Just one problem with that logic... people aren't born with Gaming Addiction.

And as for the whole thing of missing sleep and skipping breakfast, so did my university degree and especially my dissertation. Does that mean it is like Autism? Nope... that's how flawed this research is.

Think it was Douglas Coupland that made the link first - ever read Jpod? He figured the only people capable of the astonishing attention to detail needed to make games had a mild form of aspergers. Scientist here is making the link that science types, or 'boffins' as they are known in the mainstream media, display similar traits to those with aspergers or autism (in a less severe way). I expect that there is quite a high correlation between people that are really intelligent computer scientists, and people that play games, don't you?

If they'd done a study of moutaineers or free-fall parachutists I expect they'd have found there were a lot of extroverts and risk-takers in that group. In a study of MMO players, they've found (statistically speaking) a lot of introverts and un-socialised blokes.

Personality types are attracted to activities they find comfortable or suit them. It doesn't necessarily mean that the activity itself exacerbates or in any way changes the personality type or psychology of the individual.

Won't stop the headline writers 'though :-)

Same thing happens if you **** too much.. .

Read this story today. Load of crap. Basically the headline should say 'People with Autism play computer games' but wheres the impact in that?

Meh.. I probably miss quite a bit of sleep due to my 360... who cares.

I don't have autism. Nuff said.

What annoys me more than anything, is that they used a Pay-to-play MMORPG to test for these symptoms. Not only is it such a small slice of the gaming market, but the genre actually encourages users to spend excessive amounts of time online.

Hawthorne principle: Twist the questions (or the test demographic) to get the result you want.

Firstly, Bolton University who? If this research came from Imperial College or Oxford then it could be taken more seriously, but Bolton?

Another bandwagonesque piece of research that looks to denounce games as something to be feared by parents, as if they are not already being scared enough by the red tops, which, lets face it are nothing more than toilet paper then we have some two bit ‘academic’ institution who is informing us that excessiveness of game play has the effects that they pronounce.

Take games out of the equation and replace them with any sole excessive use of: online gambling, reading or writing of a thesis.

Surely, any of these sole activities undertaken in excess could mirror the behaviours outlined by Bolton University when they discuss the behaviours of game play (their study omits to point out the fact that they are discussing highly excessive play).


Many addictions, unless of a social kind, could cause some sort of disconnection from society and cause traits in people to become withdrawn and lack the traits of someone who does not indulge. There are plenty of people in the world that just like to be on their own, a loner, does that make them a recluse or sufferer of autistic tendencies?

It is a fact that to play games and especially MMO games they take up a lot of your time. I have been there in the past with MMO games and have not played them continually through choice because I enjoy my life. But when the world offers so little to people in terms of reward, the simple truth will be that people who play games get a sense of achievement through them, and their network of people is bigger (research proves this btw) than those that do not play games.

Anyway..

I can see the headline tomorrow "Games causes hair to fall out SHOCKER"

@3
JC, you are absolutely spot-on there, couldn't say it any better myself :D

In my research, 100% of stats can be used to twist things in your favour...

GGGAAAAAAHHHH! I hate journos! There’s cause and effect, and then there are associations…

I buy bread when I am hungry… I am hungry before I buy the bread (because I am hungry) therefore it is not the bread that makes me hungry

I play a lot of games and I am autistic, I choose to play a certain type of game more than other people because I am autistic – socialising with other people is difficult and so it is more enjoyable to be absorbed by these activities…

And a statistical relationship does not mean it is clinically significant (ie. What they say is associated can in fact have tiny real life consequences – not worth worrying about)

Here's an idea for a good article:
Headline: "Newspapers Damage Health!" -
"A new discovery has been found with links to a person's blood pressure and how much they follow the news. If the person reads too many factually incorrect or heavily biased articles, symptoms of stress, high-blood pressure, sweating, and nervous breakdown can occur. In rare situations, the person can also suffer from a disease called 'forumitus' where they proceed to swamp websites and forums with messages to display their disgust at said article, and sometimes they even proceed to hand write a letter to the respective newspaper or media channel. The only treatment, as there is currently no cure, is to only ingest small pieces of news at a time, and any 'high-risk' news should be taken lightly."

note, the above was as well researched as the newspaper articles. This website being the data :)

Interesting piece. Back in 1995 I was product manager on a fab little PC title called Little Big Adventure developed by French developer Adeline.
It was a graphically distinct action adventure and reviewed well. Some time after launch I received a letter from (I think!) the head of the Scottish Autism Society (something like that), saying that they had found the game helped their patients develop a model of the real world and gain confidence as they contemplated living fully in it. He was very supportive and I sent him a few copies.

I am Autistic, and I love games, its about all I think about, talk about and do...

But I was that way before I even touched a video game, and well thats just autism. Playing games can't give you autism, surely... if anything they offer a good outlet with those suffering autism to socialize on a topic with others where the topic is constant, well can't spell for all autistics, but its easier to talk about games to those who not nothing more but to talk about games, and if its a particular game I really like, finding others to talk about it with is hard, thankfully MMORPGS are around, so with 7 thousand possible friends to go and talk about a single topic to, that makes things easier.

Well it explains why the internet gaming show GameLife was so popular. Andrew Rosenbaum had Aspergers.

Still, is this better than video games giving you epilepsy like they said it did in the 90's?

Yes thats right and im sure they'll find a way of linking it to cancer and heroin anytime soon. Video games are after all the spawn of satan and must never be looked at directly. This is getting beyond a joke, anyone read that MacDonalds stated obesity was due to video games not the junk food they create. Insanity!!

I've been playing games since the Atari 2600 and still can't paint!

Cool now that it is irrefutable scientific fact, I can claim NHS benefits :)

Autism has been flourishing since 2000. Cell phones have been flourishing since 2000. Cell phones emit microwaves. Microwaves affect the brain and the fetus. Put down your phone and don't stick it next to your brain again. Take that phone off your waist if you're pregnant. Take it off if you're not. We cook food, not people with microwaves. I think there are some new questions to ask for Autism Month.

Try putting cell phones and microwaves and health into google. Try putting microwaves and autism in. Try cell phones, microwaves and cancer. Search on YouTube. It will make you sick.

Microwaves are not only emitted by cell phones, but also by cell towers. They make our wireless internet possible. We are all paying.

Autism has been flourishing since 2000. Cell phones have been flourishing since 2000. Cell phones emit microwaves. Microwaves affect the brain and the fetus. Put down your phone and don't stick it next to your brain again. Take that phone off your waist if you're pregnant. Take it off if you're not. We cook food, not people with microwaves. I think there are some new questions to ask for Autism Month.

Try putting cell phones and microwaves and health into google. Try putting microwaves and autism in. Try cell phones, microwaves and cancer. Search on YouTube. It will make you sick.

Microwaves are not only emitted by cell phones, but also by cell towers. They make our wireless internet possible. We are all paying.

Try putting unsocial people who are probably aware and worried about the microwaves of a phone with a phone.

The whole thing is cr*p. As already stated their control group was unfair as i'm sure asperger's sufferers would also play rpgs and mmos.

But i'm sure its not because they are addicted to the game. I think its because they're addicted. The definition of addict is someone who has involved oneself in something habitually, to the exclusion of almost anything else. I'm not a psychologist or anything, but i'm VERY sure that translates into asperger's traits.