Handpicked by an infant milk-maker as a gifted child, James Flores got his parents worried when at three years old, he started playing Super Mario on the Nintendo Family Computer. Three decades later, he's still gaming and trying to make his parents understand that it's not an addiction.
Flores the Promil Kid has a day job—he teaches social psychology at San Sebastian College, one that doesn't suffer from his love for gaming. However, as games become more accessible on all types of gadgets, getting addicted to computer games and mobile games has become a concern to the point that the World Health Organization flagged it.
"They didn’t understand it when I was a kid, and they don’t understand why I still do it right now as a 33-year-old person," said Flores, who is remembered by 90s audiences as the 6-year-old who knew that the sun is at the center of the solar system.
Flores said there's a lack of understanding about gaming that leads people to unfair assumptions about the people in their lives who engage in this hobby.
It has become common for many to automatically look at those who like to spend most of their free time playing games as "addicts"— which, for many experts including Flores, is actually a dangerous thing to do.
It risks pathologization of an otherwise normal behavior that most people only turn to as a coping mechanism from everyday struggles.
"Gaming addiction is legitimate. But my contention is always that the stigma around it is anchored on 'you play too much games', and ang 'too much' natin is always different" he said, noting how when people spend the same amount of time with books, "nobody calls it a reading addiction". The same goes for sports, which include Esports, a form of competition using video games.
These double standards is what led Flores to make fighting the stigma around gaming his personal advocacy, "as someone who plays, used it to cope with school and family problems, someone who competed, organized and won, and is now teaching psychology."
The stigma around gaming
The stigma is there because people don’t understand it and it sticks because people refuse to understand it for reasons including time or generational differences and beliefs, Flores said.
"For instance, e-sports, people are like that’s not a real sport kasi they’re not exerting their physical bodies but they don’t exert their physical bodies in chess and chess is considered a sport. So things that people usually find acceptable, kapag tinranslate mo sa gaming, bigla siyang negative," he said.
People tend to think of gaming as a "time-waster", he adds, noting this is because they don't usually know of the benefits one can get by playing video games, such as honing strategy skills, learning how to be a team player, and vicarious learning.
"Hindi 'to ma-wrap around ng ibang tao kasi they grew up thinking na it’s a useless hobby, a time-waster, something you do for entertainment but don’t get anything out of. Like any ingrained beliefs, it’s hard to change it overnight," Flores said.
"'Addicted ka raw sa K-pop pero, how are you really addicted to kpop? Just because you like K-pop? Addicted ka kapag sinangla mo yung bahay mo para lang mabili yung gusto mong merch. Pero kontralado mo pa naman buhay mo eh. It’s just that, you're passionate about something, and it's not right to call it addiction agad," he said, noting a concept in psychology called “labeling bias”.
"Kapag sinabing ganyan ka, people will think ganyan ka and will start treating you a certain way. Gano'n din sarili mo na if people label you as such, kapag 'di ka panatag sa loob mo, you start to believe na you are how people see you," he added.
Video game addiction is relatively rare but it exists
In 2018, the WHO for the first time recognized “gaming disorder, triggering doubts not just among players who felt personally attacked for their hobbies, but even from experts in psychology who warned the designation may be premature.
"I received referrals na sabi ng parents addict na daw yung mga anak nila sa Mobile Legends and other gaming. Yet, wala naman signs of withdrawal nu'ng pinatigil sila maglaro," clinical psychologist Joseph Marquez said, warning of unnecessary treatment driven by overreaction among, for instance, parents, from trends and technologies.
This isn't to say that video game addiction isn't real and serious. The Asia Pacific region, says Statista, is at the heart of the global video gaming industry, which during the pandemic, boomed even more due to the rise of video game livestreaming.
According to Vox, the great majority of these people will not become addicted to video games, citing some of the best research that note only 1 to 3% of gamers are at risk. "But when billions of people around the world are playing games, even a small percent can lead to a large population—literally tens of millions—with problems," the report noted.
As explained by Dr. Rodel Canlas, a sports psychologist, usual signs he would note in patients is this tendency to sacrifice sleeping hours, personal hygiene and diet for more time of playing. But as noted by the WHO, the key consideration is really compulsive use despite negative consequences on one's emotional, social, or even occupational facets of life.
As one expert told Vox, the WHO's recognition of gaming disorder was necessary as “it will allow the systemization of education and prevention. There will also be more means for doing research and better understanding the condition.”
Destigmatization is key
In the end, Flores said the point he wants to make is this: "Sooner or later we have to accept na this thing is already a part of everyday life and we can’t keep seeing it as negative.. Siguro, nasa part lang tayo ng panahon na nagbabago na yung world and siyempre, in the middle of change, there’s always a challenge to maintain the old," he said.
"But it’s like mental health in the Philippines. We really need to put in the work of destigmatizing a phenomenon, kasi the more people understand what it is, the easier it is to find help for those who need it," he added.