Published in Psychiatry Research
Thank you for taking this quiz.
My name is Cam Adair and I’m the founder of Game Quitters.
I understand how you feel because I was once addicted to playing video games. My addiction caused me to drop out of high school and while my friends were going off to college I was living in my parents basement playing video games up to 16 hours a day. I even pretended to have jobs.
This story might sound familiar, but it does have a happy ending and I’ve been off video games for over seven years.
Since overcoming my addiction, I have been working with thousands of families to help them and their families overcome it as well.
“One of Canada’s 150 Leading Canadians in Mental Health”
– Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Should you be worried?
A casual gamer means your loved one could be playing for several hours a day, but their life is generally in order. They play games as a hobby, but they’re not sacrificing their life for gaming.
Your gamer will still fulfill their responsibilities for the day. They will still go to school or work and engage with the family at home. They have real-life friends, other hobbies and interests, and take care of the basics like their hygiene.
They may want to play more… but tantrums are not common when they can’t and gaming isn’t impacting their ability to function as a normal human being. You may feel like they aren’t reaching their full potential, but gaming is their passion and we all need something like that. As long as they keep it in control, it’s not a bad thing.
Watch out for these red flags:
If you are reading this and realizing your loved one is a casual gamer, then just keep an eye on it and make sure you aren’t seeing any of these red flags:
Being irritable or moody when they can’t play
Constantly needing to play more and more (“it’s never enough”)
Losing interest in other activities (e.g. sports, exercise)
Being deceptive (e.g. stealing money to buy things in game)
Jeopardizing school, work, and/or relationships (in order to game)
These are important red flags to be aware of and if you begin to notice them appearing more regularly you will want to take action sooner than later.
Prevent the problem from getting worse:
Here are two resources I want to gift you…
1. If you want to learn more about the difference between a healthy gamer and an unhealthy gamer read this article.
2. Here is a checklist on what you can do to prevent gaming from becoming a problem.
Worried your loved one does have a gaming problem? Then click here to learn more about what you can do to turn your situation around.
In the meantime, keep an eye on your email for those resources and more to come soon.
I hope you have found this helpful.
– Cam
