An Arkansas family is suing video game giants for developing game mechanics that got their son addicted to gaming.
Thomas Dunn is a young American citizen who became addicted to video games because of the stratagems put in place by video game publishers to maximize their profits. In any case, this is what the young man’s family says, which attacks Microsoft, Epic Games, Ubisoft, EA Games among several other defendants. The video game finds itself in the dock and must defend himself from the usual accusations made against him.
For mother Casey Dunn, Microsoft and others have “made video games specifically designed to cause the addiction experienced by her son, but also by other users”. The accusations go even further: these companies are seeking help from behavioral psychologists and neuroscientists for reinforce negative behaviors. For the plaintiffs, the technologies used by publishers “create dependence, in order to ensure that their users continue to play longer and spend more on microtransactions “.
Microsoft, Activision and Blizzard are accused of getting young gamers addicted
“Video games make you addicted and violent”, “they desocialize”, it is an old antiphon which in the case of the Dunn family is true. The son, Thomas, plays at least 13 hours a day and has no or no more friends. He is fatally obeseand when his parents seek to control his playing time, he becomes angry and withdraws. Some will put this behavior down to poor education. Ms. Dunn directs these people to very serious studies which demonstrate that certain children are more sensitive than others to the stimuli provided by video games, and thatthey can actually become addicted.
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Indeed, video game addiction is an illness officially recognized by the WHO. In this context, for all the mental and physical suffering endured by their child because of video games, and for all the care dependencies that this entailed, the Dunn family seeks damages.
Source: InsiderGaming