Jack_Sparrow wrote Yeaaah no they aren't. If they are manipulating you then typing have no self control

I would really recommend looking into the show, "The Push" by Derren Brown. He single handily manipulates people into committing murder. (It's a set-up environment though, no one actually dies). And if you're skeptical of that, research into The Stanford Prison Experiment or even the Milgram Experiment. We as humans are EASILY influenced to the extreme extents of manipulation. Especially those higher in trait agreeableness.

They areny necessary manipulating you but trying to force you to buy in game content like supply drops with "bonuses" I bought 1,000 COD points once and got nothing and I have never done it since.

GtaStar230 wrote They areny necessary manipulating you but trying to force you to buy in game content like supply drops with "bonuses" I bought 1,000 COD points once and got nothing and I have never done it since.

I respect that. I could understand how "manipulation" could be misinterpreted. Influence of behavior is probably a better way to put it.

The people who compete are addicted

I only play games to chill out .

Not everybody has the mental prowess to realize when they have an addiction or not. When I was going through ages 12-15, I will admit that I was addicted to videogames. I would spend hours and hours on the Xbox and whenever my parents would tell me to go to sleep, I'd fake being asleep and wake up in the middle of the night, just to play Black Ops 1. This wasn't healthy at all, seeing as how my sleep schedule was a mess and I had class the next day at 8 AM. I didn't have a social life either, during this stage. I would ignore invites to go and hang out and I'd stay at home, playing my life away. I was an anti-social, awkward teen and I had the acne to show it.

While I don't consider that videogames are manipulating, they can become addictive if the mind isn't strong enough to realize 'enough is enough' as happens with most addictions, not just videogames.

To me, at this point in my life, videogames are a distraction from the every day hubbub of life. I'm an adult with a job, going to college and have a few things to pay every now and then; stress is a constant thing in my life and videogames take my mind off of the stress. Now, sometimes I do realize that I'll be playing a videogame for hours and forget that I have homework for the next day or I have a test coming up and I know when to stop myself and sit down and focus on my actual priorities.

I don't know, seems to me like everybody will have a different experience with videogames.