There are many video games such as Super Mario Bros, Fornite, the Candy Crush saga or Once a Day. Some more arrogant, some more unnoticed, but they're all video games. Video Game Market Trends by Ipsos, a company that conducts market research: According to the EU5&Spain study, 22 million people in the Spanish State consume video games. In addition, they work an average of eight hours and eleven minutes per week. Twenty-eight minutes more than in 2023 and two million more users. In addition, it is concluded that the use has increased, especially between 35 and 64 years of age. “When we talk about video games it seems that we are only talking about teenagers, but adults also play,” said Julen Linazaroso, a member of Macsonrisas.

Among many things, Linazasoro gives lectures on digital education. Recently, he has been talking about mental health and screens in Arizkun (Navarra): “Screens have penetrated so much into our lives that we normally spend two or three hours a day in front of screens in our free time. A lot of people have this problem and it seems normal, but for years now, science has been saying that overuse and early use are public health problems.”

According to data provided by Linazaroso, 4% of video game players in the world, or 60 million players, develop addiction. Indicators associated with addiction include: always thinking about video games; abstinence syndrome – the anxiety, sadness, and so on that is caused by not playing; feeling that you are only okay when you are playing; developing tolerance for dopamine; wanting to play longer and longer; wanting to limit time but not achieve it; losing interest in other things; failing at work or school; and playing to escape emotions.

He explains that they are designed to develop dependency, and although most of them are or appear to be free, they have internal purchases: “All video games have embraced casino techniques because that’s the most effective way to make money.” In the case of video games, sometimes you can pay for things with real money and sometimes with virtual currencies. They work “well” in the early days, but slowly slow down.

As a result, in order to be able to advance in the game it is necessary to include real or virtual money: “We have to play more hours to introduce virtual money, for example, by doing special missions or by means of reward balls. If you enter two days in a row you get a reward, for example, if you are playing for seven days in a row even more reward balls, and so on. So we’re encouraged to play every day.” Another technique is the loot boxes. These boxes have a specific economic value, but at the time of payment, what you will find inside can have a price higher or lower than the price paid: “This is not considered a bet because the odds of having a bet must be 0. So unless the law changes, there are boxes like this in games for children over the age of 3.”

Measures of prevention

He adds that these types of games cause rapid increases in dopamine. Studies show that excessive exposures to these types of stimuli cause structural changes in the brain. This can be accompanied by the development of dopamine tolerance: “To achieve the same thing we felt at first, we need more and more dopamine. But at the same time, because the brain tends to maintain balance, it releases another substance to lower euphoria. So when we play, dopamine doesn’t affect us as much, but the other substance does, and we feel worse and worse. In the end, we need something that has lost its ability to make us feel good, because otherwise we feel worse.”

According to Linazaroso, the most effective preventive measure is to limit its use. But for this he thinks that it is more appropriate than putting in a number of hours to depend on the time of leisure: “If I have three hours in which I do a lot of things, including playing video games, there’s no problem. But if I spend more than half that time playing video games, I’m overusing them.”

Overuse can lead to sleep deprivation, mood swings, irritability, and increased depression. The game can lead to the person isolating himself and losing the perception of the time he spends playing. And it can also affect relationships: “People who are addicted to games don’t finish college, they break up if they are married, they become unemployed and the atmosphere at home deteriorates.” He emphasizes that when the problem increases, it is important to ask for professional help: “On the one hand, we have a lot of time to work on the things that have led us to play. On the other hand, to deal with the dependency that we have developed.”