Video Game Addiction Causes

A carrot on a stick...

The wikipedia article on video game addiction says that a large focus of determining the cause of video game addiction is on the built-in reward system of games. These systems (which are a huge part of MMO's [Massively Multiplayer Online Games]) are intended to keep people playing, especially in games of which you need to maintain a monthly subscription in order to continue playing (which is the case with most MMO's).

My friends and I always refer to this as the carrot on a stick (as do a number of others). It's really not a whole lot different than an executive being offered a large raise or huge number of stocks to stick around for another X number of years, or even the military and their promotions as you end a particular phase of your career there. There is no end (to the game, the advancement or whatever other example you can think) and without an end, you continue on forever (paying monthly in the case of MMO's).

The tools they (producers of subscription based MMO's) use to keep that carrot moving play upon the natural tendencies of the typical gamer to continue to progress until they have completed the game. That meshed with the social aspect of these games, and the fact that many (most perhaps?) gamers of this nature have many many more online "friends" than they do friends they can see in person on a regular basis. In order to fight that desire to catch the carrot, now the gamer is also faced with cutting back on time with these friends as well, which makes it that much more difficult to do.

Click to here to learn about symptoms of Video Game Addiction