BY Brianna Losinger-Ross & Thomas Quinn
While the pandemic lockdown spurred thousands to do everything from bread-making to learning a new language to binge-watching T.V., 23-year-old Malick Sannon decided to put in hours in the virtual ranks.
“I was playing way, way, way more video games during the pandemic,” Sannon says. “What else was there to do?”
He was playing ten hours per day.
“It was a lot of fun, no school, no life, I would just play video games for hours. All your life you have responsibilities and then suddenly you’re told to stay home so I did and just played video games,” says Sannon.
Alex Noël plays the newly-released video game, Hogwarts Legacy, as he listens to the Montreal Canadiens hockey game. Photo by Thomas Quinn.
Now that the pandemic measures have been lifted, gamers who were spending long hours in front of their screens are now reducing the time they spend playing.
“Now I play nowhere near as much as I did during the pandemic,” says Sannon. “I have actual things to do again, and I can’t invest as much time into video games because I have to juggle school and football.”
The 2022 Real Canadian Gamer Essential Facts Report found that the average time people spent gaming per week decreased for men and women of all ages, but saw the most change with teenage boys, who decreased their gaming hours by half.
Statistics show that gaming has decreased since the pandemic, especially for teenage boys. Media by Brianna Losinger-Ross.
Clodia Baille, a mother of three boys between the ages of 10 and 17, says she’s not that worried about the time her kids spend online playing games because they’re usually playing amongst themselves or with friends, which is positive.
“There are also social aspects to video games, because they can play online with their friends,” she says. “They play online together, all three of my kids, in their individual rooms and you can hear them on their phones, playing together and having a blast. Playing games is a place where they can exchange, share, and improve their coordination and reflex skills, basically what I mean to say is that it’s not all positive but it’s not all negative either.”
Baille explains that she would prefer to have her kids be social and play video games than just sitting in front of the TV.
“Games like Minecraft have a good cognitive impact from what I see and read, they even use it in schools, they teach with it,” Baille says. “My mom will be like ‘there they go on their video games again’ but she’s watching just as much TV as they’re playing video games. I don’t see the big deal as they’re interacting with the game and they’re somewhat using their brains, rather than getting information just thrown at them.”
Playing video games can be a positive activity, especially when they are used to play and connect with friends.
People aren’t just playing video games in their basements. In fact, there are bars that are dedicated specifically to gamers like Meltdown Montreal. Video by Thomas Quinn.
However, a Quebec judge recently approved a class action lawsuit against Epic Games Inc., the creator of the popular video game Fortnite after parents alleged that the game is “addictive” and that minors were spending excessive amounts on in-game purchases.
Epic Games Inc. has now changed their daily spending limit to $100 for players under the age of 13, after many children were spending hundreds and thousands of dollars.
Cody Dodds plays God of War on his PC. Photo by Thomas Quinn.
Scott Jennings, a mutual support provider for Gaming Addicts Anonymous (GAA) explains that some creators are strategic in how they design their video games, using psychology to make them as addictive as possible.
“Some games have been purposely designed [to be addictive], where psychologists were hired to incorporate the known addictive qualities of gambling into video games,” Jennings says.
“They have found stuff about the randomness of rewards, both in how often they occur and what size they are, which is some sort of hooking mechanism that is really powerful in gambling that they purposely put into video games,” he says. “They put effort into making some games as engrossing and addictive as possible.”
Noël plays Super Mario Odyssey on his Nintendo Switch after playing Hogwarts Legacy for a few hours. Photo by Thomas Quinn.
Even with some games having addictive mechanisms in them, not everyone will be addicted to video games. As Jennings says, anyone with addiction disorder can find addiction anywhere.
“Most games aren’t addictive, an addiction disorder is driven by emotional pain, most of which coming from childhood dysfunction and trauma. Addiction disorder is just one of the ways that people cope,” Jennings explains.
Online meeting attendance for GAA saw a significant increase throughout the pandemic, which can be attributed to both people falling into the last stages of addiction and with people being forced to attend online meetings.
Dodds sits at his gaming desk with his beer and weed while he continues to play God of War. Photo by Thomas Quinn.
According to a study by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, in 2020, 58 per cent of adults and 80 per cent of teens were playing more video games than they had before the pandemic started.
“It was a combination of people needing more support because they were isolated from others which makes it easier to fall into the final stages of addiction,” Jennings says. “More people were also willing to look online to get help. Before the pandemic, we heard quite a few people that wanted support but were only interested in in-person meetings, so the willingness changed and that played a role in the growth.”
GAA is hoping to start back in-person meetings this year, though they have daily Zoom meetings, where support is available for those who are struggling with their video game consumption.
“It’s going to sound so simple and obvious, but there are a few things that could help people before getting to the stage of addiction disorder,” Jennings says. “Taking good care of yourself, creating social connections, and dealing with stress and anxiety through good coping mechanisms is what prevents addiction.”
