Before you read that, please take my survey:
From the article (by Mark D. Griffiths):
[A]ddictions rely on constant rewards (what psychologists refer to as reinforcement) and each game of Solitaire can be played quickly and individuals can be quickly rewarded if they win (positive reinforcement) but when they lose, the feeling of disappointment or cognitive regret can be eliminated by playing again straight away (negative reinforcement – playing as a way to relieve a dysphoric mood state). I also stated that addictions typically result in a coping mechanism to other things in a person’s life. They use such behaviours as a way of escape and the repetitive playing of games can help in such circumstances....Griffiths says you'd need to meet all of the following criteria to be considered addicted to Solitaire (and I'd be very surprised that even if you play Solitaire a weird amount of the time, you won't even meet the first criterion):
Salience ... Solitaire becomes the single most important activity in the person’s life and dominates their thinking (preoccupations and cognitive distortions), feelings (cravings) and behaviour (deterioration of socialised behaviour). For instance, even if the person is not actually playing Solitaire they will be constantly thinking about the next time that they will be...
Mood modification ... the subjective experiences that people report as a consequence of playing Solitaire... they experience an arousing ‘buzz’ or a ‘high’ or paradoxically a tranquilizing feel of ‘escape’ or ‘numbing’).
Tolerance – ... they gradually build up the amount of the time they spend playing Solitaire every day.
Withdrawal symptoms ... unpleasant feeling states and/or physical effects (e.g., the shakes, moodiness, irritability, etc.)... when the person is unable to play Solitaire....
Conflict ... the conflicts between the person and those around them (interpersonal conflict), conflicts with other activities (social life, hobbies, and interests) or from within the individual themselves (intra-psychic conflict and/or subjective feelings of loss of control) that are concerned with spending too much time playing Solitaire.
Relapse ... repeated reversions to earlier patterns of excessive Solitaire playing to recur and for even the most extreme patterns typical at the height of excessive Solitaire playing to be quickly restored after periods of control.
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89 comments:
I shared office space with an alcoholic divorce lawyer who played that game while listening on the phone to his clients and billing them.
Strip solitaire is the newest fad.
I'll bet A LOT of people play Solitaire while talking to someone on the phone. It may be the main reason people don't want to use a video phone call. Their listening coping mechanism will be lost.
I like playing free blackjack. Better than losing real money.
I play free Blackjack also. I don't buy anything. I play with their funds and am just "good" enough to keep my stake.
THEOLDMAN
It doesn't hurt that they add $ to my stake almost every day.
Solitaire is what people do at the computer when masturbation isn't an option.
I am Laslo.
Professor, is there some way I can retake the test? I just now realized Solitare and Masturbation are 2 separate things.
My co-workers are totally addicted to that game. Watching them makes me want to smash my whiskey flask in disgust.
I'll bet A LOT of people play Solitaire while talking to someone on the phone
I'm that way. I do a lot of phone conferences as part of my job.
My observations:
If I'm not playing solitaire I find myself doing other things (work related and not paying attention to the call). Playing solitaire gives me something for my hands to do while my brain is paying attention to the call.
My favorites were backgammon and poker, but because they required other people to be online to make their move the games would tend to move on longer than the call I was on.
I've done video meetings. Everybody is just looking at their computer screen it's not truly "being there".
I find that meetings in person (especially if they are long like all day), are less productive, during the meeting itself but more productive after the meeting is over.
The worst "meetings" are online video training, where you are forced by the video provider to watch the entire video (to satisfy some legal requirement) without the ability to fast forward/rewind to take a test that is so simple that anyone can pass. I'll bet a lot of solitaire gets played during those times.
I found playing Solitare on my laptop to be really helpful during law school lectures. It took basically no brain power and I could easily switch away if I needed to contribute to class, but kept my hands and eyes busy enough that I wasn’t tempted to check my emails or check out a blog in a way that really would distract me.
Salience, Mood modification, Tolerance, Withdrawal symptoms, Conflict, Relapse
Damn, I'm an Althouse addict!
Meade ...
You missed an addition choice:
“No less than commenting on blogs.”
I keep telling my computer, "This is the last one." But, it keep dealing before I can switch it off. It's not my fault!
Sure, I used to play solitaire quite a lot (also minesweeper), but gave them up eventually. My current time waster is Sudoku. Only evil ones will do.
I play Free Cell, Spider Solitaire and regular Solitaire daily. I have done so for years. In the morning after getting up while watching Get Up! or another sports show and in the evening listening to music before going to bed. I enjoy all three games, although the first two are the only ones which take skill, regular Solitaire is just luck coupled with alertness. None of the choices offered in the survey fit my experience. I am moving through the Free Cell games sequentially. Am at number 2296. Have won all so far, some took a time or two to get right. Over the course of time have averaged about 36 per cent success with Spider. Some of them are unwinnable. Regular Solitaire winning percentage , which I only play once through the deck (one, not three cards at a time) is really low, maybe 1 out of 20 or 30 games. Playing is a way to stay mentally active in the doldrums of retirement and widowhood while half listening to the TV or the Music. Playing is no more an addiction than breathing. Just something mentally stimulating and enjoyable to do
No. Computer games are habit forming, but not addictive. Making it easier to start a new game contributes to wasting time. I used to stay up too late watching Seinfeld because it was so easy to watch for another 22 minutes, but I was never addicted to Seinfeld.
At some point you get bored and stop playing and you don't go through withdrawal because you didn't need it because you weren't addicted.
The best games are the one's you can master. Then I periodically come back and play just to stick it in their face.
"I find that meetings in person (especially if they are long like all day), are less productive, during the meeting itself but more productive after the meeting is over.”
So is there a production metric for meetings that is somehow independent of the purpose of the meeting?
Playing solitaire gives me something for my hands to do while my brain is paying attention to the call.
Yes, I recall reading a body language expert who said that things like "doodling" while listening to someone help bootstrap the higher thought processes. I'm muddying the actual quote, but essentially it means that something like solitaire actually helps you focus on what the other person is communicating.
Strip solitaire is the newest fad
Used to play that quite a bit while in High School. Caught myself cheating one time and had to remove all my own clothes.
Was kinda awkward when Mom walked in...
"I recall reading a body language expert who said that things like "doodling" while listening to someone help bootstrap the higher thought processes"
Doodling, is that what they call it?
Solitaire on the computer is pointless. I do play Free Cell occasionally. Do a Crossword everyday. I have found a free site for the LA Times puzzles and some others that are OK. The puzzles are too easy sometimes and ridiculous other times.
I like Jig Saws on line occasionally too. You can stop the timer (if you feel like timing yourself). Choose how many pieces and what type of pieces that you want to make it more challenging. Pause the game or stop entirely and come back later. Unlike a real puzzle, it doesn't take up space on the dinning room table and you don't accidentally vacuum up a piece from the floor.
And to Tim Maguire. Computer games can be addictive. I used to play WoW. (World of Warcraft) about 10 years ago and had to basically stop. It was taking up too much time and making my life unproductive. At first it was relaxation and a challenge to take my mind off of work and my clients. But soon it became too absorbing and almost like work in and of itself. So yes. Addictive.
I play Free Cell, Spider Solitaire and regular Solitaire daily. I have done so for years. In the morning after getting up
I did the same thing with chess to wake up during college. Every morning I would put on a pot of coffee and play a computer AI board at a lower level than was challenging - it was an easy win intended to be a mental warm up.
By definition, an addiction or a syndrome is something that keeps someone from reaching his/her potential. As my life goal is to win more FreeCell games than anybody else, there is no way this applies to me.
I'm not sure if Free Cell qualifies as solitaire, it's a much more game of skill than traditional solitaire. But I had a problem with it a number of years ago. It's a bit like crossword puzzles in that most games can be won but you have to try hard with the more difficult games. The addictive element comes from overcoming the challenge after a couple of minutes of struggling. I also tried to get long streaks and improve my winning percentage.
I now see what a drain of my time it is and after losing a game I don't want to start a new winning streak.
I have a serious problem playing Yukon solitaire. None of the other varieties does anything for me but I find Yukon seriously addictive. I can spend 4-5 hours playing it. Sometimes staying up to 3-4AM. This has been a problem since I first discovered it on my PDA back in the 90s.
The only way I can avoid the temptation is to not have it on my tablet. When I do download it, for a flight for example, I find myself getting frustrated at spending too much time and the only way I can stop is to delete it. Just one more game. Well, OK, now I really mean it, just one more and on and on.
So, yes addictive and yes a problem for me.
I had a similar problem with booze. I didn't drink regularly (well, except in the Navy) but when I did I always drank too much. When my son was about 8, in September 84, we were watching something to do with booze on the TV and he asked me what was the attraction. At that moment I realized that there was none. I've not had a drop since. As far as I know, neither of my kids ever has, either.
I cannot drink in moderation but not drinking at all has not been a problem for these 35 years.
John Henry
I used to play WoW. (World of Warcraft) about 10 years ago
Do you remember this? :)
The wife and I are currently playing DDO. We looked at our marriage and realized we were spending our recreation time in separate rooms doing different things, so this got us to recharge doing something mindless together (other than, ya know, sex).
It's hysterical to hear her on comms now. 6 months ago she was a noob. Now she says stuff like "would you stop kiting the boss around? I have more DPS than you, meat shield!" She plays a sorceress and LOVES blowing stuff up. Sometimes it's a little scary though...
Computer games during law school lectures? I couldn't watch TV and read textbooks. Focus!
That's how I stayed out of the bottom 10% of my law school class. And there were no laptops when I was in law school.
Nearly 20 years ago, I actually told IT to remove Solitaire and Free Cell from my computer.
Slither.io and Shell Shocker. Okay, I've said too much already. Sorry for ruining your life.
The only computer game I currently play is World of Tanks Blitz and don’t have the bandwidth or something to play it here in Botswana, despite the town having fibre. Speedtest shows a ping of 12ish to my iPad, but 300 to 350 in game. I’m the commander of the clan so had to hand over responsibilities until I leave the country. Although I expect Zambia to be worse. Very upsetting, but the withdrawals are ebbing.
I suspect only wrinklies play Solitaire btw.
Nearly 20 years ago, I actually told IT to remove Solitaire and Free Cell from my computer.
Where I worked IT removed Solitaire and Freecell as a matter of course. Or rather, they weren't part of the Image.
Hmmm...the fact that Solitaire is mindless and pointless is kind of why I play it, a lot. Probably 100+ games per day.
Frequently I will read something thought provoking and then I need to "digest" it for a few minutes so I will play a few games thinking about what my response should be.
But I have carpal tunnel syndrome and my hands getting numb doesn't stop me from playing so I suppose I do have a problem.
I used to play Minesweeper too. Complicated video games don't interest me in the least.
Blogger Dave Begley said...
That's how I stayed out of the bottom 10% of my law school class. And there were no laptops when I was in law school.
Nyah, Nyah. I'm so old I learned how to run a nuclear reactor using a slide rule!
AND, I had to walk to school, uphill both ways.
John Henry
"I'll bet A LOT of people play Solitaire while talking to someone on the phone. "
I did, when I was working. It replaced doodling.
I play "Word Stacks" which consists of a block of letters, maybe 10 by 12 or so (if you look online they show a small version) where you're supposed to find words, forwards/backwards, up/down. You get a point for each word, and some number of points gets you a coin, which you can use to cheat (hints, shuffle). Some of the words follow a theme and they get removed when you find them, until all words are gone. Sometimes there's only one word in the block of letters because it rearranges itself as you remove words.
What makes it addicting is they run a 2-day long "tournament" based on points about once a week and I hate to admit it but I've won a few.
Laslo Spatula said...
Solitaire is what people do at the computer when masturbation isn't an option
Please see Rhhardin's post on Strip Solitaire
but kept my hands and eyes busy enough that I wasn’t tempted to check my emails or check out a blog in a way that really would distract me.
same with Masturbation
@ Fen
No on the first one....but I do remember the Corrupted Blood incident in WoW. This actually became a case study for the CDC on how people react to a plague. It was hilarious and frightening at the same time.
I would LOVE it if my husband would play with me in a MMORPG. He just isn't interested and so...ah well. We do plenty of other activities together so it is all good :-)
My MMORPG characters tend to be hunters, rogues and sneaky assassins. I played a healer type once and got annoyed with the idiot meat shields who kept killing themselves (sometimes on purpose) and expecting ME to pick up the pieces. :-D Die stupids. I'm done with you not following directions.
Nope. But I remember this one.
I still play WoW from time to time. I'm actually waiting for WoW Classic to come out.
A great way to pass time while doing indoor cardio. Masturbation would be too tiring.
I play Algerian Patience, a form of solitaire that is a harder and more complex version of Free Cell. It's not an addiction. It's therapy for an aging mind. LOL!
I also print out NYT daily crosswords and do several puzzles a day.
Maybe I need to rethink this retirement thing.
My MMORPG characters tend to be hunters, rogues and sneaky assassins.
Same. DDO Rogues can run a "UMD build" which can use mage scrolls, making you a jack of all trades type. It's a gear intensive build just on the edge of being effective, but I enjoy it. People freak when you the Rogue whips out a raise dead or dimension door.
I played a healer type once and got annoyed with the idiot meat shields who kept killing themselves (sometimes on purpose) and expecting ME to pick up the pieces. :-
I had a few healers rolled up for times I couldn't find a group (healer gets automatic invites) and my experience was similar. I even edited the Stan's "REALLY?" soundbyte into a TeamSpeak file I could play over comms for just such instances. Sigh...
You ever decide to dip back in, you are more than welcome to run with us. Wife and I just play casual, no grind no drama, just for fun.
Yeah, I play solitaire, also Battle of Wesnoth. They provide short breaks while working on other things. Used to play Mines also.
Nope. But I remember this one.
Yah I had forgotten that one. LOL thanks!
You ever decide to dip back in, you are more than welcome to run with us. Wife and I just play casual, no grind no drama, just for fun.
OMG you are the Devil. Don't tempt me.
BTW: I had already bookmarked the website
My father was the avid Solitaire player. I do FreeCell on a PC and Sudoku on an iPad.
I play pretty much every day when I'm doing nothing else, so it's kind of lower on my list of time fillers.
I often play when I have the tv on but am not really watching.
BTW does anyone know how often you are supposed to win at this stupid game? I play the Branium version on my Android tablet and win about 46% of the time.
Drudge headline:
STUDY: Smartphone Games Better For Stress Relief Than Mindfulness Apps...
OMG you are the Devil. Don't tempt me. BTW: I had already bookmarked the website
We're on the Orien server :) Choose that one when you set up your account.
Her main is Shaag (with Scoobie as a pet, yes LOL)
Mine is Xeleventy
Guild is Doofensmirtz Evil Inc. Hehe.
Just skip the Korthos intro and find a mailbox in the harbor. Mail one of us and we'll get back to you in 24 hours. Set you up with the right rogue or whatever build and some decent gear to get you started. And I can craft the rest.
We don't mind starting at lvl 1 with you. We both have some different toon ideas we want to roll up anyway.
I'm so evil... :)
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Years ago I couldn't leave Freecell alone, although I always was disappointed when the game ended too early. Now I do the cryptic puzzles from the Telegraph, Toronto Globe, and Financial Times, and might eventually get tired of Sudoku. My knowledge of rap artists and TV stars is not good enough to tackle the NYT crossword any more.
Never played solitaire, online or otherwise. Not sure how.
Never played any online game, solitaire or networked. Not sure how.
Not a crossworder, riddler, or sudokist.
Narr
Masturbation I understand
I thought Solitaire was a Neo-Nazi white-supremacist thing.
I am Laslo.
I've played Solitaire on the computer in the past, but not in recent years. I do have a slot machine game (no money, just credits) on my phone that I play a lot. And we won't go into my Skyrim addiction on the computer, other than to say that I know every nook and cranny of Bleak Falls Barrow like the back of my hand.
I got very good landing a Boeing 747 dead stick from downwind everytime on the numbers at Meigs field, back in win95 days.
I have played it both with real cards and on a computer. Was never addicted, and I haven't played it in over 20 years now. I was more addicted to Tetris, but also haven't played that in years either. My mother is addicted to Candy Crush and Bubble Witch- she plays them all day long, which isn't really that bad, I suppose- it keeps her mentally active and from being bored.
On Solitaire- I grew up with a kid who seemingly could win almost all the time- he was an acknowledged master of the game by all our friends. But I was very suspicious, and when I carefully watched him, I realized he was cheating- instead of sliding the three cards off the top in a single pull and turning the them over with top card on the bottom after inversion, he was peeling them off one at a time and inverting them in his hand before turning them over as a group- the top card ends up on the top after inversion- this has the effect of inverting top for bottom on a new run-through even if you didn't play a single card out of the stack the last run-through.
I play solitaire on my phone but I get bored pretty quickly. It is nice on airplanes and waiting rooms. Not addicted at all.
I started playing Solitaire Dash which has a horse racing theme. It's not traditional solitaire at all but you just need to collect cards in a row from a predetermined layout of them and loose cards you flip over. You also have tricks like rewind and a set of 2-9 cards you can play at any time (once each -- you have to pay to 'refill' them). Now each track has a certain number of races, and you win, place or show and get coins for every completed track. You also get coins or rewinds every day you open the app.
Here's the kicker: I'm more addicted to collecting the daily rewards (I've amassed over $160k in coins) than playing the card game.
Montana is my favorite traditional Solitaire game, although I've been playing Castle a bit more lately.
I also play Gin Rummy on my phone.
As one ages games such as Solitaire, word games, hidden object, strategy and jigsaw puzzles can help maintain mental acuity, memory, response time, logic skills and eye-hand coordination. Whether one does these things online or in real life, they do keep one sharper. Just as it is prudent to exercise to keep one's body flexible and strong as one ages, so does exercising the mind. Use it or lose it applies across the board as we age.
I play Solitaire for 15-20 minutes daily. I learned to card count as a child raised in a card playing family, so Solitaire works on two levels; eye-hand coordination and memory.
I also have a jigsaw app that allows the player to change puzzle shapes, play against the clock (or not) and import their own subject matter. Not a few have been Meadhouse nature photos. Seeking out the amazing and endless catalog of art and photography online is more of an addiction for me than games. IllustrationArt (dot) blogspot (dot) com is a favorite as is Mme Scherzo. (I am never sure how many links are allowed in a comment before the spam filter kicks in...so I stick with one embedded link).
I also do Luminosity daily...my ratings are 15-20 years younger than my chronological age which I am sure is due to online gaming and word/puzzles.
I'm a Klondike Grandmaster Level 258 on Microsoft, bitches!
That's 102,380 games. But it's not a problem.
I'm sorry, I would have commented sooner but I had to win first.
I admit to being addicted to computer jigsaw puzzles. But I still spend more time reading.
Poker, f2f? I'm in. Chess? I'm not good, but I'm game.
Also board and miniature wargaming, the latter with our own rules developed over decades (when we have the time and the players!)
Narr
And a book or so a week
Solitaire on the computer is pointless.
Not if you play under Vegas rules.
If you're playing solitaire while on the phone try Grinder.
Personally, I read Althouse while talking on the work phone.
Cards bore me unless sex or large sums of money are involved.
They use such behaviours as a way of escape and the repetitive playing of games can help in such circumstances....
************
Can relate. I am a Puget Sound resident with an epic bus/train commute - I budget 4 hours a day (2 hrs each way). Nothing, NOTHING erases the feeling of time passing slowly like a good session of XCOM: Enemy Within on my phone. NOTHING. I have knitted, read, sketched and done all manner of things to pass the time over the years. But that frackin' game is so compelling - I've missed my stop more than once, and barely notice when the traffic gets me home 30 minutes later than normal. When I get home from work the conversation about my day with my partner goes something like this: "How was your day?" Me: "Nothing worth mentioning, but I lost another Colonel sniper with mimetic skin on the ride home - god I hate those fucking Exalt extraction missions!!!!"
And for this I am terribly grateful.
Oh my, I read this an it describes me to a tee when I was writing code. I had to stop because it took over my whole life. All I could think about was writing code, getting back to writing code, or planning new code. I was hopelessly addicted to writing code. Playing Solitaire not so much, but writing code was heaven on Earth.
Probably the world's worst chess player, I nonetheless kept trying. As a kid during rainy recess I'd play with other kids [usually boys] but playing with a computer game I got slaughtered--and quickly!--every time. It got so even looking at the app icon got my heart racing and my nerves on edge. Bridge was fun but I can't find a decent offline program for my Mac so I don't play it any more. Once I discovered jigsaw puzzles on the computer, I was hooked.
Bridge has always interested me. For some reason, unlike other card games, IQ and success seem to be linked. i assume it has something to do with understanding what cards have been played, what cards are left, what cards your opponents and team-mate must have, etc.
But i'd rather just play chess where it's all out in the open. No guessing involved.
Ike loved playing bridge and was quite good at it.
Youtube is now my favorite haunt for chess games. There are people who can make any Grandmaster game fascinating and understandable.
video games are evil.
Played "Go" a few times, and could probably become obsessed. Bridge possibly too--it's not that I'm immune to this kind of thing altogether.
Narr
Quite the opposite
I also prefer FreeCell. I am on a current unbeaten streak of about 5000-6000 games (I've changed phones a few times over the years and had to reload the game and start the count all over again).
But I am not addicted.
I was seriously addicted to Wild Metal Country and played the entire game--all levels--over 100 times. I still have a scoresheet where I recorded my times. When a new laptop became unavoidable the game was no longer playable. Just as well. I was shooting tanks in my sleep [so my husband claimed]. Tense but satisfying.
What makes excessive? A tautology!
No wonder you people have a lot of trouble with the reality of modern times. You screen time totals are off the hook for Millennials even
Listen to you nerds playing solitaire. There are WAY better video games to play.
I read/heard a long time ago that Solitaire was included with the first computers that used a mouse interface to help users become familiar with pointing, clicking, drag-n-drop etc.
I once joked with my office manager that we were getting ready for the Mouse Olympics.
She gave me a very thin smile.
Listen to you nerds playing solitaire. There are WAY better video games to play.
Pong?
Oh God I'm old enough to remember when that came out.
2048. High score 126,984. Simple. Seductive. Need to take your hand away from the mouse.
You start with 2 squares of 16 with #2. if you move them together they become 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024. To win assemble a 2048 square. It requires the fusion of two 1024 squares. The computer keeps adding random small numbers on random spaces. The direction arrows move all the filled squares in the same direction.
Simple. Seductive. Take your hand away from the mouse.
We are all addicts, when I was in the hospital recovering from surgery they told me I could have as much Vicodin as I wanted. For me no temptation. Someone else...
For me, if you took me to a book store and told me I could have as many books as I wanted...Let me borrow your van.
Each of us addicts, we just "need" different stuff. What owns you?
Just put me down now.
Went by State Police today to fix car impound. While I was there (since it's The People's Republic of Maryland) I thought I would ask about firearm laws. We have a handgun we need to famfire at the range and I wondered about how to transport it.
"Is it old?" policeman asks
"No, I've have it maybe 20 years"
"That's... pretty old" he grins
Wife says my face fell and I got real quiet.
Old.
I play the Vegas option. It is true that it is mindless; but, it passes the time while waiting for Photoshop to finish creating panoramas or other programs to do whatever it they do while I wait. Or, waiting forever while government agents decide to take me off 45 minute phone queues or while I'm on hold.
I do not play while talking to clients or bureaucrats because of the audible clicking of the mouse while turning the cards. Often I ask the other person to stop while we are talking--the audible click click click lets me know they are waiting for me to get to the point or get off the phone.
In a world of hurry up and wait, nothing relieves like several dozen rounds of Vegas. Nothing. I could smoke a joint but then I forget the reason for the call and hang up. Yep, solitaire is the savior of the modern world.
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