A new study has found a bizarre link where adults addicted to Minecraft are supported financially by their parents.
We all know video game addiction is a thing. And I don’t just mean that a game is so good that it’s “addictive.” We’re using the term addiction in its most literal way, as in the person addicted to gaming can’t function in normal society and eschews all responsibilities just to keep playing.
It’s a thing. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged “gaming disorder” as addiction and will include it in the ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases) for 2022. The only other non-substance abuse addiction on the ICD-11 is gambling addiction, and since gaming and gambling are closely related (I’m lookin’ at you, loot boxes), gaming’s inclusion makes a lot of sense.
But there’s still some debate on whether or not gaming should be considered an addiction. To get more info, Clutch.win decided to conduct their own survey of gamers to see if they can be considered addicted according to the Greenfield Video Game Addiction Test.
Of 1,570 Clutch users surveyed, 27.8% scored above 41.2 on the test, meaning they “may have some degree of problematic video game use.” Whether that goes as far as addiction is harder to say since the test isn’t really clinical, but it is a worrying sign.
The survey also made some surprising discoveries. Of all the games available, Minecraft was rated as the most addictive. You don’t normally think of Minecraft as a horribly addictive game, but Clutch points out that Minecraft doesn’t have the same sort of pauses that normal games do, so people just keep playing since there’s no natural indicator for when you should take a break.
On top of that, Clutch also found that of all the survey responders who were 18+ and were Minecraft players, 50% of them said that they relied on their parents for financial support. That’s right: half of all adult Minecraft players rely on their parents to support them.
There are more interesting things to discover on Clutch’s survey, although we hasten to point out that this is hardly a clinical study and should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, now you know why your Minecraft addicted friend can afford to be jobless for a year.
Source: Clutch.win