【Economist】Share the data

It’s the best way to determine whether video games are addictive

【Para.1】No business would welcome being compared to Big Tobacco or gambling. Yet that is what is happening to makers of video games. For years parents have casually complained that their offspring are “addicted” to their PlayStations and smartphones. Today, however, ever more doctors are using the term literally.

【Para.2】On January 1st “gaming disorder”—in which games are played compulsiv ely , despite causing harm—gains recognition from the World Health Organisation (WHO), as the newest edition of its diagnostic manual comes into force . A few months ago China, the world’s biggest gaming market, announced new rules limiting children to just a single hour of play a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and none the rest of the week. Western politicians worry publicly about some games’ similarity to gambling. Clinics are sprouting around the world, promising to cure patients of their habit in the same way they might cure them of an addiction to alcohol or cocaine.

【Para.3】Are games really addictive? Psychologists are split. The case for the defence is that this is just another moral panic. Killjoys of yore issued similarly dire warnings about television, rock ’n’ roll, jazz, comic books, novels and even crossword puzzles. As the newest form of mass media, gaming is merely enduring its own time in the stocks before it eventually ceases to be controversial. Furthermore, defenders argue, the criteria used to diagnose gaming addiction are too loose. Obsessive gaming, they suggest, is as likely to be a symptom (of depression, say) as a disorder in its own right.

【Para.4】The prosecution retorts that, unlike rock bands or novelists, games developers have both the motive and the means to engineer their products to make them irresistible. The motive arises from a business-model shift. In the old days games were bought for a one-off, upfront cost. These days, many use a “freemium” model, in which the game is fr ee and money is made from purchases of in-game goods. That ties playtime directly to revenue.

【Para.5】The means is a combination of psychological theory and data that helps games-makers maximise that playtime. Psychologists already know quite a lot about the sorts of things that animals, including humans, find rewarding (thanks to a long line of experiments, stretching back decades to those conducted on rats and pigeons by B.F. Skinner). Smartphones and modern consoles use their permanent internet connections to funnel gameplay data back to developers. That allows products to be constantly fine-tuned and tweaked to boost spending. The industry is even beginning to use the argot of the gambling business. The biggest spenders are known as “whales”—a term that originated in casinos.

【Para.6】While psychologists argue the finer points of what exactly counts as addiction, and whether gaming’s design tricks cross the line, the industry should recognise that, in the real world, it has a problem, and that problem is growing. Now that gaming addiction comes with an official WHO code, diagnoses will become more common. Clinics are already reporting booming business, as lockdowns have given gamers more time to spend with their hobby. The regulatory climate for tech is getting chillier. And being lumped in the public mind, fairly or not, with gambling and tobacco will not do the industry any favours.

【Para.7】 Self-interest on many levels

It would be wise to get ahead of the discussion. A good place to start would be with hard data. Many of the studies underpinning the contention that games are addictive in a medical sense are woolly: they rely on self-reported symptoms, contested diagnostic criteria, skewed samples and so on. Even basic questions about the amount of time and money spent by users are hard to answer. The industry has an abundance of data that could help. But gaming firms mostly keep details of how gamers behave secret, citing commercial sensitivity.

【Para.8】In the long run, that will prove unwise. Gaming firms should make more of their data hoard available to researchers. If—as seems likely—worries about addictiveness are overblown, it is hard to think of a clearer way of showing it. And if not, it is better for firms to recognise the problem now, and do something about it voluntarily. The alternative is that regulators will force them to act. And as China has shown, once a government is seized by a fit of moral panic, it can lash out.

• welcome v. to be pleased to receive or accept sth 乐意接纳；欣然接受

  I'd welcome any suggestions. 任何建议我都会愉快地接受。

• compulsively adv. 控制不住地

  She watched him compulsively. 她情不自禁地注视着他。

  compulsive a. ( of behaviour 行为 ) that is difficult to stop or control 难以制止的；难控制的

  compulsive eating/spending/gambling 强迫性进食╱消费；上瘾的赌博

• come into force v. ( of a law, rule, etc. 法律、规则等 )

  to start being used 开始生效；开始实施

  When do the new regulations come into force? 新规章什么时候开始执行？
  

• sprout v. to appear; to develop sth, especially in large numbers 出现；（使）涌现出

  Hundreds of mushrooms had sprouted up overnight. 一夜之间长出来好几百朵蘑菇。

  The town has sprouted shopping malls, discos and nightclubs in recent years. 最近几年，城里涌现出不少购物中心、迪斯科舞厅和夜总会。
  

• killjoy n. ( disapproving ) a person who likes to spoil other people's enjoyment 使人扫兴的人；大煞风景的人

  
  

  
  

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