2019-11-01 Outside

96 OUTSIDE MAGAZINE 11.19

You materialize at a sprawling ranch near a
snowcapped mountain covered with freshly
powdered pines. Three horses graze nearby
behind a purplish wooden fence.
To open the gate, click the lock.
A jet-black mare wearing a striped blan-
ket approaches, its hooves sinking into the
slush and white puffs blooming from her
nostrils.
Click horse.

Name: Lucky

Age: 20 years

Likes: Carrots

Dislikes: Apples

Checking your inventory, you select a
carrot. Lucky nibbles it from your hand, in-
creasing her health. Congratulations! You
have earned a Good Deed. As Lucky nuzzles
your parka, you see two buildings.
Check overhead map.
The smaller building is marked Stable, the
larger one Main Ranch House.
You follow deep sets of bootprints to a
two-story log cabin. Several pairs of hik-
ing shoes drip on the porch alongside two
rocking chairs. A sign on the door says THE
RANCH. You walk inside to find five other
gamers. One is a slight, bearded figure in a
dark blue hoodie, jeans, and white socks.
Click gamer.

Nickname: CTL

Age: 22

Favorite game: Pokémon Showdown

Quit games: Two weeks ago

You approach with a nod. As you shake his
hand, it turns from pixels into flesh.

THE GAME I’m describing isn’t real, but it’s
an accurate depiction of things that are hap-
pening at a real place. The bearded figure you
just met is named Brian, and he’s undergoing
therapy at ReStart Life, the country’s first
residential treatment center for video-game
addicts. Along with several other young adult
residents, he’s been progressing through
three stages of treatment, which ReStart of-
fers for a hefty fee: more than $50,000 total.
There’s a waiting list for admission.

Stage one has two parts. In the first, Re-

Start participants spend about a month de-

toxing (or “de-teching”) at Rise-Up Ranch,

a five-acre working spread in the hills out-

side Carnation, Washington, about 25 miles

east of Seattle. When they’re not doing talk

sessions, they’re outdoors—hiking, garden-

ing, and tending to the ranch’s animals.

During part two of the detox, patients

move to Heaven’s Field, in Fall City, where

they settle into what ReStart calls “an in-

tensive life-sharing community” of recover-

ing gamers. After that comes Open World, a

halfway house located at a treatment center

in Bellevue, a stone’s throw from Microsoft.

At this stage, patients share an apartment

and participate in group counseling sessions.

They also mentally prepare to go back into

the workplace, live independently, and begin

a radical new chapter of their lives. Because

for many, the goal of all this isn’t just to mod-

erate their gaming. It’s complete abstinence.

AS LONG AS there have been video games,

critics have bemoaned their social and psy-

chological consequences. Over the years, re-

searchers have churned out studies showing

that violent games can lead younger players

to be more hostile and less empathetic. Not

everybody buys this, and there’s research

that says there is no connection.

Inarguably, too much gaming can lead to

health problems. Last March, the Endocrine

Society—an international organization of

endocrinologists—released a study, involv-

ing a group of 33,900 teenagers, which found

that heavy screen time and snacking could

increase risk of heart disease and diabetes.

In another study, scientists from the New

York Institute of Technology found that

gamers who played between three and ten

hours per day reported a range of ailments,

including eye fatigue and neck, back, wrist,

and hand pain—yet only 2 percent were get-

ting medical attention. The researchers also

found that 40 of the people studied “did not

participate in any form of physical activ-

ity,” though presumably the gamers at least

walked to the bathroom and the fridge.

The concept that seriously overdoing

video games counts as addiction is new,

and it comes at a big moment in the evolu-

tion of the industry. If you haven’t worked a

joystick since the days of Ms. Pac-Man, en-

tering a modern gaming environment would

be about as shocking as getting an iPhone

in the 1880s. Today’s games are cinematic

artworks. They enable players from around

the world to share digital adventures that

are so immersive, so full of surprise and de-

light and realistic living things, that they can

fulfill the core human need to explore. So-

called open-world games, which encourage

players to travel through unrestricted land-

scapes as they live out cinematic narratives,

have been around in less robust form for de-

cades. Now, thanks to faster internet speeds

and extraordinary graphics, thriving online

communities have transformed franchises

such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and League of

TODAY’S GAMES ARE FULLY DEVELOPED

CINEMATIC ARTWORKS THAT ARE SO

IMMERSIVE, SO FULL OF SURPRISE

AND DELIGHT AND REALISTIC LIFE

FORMS, THAT THEY CAN FULFILL THE

CORE HUMAN NEED TO EXPLORE.

JOINING GAME

IN PROGRESS.