Realize first off that Kevin has to turn settings down to run streaming and chat at the same time, and secondly that the stream itself probably downgrades graphic quality from what Kevin sees. Everyone that's actually played it that I've seen comment about the graphics has said they're quite good.
From Wikipedia: "Classic hallmarks of addiction include: impaired control over substances/behavior, preoccupation with substance/behavior, continued use despite consequences, and denial."
Pysiological dependence is a chemical addiction, but that's a type of addiction, not a definition of addiction itself.
That's an incredibly tragic event, and I'm all for gun regulation personally. However,
After reading the article, that's actually a mistake on the part of the news organization... that rifle isn't technically an "assault rifle" - which is defined as being fully automatic. Those are banned. It is however the next thing to it, and in my opinion is still not a type of gun or magazine that any civillian should have access to.
I'm not suggesting game designers need to reduce the number of overall gameplay hours their game can provide, I'm suggesting that they design their games where everything isn't heavily back end loaded (in game hours terms).
By that, I mean that you get a higher proportion of the rewards being achieveable in short snips of gameplay, and a much lower proportion for excessive gameplay hours. Games can also be designed into more significant levels or "chapters" that are more compatible with shorter game play sessions, rather than the endless treadmill that we often get in games today. It's a lot easier for people to put something down for the day if they don't have 10 "cliffhangers" drawing them to continue playing (uncompleted quests, incomplete equipment, etc).
Otherwise you're just providing incentive for some people's OCD tendencies, which can obviously cause problems.
Except that Blizzard knows that some of their customers AREN'T going to exercise good self control. And in an industry where that can be a problem (like games), a responsible company will design their products to protect their customer.
Diablo 3 is most definitely designed to encourage obsessive play. For instance, in one entire play through, I didn't recieve a single legendary or set item drop. The ONLY way anyone is going to ever get an actual full set of set items is if they play absolutely insane amounts of time or use the real money auction house. Compare this to Diablo 2 where I had to make several extra characters just as mules to hold all my extra set items I was saving up.
Obviously they've designed the game to capitalize ($) obsession... and that's irresponsible.
As games get more and more photorealistic, larger, and more immersive, this addiction problem is only going to get much bigger. What for now is just a small portion of the gaming community that's struggling with addiction will be a pretty damn big portion of the gaming community... and when some of you reading this have lost your jobs/girlfriends/real life friends over gaming addiction in the future, just remember the level of empathy you felt for people like this poor guy in Taiwan.
Any acceptance of exploitation of gamers is unacceptable... whether intentional on the part of developers or not. We all need to try to be the most responsible we can be when other people's lives are in our hands, whether that's behind the wheel of a car or when designing products (like games) that have lead to deaths in the past.
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