Tetris brilliantly exploits the ability of memory to latch on to unfinished tasks and draws us into a compulsive spiral of completing tasks and creating new ones,” continues Stafford. “The desire to complete the next task makes you play endlessly.”

If we started doing something, took certain steps towards the goal, then we feel obligated to finish it. However, unfinished actions take over our minds not only due to the Zeigarnik effect. There's also the sunk cost effect: We hate giving up something we've already invested time and effort into. If you have a task to write and send a letter and you are halfway through it, you feel the need to continue working.

Many MMORPGs exploit the tendency to avoid sunk costs by drawing us in deeply from the very beginning. “These games have what they call a high absorption rate,” says Zahir Hussain, a psychologist at Britain's University of Derby. - When you start playing, you find yourself in a very comfortable environment: pleasant colors and sound effects, simple quests that you can complete without any problems, receiving rewards for it.

This makes you spend more and more time playing." This is also facilitated by the use of another feature of the human psyche, discovered by behaviorist B.F. Skinner in the 1950s: If rewards become rarer and more difficult to achieve, as is the case with many online games, you not only continue to play, but become increasingly compulsive in your determination to get the damn prize that seems to be only 1 or 2 levels away. back .

In World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs, there's a status bar at the bottom of the screen that tells you how many quests you've completed and how close you are to the next level or reward, which Hussain says is "an incentive to keep playing."

Stopping so close to the next achievement, especially if it throws you back to the beginning of the level or quest, is a waste of time and effort already spent.

Regardless, Guardian readers voted Tetris the most addictive* game of all time in a 2014 poll, with 30% of the votes. Second place went to World of Warcraft (22%), third - Candy Crush Saga (10%).

Oh, this Candy Crush! To discover the secret of her devilish charm, I again turned to Jamie Madigan, whom I tortured about dopamine. I was intrigued by his analysis of the spirals of compulsion, and I thought that no one better than him could explain why millions of people are so immersed in Candy Crush that they miss their stop, spit on homework, housework, and just work and forget about the existence of children , spouses and friends.

For the uninformed, I’ll explain what the game is. The screen is filled with "candy" different color and shapes, and the player must, by moving them, collect three of the same in a row (the predecessor game, Bejeweled, was designed in a similar way). Once the result is achieved, the trio disappears, the surrounding elements are rearranged, and you receive a reward in the form of multi-colored flashes, glasses, an increase in sound volume, and the appearance of stimulus words on the screen, for example, “yummy.”

Actually basic level Candy Crush appeals to our mind's tendency to detect patterns in seemingly random groups of objects - because of this gift, the ancient Greeks and Romans saw a swan, twins and a bear in the chaos of stars scattered across the night sky.

candy Crush Saga

“Over the course of development, the brain has learned to notice something good even where it shouldn’t be there, for example, finding a food source that was previously absent,” Madigan explained. - Thus, due to evolution, we are why. We are wired to look for meaning in patterns, especially unexpected patterns.”

Besides, Candy Crush relies on our habit of putting things back in their place, organizing everything, and generally putting things in order. This is exactly what you feel you are doing when you look at the playing field, where complete confusion reigns, knowing that you can rearrange the elements so that the same ones are next to each other. Therefore, the game attracts and brings joy.

There are, however, plenty of activities - watching movies, gardening, cooking or whatever you prefer in free time, - bringing joy, but not “sticky”. What makes Candy Crush sticky, Madigan says, is that the rewards don't just keep coming, they appear unexpectedly.

Sometimes, when the three elements you have collected fall, a combination is formed in which there are many such triplets, and they all immediately fall off the playing field, exploding with bright flashes, loud sounds, a demonstration of the points scored and congratulations in full screen.

Because of this, “the dopamine areas of the brain go crazy,” Madigan said. “Something similar was experienced by our ancient ancestors, hunter-gatherers, who knew very well where they were guaranteed to find food, when they suddenly came across a rich bounty in a completely unexpected place, for example, on a fish stream or thicket of berry bushes, which they had not previously suspected.

A 2013 study revealed the mechanism behind this psychological phenomenon. Psychologists Jordy Quaidbach from Harvard University and Elizabeth Dunn from the University of British Columbia divided the volunteers into 3 approximately equal groups and gave the following instructions:

1. Some were forbidden to eat chocolate for a week until a return visit to the laboratory.;
2. Others were given almost a kilogram and told to eat as much as possible so as not to get sick.;
3. The third were told nothing other than a request to come back in a week..

Upon returning, everyone was again treated to chocolate and asked if they liked it. " Participants who temporarily gave up chocolate found it much tastier and more enjoyable ” than those who were implicitly allowed to eat as much as they wanted or explicitly encouraged to binge on chocolate, the scientists reported in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Potential gamblers

It's time to solve the next problem - to find out whether the danger of becoming a compulsive gamer depends on individual personality characteristics, age, gender or other variables.

The scientific study of this problem has been affected by a host of childhood diseases characteristic of the new area of ​​research. Even basic concepts - say, what makes behavior problematic and what exactly such behavior looks like - are defined differently by scientists, each in their own research.

This behavior is "neither consistent nor specific," said Scott Kaplan of the University of Delaware. The problem is illustrated by the changing description of the individual who has the greatest risk of developing compulsive gambling addiction.

In the early 2000s, when fewer people were online than today, research into excessive online gaming (and excessive Internet use in general) focused on identifying predictors of such behavior. Unfortunately, as even a cursory glance at the published results indicates, scientists “revealed significant correlations with a large number psychological characteristics,” noted Daniel Cardefelt-Winter of the London School of Economics and Political Science in a 2014 article in Computers in Human Behavior. In fact, he continued, “virtually all psychological characteristics make a meaningful contribution to the likelihood” of developing a gambling addiction. Calling a spade a spade, the most important risk factor is the presence of a human brain.

At first, the typical compulsive gamer was “a lonely, socially challenged type, maybe with social anxiety,” Caplan said, “but in those days, those were the only ones who played video games.” Thus, personality traits were an external manifestation of the true, deep-seated cause of excessive gambling, and not the actual cause. For example, such a feature as neuroticism is associated with the inability to tolerate anxiety, and therefore it is recorded in studies of the characteristics of gambling addicts. But it is not neuroticism as such that forces people to play online games, but anxiety, which they are unable to reduce by other means.

Similarly, scientists have found correlations between excessive online gaming and a wide variety of personality traits, such as loneliness, depression, anxiety, shyness, aggressiveness, interpersonal difficulties, sensation-seeking, and lack of social skills. These traits, however, were not so common among individuals predisposed to compulsive online behavior as they were among the majority of Internet users, both compulsive and non-compulsive. “Today everyone uses the Internet, including through smartphones, and the description of the type of people who do it compulsively must also change,” Kaplan added.

As with other compulsions, compulsive video game playing in itself is neither pathological nor a manifestation of mental disorder. People play games for many hours every day (using the Internet, Twitter, messaging services, or Facebook, discussed in the next chapter) “for the same reasons that they compulsively engage in other activities—boredom, escapism, competitive and sociable because that’s what their friends are doing,” Kaplan explained.

It is fundamentally important that online games, especially multiplayer ones, provide social interaction behind the saving guise of an avatar , which is attractive for people who find it easier to communicate anonymously than to personally contact people they know.

People with fragile mental health may prefer online communication simply because the personal is too stressful or difficult for them - virtual life is more comfortable for them. Thus, many people spend a lot of time playing video games to compensate. It's a coping strategy, a way to cope with stress or depression, to escape loneliness, a boring job, or any other nasty side of the real world.

In a 2013 study, Kaplan and colleagues surveyed 597 teenagers who regularly played online games. The most reliable predictor of problem gambling behavior and negative influence games for the rest of a person’s life turned out to be turning to the game in order to normalize mood (for example, to get rid of despondency, boredom or feelings of loneliness) and the impossibility of solving this problem in other ways.

“If I'm lonely and I go online, it's compensation,” Kaplan explained. “This is not a primary pathology.” Games give us something we need or want. If compensation turns out to be effective and becomes a routine means of getting rid of anxiety, it can become compulsive.

Are we all at risk? Not equally. As you may recall, massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft are masters of the "one-armed bandits" trick that traps players - variable/intermittent reinforcement provided by lures such as unexpected valuable trophies that push our "dopamine buttons" " Susceptibility to such lures is an almost universal human trait., but, as in any other relationship, there are many weak points.

Madigan offered another thought regarding compulsivity associated with video games. Among other charms, simple games like Candy Crush and Angry Birds have the ability to be played during tiny periods of time, say, between tasks at work, chores, or on the way from point A to point B.

Computer game addiction is a real problem of modern humanity. Virtual games are addictive, attract attention, and take up valuable time that simply goes to waste. Is there treatment for computer game addiction and how can I make it help? The answer to this question lies through understanding the psychology of those who are involved in it more than in reality.

• Who and why is at risk of becoming addicted to computer games?
• What are the negative aspects of psychological addiction to computer games?
• Why do people who depend on computer games have bursts of aggression and make a transfer from virtuality to reality?
• How to completely and completely get rid of addiction to computer games?

Who are you, dear reader? Concerned and saddened parent looking for information about children's video game addiction? Loving wife or a caring husband who discovered signs of addiction to computer games in his significant other? Or maybe you yourself feel and understand that something is wrong in your life, that you devote too much time and importance to computer games?

One way or another, one thing is obvious: addiction to computer games exists, this is not a fiction or a far-fetched hype around a non-existent problem. For the players themselves, the game is the most reality, which leads to real problems. The game creates a world in which you can find an outlet, at the same time it interferes with life and seems to make an outcast out of a person - this is exactly what a player risks becoming after many years of addiction to computer games. And the symptoms that can be observed in the player are more than frightening even for him.

What to do? How to avoid addiction to computer games? Where to look for salvation? Is there a treatment?

Before answering these questions, let's agree on one convention. We will not condemn a person who suffers from addiction to computer games, but will try to understand why the player is so attracted to the virtual world. And it is through this understanding that we will be able to find answers to the questions outlined above.

I'm riding a trolleybus. Next to me, a boy, about 15 years old, was stuck in his tablet, trying to pass the most difficult level of his game with skillful fingers. The boy is focused on the process, his persistent zeal for victory is surprising, his tension with which he approaches the game is fascinating - it feels like now, at this moment, his whole life depends on victory. And there is nothing around. And no one.

I look over his shoulder at his screen and see that the boy has lost. Once again, obviously. Although he does not express any emotions outwardly, not a single muscle on his face flinched, I literally feel his angry disappointment. But he doesn’t waste time - he launches the same level in a new way. And again - into battle!

The guy seems to be falling into the game. This is life! Beautiful graphics, characters perfectly drawn to the smallest detail, enormous response speed to the slightest movement with one finger - it seems that the player is God himself in this game.

But then the boy’s mother gets into the game. She suddenly pulls him sharply by the shoulder and screams in his ear - our stop, it’s time to get out. It is at this very moment that a decisive episode occurs on the screen. Probably one that the boy had already passed many times. And every time I lost. One for which he is probably now, at this moment, ready to give half his life and half a kingdom for victory, if he had it.

The boy continues to play, but his mother pulls him, and the trolleybus inexorably begins to slow down. The player is unable to take his eyes off the screen, he tries to simultaneously play, get up, and walk to the exit. And, of course, there was an embarrassment. The guy hit some grandma's car, apples fell across the cabin and rolled out through the already open doors. The grandmother groans, the passengers are perplexed, the guy and mother roll out of the trolleybus. And through the already closing doors I hear my mother’s screams and laments that all the boy’s attention, his whole life is in this damn toy and in the computer, that he is a poor student and does not communicate with his peers, that he is a real hermit. Her voice breaks into a squeal, she literally drags the child, who is a head taller than herself, by the collar and yells something. Well, I can't hear it anymore.

Surprisingly, the boy never takes his eyes off the screen. He continues to play and does not seem to hear his mother. And she, although she threatens to take the toy from her son, does not do this because she knows what an inadequate reaction can be in response to this action, including an aggressive one.

I feel sorry for my mother, because all she really wants is for her son to be happy. But I feel even more sorry for the boy because he also just wants to be left alone.

Probably everyone played computer games. Through system-vector thinking, it is easy to understand that those who spend time playing computer games for days are most often people who have a sound vector. It is the sound players who have a whole set of characteristics that make them potentially addicted players.

For all the people in the world who were born without a sound vector, the ordinary world is their whole life. Such a person with early age learns to communicate with others of his own kind, to distinguish between plants and animals, to derive benefits, to create something of high quality, to build cities, to live in a state. For a sound engineer, the world around is illusory. The less a sound student has managed to develop, socialize, and acquire social skills, the more illusory the world around him is for him.

Computer games often become salvation; they replace the real world for a sound person, involving him in virtuality, as in real life. A life in which everything is different, in which you can truly (as it seems to the sound artist) live. There the whole world is built around him, he decides what happens in this world. In him he is God and king, almost Creator. And any physical defects, for example, odors, do not interfere.
It would seem, well, what’s wrong with that? Well, a man is playing a game for himself, so let him play. He doesn’t bother anyone with his actions. Especially when it comes to children. Someone is playing real games, and this one is virtual - what's the difference? In fact, there is a difference and it is huge.

A person with a sound vector lives his whole life with a special division of the world: into internal and external. For him, it is as if there are two separate environments: one is his soul, what he experiences inside himself, and the other is the world around him. Already being small, he distinguishes these two worlds from each other, and reaches out to understand where the line between them lies. At the age of 6, he asks questions “why was I born?”, “what will happen when I die?”, “is there a God and what is he like?” And the world that is inside is very important and valuable for him, and the one that is outside - it is outside, not studied and often hostile. When a small sound child is raised correctly, instilling in him the morality of society, developing internal moral principles, barriers and principles are formed in him, it is these that allow him to live in society as an adequate person. But while he is small, while these boundaries do not yet exist, when he gets into virtual games, where the line between reality and the fictional world is blurred, he becomes more and more entrenched in the idea that the outside world is just an illusion. The more he hangs out in games, the more socially maladaptive he becomes. Living more and more in his illusion, he runs the risk of never receiving any moral or ethical restrictions, which means that he can afford everything he wants at some point.

If you shoot from a pistol at characters drawn to the point of wrinkles for 20 hours a day without breaks, then a shift gradually occurs when the hated real world merges with the virtual one. There is a feeling that ordinary people on the streets are almost the same characters and you can express your hatred for them simply by pulling the trigger. A sound artist who has lost touch with reality can do this. And news feeds from time to time explode with such terrible messages of mass shootings.

Plunging into virtual reality, a person with an unfilled sound vector falls into a trap. He ceases to strive to fulfill his role, that is, he actually begins to degrade as an individual, a socially useful member of society. While he is satisfied with such a life, because it brings less discomfort. And at this time, this is what really happens: he stops studying, works poorly and becomes a burden, both for his family and for teachers or employers. Everyone wants to get rid of him, they avoid him, and so he is gradually forced out of normal life. And this pushes him even more into the game, from which he never wants to leave.

Adult developed person with a sound vector, completely immersed in the game, still has a chance to get out of it. After all, he runs there from depression, from his sound questions, and, having been filled, he may yet return to a full life. But if a child does not initially develop before puberty, does not receive moral inoculation from parents and society, lives in games, he risks forever ceasing to distinguish between reality and virtuality.

If you are the parent of a child or a loved one of one who is addicted to computer games:		If you yourself feel addicted to computer games, and this worries you:
Learn one thing: the more you put pressure on the gamer, the more you try to change him, the more you increase the discomfort in this world for him, thereby pushing him even more into the game. By forcibly taking away your computer and banning games, you can lead to a disaster with your own hands. This doesn't mean you don't need to act. It is necessary, and without delay for a day. But not with prohibitions and moralizing, but by luring the gambler out of his virtual space with what will be more interesting to him in this world.		Keep in mind that you are not worrying in vain. Yes, computer game addiction is a real problem. And yes, she will progress. Of course, everything will not go away and will not resolve, no matter what age or gender you are. But giving up on it just like that, through willpower or self-prohibition, will also not work. Simply because our body is not designed that way: you will continue to do what brings you pleasure. And a computer game brings you this pleasure, although it is small (but it seems great simply because there is nothing to compare it with). You can get rid of this only by replacing the pleasure of the game with something greater in mass and meaning.

How to get rid of, or save a loved one from, addiction to computer games?

A person/child cannot be cured of addiction to computer games by simply taking away a toy or prohibiting him from playing. It’s like depriving a hungry person of food, like taking water from a thirsty person. Of course, we understand that a computer game is a poor filler for a sound vector, like unleavened oatmeal for a hungry person, but it is all he has. Nothing but aggression and dumb misunderstanding can be expected in response. Moreover, the ban will only increase the desire to play, and thereby we will push him even further into this very addiction. And if we also put pressure on the player, shout at him, force him to do something, strain him, then it’s as if we ourselves, with our own hands, are pushing him into the virtual world. After all, there is no all this swearing and stupid fuss, because it’s good there!

It is necessary not to take away the game from a computer game addict, but to offer something that will be an order of magnitude higher, better, more interesting. If you give a person more tasty food, he himself will refuse bland oatmeal.

Therefore, there is only one way to treat computer game addiction - and it is not easy. The sound person can be pulled out of the game only by giving him answers to his internal questions “why?” and why?" By the way, you can distract an addicted person from computer games in literally a couple of minutes, simply by starting a conversation with him about the meaning of life and carefully listening to his thoughts on this matter. And he will definitely have a lot of them, and many of them are bad and depressive, which is not surprising for a depressed sound artist. But by attracting his attention with questions, hooking him with “bait”, making it clear that this answer exists, you can gradually pull him out of the hole of gambling addiction and lead him to a different life.

Where to look for these very answers to the questions “why?” and why?" They lie in the understanding of human nature, the characteristics of all people, their lives, and most importantly - that very sound vector from which all these mental torments come. Yuri Burlan talks about this at trainings on system-vector psychology. He gives his lectures online, so that anyone can attend them, regardless of their place of residence. Free lectures are held every month; find out about the upcoming dates or by clicking on the banner:

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Several decades ago, a computer was a breakthrough in technology for people. It was very rare to meet him in the apartment. Today probably everyone has one. It is used for work, searching for necessary information, and relaxing.

There is not a single person on the planet who has not played or at least heard about computer games. The first simulators were invented back in the 50s. Often such programs are created based on the plots of books and films.

The production of computer games has acquired a global scale. A couple of hours a week of such pastime, of course, will not harm anyone. However, excessive passion provokes the formation of cravings.

The game is present in everyone’s life: football, entertainment in kindergarten, checkers and others. But computer simulators are different from them: they force you to immerse yourself in a fictional world, far from reality.

Gaming addiction to computer games is an escape from reality into cyberspace. The psychological state of the addict changes. The patient confuses reality with an imaginary world. In advanced cases, imagination becomes the only habitat.

There are many types of computer games.

The most dangerous for the psychological state are online ones.

The addict is immersed in the life of a fictional hero: he falls in love, makes friends, and fights. In cyberspace, emotions are brighter and more intense.

The psychology of gambling addiction is characterized by:

• disorientation in time;
• an endless feeling of something new;
• distorted understanding of one’s “I”;
• disturbance of consciousness;
• antisocial characteristics;
• a feeling of virtual power;
• violation of the volitional aspect.

Schoolchildren and students are more susceptible to addiction. This is due to immaturity mental development, suggestibility due to young age.

The disease is also observed in adults. A person leaves the real world for cyberspace during crises, difficulties, or in the presence of serious illnesses.

When depending on simulators, changes are observed:

• increased feelings of anxiety;
• severe fear, panic attacks;
• excessive aggressiveness, irritability;
• deviant behavioral model, sociopathy;
• the emergence of a tendency towards violence;
• increased risk of mental disorders.

According to statistics, teenage boys are more susceptible to gambling addiction. 80% of them spend more than seven hours a day in virtual reality. 50% of girls play a maximum of five hours a day.

Computer gaming addiction causes serious harm to the human psyche. Dependent people “fall out” from society, become aggressive and irritated. They are almost impossible to control.

The concept of computer gaming addiction

Computer gaming addiction is defined as a disorder of the brain, motivation, memory and systems interconnected with them. These problems cause certain psychological, physiological, social and spiritual manifestations.

The addict loses the ability to abstain and control behavior. He has strong cravings and an abnormal emotional reaction. He does not realize and does not see his problem. The disease is characterized by remissions and relapses. If measures are not taken, the pathology will lead to disability and death.

Computer gaming addiction is a type of relationship between man and machine. This is an excessive emotional addiction not to technology, but to what it gives. The patient wants to fill all his time with games, but this is impossible for objective reasons.

The school and parents interfere with the child. For an adult - family, work. If these factors are not present, then the addict will completely immerse himself in a fantasy world. It is extremely difficult to get him out of there.

The final stage in the development of addiction will be complete immersion in cyberspace. It sounds scary, but it must be accepted as inevitable. However, this can be avoided if treatment is started.

Pathogenesis of formation

A common reason for the formation of pathological attraction is personality traits and character traits. Touchy people who are prone to chronic depression and have low self-esteem tend to avoid the “cruel” reality.

In reality, they cannot establish interpersonal relationships and become a kind of “outcast.” In cyberspace, no one bothers them or torments them with questions. There they can be whoever they want. This creates an addiction that is difficult to overcome without professional help.

Pathology can develop due to a lack of perception of yourself as you are, from loneliness and misunderstanding of loved ones. The patient is constantly in a tense state and emotionally exhausted.

Dependence is a consequence of upbringing in childhood and is caused by overprotection or high demands of parents.

In the first case, the child grows up to be dependent. He was used to his relatives deciding everything for him and adult life unable to do anything on his own. Everything is simpler in the game: it is simple to operate and everything is decided in advance.

In the second situation, the child develops very low self-esteem. In a computer you can constantly be a leader, assert yourself through virtual reality.

Often people are not interested in their real life, so they plunge into cyberspace. They simply don’t understand that you can find a passion, a hobby. Play sports, start traveling, and not escape from reality into games.

Stages and consequences

The development of pathological cravings occurs in stages:

• Mild interest: the patient is undergoing adaptation.
• Infatuation: Strong cravings appear. Each session is longer and the stakes increase. At this stage, a person can still resist his attraction.
• Addiction: craving for simulators reaches its highest level. A person constantly struggles with the desire to play. Giving up a “hobby” becomes almost impossible. The time spent at the computer increases dramatically.
• Attachment: the previous stage lasts for a long time. After this, the craving subsides and gains momentum with greater force. The game becomes the meaning of life for the patient; money is only a symbol. A person is not able to overcome his addiction on his own. The addict is distracted from the computer only under duress.

Consequences of gaming mania:

• regular conflicts with relatives, disintegration of the social unit;
• loss of friends;
• lowering social status;
• large financial debts;
• degradation.

To avoid all of these problems, the pathological condition must be promptly identified and treated.

Signs and symptoms

It is not difficult to identify pathological cravings. Signs of computer gaming addiction:

• Before the game, a person is in a good mood, in ecstasy before the action begins. He strives to finish all his work as quickly as possible in order to immerse himself in the virtual world.
• During the game, the addict is overexcited, emotional condition raised. All senses are heightened.
• If for some reason you need to break away from the computer, a person becomes irritated and anxious.
• It becomes impossible to reduce the time spent using equipment.
• Craving initially manifests itself in episodes, then becomes systematic.
• The patient constantly promises to stop gambling and start spending time with loved ones. His words lead nowhere.
• Play is a way to escape from difficulties, loneliness, bad mood etc.

All of the above signs indicate the formation of addiction. It must be dealt with to avoid adverse consequences.

• You need to carefully monitor the time spent at the computer. It is advisable to write down on paper what time the game started and when it ended. At the end of the week, calculate the number of hours spent on a questionable activity. The number will make you think seriously.
• It is necessary to set a limited time in the game. For convenience, you can set a timer. If even after his signal the activity on the computer does not stop, at least the exact time spent on the “hobby” will be known. If the dependency is not completely advanced, you can select certain days or hours dedicated to virtual reality. It is recommended to set a money limit that will be spent monthly in the game.
• It is advisable to choose simulators that do not take much time to complete. Some games are difficult to complete, and they draw you into the virtual world even more.
• The simulator should not be perceived as some kind of competition. This is just a game and there is no need to be afraid to quit before reaching the end. This is a virtual world, no one will blame you for not finishing the job.
• You need to earn time on the computer. You cannot sit down to play games until all tasks are completed. You don't have to give up your hobby completely. You just need to understand the diversity of the world around you.
• It is recommended to replace computer games with broadcasts. It is not necessary to be behind the monitor at this time. You can do useful things. For example, clean the apartment or cook dinner.
• If you realize that it’s time to return to reality, it is recommended to abruptly give up computer games. This is difficult to do, but necessary. You can remove all simulators from your equipment and give the disks to friends for a certain time. After this, more time will be spent with loved ones and the realization will come that cyberspace cannot replace the real world.
• To get rid of addiction forever, you need to determine the reason why it formed. By eliminating it, you will be able to free yourself from pathological attraction.

If you can’t overcome your addiction on your own, you need to consult a specialist.

To determine the presence of a dependency, you must agree or refute the following statements:

• Staying at the computer lasts for hours. You can refuse to consume food, hygiene procedures, and other things in order to prolong your session in the game.
• There are regular delays in the game longer than planned.
• A person thinks of himself as virtual character with a reputation in the game, and not as a real person.
• Cyberspace is more important than interacting with people in the real world (even sometimes).
• After completing the game you feel pleasure. I want to experience euphoria, adrenaline, and satisfaction again.
• It’s hard to tear yourself away from the simulator, even at someone’s request.
• Stop the game during important events(battles, battles, etc.) is difficult.
• I have to hide my passion for computer games because I’m embarrassed to admit how much time it takes.
• Relatives notice a pathological addiction.
• Because of simulations, there is not enough time for studying, household chores, work, etc.
• If you can't sit down at the computer, your mood worsens.
• Immersion in a fictional world occurs even at the workplace or in an educational institution.
• Games caused absences from work and school.
• It is much easier to relieve stress using a computer than using other methods.
• Because of the games, relationships with friends and family have deteriorated.
• Money needed for other purposes is invested in simulators.

The more positive answers, the higher the risk of developing gambling addiction.

If there are more than 50%, then you need to seek advice from a specialist. Pathology began to develop.

Preventive actions

There is no specific prevention. Following the recommendations will help reduce the likelihood of developing a craving for computer games:

• if a person spends a lot of time on virtual reality, he needs to be shown to a doctor;
• you need to try to understand the meaning of the simulators that your loved one is playing: this will help you find common ground and build trusting relationships;
• You cannot criticize games in front of a person who is passionate about computers: you need to gently express your thoughts on this matter;
• it is necessary to understand what exactly attracts people in cyberspace and what is missing in reality;
• limit access to books, films, and violent games: this will suppress aggressiveness.

The above will reduce the risk of addiction. However, if a person spends a lot of time at the computer and the first symptoms of pathological attraction appear, he needs to be persuaded to visit the doctor.