Gaming Addiction
Discussion Starters
PRE-READING WARM-UP QUESTIONS ☀
1. What does “gaming” refer to? “Man is a gaming animal. He must always be
2. How does a pastime become an “addiction”? trying to get the better in something or other.”
3. How have video games changed in the last decade? ~ Charles Lamb
PRE-READING VOCABULARY TASK ☀
Match the words on the left with the meanings on the right.
1. addiction a. a fee that you pay on a regular basis for paid access
2. hook to something
b. to catch a person’s interest
3. subscription
c. a thing or activity that helps you relax
4. virtual world
d. serious, not casual
5. hard-core e. a fictional place in a computer-based game
6. isolate f. something that you become so accustomed to
7. lose track of time that you can’t stop having or doing it
g. something that is missing, emptiness
8. compulsive
h. to leave or cause to be alone
9. void i. relating to repeated, uncontrollable behavior
10. stress relief j. to be so busy doing something that you forget about other commitments
Gaming Addiction
What voids do video games fill?
Video games are designed to be addictive. Designers know how to make a video game just challenging enough
to hook a gamer. Players return to a game again and again in order to receive small rewards. Rewards may
include beating a high score or advancing to the next level. The gaming business profits when a gamer renews a
subscription or buys the next version. Children, teens, and even adults become addicted to gaming because of
these challenges and rewards.
Many addictive video games take place in a virtual world. Gamers who are antisocial in real life often have
important roles and relationships in their games. Skilled gamers with low self-esteem in the real world may gain
confidence inside the screen. This confidence may not be noticed by people in the real world. Hard-core gamers
sometimes forget simple hygiene like showering or brushing their teeth. This isolates them further because real
people don’t want to be around them.
Gamers experience a high when they are playing. This sense of pleasure often turns to guilt when they
eventually stop playing. The only way to feel better again is to get back to the game. Many gamers lose track of
time in their virtual worlds. They may begin to lie about how long they spend gaming. Like many addicts,
gamers often let their grades slip or lose their jobs.
Removing a video game or computer from a compulsive gamer may not solve the problem. Gaming often fills a
void in a person’s real life. A gamer who is banned from playing may become compulsive about something else,
such as gambling. Is gaming different from other compulsive habits such as texting, surfing the net, or
shopping? What would you say if a gamer told you his addiction was simply a form of stress relief?
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Gaming Addiction
Discussion Starters
COMPREHENSION ✍
Discuss these questions in pairs, and write the answers in your notebook.
1. How do gaming companies hook players?
2. What is an example of a reward in a video game?
3. How do some gamers build up their self-esteem?
4. Why does the reading mention hygiene?
5. How does the reading end, and why does it end this way?
VOCABULARY REVIEW ✍
A. Chunking
Create seven words or expressions by pairing the words that are commonly found together in English. (Don’t look at page 1.)
Write a sentence for each example. Be careful! You must use all of the words.
low, fee, a void, world, subscription, long run, self-esteem, track of, virtual, lose, relief, in the, stress, fill, time
1. m
2. m
3. m
4. m
5. m
6. m
7. m
B. Vocabulary Review – Check your understanding 4. Is biting your fingernails an example
Write YES or NO beside the following statements. of a compulsive behavior? ______
1. Is a subscription something you pay for? ______ 5. Do some people consider reading a
form of stress relief? ______
2. When a place is isolated, is it usually in a big city? ______
6. Are you a hard-core gamer if you play
3. Can you lose track of time even if you’re wearing a watch? ______ video games once a week? ______
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Do you know someone who is addicted to gaming? Describe this person to your classmates. Collect a large number
of adjectives to describe gamers. What do gamers have in common?
2. What kinds of video games do you think are the most addictive, and why?
3. Which is worse, being addicted to gaming as a child or being addicted to gaming as an adult?
CRITICAL THINKING
Some people are addicted to video games while others are addicted to gambling. How are these addictions similar?
How are they different? Which one is a more serious addiction? How would you define the word “addiction”?
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Teachers’ Notes
Gaming Addiction
Lesson Description: Students read about Gaming Addiction. The lesson includes vocabulary review exercises,
comprehension questions, and discussion questions about addictions. Intermediate–Advanced. Time: 1.5–2 hours.
Tags: addictions, video games, gaming, games, discussion
Note: In the following teachers’ notes, a * indicates a place in the lesson where you might want to encourage your students to take their
learning one step further. (Some teachers call this teaching approach “Demand High”.) Try to involve as many learners as possible.
Rather than just telling students that the answer is right or wrong, invite them to talk about why it is right or wrong. If you have students
in a group setting, make sure that some of your students aren’t just sitting back quietly, letting others do the work.
PRE-READING WARM-UP
Individual answers. * See Discussion Starters
You may also want to talk about some popular video games. Which video games do your students Teachers’ Notes (www.esl-
play? Do they prefer arcades, apps, online games, subscription games, etc.? library.com/discussion) for a
variety of ways to use the reading.
Audio is available for this lesson.
PRE-READING VOCABULARY TASK Students can access the audio via
1. f 2. b 3. a 4. e 5. d 6. h 7. j 8. i 9. g 10. c our podcast and iTunes.
* After your students have read the reading, go back to the vocabulary match exercise. Can your students spot any words that may mean
something different in a different context?
E.g., hook, track, relief
COMPREHENSION
1. Gaming companies hook players by challenging them just enough and by creating small rewards. From the Editor:
2. Examples of rewards in video games include an advancement to the next level or an achievement
of a high score. (Can your students think of other rewards from specific games they have played?) The correct adjective form of
“addiction” is “addictive”, but
3. Some gamers build up their self-esteem by becoming skillful in the virtual world.
more and more people are using
4. The reading mentions hygiene because hard-core gamers may forget about showering or brushing “addicting” as an adjective.
their teeth or their hair. This lack of hygiene can cause them to become even more isolated in the Since it’s not an official entry in
real world. most dictionaries yet, you should
5. The reading ends with two questions for readers. It ends this way to inspire a discussion about teach your students that
addictions and stress. “addictive” is the correct adjective
form. However, you could have a
discussion with more advanced
VOCABULARY REVIEW students about how languages
Spelling Note: change over time, and include
A. Chunking – Individual answers for sentences. “addicting” as an example of this.
1. low self-esteem This lesson shows the American
spelling of the word Behavior. For more information, see our
2. subscription fee * Have more advanced students Most other English-speaking editor’s blog post: addictive vs.
3. fill a void
write a short paragraph using countries spell it this way: addicting. http://www.esl-
4. virtual world library.com/blog/2013/04/11/
5. lose track of time all seven expressions. This can Behaviour. Make it a challenge
addictive-vs-addicting/
6. stress relief be done individually, in pairs, for your students to find this
7. in the long run word in the lesson and see if
or in groups. they know the alternate spelling.
B. Yes/No
1. Yes 2. No 3. Yes (Have some discussion.) 4. Yes 5. Yes 6. No (You could try having a vote to determine what your
students would classify “hard-core” as.)
* Invite students to rewrite the NO sentences to make them YES sentences.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS and CRITICAL THINKING – Individual answers. Place students in pairs or small groups.
RELATED IN THE ESL-LIBRARY – Mini-Debates: Video Game Violence
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