Has anyone heard of game developers getting PTSD style symptoms?
Just thinking that if you were to work on a Combat or Horror FPS in a studio for 2 years non stop with crunch and 80 hr weeks has anyone heard of someone getting PTSD type symptoms.
PTSD Style Symptoms:
Nightmares
Sweating
Anxiety
Depression
Detachment
Emotional Numbness
Irritability
Outburst of Anger
Jumpy Easily Startled
Guilt, shame, or self-blame
Feelings of mistrust and betrayal
Depression or hopelessness
Substance abuse
Physical aches and pains
If this is not a problem with current 2D screens, could it become an issue with the rise of AAA VR games?
Well of course… because those symptoms, individually, apply to many things. Stress for example, or virtually any other endeavor. But PTSD, definitely not. Being stressed, or working a lot is not remotely PTSD, and kind of offensive to suggest it. It would be like having your character in an mmo being killed and looted and comparing it to being raped irl.
I mean surely anything is possible, is it likely? No. But anything is possible… Now in 20 years when things seem as real as real life, that might be a bit different when they can actually trick your senses literally as if you were literally actually there, with like real pain receptors (well figuratively) like something that can jolt a very small charge or something that feels like a pinch or something. But right now the only thing I can really see is if you’re already scared of something in general, but creating an actual panic and traumatizing someone, I guess it’s possible, but again - not likely.
I don’t ever say no to things being possible, because out of 1 billion gamer’s, all it takes is that one gamer and bam - lawsuit lol.
You’re missing an important element. The posts are slowly but surely escalating to more out there subject matters.
I mean we started with floating origin, 64bit, Vulkan support etc, and while even those followed the pattern, at least they started from a place that was relevant to Unity and its development.
No. No PTSD. PTSD requires trauma. You don’t get Trauma from game development. You get stressed, you get burnt out, but that’s more or less it.
And frankly, by specifying “Combat or Horror”, you are insinuating, that you can get PTSD from a simulated traumatic experience, which is frankly offensive to anyone who has experienced actual trauma. I think less of you as a person now that you made that suggestion (which doesn’t mean much, since I don’t know you, but whatever), especially since I don’t even get your motivation for saying this.
So… Ah… Please make more games, all that energy coming up with threads like these would be better spent elsewhere.
Or as someone said in another thread (I think it was @neginfinity ), go work for buzzfeed or something.
@AcidArrow : Well doctor’s do say someone can get PTSD from just watching T.V… So I think that’s why he mentioned this.
EDIT: They say the visuals from like a gruesome murder, or an example a terrorist cutting someones head off or lighting someone on fire can induce PTSD.
@AcidArrow , it’s all relative, the event it’s distance and the exposures duration as well as the individual and the level of PTSD symptoms. Nothing is black and white.
Look at military history some soldier would not get PTSD until months on the front lines if ever, and others within days.
As the visual and interactive level of computer games increases could we start to see PTSD style symptoms from high usage players/developers?
The thing is that game development, playing and new media is something we can choose whereas real world traumatic events tend to be out of our control.
Could our high violence media be inducing a population with low grade PTSD?
Game developers aren’t special. There are thousands of other endeavors that have a real risk of traumatic events. It is a silly question. You could replace game development with virtually anything else, and it is just as pointless a discussion. Humans are at risk for traumatic events that affect them, game development is not a significant effector.
Yes. But it’s not called PTSD. It’s typically called burnout. It can happen across any person in any industry. Left untreated, severe cases of burn out can lead to significant mental issues, including all of the symptoms you listed.
Stress is a serious thing. Make sure you have effective strategies to manage it.
Just like people in every creative field since the beginning of time.
Mental health challenges are a serious issue, they affect many different people for a multitude of reasons. This topic is trivializing an actual issue by bolting “game developer” on it. This isn’t a mental health forum, we won’t have topics discussing cars simply because game developers may own them. Consult a health care professional if you are having problems.
