Name: Nina He
Gamers who play games for hours on end are getting a disorder where they see or hear the game they play in real life.
Players of certain games reported seeing health bars—which is a little icon showing how much health a player has left—above people’s heads in real life. Others hear sounds from their video games in real life.
This disorder is called Gaming transfer phenomenon (GTP).
Recently, Australian and New Zealand psychiatrists had a meeting about GTP. They believe that GTP is related to gaming disorder. Gaming disorder is gaming to the point where you can’t stop playing.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) believes that about 10% of young people had gaming disorder before and that there were more and more people who had it since the pandemic.
In 2021, the Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) opened up a infirmary to deal with cases of gaming disorder.
The problem begins when gamers can’t restrict themselves from playing and get angry when someone tries to stop them from gaming, psychiatrist Kavita Seth said.
“They prioritize it over sleep, over having meals, going to school, completing school homework, completing social activities,” Dr Seth said.
Some people with gaming disorders can get GTP. Signs of this are seeing the graphics of the video game in their real, daily lives.
“When I really was a hardcore player in WoW (World of Warcraft), when I got my adrenaline pumping, I started seeing health bars above people’s heads,” said a 17 year old.
Daniel Owens, another gamer, said he started experiencing insomnia when he started playing Portal 2.
“It was to the point that it interrupted my sleeping patterns,” Daniel Owens said. “It felt as if my body went to sleep but my mind was still working. It seems to happen in games with frequent sidekick interaction or a narrator.I remember specifically on another occasion, after Super Mario Sunshine came out, that I could not sleep for a full night for nearly a week after playing it. That was the worst. I’ve never had anything bleed into my waking life, though, but could see that possibly happening to a person that plays video games more frequently.”
Dr de Gorart said one of the key factors in gaming was sensory overload and going through a trance was part of the disorder. She also said this was a good time to reflect on how well we can cope with technology.