Posts tagged addiction 
HBO documentary on gaming addiction, Love Child, airs tonight
HBO takes a sobering look at the consequences of gaming addiction tonight with the premiere of Love Child, a documentary film that explores the tragic circumstances behind the death of an infant girl as her parents battled MMORPG addiction. The death of three-month old Sarang ("Love" in Korean) ...
Flappy Bird may return with a warning, dev has three games in the works
Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen said he is considering bringing his hit mobile game back to the market. While he's not actively working on a new version, it would come with a warning that asks players to take a break from the game. Nguyen said as much in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, on...
Flappy Bird creator says game had to go because it was too addictive
Calling a game "addictive" is typically thought of as a compliment. Not so for Dong Nguyen, creator of recently-pulled mobile hit, Flappy Bird. Nguyen told Forbes in a recent interview that the game was too addictive, and that guilt motivated him to remove the game from the iTunes and Google Play s...
Editorial: I can never play Diablo 3
This is an editorial based on Dave Hinkle's personal experiences with 2000's Diablo 2. Joystiq's review of Diablo 3 is still forthcoming. It's not because I lack the requisite memory blocks and quantum computers to run Blizzard's latest, Diablo 3 – it's personal. You see, I'm genetically pred...
South Korean psychiatrists treating StarCraft 'addiction' with drugs
A study recently conducted by the Department of Psychiatry at South Korea's Chung Ang University has found that StarCraft "addiction" can be treated with Bupropion, an antidepressant and anti-smoking aid. According to Wired, the study found that individuals who took the drug for six weeks saw their...
Korea to impose gaming curfew to curb minors' playtime
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced two new policies aimed at stifling so-called video game addiction among the country's youth. Dubbed the "nighttime shutdown," users ages 19 and under of certain online games will be required to select one of three mandatory si...
Kick your WoW habit with ReSTART clinic
Just when you think this kind of thing can only happen in the Netherlands, along comes ReSTART, a Washington state-based rehab center that offers a 45-day course of treatment crafted to help you kick your internet or World of Warcraft addiction. Oh, and it's all offered at the bargain price of $14,...
Shock treatment for gaming addicts halted in China
In a step widely regarded by Joystiq staffers planning on traveling to China someday as "the right call," the Chinese government has halted the use of electroshock therapy to treat video game addicts. The order came down yesterday to a clinic in Linyi, Shandong province from the country's Ministry...
Suda 51 plays Burnout Paradise (a lot) more than you
Grasshopper Manfacture boss Goichi "Suda 51" Suda likes to do everything to the extreme, whether it's the ultra-violence of No More Heroes or -- as we now know -- playing other developers' games, specifically Criterion's Burnout Paradise. The British dev's head honcho, Alex Ward, issued a tweet rev...
MTV True Life looking for gamer addicts
"Have video games totally taken over your life? Is your game play increasingly getting out of control? Have your friends or family confronted you about your gaming habit? How about your marriage or personal relationships – are they being affected? Is it difficult to balance work and gaming t...
