Addicted to Video Games! For boys only?....hmmm

Posted By: Tina Wood | Feb 5th @ 1:23 PM

Okay, I was perusing the internet this morning and I came across this article on ABC News.com. To summarize it, they stated: When testing the brain activity of men and women playing video games, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that the reward centers of men's brains were far more activated than those in women's brains. "These gender differences may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become 'hooked' on video games than females," the researchers wrote in their paper. There is no doubt that I was "addicted" to the original Halo. Now, that could have had something to do with timing as well. I was working at G4 where LAN Parties and blowing each other up all day was part of my job but I played all night long when I got home. And my weekends were filled with marathon sessions in "Hang 'Em High" and "Blood Gulch". However, I do believe there are exceptions to every rule and I can say that the Original Halo is the only video game I was literally "Addicted" too. Have you ever been addicted to a video game, which one and do you agree it may be a boy thing?

Tags: Halo, Seattle, video games

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Arztek

I remember being totally addicted to Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Metroid when I was a kid. Later Pilot Wings 64, San Francisco Rush, Goldeneye, and Super Smash Bros had me. Time Splitters and II, Star Wars: Rogue Leader, Halo, Super Mario Sunshine and Double Dash were also quite addictive. I also became hooked on Kingdom Hearts 2 and stayed up for 3 days straight just to finish it. That was strange because I liked the original Kingdom Hearts, but was never addicted to it. The most recent addiction I've had was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but not the expansions to it. There are many games I like play, but I haven't been addicted to anything since Oblivion. My taste in games is always evolving and I'm always trying new things, but my attention quickly wanes anymore, so I'm not playing anything for more than 2 hours straight...provided I even have that much time to play.

I agree that it is primarily a boy thing, but I think girls can be addicted also. It's certainly affected by gender programming, but I think personality also contributes to it and you have that kind of personality. Smiley

Googleman81

i have been playing video games since i was 7 years old starting with a game boy (or nes...) and i definitely have to admit that i am "addicted" to video games in general and i can think of stuff like playing through super mario land on the game boy 4 times straight until it didnt get any faster or harder anymore or playing through splinter cell on xbox many times or playing at least one skirmish in dawn of war each day for several months but i dont know if that, or having a community score of 10 for 40 plus gameplay hours in 2 weeks on steam, accomplished by playing team fortress 2, counts as addiction. in terms of hardcore video gaming being a boy thing i remember my best friend and neighbor - a girl - playing as much as i did during my childhood, we liked playing together a lot. but these days when i play multiplayer online games i mostly hear guys talking on their microphones. again, i dont know if it is because girls just are quieter or not playing online shooters...

RonMaverick804

Battlefield games!! I loved modern combat i didnt even bother to buy any other game for months i just played this on live ALL the time. There are hardcore female gamers out there but it's no secret men are obsessed control all the time

Machaira

Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot where about the only two games I was addicted to. That was partially because I was playing with people from work and EQ was such a different type of game. It's much nicer to have RL friends to play with. There have only been a couple of games that I played longer into the night than I should have, although I don't know if it was addiction - Diablo 1/2, Crackdown, Tron 2.0 come to mind.

ChrisAllen

Addiction is what most any gamer suffers from, whether he or she wants to admit or not, is another thing! There may be more guys doing the gaming thing, but the addiction can be afflicted upon both males and females alike in my opinion. It can be seen everyday just by playing on Live - lots of die hards out there, both guys and gals.