Control the Controller by Ciaran O'Connor

Author:Ciaran O'Connor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Free Association Books

Cause Four: The Decision to Escape

“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom”

—Poe, 1848

In my clinical experience, the most frequent and significant cause and perpetuator of video game addiction is when someone’s skills and ability to cope with their environment are overwhelmed and they are left feeling helpless, fearful or worthless. In short, this is the use of video games to combat fear and pain. Sometimes they are immediate and tangible, such as the presence of an abusive parent or chronic pain induced by a disease or impairment. In situations such as these, neither the game nor the gamer need addressing here, but the clearly untenable circumstances. More often games are used to cope with more elusive existential fears, such as the fear of being rejected, the fear of being alone or the fear of having to make decisions. When these existential fears coincide with someone who has a genuine interest and love of video gaming, then the invitation to addiction presents itself.

To a certain degree, gaming in order to cope with a distressing situation is a wise and healthy option and could be considered an act of self-care, much like having a single drink after a particularly stressful day at work. However, when addiction is present, players are facing deeper, more existential crises that are attacking the foundations of their self. It is when this coping strategy becomes regular and relied upon that the alarm bells should sound – when the signs of addiction are met and self-care has become self-harm.

In essence we are talking about escapism: using an activity to distract ourselves from other events. ‘Escapism’ is a term used in such a scattershot fashion that it has become near meaningless; it requires a little clarification before continuing, at least within this context. It seems that any hobby that offers immersion in a fictional or fantastical world can be classed as escapism, implying that no matter how powerful the story, how brilliant the game or how engrossing the film, participants will take part merely out of a desire to run away from something else. This is clearly not the case. Record-breaking numbers of cinema-goers did not flock to see the “Avengers Assemble” movie because they all wanted to ‘escape’ from their miserable lives – they did so because of the power and attractiveness of the Marvel superhero mythos.

Escapism refers to the urge to immerse into one world in order to avoid another. Games offer this like no other medium; titles like “Mass Effect” offer complex, elaborate and fascinating worlds that you can not only enter into, but also shape. It is not only the immersive qualities of a game that invite escapism. Nearly any game that offers a

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