Bejeweled Blitz is the Facebook version of PopCap’s popular jewel-twisting puzzle game, which gives players a minute to rack up the highest score humanly possible in order to brag to their friends. Now PopCap brings that functionality to the iPhone version of the game, allowing players to try and beat their Facebook friends anywhere in the bathroom world.

“Ultimately, social gaming is about being able to play games with and against your friends, and the new Blitz update for Bejeweled 2 on iPhone lets you play against your friends anywhere,” explained John Vechey, co-founder and director of PopCap’s social gaming initiative. “This is a natural next stage in our multi-platform and social strategies. Blending the Facebook and iPhone Bejeweled communities should prove very compelling for players.”

For those of you who’ve never played Bejeweled, it’s basically Puzzle Quest without the RPG elements. Captain Backwards Description strikes again!

True/Slant’s Modus Pwned doesn’t understand it either. Breaking a game down to its utilitarian purpose, the thing is meant to be fun. If it’s not, what is the point in continuing to play it?

Dave (no last name), one of Modus Pwned’s two writers, can’t really answer that question. a Ph.D student in moral philosophy, however, he does point out some of what he considers the compulsions to continue to play – notably, 100 percenting a game or racking up its achievements.

Maybe it’s also a feeling of being a part of a cultural conversation? I’ve seen plenty of films I wouldn’t otherwise seek out, simply because they helped me relate better to friends talking about them, or just to be more culturally relevant and attuned. I didn’t enjoy all of them. There are some games dominating the talk right now, and ordinarily I wouldn’t pick them up, either, but to stay current I feel like they should at least get a rental.

Anyway, all of this is to say that games may not be the only pursuit that produces such compulsive non-fun. But they definitely are one of the more prolific. Not to mention expensive.

Forced ‘Fun’: Video Games and Compulsive Behavior [True/Slant, Oct. 9, 2009.]

A rational person sees games as a source of entertainment and little else. Of course, playing games can make one feel refreshed and energized, and so may aid one’s non-gaming pursuits indirectly. But, still, in these cases the usefulness of gaming derives solely from the fun and enjoyment one experiences by playing.

Now, part of rationally committing to playing games for the sake of having fun is forming an accompanying commitment to abandon instances of gaming that are not fun. This isn’t a controversial idea; a parallel point holds true for all structurally similar engagements. Suppose that you decide to use an oven solely for the purpose of making a tasty cake. If you commit to using an oven only for this purpose, then-insofar as you are rational-you commit to stop using the oven if it is not serving its purpose. If the oven isn’t working properly, then you should stop using the oven. It would be irrational not to change your behaviour in such a case. And, of course, the same is true for gaming. Games are meant to be fun. If you’re playing a game and you’re not having fun, then you really ought to stop playing the game.

[...] I often speak to people who have forced themselves to finish the main quest in games that they stopped enjoying partway through. A friend of mine spent over fifty hours playing Baten Kaitos, even though I heard nothing but complaining beyond the fifteen-hour mark.

[...] Another related example of the phenomenon I’m addressing is the tendency that some people have to try to explore 100% of a game’s content regardless of whether they enjoy the process of doing so.

[...] Further, consider the bizarre and growing contingent of people who play games primarily to collect ‘Achievements’ and ‘Trophies’, with utter disregard for whether they enjoy the process of playing the involved games.

In each of the cases I have just mentioned, we see compulsive behaviour infecting people’s leisure activities. And given that the sole rational purpose of gaming is to have fun, it is a shame to see this happen. In most other domains a tendency toward obsessive or compulsive behaviour has some potential benefit. In the work place or in school, such inclinations may result in more meticulously crafted reports. In one’s personal life, compulsive behaviour may result in a cleaner living space, more attentiveness to one’s partner, and so forth. Of course, even in these domains the upside is limited by the obvious downsides of suffering from compulsions. But at least there is an upside. When it comes to games, there really is no upside. Since the sole purpose of gaming is to have fun, when one fails to achieve that end one is left with absolutely nothing.

- Modus Pwned

Weekend Reader is Kotaku’s look at the critical thinking in, and of video games. It appears Saturdays at noon. Please take the time to read the full article cited before getting involved in the debate here.

Most of it seems like scare mongering — students who start playing Maple Story and suddenly became poor students. There’s even worse with one mother saying this about her game addicted child, “Sometimes, he’ll throw the remote control at the TV, overturn the dining table, bite my hand, or try to strangle me. It’s enough to get me wondering if he’ll kill me.”

Sounds like there are deeper issues here than online gaming…

Game Addicts: What’s a parent to do? [Mainichi]

The reality show is seeking gamers with an unhealthy attitude toward the hobby, giving you a national basic cable venue through which to vent your spleen and have your psychological addictions empathized with and/or roundly mocked by MTV viewers. MTV producers are looking for people with personal relationship problems or anyone considering going to rehab to kick their gaming habits.

The full description should give you a better idea of what the producers are looking for—a complete and total wreck of a person.

Have video games totally taken over your life? Is your game play increasingly getting out of control? Have your friends or family confronted you about your gaming habit? How about your marriage or personal relationships – are they being affected? Is it difficult to balance work and gaming time? Do you sometimes skip doing homework or household responsibilities to play? Have you played video games as a way of escaping your problems? Has your game playing habit become so encompassing that you may need to go to rehab to kick it? If you can identify with any of the above, MTV wants to hear from you.

True Life’s show topics cover everything from “I’m Obese” to “I Hate My Tattoos” to “I’m a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter.” The show has previously covered gaming with the episode “I’m A Professional Gamer.”

MTV True Life Wants to Know – Are you Addicted to Gaming? Casting Call [via Siliconera]

Research time! According to The Washington Post, researcher Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University discovered that at 8.5 percent of 8-18 year-old Americans are “pathological” gamers.

Gentile used a modified version of the criteria for pathological gambling to formula questions to poll 1,178 children and teens. Those “pathological” gamers experienced spending more and more time gaming to achieve the same level of excitement, irritability when play time is reduced, ditching schoolwork to game and even lying about gaming or stealing games or money to buy them.

These pathological gamers were four times likely to be male, twice as likely to suffer from attention-deficit disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and did worse in school.

“It’s not that the games are bad,” said Gentile. “It’s not that the games are addictive. It’s that some kids use them in a way that is out of balance and harms various other areas of their lives.”

Other researchers agree that game addiction exists, but in smaller numbers as if there were truly 8.5 percent of kid truly addicted, there would be treatment clinics across the country.

Study Finds Some Youths ‘Addicted’ to Video Games [The Washington Post via GameBizBlog] [Pic]

This Friday CBC News show The Fifth Estate takes a look at the \sad case of teen gamer runaway Brandon Crisp.

Crisp, 15, ran away from his home on Oct. 14, 2008 after his parents took away his Xbox 360. He had been playing too much Call of Duty 4 and his grades were slipping.

After being told he would lose his gaming privileges, the teen told his father he was running away. His body was discovered in November. An autopsy later determined that he died of chest injuries sustained in a fall, likely from a tree.

In Top Gun, The Fifth Estate looks at the “dark side of what many thought was harmless entertainment.” You hear that librarians? Gaming has a dark side!

From the show’s site:

When Brandon Crisp’s parents took away his Xbox, they had no idea that their attempt to restrict their son’s video gaming would lead to tragedy. In retaliation, Brandon ran away. His body was found three weeks later. His disappearance, and death, became a national news story as it revealed a dark side to what many thought was a harmless entertainment. Gillian Findlay investigates how a video gaming obsession can turn to addiction and a pro gaming circuit with thousands of dollars in potential winnings, experts say, can fuel the need to play.

I hope the Fifth Estate doesn’t stumble upon this thing called professional sports, they could really blow the lid off that scandal.

Coming up on the fifth estate: Friday, March 6, 2009 at 9 p.m.

A couple of weeks back, I climbed on a soapbox about the media frenzy surrounding video games in connection with real life violence or tragedy.

This week, I got to go on X-Play’s Head-to-Head segment for a repeat performance with considerably less bearing* and more boob. Enjoy!

Head-to-Head: Videogames in the Mainstream Media

*When you tape these things, all you can see is a little red light on a camera – not a real person. Hence me talking over the other guy – sorry, Professor!

[via NeoGAF]

Local politician Antonio Buccoliero was quick to comment, “They eventually managed to take care of him once they understood that this was a strange kind of mental detachment connected to his Playstation.” It is unknown if this condition could be contracted through rival consoles or if it is a Sony-only disorder. Or indeed if it is an actual medical condition and not something they just made up to make a point about gaming.

The boy had been unable to speak and appeared ‘confused’ following a marathon gaming session. He reportedly told his father to throw out his console saying, “If I even think about it I want to throw up.”

Boy rushed to hospital with Playstation addiction [Ananova]

“I think people need to see how much damage can be done to a relationship by any addiction, even this one,” said Dorrance.

Hold up, though. As we have mentioned before video game ‘addiction’ isn’t an accepted condition and there is some considerable doubt among medical professionals as to its existence. That’s not to say that already vulnerable people might immerse themselves in a game for a little too long, but labelling something an ‘addiction’ may not be the most helpful way of looking at it.

Comments?

Help now available for gaming addicts [London Free Press]