I was a game addict, I love football games a lot, and having those games on mobile phones took the addiction to the next level. It all started with PlayStation, we had this family friend with grown up children that had the game at home then so we had easy access to it.
Our holidays were for games, I wasn't good at it but I had so much interest in them. I wasn't playing any other game then except for football games like PES and others.
My love for it increased during the days of Java phones, I could just download and play PES or Real Football. Symbian phones took over and then android, and the games kept getting more interesting and competitive, I love every challenge that had to do with football games. Today I am still very much into football games but it is sad to know that there isn't any play to earn football games at the moment. I came up with an idea and reached out to some game developers online but didn't get feedback, it would have been a great thing for football game lovers.
Video games have transformed a lot, gone are the days when everyone just played for fun. Technology and crypto have taken things to the next level, players in the world today make lots of cash from video games and that makes it more fun than it use to be.
There are lots of people who make a living from it daily, their addiction has helped changed their lives but is it still an addiction despite earning from these video games?
This is a tough one to answer, being addicted to video games is not something good but with the money involved, it is more of a job. Making more money is fantastic but video games can be detrimental to addicts regardless of the benefits they are getting from them.
I will list a few points based on experience and things I have learned about how game addiction can affect players.
Health-wise, video game addiction is capable of causing addicts health issues.
Excessive exposure of the eyes to blue light: Exposing the eyes to blue light from screens does the eyes no good and it could cause bigger sight problems than we can imagine.
I have always avoided using glasses right from primary school but I almost couldn't escape when I was 19 years, video game addiction was responsible for it. I spend hours staying up every night trying to complete a difficult level unknowing to me that it was affecting me, I unintentionally harmed myself.
Today, one of the reasons why I don't walk at night is because of my sight. It goes blank for some seconds once I look at a bright light and when it's back, it doesn't work perfectly until after some minutes. Spending too much time in front of a screen can be dangerous. It is easier to say I will use eye care on a mobile phone but many gamers can not keep up because they have a different feel of the graphics when the blue light is turned on.
Increase in weight:
What do you expect from someone who sits all day battling with a video game? The tendency of adding weight is high just because your body is not getting enough physical activity, I met several gamers online who complained about adding weight since they got addicted.
This is not a good thing because other illnesses can come up as a result of continuous weight gain.
Mental health at risk
Many people are always considering their earnings, have you thought about the loss? Play to earn games don't come for free and are difficult until you master the techniques and tricks.
Before getting used to the game, a lot of gamers lost huge money and some weren't able to recover from it which affected their mental health. In desperation to cover for the loss, many ran into more losses. A lot of gamers eventually fell into depression because of their ill luck with games they have invested a lot on
Addiction is addiction, earning can only make you feel excited, it doesn't take away the effects of addiction.
Nothing is worth putting our health in harm's way for, I wonder what the essence of the earnings will be when struggling with health issues after lots of wins. I am in no way condemning video games but it is important to create a balance between the engagement we have with them and other things associated with our lives.
My current football game stats
I still play football games but only in my free time and if it was a play to earn stuff, I will definitely discipline myself to prevent getting addicted. I write to earn but that doesn't warrant me sitting in front of my device throughout the day, there are other things I engage with and it is important that create a balance to avoid problems for myself in the long run.
Playing to earn can be motivating but there is more to just sitting in front of your device all day.