This is my digital artefact for Literature in the Digital Age university course. Hope you will like it.

1. Based on a Rob Cover’s Research on Game-playing
Addiction

2. Outline
Why Game-playing?
Friends and Gamers
Stereotypes
The idea of game-playing
Online Addiction and Gaming Addiction
Youth
Time and Tension
Pleasure and Reality
My opinion

3. Why Game-playing?
I play games.
Some friends of mine are gamers.
Playing games – hobby or addiction?
People today – addicted to Internet.
Note: I chose only some aspects of Rob Cover’s
research to introduce and my personal opinion.

4. Friends and Gamers
My friends play many games, everyday.
The list is long: Need For Speed Most Wanted,
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, World of Warcraft,
Assassin’s Creed, Grand Theft Auto, Guild Wars 2,
and some other.
Are they addicted? Or just “unavailable” when they
play?

5. Stereotypes
According to Rob Cover the stereotype of the game-player as
addicted is:
1. Not only in “psychology and pedagogical study” but
2. “In popular culture, news media and governmental rhetoric.”
Very often gamers are seen as low-class, addicted, anti-social,
dangerous kids.
Game-playing = addiction.
The stereotype is wrong.

6. The idea of game-playing
Game-playing is: engaging, interactive, socializing, and
above all – gives you pleasure.
Pleasure – when you play with your friends, have some
good time, beat their high scores.
You can create a different profile, personality, character as
you like it.
Do things you are not able of in real life.

7. Online Addiction and Gaming
Addiction
Both are interactive forms of textual engaging.
Online addiction → “the concept of addiction to digital and
virtual forms of communication and entertainment”
According to K. S. Young “Time spent gaming or online, as
opposed to other activities, becomes the criteria for
determining digital addiction.”
The solution is “grounded in a combination of surveillance and
alarmism.”

8. Youth ≠ Game-playing
Another stereotype – only young people play games and are
addicted.
Today everyone seems to play games.
My proof: not only my 8 years old nephew plays is online
playing games in Facebook everyday.
Some adult and middle-aged friends of mine play games as
much as my nephew does.
Game-playing is seen as an “activity of choice of youth”

9. Time and Tension
Game-playing is still seen as time-consuming and useless
which leads to:
“Losing "track" of time, despite our technologies for its
measurement and the perception of the change of measured
time through "day shifting to night”.
This is not something new or unbelievable.
The excessive loss of time in playing games “proves” that
game-playing is addictive.

10. Pleasure and Reality
According to Rob Cover “gaming addiction can be
productive for thinking about the relationships
between new media and sociality”.
The distinction between real and virtual time has to be
broken despite it is pervasive.

11. My opinion
Both online addiction and game addiction exist today
Many people seem to be addicted.
You can get addicted to the Internet and game-playing
if you are not aware what time you spend online.
You can set a time-limit for staying online.
You should ask for help, if you think you are getting
addicted to game-playing.

12. Let go of the joystick!

13. Bibliography
Cover, Rob. “Gaming (Ad)diction: Discourse, Identity,
Time and Play in the Production of the Gamer Addiction
Myth”. Game Studies December 2006, vol. 6, issue 1.