Should games have "addictive" warning on their boxes\loading screens.

[Gronth 75]

This idea just crossed my mind. We have all that ESRB and simmilar rating shit's, that show the game has "violence", or "hard language" in its content. But ive never seen a warning that says, the game might be addictive. Of course, i know that just everything can be addictive, and you can be addicted even to scratching yourself or things like that. 

But look, we have warnings on cigarette's boxes (may kill, though not directly, are addictive) sometimes on alcohol bottles ("dont drive after drinking" or this sort). In Poland, advertising tobbaco products is forbidden since late 90's, and alcohol can be advetised in TV or radio only after 8 p.m (but only the beers).

But why dont we have such warnings on games? I know people from my neighbourhod, who had "lost" entire years or decades because of games. One of my friends didnt get to highscool final exam on time, because he had raid in WoW and overslept. Other one failed his university middterm exam (which caused failing the year in his case, one of subject must've been passed then, or else.. bye bye) because of LoL.

Some of you will say "its parents foult". No, it isnt. They are grownup people, they have their own brains and can think for themselves. This two guys are very intelligent, yet both of them enter "zombie mode" as soon as they sit in front of aany gaming device. No to say, that it causes shitload of family problems and fights.

so, if cig's have the "It may cause cancer" warings, shouldnt at least some games have "its addictive, may cause (put smething here)" warnings?

[Kizra 165]

you are right in a way, but it all depends on the person. its very diffictult with games because there are so many people that dislike a game while others like it so much they play it everyday. It depends on what you like or dislike as a person rather on if the game is addictive or not.

With drugs or alcohol there is a certain (high) percentage of becoming addicted after trying it, thats why the warnings are so important. But there are so many different types of games and so many different types of people that like or dislike those games that it becomes very difficult to check if that game of that genre is addictive or not.

[Glaice 415]

Not a warning, but a notice. "Notice: Gameplay may be addicting to certain individuals"

[Guest]

Sounds like further interference with enterprise. I object.

[Gronth 75]

@Kizra
, lets put drugs away because they are purposely made to be addictive. But tobbaco and alcohol are waaaay older than any definition od "addiction". And correct me if im wrong, but alcohol addictcs in psychical way, not eally physical (nicotine addicts bothways) But games can be addictive in psychical way.

[' 432]

If games should have them, everything should have them.

[Sigma081 257]

Sounds like further interference with enterprise. I object.

 

After thinking for this a bit I have to agree, it isn't the government's job to help us with our purchasing decisions. And it really pisses me off what they did to the tobacco industry, especially how they made Camel get rid of Joe Camel.

[LaserBunny 275]

No, in addition, remove the hot label on coffee and contains nuts label on peanuts, etc. Don't even blame skipping class and missing finals on games. They are just irresponsible people. Also, games are not drugs and don't work the same. With drugs you are literally putting unregulated chemical into your brain and wrecking the balance. With something like games, everything in your brain is still produced by yourself.

[Shagger 1,470]

I see you point, but I don't think this is a good idea. We have adequate labelling on games already, that's not the problem. If one needs to be warned that video games might take time out of your life that you could spend more productively, then that said person has a problem, even that problem is they're to young or immature to play them.

 

The problem is people not taking responsibility. For example, some people (Mostly parents and other family members) being ignorant of the fact that games aren't just kids toys any more and ignoring the warnings and age tags on the boxes. Sure, games exist for kids, but so many of them are now made for adults and it's been this way for a while now. If let your young kid watch a gory action movie, then they can't sleep at night, do you blame the movie? No. If you're a parent worthy of the title you would take responsibility.

 

The thing about your friend missing his exam is the same story. I was playing games my whole school career and I never missed an exam. With all due respect to your friend, what happened wasn't the games fault, it was his. He should have been responsible. Would have been a different story if had oversleaped because he couldn't peal his eyes away from a book of his latest DVD boxset or something? I know that's not very probable, but still you see point.

 

If people act the way the should instead of burying their heads in the sand, these problems associated with video games would cease overnight.

 

All this addictive labelling would accomplish is fuel the media's war on the industry.

[Mexman 17]

It would be hard to judge a game addictive cause maybe you think it's addictive but others don't you can say a cig will kill you because well it's well researched it will kill you but to say you're addicted to a game is sorta like saying you're addicted to a certain type of food you aren't really addicted but you just enjoy it plus if parents saw games that had the addictive warning I doubt many kids wouldn't get cool games and get stuck with crap games think of the games that would be effected WOW, elder scrolls, fallout, competitive online games so no I don't think it's necessary

[Gone 1,457]

Nope.

 

If people are messing things up in their lives then that's on them not on games.

 

Video games don't cause violence, they don't eat babies, they don't sacrifice virgins on an equinox and they don't force people to miss things that are important.

 

Alcoholics blame the drink, drug addicts blame the drugs and now we have people fixin for a wow raid ..... people need to start taking responsibility for their own shit issues. 

[SgtMerrick 157]

No, in addition, remove the hot label on coffee and contains nuts label on peanuts, etc.

The best one I saw of these was "Warning: May contain tomatoes" on a Tomato sauce/Ketchup bottle.

[Crazycrab 931]

I see the intention of this and it is good but I don't see it working in the intended manner.

 

For example when you see this symbol on a copy of a CD what comes to mind.

 

Is it A:  This contains material not suitable for my kids I'd better not let them listen to it.

 

Or B:  Hey cool it's got a warning on it this album must be badass!!

 

I'm going to assume that most of us would lean closer to but not all the way into B, and that is precisely the problem.

 

If an addictive symbol was used on games I reckon it would go down the same road as the parental advisory one actually doing the opposite of what was intended.  Promoting rather than issuing a fair warning about the potentially addictive nature of gaming.

[Kizra 165]

@Kizra

, lets put drugs away because they are purposely made to be addictive. But tobbaco and alcohol are waaaay older than any definition od "addiction". And correct me if im wrong, but alcohol addictcs in psychical way, not eally physical (nicotine addicts bothways) But games can be addictive in psychical way.

not all drugs are made to be addictive. Sleeping pills for example are made to help you sleep, but if you take too many for too long it is very likely that youll become addicted to it. I think all addictions are psychological in a way, if they were just physical they would be much easier to cure (thats how i see it anyway)

As for the addiction to games: yes they are psychological, and they will not physically harm you like drugs, alcohol or nicotine would (in overuse)

but lets say for a moment that all addictive games should have warning labels. You would first have to find out which game is addictive and which is not, which means testing all existing games plus all the ones that come out every year and even if that were possible you would have to find out which game is addictive to which kind of person.

for eg.: A person who dislikes platform games will not likely become addicted to one. So you would have to find out what kind of people dislike platform games to be able to exclude them from the warning and find out which people could become addicted

you would have to do this for every single game and for every genre. in fact you would have to test every single person since everyone is different. Im not even going to go into privacy issues

Games are not like alcohol or other addictive substances, because not everyone is at risk at becoming addicted to it

[Knighthawk23 22]

It is pretty easy to tell if someone has an addiction. I dont think a label is needed since most people who play games are good people who arent addicted to it.

[Divergence 214]

Why not?

Fat people sue fast food places because, of all things, the food was never warned that it could be bad for them *shock*

There's warning labels on  everything simply because there's always going to be people who lack complete and utter common sense.

[Sol Omega 1,057]

I havn't come across MMOs that warn players about addiction in bright bold colors. Although I'm sure they talk about it in some forum or Q&A.

However, some of them advise or even forces players to take breaks. Dungeon And Fighter has a Fatigue Point system; you can only play so much on per character per day. Tera has an hourly reminder pop up in your face telling you how long you've been playing.

Rusty Hearts had the Fatigue Point System for awhile. I think Elsword has it too.

 

 

When it comes to this, I believe it's an unwritten "duh" that yes. This shit is addictive as hell.

[Aquila 183]

This idea just crossed my mind. We have all that ESRB and simmilar rating shit's, that show the game has "violence", or "hard language" in its content. But ive never seen a warning that says, the game might be addictive. Of course, i know that just everything can be addictive, and you can be addicted even to scratching yourself or things like that. 

But look, we have warnings on cigarette's boxes (may kill, though not directly, are addictive) sometimes on alcohol bottles ("dont drive after drinking" or this sort). In Poland, advertising tobbaco products is forbidden since late 90's, and alcohol can be advetised in TV or radio only after 8 p.m (but only the beers).

But why dont we have such warnings on games?

We don't have such warning on games because there's a difference between a chemical addiction and a mental addiction. Your body can develop a dependency on drugs and alcohol because of the chemicals inside them, video games are just a recreation. For some they are an escape maybe, but not everyone is an escapist.

And I disagree that the fault doesn't lie with parents. There's always something you can do. Take away your kid's subscription to WoW or LoL. Limit his play. Even if it's not working, you can't just NOT do it and expect their behavior to change on its own.

But ultimately, whether it's "addicting" or not is a matter of opinion. My best friend loves playing tetris on his phone, but I don't. I like games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, but he doesn't. It all comes down to taste.

[BSB 168]

Why not?

Fat people sue fast food places because, of all things, the food was never warned that it could be bad for them *shock*

There's warning labels on  everything simply because there's always going to be people who lack complete and utter common sense.

As you said, common sense is rather uncommon.

[Kyris 15]

The problem I have with this. Is the video games themselves are not chemically addictive. The reason some people GET addicted to playing video games, is because the brain releases endorphin's when we get things like achievements or a level in a video games - That's what makes humans feel good, in general - and some people, a small percentage, I would say. Get addicted to that through video games. It's the same reason some people get gambling addictions, or addicted to nearly anything else.

 

Drug addictions, be it tobacco, alcohol, or narcotics. Actively manipulate the brain into addiction, where as things like video games are much more passive, although some unscrupulous developers try to influence it as much as possible. So, where do we draw the line? I say, as long as it's not chemically addictive, we shouldn't put warning labels on it because only a small percentage of users get addicted otherwise.

 

 

I see the intention of this and it is good but I don't see it working in the intended manner.

 

For example when you see this symbol on a copy of a CD what comes to mind.

 

Is it A:  This contains material not suitable for my kids I'd better not let them listen to it.

 

Or B:  Hey cool it's got a warning on it this album must be badass!!

 

I'm going to assume that most of us would lean closer to but not all the way into B, and that is precisely the problem.

 

If an addictive symbol was used on games I reckon it would go down the same road as the parental advisory one actually doing the opposite of what was intended.  Promoting rather than issuing a fair warning about the potentially addictive nature of gaming.

 

I do, and really can, only speak for myself here. But I buy music for myself, and myself only and as a full grown adult. I just ignore the warning label on music entirely. I'm perfectly accustomed to listening to people say "naughty words". But it does remind me of something I heard awhile ago.

The government was playing with the idea of putting warning labels on cigarettes of the damage they can do - diseased lungs, stuff of the sort. But in the tests, it actually showed to INCREASE under-age use because now the packages "looked cool". Not sure how true it is. But basically yea. Kids want things that look 'cool' and edgy. So warning labels, if nothing else, make them want it more.

[7thFrost 154]

You can't compare cigarettes and games

Cigars have chemicals which make them addictive

Getting addicted to games is the individual's problem.

[Kizra 165]

The problem I have with this. Is the video games themselves are not chemically addictive. The reason some people GET addicted to playing video games, is because the brain releases endorphin's when we get things like achievements or a level in a video games - That's what makes humans feel good, in general - and some people, a small percentage, I would say. Get addicted to that through video games. It's the same reason some people get gambling addictions, or addicted to nearly anything else.

 

Drug addictions, be it tobacco, alcohol, or narcotics. Actively manipulate the brain into addiction, where as things like video games are much more passive, although some unscrupulous developers try to influence it as much as possible. So, where do we draw the line? I say, as long as it's not chemically addictive, we shouldn't put warning labels on it because only a small percentage of users get addicted otherwise.

 

 

 

I do, and really can, only speak for myself here. But I buy music for myself, and myself only and as a full grown adult. I just ignore the warning label on music entirely. I'm perfectly accustomed to listening to people say "naughty words". But it does remind me of something I heard awhile ago.

The government was playing with the idea of putting warning labels on cigarettes of the damage they can do - diseased lungs, stuff of the sort. But in the tests, it actually showed to INCREASE under-age use because now the packages "looked cool". Not sure how true it is. But basically yea. Kids want things that look 'cool' and edgy. So warning labels, if nothing else, make them want it more.

where i live many cigarette packages already have those warning labels with pictures of tumors or black lungs. But now people say they got used to those too or they just buy a cigarette pack holder so its not visible anymore.

[... 159]

at the end of the day, it is your responsibility to get off the tv and/or monitor. i guess your buddies didn't want to pass the class.

[LSSJGamer 29]

I can see it now "WARNING! GAMEPLAY MAY BE ADDICTIVE. TOO MUCH GAMEPLAY CAN LEAD TO BEING SHUT IN ROOM WITH NO HUMAN CONTACT. YOU HAVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHO CARE. DO NO SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON THIS GAME."

 

As hilarious as the warning label would be, it really shouldn't be put on games. What's next? Warning labels on music CDs "WARNING! THE MUSIC ON THIS CD IS AWESOME. YOU MIGHT SPONTANEOUSLY START SINGING OUT LOUD AND ANNOY PEOPLE AROUND YOU. IF THAT HAPPENS YOU MAY BE ATTACKED. LISTEN WITH CAUTION."

[mas8705 0]

I can see why this would be the case, after all, when Bioshock Infinite came out, I literally "marathon-ed" through the game and beat it in 10 hours.  When games are good, you can get hooked on them, but really this is more of a "Too each their own" sort of gaming addictions.  For example, there are still plenty of people that play CoD or Pokemon everyday for hours at a time, but there are others who may play a few games and move on.  We all have our preferences in the games that we play, so it would be hard to say just which games would really need to have these kinds of warning labels.  If anything, we will probably see warning labels for games that are saying it more like a joke to try and get people to buy them.

 

Warning! Our game is so addictive, you will never play another game ever again!  Can't wait to see which game tries to do this kind of advertising...