I just finished playing through every Mega Man X game in the Legacy Collections. Of course, I earned platinum trophies for each collection. I finally got to play and complete Mega Man X8, though my playthroughs of the other seven games were essentially me aiming to recreate my 100% save files (with perfect hunter rankings for X5 and X6 [average games at best perhaps], but not X7 because X7 sucks) that I still have on my old PlayStation memory cards. I'm in the process of uploading my playthroughs of the Mega Man X games on my youtube channel:
I probably won't have entire playthroughs for X5 and on, however. The games sort of dip in quality after the first three. As much as I love Mega Man X, this fact I cannot deny.
Now, I wanted to address a topic that I have thought about extensively since January, and even prior before the official decision was made. Specifically, I am talking about World Health Organization's inclusion of "Gaming disorder" in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). WebMD has a nice article that addresses several concerns that I share with a good number of mental health experts: the lack of research, inconclusive evidence, unclear methods of treatment, and the possibility of the label causing more harm than good. Apparently, the "mental health experts" who advocate use of the gaming disorder label may have failed to consider the research showing how video games can be used as therapy. DidYouKnowGaming put out a good video earlier this month that discusses the use of games in medicine:
Gaming is an escape, a hobby, a passion, and constant companion. And then, of course, there is the perspective that gaming can become a disorder.
I follow topics like gaming violence, gaming addiction, and people in China dropping dead in internet cafes fairly closely. I also majored in psychology, and I remember (and have applied) much of what I have learned regarding mental health. My senior project focused on the diagnosis criteria and treatment methods for mood disorders (Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder) in adolescents, with an emphasis on the need for a multimodal framework to better understand and treat these disorders. A prominent point I always make, whether I'm teaching AP Psychology or discussing mental disorders (suicidal ideation, anxiety, depression...) with my friends, family, or co-workers, is how blurry the lines between normality and abnormality can be. In many ways, these lines are culturally defined, and we have cases of misdiagnosis, over or underdiagnosis, and comorbidity (symptoms that apply to multiple disorders) that compound the job of psychiatrists. Then, there are instances when receiving a diagnostic label, which goes on one's health record, and the proceeding treatment plans may, at least in some cases, make a person's situation worse. Diagnostic criteria are supposed to be really clear, but are they really? It depends. If at least five symptoms are required for diagnosis but a person only displays four, does this mean they should be okay? How should we approach treatment if at all? Most importantly, what else can we do to combat the constant negative stigma surrounding mental health?
Furthermore, gaming is already frequently stigmatized due to reported cases of addiction, deaths in internet cafes, and concerned parents (who are usually the ones who bought their children their video games in the first place) who fear that playing video games interferes with their children's academics or other aspects of their lives. Then there are delusional gun enthusiasts who still like to blame school shootings on violent video games rather than on the guns and shooters themselves. Blame the media, the books, the movies, and now the games. Tis' a tale as old as time, dating back to Socrates and Plato when they proposed that poetry and art were unethical due to exciting emotions rather than rationality. Video games are today's modern art form.
Certainly, we cannot deny that there are also those who desperately need and have found help. Having a mental disorder properly diagnosed and treated is absolutely essential to a person's ongoing efforts to attaining a happy and fulfilling life, a goal that can constantly be thwarted due to one's debilitating condition. No one can deny that mental health is a complex issue.
This is why, personally, as a mental health researcher (by hobby, not profession) and avid gamer (also by hobby and not profession), I regard the World Health Organization's inclusion of "Gaming disorder" back in January with ambivalence. The overly general statements on the online Q&A page provide few guidelines for how to ascertain whether a person actually has a "gaming disorder" or is merely really passionate, and some might even say addicted, to a hobby. Let us look again at the WHO's description of gaming disorder (which can be found here):
Gaming disorder is characterized as "a pattern of gaming behavior ('digital-gaming' or 'video-gaming') characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.
For gaming disorder to be diagnosed, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months."
How does one judge impairment in personal, family, social, or other areas of functioning? Does quitting school to play video games count? Does every professional/eSports gamer have gaming disorder? Don't people usually give priorities to their hobbies? Where exactly should the lines be drawn? I don't think the WHO knows.
In slight defense of the justification of using labels for mental disorders - though, for the most part, I am an anti-labeling advocate - I understand that people who cannot escape their addictions, whether they be drugs, gambling, or gaming, need to properly address their problems, for things can always become worse. The most crucial distinction between normality and abnormality, the distinction between whether a person has transient depressive symptoms versus actually having clinical depression, is the duration of the symptoms and the extent to which the symptoms cause impairment in everyday functioning. Can't get through the day because of your anxiety, depression, or gaming addiction? Affecting your work, school, or family life to the point of chaos and the inability to manage your life situation? Then, my friend, you might have a problem.
Maybe.
