spursman17
Stephen Kelly
No I disagree. Addiction is an illness and one that can lead to death. People who are badly addicted are not in their right frames of mind and in my opinion are not responsible for their actions.
The USA closed down online gambling for a reason, it was becoming out of control and changing peopleÔÇÖs lives for the worst.
I'm not saying people have no responsibility as everyone has some self control. What I will say however is many small steps can turn into a mile long walk and the further you walk the harder the journey back.
ItÔÇÖs not uncommon for people to blow their life savings in Vegas and many people in the past have even remortgaged!
Any form of addiction can change a person and people are more susceptible to it than others. Will power and financial status all play a role. Addiction is an illness. Some people lose control to drugs, some lose control to gaming, and some lose it to gambling. There was an interesting program a few months ago about facebook and how games like Farmville are now the biggest revenue stream for the company. They based the game on psychological techniques that made player use specific strategies to make them become more addictive and harder to walk away from, the longer they played. Same techniques are used in World of Warcraft.
I mean from our point of view how ridiculous does this sound: "In August 2011 a court heard that Adam Hamnett, of Greater Manchester was so desperate to buy virtual animals for his FarmVille account that first he robbed from a blind man, Brian McKenzie, and then murdered Peter Boustead when his friends threatened to report the matter to the police"
From outside the box we think what an absolute idiot, killing someone over a stupid little game. When in that frame of mind however people become alien to the World and their responsibilities.