Videogames: addiction or fun?

Videogames: addiction or fun?

The sector accounts for 0.11% of GDP, but more and more calls for control of its use and content for children, especially after the proliferation of 'loot boxes', rewards boxes for which you have to pay

English and nine years old, she is the protagonist of the last case of addiction to video games. Your problem? He spent about ten hours in a row playing the title of fashion among young and not so young, the 'Fortnite'. The alarm was given by the teachers, since it was common for the child to fall asleep in class.

According to her parents, the little girl was able to spend sleepless nights or urinate on her so as not to interrupt the game. This is not the first case in the British Isles, since a few months before the authorities of the country and treated a teenager of 15 years for the same diagnosis.

Faced with this situation, the World Health Organization (WHO) has updated its International Classification of Diseases, which for the first time includes the disorders and health problems associated with video games.

Play disorder refers to a pattern of behavior that is shown through "the lack of control over the game," in terms of "beginning, frequency, intensity, duration, ending and context"; the "increasing priority given to the game to the point that it has priority over other vital interests and daily activities"; and the "continuation and escalation of the game despite the occurrence of negative consequences".

In Spain, the control and prevention of this type of diseases has been included in the Anti-Drugs Strategy for months. Specifically, it includes the compulsive use of online services and excessive dependence on the internet. 18% of young people between 14 and 17 years old in our country make excessive use.

It is estimated that we dedicate an average of 6.2 hours per week, according to data from the Spanish Association of Video Games (Aevi). "We are surprised and waiting to learn more about the decision to include video games in the National Addiction Strategy: There is no evidence or consensus among the scientific community on the relationship between video games and addictions," the organization said in a statement.

The Aevi and other organizations are supported by a study carried out by the University of Cardiff last year with a sample of more than 2,000 people, according to which there is no evidence that video games cause mental disorders in relation to addictions.

"It takes study time and a lot of data and information to publish something coherent and scientific, so we will always be behind the addiction. Clinicians see it in the consultation, but it takes time to get it out in a publication. From my perspective, yes you can talk about addiction to video games, "says Ignacio Blasco, psychologist and coordinator of Alya's therapeutic team.

The 'booty boxes'

«The issue of addiction has always been there. Video games have an addictive component. The developers play with that. It must be affirmed emphatically: they have a powerful power of addiction ", highlights Antonio Fernández, director of the Chair Video Games, Gaming and Serious Games of the University of Malaga and co-founder of the videogame company A Bonfire of Souls.

One of those components are the famous 'loot boxes' or loot boxes. Its origin dates from 2006 thanks to the Chinese video game 'ZT Online'. Today, these mysterious boxes are present in games such as 'Star Wars Battlefront II', 'Overwatch' and the soccer fan 'FIFA', among others.

With these small rewards access to improvements in skills in the game and is made in exchange for micropayments. A fact that for the Belgian authorities involves a risk for the users, for what they have proposed to prohibit its use. «You can not leave our credit card to children. I do not give the card to my children to go to the stores to buy, "says Fernandez.

"A player may think that the management of the purchase of one of these boxes is an advantage, but it is not always the case," says Koen Geens, Belgian Minister of Justice in a statement. His department considers that «the combination between fiction and reality can lead to the search for more expensive objects during their games».

In this sense, Nintendo has said in the past E3 in an interview with Bloomberg: "The 'loot boxes' have acquired something of negative fame. The mechanics of buying something you're not quite sure of what's included is as old as baseball cards.
What we believe in Nintendo is that this mechanics that offers the consumer something to buy and that does not know what it will include can be interesting as long as it is not the only way in which we can obtain such articles ».

In addition to the loot boxes and micropayments, there is the 'downloadable content' or downloadable content. In this case it is the traditional physical expansion packages, but in the digital field. Most are paid and may include exclusive content characters, 'skins' or weapons.

Prohibit not; control yes
Geens is the standard bearer of this fight. However, the British Parliament has already studied the prohibition of this type of products for months. According to a statement issued by the Belgian Justice Department, these games constitute criminal violations of the Belgian gambling legislation and the companies developing them could be sentenced to five years in prison and fines of up to 800,000 euros if these loot boxes 'they are not eliminated. These sanctions could double if there are minor players involved.

"With adults it is more difficult because they have autonomy and can not be forbidden to play"
IGNACIO BLASCO, PSYCHOLOGIST AND COORDINATOR OF ALYA'S THERAPEUTIC TEAM.

The problem is in the protection of minors, and all agents agree that prohibiting is not the solution. "Parental control is very important. You should not play a video game where the recommended age is not yours, "says the professor at the University of Malaga. In Spain, the video game market represents 0.11% of GDP, employs almost 9,000 people and users who buy a videogame are 15 million. The most "hooked" strips, young people between 6 and 24 years old. "The problem comes when the young man spends all his free time with the console and it is his only 'hobby'," Blasco points out.

Faced with symptoms of irritability, isolation, abandoning tasks or functions such as studies or work, "you have to take action", says Alya's psychologist. "In the case of adults it is complicated, because they have autonomy and can not be forbidden to play," he adds.

The solution, sometimes, is simple, although "neither relatives nor affected are aware of the problem", narrates Blasco. "Addiction makes you lose control, but, if through negotiation, we get the child to be aware of their decisions, maintain control and play little, you get many things," says the psychologist and coordinator of the Alya therapeutic team .