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Well, people generally get addicted for 2 main reasons: life sucks and a substance/behavior provides a great escape, or life is boring and a substance/behavior gives you a high that beats anything else. Games fall more into the 2nd category. The challenge part is more related to getting into a flow state.

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Substances are also an escape, you just don’t want to feel (or escape) whatever the negative feeling is (guilt, anger, depression, stress, hopelessness, so on).

Well, yes, that's what I meant by "life sucks and a substance/behavior provides a great escape" in the previous comment.

Sure, no I get it. I suppose it’s worth clarifying that the biological addiction to the substance is actually a side effect of the original issue (you’re running from discomfort).

Which goes back to the original post, in that, you really can’t choose your addictions, only your circumstances (will smith might be a great example, don’t be in a public open marriage, you’re fixing to start picking up addictions that you’ll have no autonomy over).

Yes, there's a whole series on addiction on the site that goes into the nuances of it: https://www.deprocrastination.co/blog/what-is-addiction

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