Marek - recent 1st round pick unlikely to play in NHL due to video game addiction
Found this on Chris Nicols twitter. Wonder who it is but goes to show how much of a crapshoot the draft is with 18 year olds who are very much still works in progress.
Marek and Friedman were chatting about their own kids and the inevitable introduction of video games, when Marek shared this tidbit:
“On video games – and I’m not going to say the player’s name,” began Marek. “I really doubt he’s going to make it to the NHL and it’s because of a video game addiction. To the point where his junior general manager told me that they’ve had him go to counseling over it because he’ll play until all hours of the night and into the morning and then he’ll have no energy the next day. He’ll be a write-off. And it is that bad. He has this compulsion for playing video games until all hours.
“I swore that I wouldn’t say the player’s name. But it’s unfortunate. He’s a recent first-round draft pick for a very, very prominent NHL team – will probably never play in the NHL because of a video game addiction.”
“One thing I do know,” Friedman noted, “Is I know there are teams who will say, ‘After a certain point in the season, we don’t want those things on the road,’ and stuff like that. It’s sort of like MLB teams and golf clubs. Was there a point in the season where you told your players, ‘Okay, no more golf clubs on the road.’ And I do know of teams that have done that.
“But an addiction being the reason they haven’t made the NHL? Boy, that’ll be a heck of a story when somebody tries to do it.”
“And hopefully,” said Marek, ”And again, this is information that’s six months old. Actually, you might say a year old now. But it’s a terrible story because this guy is a good junior hockey player. This guy is a good player and was a high pick – and I’m probably saying too much right there – but there’s a good chance he’s not going to make it to the NHL and his general manager said, ‘Yeah, video game addiction is bad. It’s bad with this kid.’ “
This story sounds to me like old people just not understanding kids these days.
This isn't news. This is speculation.
I’m young, I play video games, but I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss the possibility. I know lots of guys around my age who play way too much. It’s kind of sad actually.
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Anything that gives you an enjoyable dopamine hit carries the possibility of taking over your life. I love video games and have been playing them as one of my main hobbies for the better part of 30-35 years, but (and I recognize how old this makes me sound) it's hard to deny they are changing. With so much data on how people play and what rewards work best, games can be addictive in a more intense sort of way. For the vast majority the result is highly entertaining experiences, but if you're prone to getting lost in it, then it isn't far off from a gambling addiction.
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I feel fortunate that games outgrew me. Used to love them (still play Madden, NHL) but shooters, action games etc just got way too large and time consuming. I get it though.
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Video games are the best they've ever been. But yeah, life as an adult leaves almost no time to enjoy them.
I usually get a couple nights a month where I'll stay up playing something worth my time (God of War 4 currently) until like 4am on a weekend a couple times a month but that's it.
I'd rather get paid millions in the NHL to be honest
I saw an interview (can't remember where) a while back and Evan Bouchard from the London Knights said something about Olli Juolevi loving video games. He even used some kind of phrase like "he was constantly playing video games" or something to that effect.
Wonder if he could be the guy?
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This story sounds to me like old people just not understanding kids these days.
This isn't news. This is speculation.
What's the speculation here?
Marek was told by someone he knows that there is a kid who is losing his game to staying up all night playing video games. I mean if the team has already had the guy spend time at counselling for it, there is no secret what the problem is.
Not some sort of outrageous claim, but guys like Marek and Friedman hear this kind of stuff all the time. More often than not they will not name the player out of respect and hope the guy turns it around and dont have it out there making it hard for him to avoid answering questions everywhere he goes.
It's responsible reporting to treat it the way they have thus far. Otherwise they would have named names and likely destroyed the kids career.
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This story sounds to me like old people just not understanding kids these days.
In this particular case, the old people who don't understand are the ones who dismiss the possibility of video game addiction because they don't know the meaning of the term ‘poopsocker’.
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This story sounds to me like old people just not understanding kids these days.
I'd disagree, and I'd probably say it's already happened here or there. A player that's right on the cusp but not "quite there" needs all the help he gets. An addiction to video games, we're not talking playing it on the bus to games, is certainly enough to derail careers when you need to be at the extreme top of your profession or studies. I've seen it first hand with schooling, I'm sure tons of students get lowered grades if not forced to drop out or not get into their desired school all the time. We're talking about 18 years old, it would be weird if none of them were affected by common issues like this.
Marek was told by someone he knows that there is a kid who is losing his game to staying up all night playing video games. I mean if the team has already had the guy spend time at counselling for it, there is no secret what the problem is.
Not some sort of outrageous claim, but guys like Marek and Friedman hear this kind of stuff all the time. More often than not they will not name the player out of respect and hope the guy turns it around and dont have it out there making it hard for him to avoid answering questions everywhere he goes.
It's responsible reporting to treat it the way they have thus far. Otherwise they would have named names and likely destroyed the kids career.
In my mind, news would be if the 1st round pick quit hockey to become a professional gamer. I guess it's news that he plays a lot of video games but saying he won't make the NHL is speculation.
I feel like I just heard an interview about a player who was addicted to video games, and the team actually got them to stop, and their performance has since improved. And the player was named but for the life of me I can't remember who it was or even if was the NHL or MLB.
I'd disagree, and I'd probably say it's already happened here or there. A player that's right on the cusp but not "quite there" needs all the help he gets. An addiction to video games, we're not talking playing it on the bus to games, is certainly enough to derail careers when you need to be at the extreme top of your profession or studies. I've seen it first hand with schooling, I'm sure tons of students get lowered grades if not forced to drop out or not get into their desired school all the time. We're talking about 18 years old, it would be weird if none of them were affected by common issues like this.
Marek - recent 1st round pick unlikely to play in NHL due to video game addiction
