I Kept Playing — The Costs Of My Gaming Addiction – A gaming journalist shares a deeply honest and personal account. More like this, please.

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Richard Clark

Richard Clark is the Founding Editor of Christ and Pop Culture. He is also the managing editor of Gamechurch and a freelance writer for Unwinnable, Paste, and other outlets. He lives with his wife in Louisville, KY and has a MA in Theology and the Arts from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
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1 Comment

  1. Ugh. I’ve read that article waaaay too many times now. Written by different authors, written about different games. But the plotline’s always the same. Sometimes the ending is happy sometimes the ending is not, but the buildup to climax is always the same.

    As much as I disagree with Jonathan Blow’s assessment of MMOs, he is certainly on target when it comes to their addictive qualities and the fact that you’re always chasing a carrot that’s just out of sight. Of course, the problem isn’t unique to MMOs. Even those who play story-based, shooters like Half-Life or Fallout 3 suffer the same carrot-on-a-stick dissatisfaction. The moment their game is finished, they seek another. Their time is whittled away on a never-ending stream of different games rather than on a never-ending single game.

    Whatever. Addictions suck any way one looks at them and regardless of the object of the addiction. And perhaps worst of all, the addicted person rarely has the means to identify or even understand their addiction. We joke about the person who says they can quit anytime they want, but the fact is the vast majority of game addicts honestly believe that their need for gaming is not evidence of their addiction and is suffering that could potentially be quit of at any time.

    Poor dumb gamers.

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