Play activity is an indispensible factor in the growth of both humans and animals: just think of the importance of playing as the first discovery of the world around us, or as a medium for relating to it and as a system of communication. Indeed, play stimulates the formation of our personality, the learning of rules and social integration, and helps the mind to learn by training mental abilities such as guesswork, imagination, sensorial perception, the ability to distinguish between reality and fiction, the ability to confront others and communicate, and role play.
Play is nowadays very often substituted by video games which drastically reduce the stimulus for abstraction and the distinction between reality and fantasy when compared with traditional game systems which left ample room for creativity, imagination and the ability to create events and the game environment.
That is not all: the very important association made with time is also different, an association which sees the start of the game activity, its end, and a return to reality. This kind of dynamics is no longer present in video games: the player continues his play activity, even when the computer or Play station is off, with a series of images and events which are fixed in his mind even after he has finished playing.
Another critical element in the technological type of play activity is the physical absence of other players: the player is alone in front of the monitor and conducts his activity without physical contact with other persons, or with only virtual relationships.
This is the case with online role-playing games, or MMORPG (massively online role-playing games). These new types are systems in which the game is played over internet, with tens of thousands of contacts at any one time. Players interact by interpreting characters which are usually inspired by fantasy worlds, making them live their adventures as piloted by the architecture of the game.
If one of the most significant forms of traditional games was imitation, through which the player used experimental hearing, seeing and feeling (like sounds, words or facial expressions) to learn to recognise and express emotions, the imitating system becomes insidious and dangerous as soon as we are faced with play on the internet platform, such as for example Metin 2.
The capabilities of internet-based role games should cause us to reflect on the fact that it is often not this instrument of play which is harmful per se, but its unconditional and exorbitant use, and the pathological dependence to which this can lead.
One of the first negative consequences of daily, prolonged use of video games is found in video mania (or video-abuse), or uncontrolled behaviour which can often be the forerunner to other forms of harmful effect produced by video games. A similar element can also be called video-fixation, that is to say an uninterrupted and completely absorbing exposure to the game, in silence and in a poorly-lit environment.
MMORPGs use sophisticated software and web browsers to usually provide access to a world populated by various invented races (elves, ogres, dwarves, humans, etc.) who are chosen by the player and are often grouped in factions fighting with each other. In MMORPGs there is always an aim which is not simply confined to the PvM (Player versus Monster) fight, but the monsters also provide a means to advance the level of the player’s character, so that it can become stronger for tackling further objectives in a continual progression which can be endless.
Every day, millions of people all over the world dedicate a large proportion of their time to this kind of internet activity, and this has given rise to dangerous online communities. For in every MMORPG, the population of players is structured in to clans or guilds, thus favouring group play and a sense of belonging and creating bonds between persons which can last for months or even years.
Metin 2 is an MMORPG which takes place in an environment of strongly oriental appeal. The theme story takes place on a far continent whose social order has been upset and prostrated by the fall of meteorites called Metin Stones which can have negative influence on the creatures living there and which have caused the kingdoms to go to war against each other. The object of the game is to reunite the people who have been divided by this influence and bring about peace by destroying the Metin Stones.
These are the descriptive elements, but we should also look at some other extremely interesting aspects. The game is compatible with any computer, even those of very old generations, and requires very few system resources. It is free and carries no advertising banners, which among other considerations raises doubts about how it finds the economic resources to maintain and update the website 24 hours a day (although some indication comes from user comments like those which refer to online shops for useful game-playing objects).
Between April and August 2009 we studied 10 cases of pathological dependency on internet role-playing games. The game involved was Metin 2, and the age of the patients was between 9 and 16. All were males from normally-structured families with no notable problems, and all had a good school career with normal integration into the social fabric and family life.
The first case was in April 2009: a teenage boy with symptoms of abstinence, nausea, vomiting, irritability, aggressiveness, psychotic withdrawal, with a strong drop in school performance followed by dropping out, lack of socialisation and a strong downturn in mood. This type of symptoms was later observed also in further cases: it was noticeable that the moment the family insisted on switching off the computer or the modem, a profound dysphoria set in, a severe crisis of mood, which led to states of intense aggressiveness.
Since all the patients were Metin 2 players and were playing from 8 to 20 hours daily, we began collecting material on internet, drawing it directly from the blogs, communities and chat-lines dedicated exclusively to Metin 2. In this way we arrived at the following collection of posts and statements, which was put to a careful scrutiny and analysis.
We should point out that these are only a selection of the many examples available on the subject. When read carefully, they show clearly the unease and risk this video game entails for players.
“Metin 2 is one of those internet games where your brain gets lobotomised and you usually finish up losing your regular life to concentrate on the game life and trying to get your PG [character] to the highest possible level. Often when you get to a decent level you get mad [...] because you realise you’ve spent a month of your life for something useless. Unfortunately there are people like yourself who still haven’t realised that after a year.”
“Metin 2 takes you into a bugged-out eastern world. You become a master of stupid martial arts and fight like mad against the dark influence of bugs and server crashes that screw up the game. You fight battles lost from the start to get your items back that you’re sure to lose again in the game. You dominate the huge demon’s tower where the powerful dark force will make it crash 5 times out of 10 (timeout). You can also use a fantastic item shop inside the game to get much stronger. Metin 2 doesn’t just give you frustration and fun but also the chance to get really upset if you lose a close friend, well, yes, there’s a risk that the PG of an ally or why not even your own can get wiped out forever for some esoteric reason. Join the game! Your destiny isn’t under your control! (you can lose your PG / items / account / fertility)”
“Did you ever get to play Metin 2? Sadly I did, and I have to say that like all online games it’s a real drug at first. I’ll tell you how it went. I started playing around the end of April in the version the programmers call ‘beta’ or ‘trial’ in everyday language, we users played for free but we had to report all the programming errors and any other problems with the game. That’s OK so far, you play, you enjoy yourself and you report the bugs, etc. So I went to Sassari for some school exams, waited for the results and got a pass, so I said great! And to celebrate I gave myself a little present and bought some items for what was the Final edition of the game, some Rings of Experience, 3 to be precise, only when playing I saw that these didn’t work and together with about a hundred other players we complained to the firm who withdrew the item from the shop and said they would pay us back. Time went by, two months, not a shadow of repayment to be seen, not even when reminding them, but on the other hand we saw that some of our friends in the game who had never spent a cent were getting free items to encourage them to spend money, like in all the swindles, right? So today I log in to the game and saw a strange icon in the top left ‘experience bonus 20% for 5 days’ and saw the countdown had already started because I saw that even before I logged in the minutes weren’t a round figure but already going down, so I got curious and went into the forum and there I read ‘refund started’ – what do you mean, refund started? What’s going on? I had explicitly requested, together with hundreds of other players, to get my game money back to spend on something else!!! It was no use, they carried on saying that since the servers were German we’d have to go to Germany to sue them, and apart from that they closed all the topics [in the forum] on the subject and warned players that they would take steps on the forum to prevent these continual complaints. Well I didn’t let it rest, I started surfing all the sites of the police, carabinieri, finance guard, and with what result? They wanted all the details like ID of the sale contract, items, transactions that I don’t have any more because there and then two months ago I didn’t think I’d need them, it’s not that easy just to make a simple report so that whoever is able to can check it out, you can’t do that in Italy, classical bureaucracy. Moral of the story: 30% of users (out of 10,000 players) bought at least one Ring of Experience months ago, I say at least one because I bought 3 and friends in the game bought as many as 5 or 6 at about 1 euro for each ring. Game Force must have worked it out carefully, they knew nobody was going to take then to court for a couple of euros, so with someone spending a euro here and a euro there they got a nice little sum together. Obviously in Italy there’s no way to report them, and who foots the bill? We poor players. And that’s not all, many of the players were under 16, legally under-age, so how did Game Force get around it? Easy, by making a contract with telephone companies to buy a number (like a hotline, the counter clicks over until it reaches the amount) so that even minors (without their parents’ knowledge) can spend their REAL money for virtual items in the game”
“Hi guys ... these virtual games where you can only see your PG fighting ... but I know I’ve been (as they say in this game) a NABBO (idiot) to spend at least 4 or 5 months wasting time but I’ve seen photos of people who were spending all day on it ... I tell you, they’re worrying.
Now after I’ve read some stuff on metin 2 I’ve uninstalled the game and to make sure I don’t change my mind ... I’ve given away my 50 levels
PS in these last months I’ve noticed that I was always stuck to the PC, I’ve understood that virtual things don’t have any real value J “
“Luckily I realised after 2 months! =) I don’t play any more because it’s a game that has a beginning but no end ... and then I know people who play, their eyes are blank, any thought that goes through their head is to do with Metin and they neglect real life. I’ve thrown away 32 levels of wasted time ...”
“LOL it’s true I’ve got a PG with 79 levels I’m called Caccola ... it’s a drug and you can’t stop OK so I’m the first in Italy LOL ciao”
“I’m another one of those who realised (maybe a little too late) that this game really is a drug ... I started at the beginning of the school year when I saw the ads on OGame (which I then left for Metin, obviously ...) and I’ve been playing there practically up to 2 weeks ago when we got our report cards. 5 subjects with “insufficient” marks make you stop and think ... I’ve given away all my gear and the power of my shaman and now I log in just to chat a little with the friends I made there. The counter says I’ve played 49,900 minutes ... a quick count and that makes 34 days of my life during the 5 months since I started ... this game really is a drug :’( Since I quit playing I regularly dream stuff like get my super ancient bell up to +9, drop the boots with critical 20%, bring the M1 skill to 17 ... find white pearls ... kill the tarta ... and when I read anything, whether it’s a schoolbook or Harry Potter, as soon as I come across a word like “ancient” or “roar” or “autumn” etc. I suddenly lose my concentration and I’m thinking about Metin again ... I CAN’T STAND IT ANY MORE ... I’m happy to have quit ... now I hope I can catch up again at school ... if not I’ll have to blame my fail on the beautiful world of Metin 2 ... I WOULD URGE ANYONE WHO GETS IN TOO DEEP AND FEELS OVERLY HAPPY WHEN PLAYING METIN 2 (in other words, not thinking of it a just a pastime) TO QUIT AT ONCE WITHOUT THINKING TWICE ... THEY’LL REALISE AFTER THAT THIS GAME HAS BEEN SUCKING UP THEIR SOUL having said that, bye!”
These were only a few of the very many messages found on the various blogs about Metin 2, which show how the users themselves realise how dangerous the role-playing game is and how it can install a pathological dependence with changes to social and family behaviour.
Our studies on this problem then concentrated on the analysis of the images, the characters, the roles and other issues inside the video game. We discovered elements of open violence, language with verbal expressions based on insults and factors which deeply undermined the player’s self-respect.
Apart from this, there was a tendency to create systems of neologies which, as we have seen above, totally replace real language and which rapidly become part of the player’s linguistic assets even in real life.
The key element for understanding the video-abuse of Metin 2 and its dangerous video-dependency is the challenge between the individual and the machine which comes into play through the game, a competition deeply rooted in the urge to demonstrate to one’s self and to the “virtual rival” one’s own values and own capabilities.
It’s this urge which brings the player ever again back to the virtual game: a victory reinforces the belief that they can feed their own Ego with a better performance (of the same or of another kind), and defeat prompts an attempt to save their self-respect threatened by failure. Naturally the pathological dependence on internet role-playing games is connected with an excessive or incorrect use of the technological systems.
However, apart from the excessive length of time spent playing at the computer, there is no doubt that electronic games with content related to violence or to morally deplorable conduct like aggression against persons or property, kidnapping and even rape, can be extremely dangerous for the psyche of adolescents, and not only them. Violent games thus become a pattern of communication and language which are a full-blown didactic model.
Another problematic effect of this dependence is the possible emotional reaction provoked by events within particular role-playing games: the loss of virtual “persons or animals held dear”, for example, can generate depression-like states when the player becomes estranged from real life and immerses himself in a virtual world which to all effects and purposes becomes the player’s real world.
Patients who turned for help to the Ser.T. (Drug Dependency Unit) in Marsala showed behaviour compatible with television abuse, with a chain of disturbed attitudes including aggression, loss of social contact and sedentary lifestyle, which is also at the origin of physical problems like obesity.
All of this prompts us to classify Metin 2 as a game with a noteworthy potential for abuse: patients whose gaming activity was forcibly interrupted showed symptoms such as agitation, trembling and distress, difficulty in moving away from the screen, even giving up meals, and some patients even took psychostimulant substances with high caffeine content to increase their virtual performance, staying awake until late in the night.
All of these patients displayed serious problems in relationships, expressing obsessive thoughts in relation to themselves and to others.
In the examinations carried out by the Ser.T. of Marsala and the Adiconsum of Trapani, they tended in real life to identify with virtual characters, filtering through the latter their emotions, outbursts, rebellion and interpersonal relationships.
We also recorded in half of the patients the occurrence of tachycardia and disturbances to the cardiac rhythm after long gaming sessions, generated by circulation problems or by lack of nutrition.
The potential patient is thus a male teenager who often wishes to escape from reality: the dependence on role-playing video games like Metin 2 is caused by the same mental mechanism as that on alcohol or cannabis.
Pleasure becomes dependence when the brain is continually exposed to positive stimuli which then cause the release of greater quantities of dopamine in the front section of the brain in an area concerned with sensations of pleasure, so that – if the process is repeated frequently – a cerebral “memory” is created: the person is then induced to seek this sensation ever more often, and will find it in the only behaviour capable of triggering it. This is then abuse of Metin 2.
DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA
1. with an increase in gaming hours spent with Metin 2, the patient is continually involved in reliving experiences made during this game, in evaluating and planning forthcoming role-playing games, or in working out ways of obtaining money to play;
2. the need to spend several hours playing at the computer to obtain the desired level of excitement;
3. restlessness and irritability when the patient tries to play less or to give up playing;
4. the patient turns to Metin 2 as an escape from problems or as a comfort for a dysphoric mood;
5. after having spent many hours at the computer the patient will often return to try to obtain a better score (pursuit of score);
6. the patient lies in the family and with others to hide the real level of involvement in the game;
7. the patient will carry out illegal or asocial actions (e.g. using the money intended for school snacks, or stealing at home or elsewhere) to finance his video gaming;
8. the patient will quarrel with family or close friends and risk his school career because of role-playing games;
9. will trust others to provide him with the account or gaming level required to resolve a stalled or losing game (“rescue operation”).
SYMPTOMS
State of distress, panic attacks, sleep problems, dreams about video games, nightmares and trembling.
TARGET
Adolescents seeking flight from reality or from social life and with low self-esteem.
VINCENZO SAVATTERI, Criminologist, pharmacologist and clinical toxicologist; Manager of Ser.T., Marsala
ANTONELLA BIANCO, Social worker, therapist in dance therapy; Ser.T., Marsala
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