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Thursday, June 8, 2006

Video Game: The gateway drug

Posted by on June 8 at 15:30 PM

Amsterdam is opening the world’s first detox center for video game addicts. Since January, Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants, has already treated 20 gaming addicts ages 13-30.

“Video games may look innocent, but they can be as addictive as gambling or drugs—and just as hard to kick,” says Bakker. Symptoms include sweating, shaking, and persistent virginity.

Hyke van der Heijden, 28, a graduate of the Amsterdam program, started playing video games 20 years ago. By the time he was in college he was gaming about 14 hours a day and using drugs to play longer.

I’ve never been an addict myself, but in college I dated a guy who would play Tribes all night, every night. He was a Tribe Warrior or something. I was supposed to be impressed by that. It was while watching him that I began to suspect the addiction timeline progresses thusly: video games, pot, heroin, death, sims character.


CommentsRSS icon

I find that caffeine is a far more effective drug to play the Sims with.

sorry - it's video games, meth, cocaine, death, sims. . . sheesh - you'd fall asleep before you'd play more games!

Really? I played them in childhood, fervently. How was I able to give them up so easily?

I'm a guy and for me I was completely
reverse.
My Game is Operation Typhoon Rising Escalation
oh yeah
I get to have a Javelin and bust enemy Tanks.
While I listen to Wanda Jackson and love my girl

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