The overpowering stench of body odor fills the poorly ventilated room. A desk is piled high with empty Monster cans and the trash is overflowing with Twinkie wrappers and empty Cup O Noodles. If this image haunts you, consider this: This can end up being the way of life for many young adults should they let video games take over their lives.

Video games are often seen as a great way to relax and escape real life problems, but should people spend too much time playing games, their priorities may change and their social lives, family connection, and even schoolwork may suffer as a result.

“It can get to the point where you get so caught up in games and you believe it to be a priority, and then it becomes a daily schedule for you,” Krystal Jones, 18, videogame design major, said.

“I see playing games as a way to relax,” John Porter, 19, computer science major, said, adding that he plays games on average about three hours a day.

Porter said that he does believe video game addiction is a real thing and admitted to video games even getting in the way of his schoolwork.

“I played video games all spring break, and I still haven’t done my speech because I’ve been playing too much,” Porter said, “they get in the way of everything.”

In the case of Jones, she sees playing games as a way to stay focused on her career.

“I use them in a way where I’ll play them and apply them to my career instead of neglecting other activities,” Jones said. “I play them to keep my priorities straight and not lose sight of my future.”

Jones also said that despite her heavily gaming-oriented life, she still puts other class work and real life issues ahead of leisurely gaming.

Although the common demographic for video gamers would be teenagers and young adults, Julio Farias, Psychology instructor, said it’s not just limited to younger audiences.

“It’s not just the kids, it’s society-wide,” Farias said, “everybody is into this new way of connecting and socializing.

Ben Espiritu, a Gamestop employee, also said that while gaming usually starts in middle school and high school, that he still regularly sees college students and adults becoming addicted.

As a sales associate, Espiritu encounters a myriad of customers, some of which he suspects are addicted to video games.

“It’s just the way they dress, the raggedy clothes and the bed hair because they were up too late playing video games the previous night,” Espiritu said.

But raggedy clothes, messy hair and general unseemliness aren’t signs of an addiction, Farias said.

“I would say it’s more obsessive compulsive types of behavior, they become obsessed with technology and feel compelled to engulf themselves in these activities,” Farias said.

Jones with a different viewpoint said that video games are addicting, and that addiction is “something you have to have, be it drugs, videogames, any kind of hobby you do.”

Espiritu said that it is the story and the challenge in video games that get people addicted, adding that no specific type of game can be more addicting than others, but rather that it just depends on the preference of the person.

As a Gamestop employee, Espiritu encounters many people from all walks of life, with a strong number of them being students, who often walk into Gamestop just to play the video games the store has up for demonstration in their spare time.

“Usually, we just get the regulars. Sometimes the kids from the school are waiting around so they come in and hang out, but there are also people who come in and play something, then buy something, so it’s like half and half,” Espiritu said.

Video games, like any other activity, are one to be enjoyed in moderation, but different people have different ideas of what is a reasonable amount of time to put into playing video games.

Jones said that she plays roughly eight hours a day, and Porter said that he plays about three hours a day, also saying how “that’s a problem, that’s a very big problem.”

Farias said that all forms of technology can be very beneficial, but it is when they start affecting every day life function that technology can become a negative.

“I think older people tend to look at it as a completely negative thing,” Farias said, “our knee-jerk reaction is that these users always need instant gratification.”

For Jones and Porter, being able to know when it’s time to put the controller down is crucial should other, more important aspects of their life suffer.

“I’ll play, and I’ll get into it, but there is a certain point where I’ll realize I’ll need to do other things,” Jones said.

Farias said that people spending too much time using technology can best be helped with therapy, but that even before it gets to that point, everyone should just recognize they are forming a bad habit.

“If they just have more one-on-one intimate, real-life relationships with people, they wouldn’t be so obsessed,” Farias said.