The younger generation is currently plagued by one of the most common problems among children worldwide. You guessed it right: Online Gaming Addiction.

18 year old computer science student, Stanley Vincent Dimaya of the Phillipines, played Ragnarok for two years and spent about one hundred thousand pesos on his addiction, more than enough to finance a year of education. He suddenly realized that he was not living his own life anymore; he lost contact with his friends and family, fell back on studies and did not graduate on schedule. Since he has stopped playing, he can now concentrate on his own life without having the altered state of mind of an addicted gamer.

Online gaming addicts are often rather socially inept, and therefore substitute real-life human connections with games. Through a virtual world and real people connected to the Internet, massively multi-player online role playing games (MMORPG) individuals substitute interpersonal relationships with virtual ones. Eye-popping, beautiful graphics create an enticing force of attraction that lures potential players.

"Many people feel powerless in society, but in online games they're in control of armies, of cities, of other people," says Goh Chee Leong, dean of the Department of Psychology at HELP University College. He also adds, "This power is exhilarating and provides the mental challenge their brains seek."

In role playing and strategy games, you will progress throughout the game. Characters will eventually become stronger, faster and more powerful. They will also get new abilities, weapons, items and probably more virtual currency. In strategy and war games, players get new technology and new types of soldiers. This is quite normal for strategy games, as they get harder and harder as they progress. Here’s the catch: random reinforcement is used to keep their players hooked on to the game, working by suddenly giving their players something enticing or bad to reel them in, such as finding a rare and powerful weapon in a cave or suddenly becoming faster or stronger; or negative random reinforcement like thieves stealing your money. Players rarely win in such situations, and because of that people get hooked and play longer hours in hopes that they will become more powerful. Some of these people are such diehard fanatics that they spend obscene amounts of time on their favorite RPG game without even wining anything.

This article is not meant to discourage you from playing games; it serves to help curb the ever-growing gaming addiction problem gripping our society. Remember, it isn’t worth throwing away your life over some silly videogame.