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40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Addicted
Heartless Gamer writes "MMORPGs and game addiction. If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, back aches, erratic sleep patterns, it may be more than just your average hangover: according to Dr. Maressa Orzack, you could be suffering from video and computer game addiction. A clinical psychologist, Orzack is founder and coordinator of Computer Addiction Services at McLean Hospital in Newton, Mass., and is also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Computer Addiction Services is one of the few outpatient clinics in the U.S. that provides specific treatment for game addiction." but I'm feelings much better now.
40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Addicted
Should read:
40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Addicted...to masturbation
OK, ok, sorry!
now excuse me while I go on my first of 5 weekly, 3hr long raids
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
I figured it would be a LOT more, every wow player I have ever met lack the ability to think, talk or do anything else.
The actual % varies but I think it floats at about 99.40%.
This is purely speculation mind you.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
This is news...why? We all know it's addictive, that's kinda the point to these games; To make them as addictive as possible.
So the real story here is that only 40% of the people playing are addicted. This indicates to me that
1) Blizz isn't doing their job correctly if they are capturing under half the population in this way
2) These docs need a new yaht
3) The study is bogus and was carried out incorrectly, invalidating the results.
Guess which one I'm a fan of? ( that's right, all three, for those of you keeping score at home )
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I mean the games name is World of Warcrack isn't it?
Personally I refuse to play games like World Of Warcraft, because I know I would be sucked up in them in no time. It's too risky for me
When I found out that my brother in law bought the game I warned him about the game. He shrugged it off. He's only 14 (my wife is 11 years older) and he clearly has no control. He lives alone with his mother, has done allnighters, has already skipped school because of the game but his grades seem still to be unaffected. His mother has no idea what to do because she has absolutely no idea about anything related to computers. When I suggested she'd take away the DSL router, hell broke loose. I think she gave it back after a mere 2 days because his behaviour became unmanagable. He didn't come to the last BBQ we organized. He spends all his days (and nights, I guess) behind his computer playing WoW.
The thing is: I can't critisize him all that much. When I was his age, I was all the time using my computer. Playing Test Drive (CGA version) for hours, or programming in Pascal. It just depended on my mood. Still, it was much easier to break away from it because there was no social component.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, back aches, erratic sleep patterns, it may be more than just your average hangover: according to Dr. Maressa Orzack, you could be suffering from video and computer game addiction.
Or perhaps you're just in need of a new monitor?
You say that like it's a bad thing....
You can learn a lot about a person if you just take the time to inject them with sodium pentathol
I'm addicted to finding new addictions and getting government money to "fix" them.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
...Just as long as it does't affect my raid schedule. I need that DKP, you know. And if Elementium Reinforced Bulwark drops while I'm not there, I'll be upset.
to WoW.. who do these doctors think they are? BTW.. LVL 60 DRUID LFG 4 UBRS RUN ASAP! PST!!
If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, back aches, erratic sleep patterns, it may be more than just your average hangover: according to Dr. Maressa Orzack, you could be suffering from video and computer game addiction.
/cast Abolish Disease
/dance
No problem.
And all this time I thought it was my three year old giving me the headaches and sleep problems...
This is very true. I played in a small raiding guild. When I quit, I had been playing that character for 9 months. I had 7/8 tier 2 gear. For about 2 months prior to quitting, I wasn't even enjoying it. I was showing up because we had a schedule and we had to make it. Systems are in place in major guilds to perpetuate that (DKP/Loot Priority/etc). So I was spending 20-30 hours a week playing a game I was bored of.
Now I've quit. But I still read all the WoW news, I read my guild's website and forums regularly, and I still have the account. I even consider if I'm going to play again when the expansion hits. I haven't played for over 2 months, and I'm still thinking about it many times a week.
That alone is probably enough reason to never play it again.
The bit about variable ratio reinforcement is the important part. Video game designers haven't perfected this with MMORPGs—they're just starting to get it right. In the future games will be more addictive, more damaging to life outside the game. They'll be better at making you play, but be less satisfying a part of your life.
Well, according to those symptoms I am also addicted to reading. Could they be signs of poor ergonomics instead of addiction?
...it's a DISEASE!
While I don't like to see friends suffer any addictions they're getting by just fine. My only concern is that politicians will use these statistics to legislate gaming. There's no direct evidence that violence in games leads to violence in real life. But if they can use the valid label "addiction" and quantify it who knows what kind of crazy legislation they may try to pass. Any negative word they can apply to gaming is fuel for their pointless causes.
Maybe I'm going overboard. But it angers me to no end when I see one of my senators giving BS speeches about how games should be regulated.
Developers: We can use your help.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
My brother lost his job 5 weeks ago. He's been playing WoW for about a year prior to his layoff, and his addiction to game did not cause him to lose his job.
He has no motivation to go and look for a job, he only eats maybe once a day, and his house is pig sty.
He came by yesterday asking for $150 to pay his rent or he was going to be kicked out. I loaned him $40 two weeks ago, and I am sure that he used that towards his cable bill or his WoW account.
He looks like a crack or meth addict (having been around those types of people myself), and he doesn't care about anything but playing that damn game.
I almost got into to playing that game shortly after he started a year or so ago. I am glad I have not purchased the game, and I have no interest in WoW after seeing my brother play the game for three days straight with no sleep (yellow jackets were used to keep himself awake!).
I know it's not the game that is the problem, it's the person with the addictive personality. How can we recognize, and then treat video game addiction? Is it recognized as a real problem, or are they told to just grow up? 12 steps have been proven to NOT work for ALL people, and my brother is one of them.
"Fortunately, I'm adhering to a very strict drug regimen to keep my mind limber..."
"Doctor with vested interest makes sensational statement to support business model" shocker.
(this space intentionally left blank)
"I once counted to a million. Missed the entire Ford Administration. But I'm feeling much better now."
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
"RW: What about self control and willpower? Should players take some responsibility for their heavy play? Dr. Orzack: This isn't about willpower or restraint. These games are very elaborately designed to ease you in gently, entice you, and keep you there. And it's a cycle: people begin to spend too much time playing and their careers and personal relationships begin to deteriorate. Then they begin to withdraw more into the game because it's an escape from their real world problems" The part about willpower is completely wrong: If you exercise willpower and self control, then you can keep the addiction under control. Everything in moderation. Orzack is basically saying that no matter how we act, we will get addicted, and that is simply not true. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?
TFA:
it's a cycle: people begin to spend too much time playing and their careers and personal relationships begin to deteriorate. Then they begin to withdraw more into the game because it's an escape from their real world problems.
RW: So what's the solution?
My solution: let nature take its course. In a few generations there will be no gamers left.
I RTFA, and I didn't see anywhere that they did a poll of WoW players and came up with this statistic. It seems more like a wild assed guess than anything else. Surely there are some people addicted to WoW, but I seriously doubt the number is anywhere near as high as 40%.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
They have to be -- anyone who raids as much as they do has to be turning down sex.
You know what, this isn't Fark. Those /"" signatures are beyond stupid. Fark is filled with loser alcoholics who have nothing insightful to offer. Please refrain from lowering your IQ as well as mine with /"" signatures. Thank You.
In WoW it's possible to set a schedule for the playtime.
So it's easy to prevent the kids from playing at schooltime or during the night.
Check the FAQ at their site for more information.
Don't answer me. Moderate. Slashdot is about moderation, not discussion.
Critical hit!
http://www.TheGamerNation.com/Forums
according to Dr. Maressa Orzack, you could be suffering from video and computer game addiction. A clinical psychologist, Orzack is founder and coordinator of Computer Addiction Services
Just another personality that wants to cash-in on peoples fear they could be less addicted to TV than to a video game.
End of story... Nothing to see... Move along...
Considering this video. I completely agree with you...
...will the patch be released to deal with this issue? And then the follow up patch that introduces three other bugs? And then the patch to patch the sub bugs? And then the patch that actually fixes what the first patch was supposed to fix, followed by more awkward class nerfing.
*warms up the gremli^H^H^H^H^H^H 'Blizzard Background Downloader'*
Informatus Technologicus
to read and reply to this post that means I'm not addicted right... right?
"To be is to do." --Socrates
"To do is to be." -- Aristotle
"Do-Be-Do-Be-Do..." --Sinatra
I play WoW (yes, a real girl with boobs and everything playing WoW! Who'da thunk it!), and at first, it was kind of addicting. There was so much to explore, so many things to see and do. I think that first weekend, I played til 4 or 5 AM both nights. When I realised how unhealthy that was, I stopped, and vowed that if I EVER refused a social engagement in real life to play WoW, or neglected my real life duties for it, I'd uninstall it immediately. I'm now in a casual raiding guild (we raid once a week on Fridays), and log in at other times only to play with (local) people I know if they need some help.
But I'm one of those people who's lucky enough to not have an addictive personality. I didn't get addicted to IRC or the 'net. I can go weeks without logging into a computer outside of work without any problem. When my laptop (my only computer) crashed at home two months ago, I puttered for a few weeks before even bothering to reinstall the OS; WoW got reinstalled a few days later when I felt like it. I can even go without coffee for days on end if I choose to.
Honestly, I'm thankful for that. The LAST thing I want to be is one of those people who lives and breathes on a videogame. It's scary to think that it's so addicting; I have to wonder why, though? There's nothing physical there to draw you in. It isn't like alcohol or nicotine. Is it the social aspects? Being able to completely control your surroundings, as you can't in real life? What is it about a videogame like WoW or Everquest that sucks people in so completely that it makes them ignore friends, family, and real life?
I think, as someone who's not an addict, I'll never really understand it.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo - H. G. Wells
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/05/08/
HEY! 60 rogue LFG to grind rep for cenarion, timbermaw, thorium, zandalar. Also WTB Life. PST!!!11
That's exactly why I stopped playing WoW - I just couldn't keep up with a guild. I have school and work and a social life (yeah I'll just leave my geek membership card here, shall I?).
There was no way that I'd be able to find enough time to level up and go on all raids and guild activities etc.
Unless you are trying to quit......
Now where did I leave my [Wand of Moderation] +5 dmg to Anonymous Trolls
So an addiction is what... just a habit, right? If I'm addicted to making my bed, is it a bad thing? I'm addicted to programming, apparently, I have a few things on that list. however, I attribute them to wisdom teeth that need to be removed, lack of sleep, and the fact that theres a ghost living with me. ... but again, that could be attributed to the lack of sleep. :)
"The need to build the internet comes from something inside us, something programmed... something we can't resist."
I wonder if the bloke that originally posted this thread:
9 47243
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/29/1
Has read this! it might make him feel a little bit better!
Ha!
>>>Scanning for I.D.I.O.T.S. >>>
>>>I.D.I.O.T.S. FOUND! >>>
First, is it just me or did she seem to pull that 40% number right out of her ass? How many of the 6 million users did she interview. If you work at a place where all you see is people who are addicted then I am pretty sure you are going to think that a lot of people are addicted. Secondly, she seems to be immediately discounting true emotional problems really quickly in her example. Oh there's this 18 year old kid who plays all the time and doesn't get along with his family. Well does he not get along with his family BECAUSE he plays all the time or does he play all the time BECAUSE he doesn't get along with his family. Seems that she is not asking the question. She's an adiction specialist, of course she thinks it's an adiction. When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/16/
Anything, if taken to extremes, can become an addiction. It is true that MMORPG's (World of Warcraft being far and away the more successful) encourage this. You have monthly fees that (aside from paying for the infrastructure, bandwidth, etc) entice you to play to justify the ongoing and mounting expense. Grouping makes sure you show up at given times, etc. The random rewards of epic loot in advanced dungeons is similar to random reward studies (which show it's the most powerful form of behavior shaping - see slot machines). You have to set limits on it just like anything else, whether it's drinking or TV.
However, there are some differences here to other addictions. There is no physical addiction, and hardly any psychological one. You can put it down, and other than mild obsession (what's going on in Azeroth?), it has no ill effects. Hell, you can discontinue your account, and they keep all of your character info, so you can completely unplug, and return at some point in the future when you're interested again, much like an offline game. There's also a limit - you may play a lot to reach level 60, but then you do stop. Sure, you can join raids, get gear, but the drive to constantly improve falls away (other games, like Disgaea, are far, far worse in this regard).
The most important difference is that if handled well, it can be a positive social tool. I play, but only with people I know in real life. That way we can talk about other things and it allows a set time for us to get together, without having to drive out to each other (I live over an hour away from many of them, and that's just suburban sprawl!).
Mostly, this is a lot of fuss over nothing.
I don't know what kind of crack I was on, but I suspect it was decaf.
The title should be "40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Wasting What Little Real Life They Have"
Addiction has nothing to do with it.
It's all about poor judgment
(Should I get some sleep before work/school or stay up all night on-line?)
and escapism.
(I'd rather be playing WoW than sitting in this meeting/classroom.)
Who pays for that account? Threat him to cancel the last payment (that will flag his address as "bad guy" what means no playing at any time ever again).
You can look forward to these types of stories getting more coverage. Mainly because the major media outlets stand to lose from non-television entertainment.
I feel like I'm reading an article from 1950 about the dangers of Rock and Roll.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
They say 40% of the time... it works every time.
I'm sorry, I just don't buy it.
If anything, they are just people that walk this earth abused for what they wore or how they think or activities they find solace in, for all intents and purposes, unique in their own right, and summarily persecuted for it in the "real world". Their not addicted to the damn game, their addicted to being accepted; or in some strange, awkard cases of not being accepted, for their base personality traits. The simple concept of chat rooms is proof of this, and thats where the higher order people interaction is occuring in this game. In summary, WoW is the prettiest chat room ever created. If you put a bunch of socially challenged people in a dark room for a few days that enjoyed each others company you could essentially create the same thing.
Oh where have the Fact Chekers gone to. McLean Hospital is in Belmont Ma not Newton Mass and if you can't get the easy facts right...
Christ people. One of these stories every other week is getting old.
That 40% number was ripped from the daedalus project . I also doubt it's accurate since people who fill out that survey or seek help are more likely to be addicted then those who don't.
MMO addiction is nothing like a Gambling addiction. In MMO addiction you may have issues of identifying with your character, but you don't have the same harmful financial damage that a gambling addiction will cause.
Quitting MMO's is fairly easy, or at least it was for me. I just deleted WoW, and that was it. I still keep in touch with my guild via their website, which was really my only reason for playing twards the end, along with e-fame.
O RLY?!
Invite the Local Geek to a Date Night...
:: shrug :: Don't blame the games, blame society. And seriously, how different is playing WoW from watching 3+ hours of TV / movies every night like the rest of America that isn't playing games? I don't like TV, it's rediculous for the most part (there are a few comedies and such--insert all the geek flicks). Therefore, I kill. And I enjoy it. What is wrong with that?
If the real women would actually say "yes" I would have something better to do...
In Orgrimmar and Stormwind!
We all know it's addictive, that's kinda the point to these games; To make them as addictive as possible.
You are impugning the game maker with evil motives. Suppose we rewrote your statement in a more sanitized way: "We all know it's fun, that's kinda the point of these games; To make them as fun as possible." Would that be inaccurate at all, except that it removes the evil intent that you seem keen in assigning?
It's useful to remind people here that cocaine is NOT physically addictive. It's just incredibly, awesomely FUN! In fact, it's so fun that life while you're not on cocaine, comparitively, seems like a horribly boring drag. This is only from what I've heard from my friends who have been users. You wonder why I've never used it?
Probably for the same reason that I've never played WoW. It's not addictive -- it's just too much of a good thing. And that, in itself, can be dangerous!
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
I was addicted to WoW. It got to the point where it was interfering with taking care of other things around the house, and occasionally paying attention to my kid. I finally quit cold-turkey a few weeks ago, and I'm glad I did. The game's fun, but it's just a game; I kept looking at it as "gotta accomplish more, gotta get all these characters to 60, etc."
One train of thought that helps kill my desire to play goes like this (it's sort of a mantra I run through every so often):
1. Wouldn't it be cool to play WoW in god mode, and have all the best equipment, skills, be able to kill everything in 1 hit, etc.?
2. Yeah, for about five minutes, but then it would get boring like god mode always does in games. It's better to accomplish things honestly, within the limits of the game.
3. Wait, accomplish? What accomplishment is there, exactly, in manipulating an interface that is essentially flipping bits on a hard drive somewhere? It's a game, it should be for entertainment; not some kind of to-do list.
4. WoW is still a little entertaining, but I've played two characters to level 60, and one each to 57, 55, 50, 48, 46, 33... I've seen pretty much all the content that doesn't require hours of raiding. Okay, I think I'm done.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
I think it's interesting to note that Civilization IV comes with an in-game alarm clock. You set it as a timer, and when that time is up it produces that horrifying bzzz-bzzz noise of the generic bedside alarm clock. Simple, but effective.
Even back with the original Civilization I used to lose track of time and spend all night conquering the world. Addiction? Absolutely. Thankfully, after four revisions of the game, they've realized I might need help in knowing when to go to sleep.
Never mind that buzzing sound though; the Persians are threatening & I've got to rally my religious partners to crush him.
The game pissed me off for another reason (hence why I quit): you CAN'T be a "normal" in WoW. To explore a great deal of the game content, you need to play with others. But if you want to play for an hour and then leave to do something, you CAN'T. People kick and scream when you ditch them, and they are unable to finish their raid experience without you (the latter problem due to game design by blizzard). So, people will stop grouping with you if you play like a "normal" person. Another good reason is the $15 a month. Nice waste of money.
www.nowow.de
All games are supposed to be addictive. The symptoms stated by the article sound more like the result of overdose. I would say that what makes WoW player play the game more than they should, even when their eyes are tired for example. Is the DARN MONTHLY FEE! . I met online guys that have the need to play WoW really frequently otherwise they feel like they are wasting their money. You have to accept that 12 $us for just a few hours per week is not worth it so you better extract all the juice of it.
I hope next "service" games have an hourly fee instead of monthly, I really do
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
You just really like the game a lot.
From TFA -
RW: What about self control and willpower? Should players take some responsibility for their heavy play?
Dr. Orzack: This isn't about willpower or restraint. These games are very elaborately designed to ease you in gently, entice you, and keep you there....
How the hell does this woman stay employed? It is ONLY about willpower and restraint. ANYTHING can become an addiction. Sure, MMORPGs may be easier to become addicted to than say, brocolli, but I'm sure it can happen. However, neither are a problem if you can maintain some restraint. The difference between people like you, and the 14 year old who skips school to play, is that you have the self control to pull yourself away. It is ALL about the self control.
Theres much that could be done to improve the game past a grind and imbalanced PK system. I've always predicted a big MMORPG to take in all the players, but I'm suprised WOW is doing it with such boring play. When a MMORPG comes out that's actually fun and not a grind, I wonder how many subscribers it will have. Another funny thing is WOW isn't adding new dungeons and content every month like they could be with the millions they're making, mostly its just going to stockholders.
God spoke to me.
This is why guild wars is so much better than WOW... it rewards you for skill, not time played. It's not addictive.
Drop the allowance? Who cares if he screams and bitches, if he's got nothing better to blow the money het gets on, then he doesn't NEED that money at all. "All the other kids get allowances!" Yeah? Well all the other kids aren't shut-ins with no actual social lives.
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
40% addicted on World of Warcraft.
45% addicted to drugs.
65% addicted to alcohol.
85% addicted to mastrubation.
95% addicted to love.
Life? 100% addictive.
Those are IRC slashes. Fark uses some weird slash then slash-slash system for postscripts. Those slashes signify commands.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
I wouldn't be surprized if she isn't getting any considering Taco's lust for WoW.
I think ~40 % off ALL gamers are addicted
40% Addicted 59% In Denial 1% Still paying for the account they meant to close 6 months ago!
"If you have legs and are flammable, you are never blocking a fire exit." -- Mitch Hedberg
FTFA: "I think there needs to be warning labels on MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, similar to warning labels on cigarettes. People should know that these games are potentially harmful."
t m
Comparing a video game to tobacco on any level is one of the most irresponsible analogies I have ever heard anyone in the medical community make. When a video game starts to have even 1/10th the social impact as cigarettes then maybe, just maybe, we should revisit this ridiculous topic. By most estimates tobacco kills approximately 1 million people just in the U.S. per year. And according to the CDC costs about $92 billion in lost productivity. http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/Media/pressrel/r050630.h
Trust me, I am fully aware of the "dangers" involved with gaming addictions. For me it resulted in C's and D's for two semesters in college while hooked on a MUD back in the early ninety's. But getting a bad GPA because I cannot pull myself away from the monitor to go to class and huffing gasoline or Krylon are two completely different animals.
"All those moments, will be lost in time...like tears in rain..."
Computer and internet addiciton is no joke, its very real and very devastating.
The problem with computers is, that staring at thier screen for hours and hours in a two dimensional desktop reality (or in the case of games, a three dimension virtual reality), you become completly dissociated from reality. You do this every day, off and on, for weeks, months, years on end, and you wake up one day and realize you have forgotten just about all your skills in the real world; reality seems strange and foreign to you, just looking at things (in the real world) look strange. Its not just computer games... the effect happens if you are doing 'real work', ie working in applications, programming, or whatever, so its not computer games, but computers themselves.
Addictions usually travel in pairs, and probably one of the worst and most devastating siblings of internet/computer addition is addiction to softdrinks. When your life is consumed with being on the computer, you "don't have time" to be bothered with cooking, and you tend to subsist on convient manufactured foods (read: crap) that can be eating immediatly with little or no cooking.
Softdrinks (and the soft drink industry knows this) are just that: you pop open a can and drink it down. The sugar rush peps you up, and the caffeine dumps a second whammy of sugar out of your cells into the blood stream.
There's just one huge problem. Sugar does more than rot your teeth. It robs your bones of calcium, depletes it of vitamins, stresses your pancreas, and makes you have a sugar crash when those simple sugars are exhausted, so you hit the softdrinks again in a viscious cycle. You become obsese over time, hypoglycemic, and eventually diabetic... by which time you its hard to concentrate, hard to focus anymore, and you feel chronically fatigued. Let me tell you, being so fatigued all the time you can't get up and about is aweful. You want to sleep, but sleeping does not cure it. The only cure is to eat your way out of it, and then you have to eat a little something every one to two hours (protein (such as eggs or meat), complex carbohydrates...(such as vegtables or pasta)... to keep your blood sugar stable. Otherwise you can't concentrate, can't do anything.
Caffeine is also very toxic... its acutally a poison given off by the coca plant in its leaves to kill its competing neighbor plants. The caffeine in the leaves that fall off the plant leech into the soil, making it too toxic for other plants to grow. Eventually the soil becomes so toxic from caffeine that even coca plants can't grow. The reason your body reacts the way it does to caffeine, is because quite frankly, you are poisoning yourself. The body goes into emergency mode, releases fight/flight sugar into the blood stream, your concentration goes up (danger will robinson), and several other symptoms occur.
Softdrinks and the double whammy of sugar and caffeine are highly addictive and highly toxic over the long run.
The way out of this is to one switch off all the computers and put a cover over them and walk away, get outdoors, get back aware to reality. Face the facts that in eight months of being online, you have in all reality not gotten a darn thing real done, you haven't made a dime from computers, and its all been a waste of time. And you've got to buy yourself some real food.
For food, the key is to eliminate everything sweet from your diet, and eat only foods god made without adulteration. I recommend something called the "prehistoric diet" or "paleolithic diet", where you eliminate even wheats (that means even bread and pasta), which actually are full of toxins themselves unless they are boiled and came later in mans evolution. The human digestive system was made and designed to live for millions of years off of things we scavenged, and today what is in most grocery stores is not food, but modern processed garbaged full of low quality nutrition and toxic junk.
The most powerful computer you have is not any of your rigs, its you
He was about the smartest person I ever knew and now he is working as a facility manager in a small appartment building.
No offence, but perhaps then he wasn't very smart. Social addictions (vs chemical ones) are a factor of the mind, and of willpower. Part of breaking them is being smart enough to recognise the signs and react to or counter them.
I know plenty of people who have been wary of MMO's because of their massively time-consuming nature, and the realization that it would impact other important things in their lives. I know others who have been involved in addiction activities - even chemically addictive ones - and were able to factorize the reasons behind them and step away from the problem.
There are many types of smarts. Perhaps your friend was good with figures or words, but he demonstrates two types of addictions so far (Itobascco and MMO's). Between the two of you perhaps you are the smarter for avoiding such things (or at least the MMO part).
Now, excuse me while I grind up the installation DVD and snort the powder like crack.
Current State: Pirates > Cowboys + Ninjas + Robots Yarrrr
What happend to the good ol' days when all you needed to worry about was getting addicted to drugs and booze? Bah...Addicted to World of Warcraft...That is worth a good laugh or two...
"One day your going to wake up and realize that your not as witty as you think you are." -Me.
w00t w00t.
I like how you mentioned having an addictive personality. Some people are definately likely that, in that they will obsess into one given thing until it becomes consuming. If it weren't WoW, it might be something else, healthier or less healthy.
There's a thin line between dedication and addiction. I try to personally involve myself in multiple time-requiring, semi-obsessive activities. Some of these involve other people, some don't. Since all are interesting, I tend to have a full schedule, but at the same time no one activity is taking up all my time and attention. On the flip, I usually notice if I cut one of those activities out for a long period of time.
So I guess my advice to those with addictive personalities is: manage your addictions. Find multiple things that really snag your interest, concentrate on all of them, but only to a point where they don't interfere with your personal productivity (work, school, etc). Between books (my equivilent to a pack-a-day), video games (war3, bf2), and outdoorsy things like airsoft (it's like paintball, but better), and the odd game of bowling etc... I find that I'm diversified enough that it's like getting the 4 food groups of interaction. There particular activities might not be for everyone, but by varying consuming physical/mental/group/solo/etc activities you may come out better rather than worse.
So far the major downside is that almost everything costs money, so more habits/activities == more spending, but sometimes one of these might yield some extra cash as well.
Come on, the "founder and coordinator of Computer Addiction Services" thinks gamers suffer from Video Game addiction? Guess what? If you report those symptoms to a chiropractor he's going to have a different prescription for you! I don't doubt that there are a lot of similarities between addiction to drugs/pills/alcohol and excessive gaming, but this is absurd. I do think that the idea of "video game addiction" is interesting, but I think "addiction" is the wrong word.
Nope, no self-interest for her in getting people to believe that 40% of WoW gamers are addicted. Nosiree.
I'm not saying she's wrong, but a healthy dose of skepticism is in order.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
But I don't understand why WoW has been singled out. This can apply to any game, for starters - I've sat playing Civilisation or Master of Orion for hours on end, sometimes into the small hours. Games are about mental stimulation and mental stimulation is enjoyable...
Also, if an "addiction" is something habitual you do that stops you leading a "normal" life, interacting with others, etc. then why does nobody treat, say, Olympic athletes as addicts? They're invariably training 8-12 hours a day, obsessive about winning in their chosen sports and don't lead normal home lives as a result. Sounds no different to these so-called "WoW addicts"...
Personally, an "addiction" is something convenient to blame when you really can't be bothered to find the strength to just stop doing whatever it is you believe you are addicted to. I was a smoker for many years and stayed a smoker for as long as I considered myself as having a nicotine addiction. It was only when I took control of what I was doing and decided I just wasn't going to do it any more that I stopped smoking - sure, it was difficult but sheer bloody-mindedness won in the end.
If someone chooses to play WoW 24x7 and live in a dirty house, who cares? It's their choice and as long as they're not mugging old ladies for the cost of a WoW subscription, leave them to it. It's up to the individual to recognise they have a problem first and then call on external help if they need it to fight the problem - not some overpaid journalist with column-space to fill.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Ha! I bet a lot of these addictied kids don't even have a level 60 yet and are thinking they're all Uber by running dead mines south and only getting killed 2 times by VC with their level 40 badddasss shadow priest.
And the grandma that's in the picture? I bet she plays horde.
Dwarft Priest FTW!
Oh shit.. I've gotta go mine some juju for Rag tomorrow..
Hahaha...
'Truth' is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce and sustain it...
I was addicted to online Quake (Quakeworld) from 1996-97 during University. This was the first online FPS with solid networking and I loved it. It was unhealthy, of course. I stayed up all night, marks plummetted, roommates laughed at me. I wanted to quit, so I'd go cold turkey, but it was really hard. I'd feel the urge to play in my bones, so I'd go back.
Anyway, the reason why I was addicted was basically because of my own ego. I always needed to feel like I was hot shit at something, and I was good at the game, so when I placed #1 in each match, it was a buzz. I think I finally kicked the habit when I got over myself. I don't know if it's the same for WoW addicts (40% of them can't be #1), but that's my experience.
I was spending every possible moment I could playing the game. I mostly enjoyed it but like you said I was neglecting everything else so I finally decided it was time to stop and pulled the plug. To prevent any relapse I gave my account to my guild and the toon was butchered to the point of no return.
About 3 months after I quit I started a mage on a friends account which I play maybe 3-4 hours a month. (no raiding)
Blizzard actually help me quit because I got so pissed off that I couldn't progress past rank 10 in a reasonable amount of time. I mean with a full time job and family, how can I compete with the college kids that are skipping class and playing in shifts. I was even in our top pvp group for a couple months.
Using wowguru's calculator it would have taken me 8 weeks of #1 to get to high warlord. I can't imagine how many weeks it would take to get to warlord in the top 15-20 spot.
Anyway, it was a blast, we were 5 capping ab in minutes but on my server pvp competition was fierce and even 200,000+ honor barely moved but a couple percentage points each week.
We'd even 5 cap naked (in-game) just to be idiots.
With no way to pause progression, one can't even go on a vacation without adding weeks or months of "work" to get back to where they were.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
"I'm not addicted"+"I take it a bit more seriously than I probably should"="So I am an asshole"
Being a college student when the alpha and beta came out, I was easily able to manage life, school, and wow while no raiding content was in the game. Though, the seeds of addiction were already present in the beta. I would stand in the city, with nothing to do in game other than talk or make money, which was certainly going to be wiped upon release. I did not care though, I kept making money in a game instead of taking another shift at work.
At age 20, when retail came out, I found myself the leader of what was going to become a dominate guild on the server. It is not to hard when you and your buddies know everything about the game from beta - so we leveled, as a group, very quickly, drawing attention and interest from all the soon-to-be addicts.
From that point on, almost everything was second to wow. I had an online legacy to solidify and maintain! WoW consumed every free hour of my time and I went as far as to restructure my life around my gaming. Now that is not normal or healthy. I still went to class and passed with good grades, but only because I was able to make the raid times being guild leader. Raids are almost always a nightly occasion, leaving day classes a possibility. Of course, I planned those classes that way - I needed to have my nights 5pm - 3am free for gaming!
While leading this guild which raided every single day (Ony, MC, Rag, outdoor) at the time, I had a legion of 100 addicts in my guild. Addicts. Almost every single one played every day for several hours. The biggest concern in our guild was the hardcore players wanting to cut the casual players so we could "cut the dead weight." I was in favor of having a better environment/community in the guild though, so I let the casual players stay, but we arranged some raiding changes to make sure they did not get priority over an addict.
Having ran this guild for a while, I was exhausted from all the drama and logistics of running it. As a friend said, I flew to close to the sun and got burnt out. True be told, my reluctance to continue the drama was not the main reason for quiting, but the complete collapse of my social life and financial situation. I maintained a girlfriend through all of this, which was not easy for her to do. She was a longtime girlfriend and was with me as I gradually became an addict. She gave me the ultimatum of her or WoW and I never played again.
Since then we have split for completely unrelated issues, but I honestly fear the game. It requires massive time investments to advance in a game which has no end. That is the problem. Millions are playing a game with no end. Since leaving I found I enjoy FPS games much more now. I can join a server and play 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 round, 3 maps - whatever I want - There is no requirement to stay for any length of time. Even when on a team and you need to be around for scrims or matches, you have weeks of notice, you can reschedule, have alternates, and they only last an hour.
Invexi - a Phoenix, AZ based web design and web development company.
Many of the MMORPG games are designed this way. They obviously have no ending, but that is not the key. The main problem is that as you progress, it is not the difficulty that increases, but the time required. At lvl 1 you can level up in a few minutes. A quest is short and simple. The lower lvl dungeons can be completed in an hour. So there are many points at which you can unplug and save your progress.
This is not true at the higher levels. Organizing 40 people for a raid is hard enough, but the dungeons take several hours per attempt, log off and it resets.. if you log off IN there, it is respawned and you instantly die when you log back on. The pvp system (especially the alterac valley map) can take upwards of 11 hours to complete (longest one I saw anyways) but does not reward you your bonuses for participation unless you stay until the end.
Its not so much that the game is addictive, but rather requires increasing amounts of play time to complete objectives (and increasingly fewer objectives), penalizes you for logging off, and is competetive.
It is competetive because one can spend a majority of their time doing nothing in the game trying to organize these increasingly time consuming activities, and during this large portion of playtime there is nothing to do except sit there and measure yourself against everybody else (by challenging eachother to duels, or whatever).
This game in particular is missing everything that has made many other games of the same genre more enjoyable for more casual play, whether it be more interactive crafting systems or a greater variety of quests, smaller (intended for 1-5 people) dungeon instances, interesting world pvp, or chances for non-lifers to obtain rare or exciting rewards that make them competetive to those who prefer to farm and camp all night, every day.
I truly don't think its success has to do with fun factor beyond level 60.
"If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, back aches, erratic sleep patterns, it may be more than just your average hangover"
Uhh, work does this to me, not playing a game.
I'm 25 (I know, I'm still a young'n), and I spent a large portion of my youth playing Atari (2600, 7800, ST), wolfenstien, doom, and cruising on different BBSs. As I've watched, and experienced, almost a two decades of computer gaming evolve, I've noticed a recent change. Sure, playing Dig Dug was *INITIALLY* just as addictive as WoW or any other MMOG today, but the big difference is that now there is a linear relationship between time spent playing and how addictive the game becomes. Most games prior to the popularization of MMOGs, although they provided a different experience each time you played, were essentially static. The contents of and intractability with the game were always the same, and thus ones ability to enjoy it remained constant. MMOGs become dangerous when ones ability to enjoy the game, at the same level as with other games, *REQUIRES* that the user spend a certain amount of time. While I spent a large amount of time beating the original Tie Fighter in my college dorm room as a freshman, I could, and did, walk away from it at any time and the game would remain just as enjoyable for when/if I came back.
Now, to be fair, there is merit in the introduction of dynamicity at the level that MMOGs provide. But like the introduction of most good things, those utilizing it tend to overdue it until a balance is found. The problem is when they set the bar dangerously high for their users, requiring them to play for an inordinate amount of time simply to enjoy it at a basic level.
Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
After two unsuccessful tries I finally quit WoW. It was very hard, know I look at the news like this and sneak a peak at the blizzard website and laugh a little. I two boxed a lot of keep the boredom down and made it a little game within a game for myself. I wrote addons and did a lot of website and dkp shit for the guild.
I think its really hard for people to quit when they are heavy vent users, WoW was my first game that used that and I see a lot of other people that use Vent for the first time and suddenly are using it and are not even playing at the same time they are so hooked.
members are seeing something, your seeing an ad
The other 60% were too busy playing WoW to answer the survey.
I don't raid but I have had to think twice a few times... but honey, we're almost to Drak! Can't you wait just another five minutes???
Five minutes later: but honey, we're almost to Drak! Can't you wait just another five minutes???
24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
To masturbation that is....
Note that this is "40% showing signs of clinical addiction" not "40% play WoW a lot".
Personally, by these criteria I was addicted to EverQuest for long stretches, but I've never been addicted to WoW. It also says to me that Blizzard has a better business model than EQ; people forget that what a game developer wants is to sell as many subscriptions as possible, not to make people play as many hours as possible. The ideal game would have everyone subscribing and no-one actually playing; players cost you money (bandwidth, server capacity, customer service).
Indeed, Blizzard's master-stroke (from a business point of view) is having compelling instance dungeons which can only be done once per week. WoW is full of "points of diminishing return" in that, it doesn't matter how often you play, your primary toon can only do the current bleeding-edge instance once-per-week. Obviously, the truly addicted max out multiple toons, but their primary toon will only ever be able to get so far so fast. It thus follows that they only need to release one new bleeding edge dungeon every six months to keep a lot of people hooked. This is very bad from my point of view (I hate doing the same content over and over) but it's obviously working well for Blizzard.
There are two types of addiction, psychological and physiological, that should not be confused. Physiological addiction is where your body requires a substance intake in order to continue functioning without excessive stress. Most hard drugs, alcohol and tobacco fall into this category. With physiological addiction your metabolism, hormonal balance and/or nervous system affected in a way that your body requires continued consumption. Psychological addiction is completely different and based on operant conditioning, you are addicted to rewards of some activity, even if that activity involves consumption. Tendency for psychological addiction is what makes society, social interaction and ultimately learning possible. Human beings get addicted to success, recognition, fame, friends all the time. Human ability to self-motivate and have internal rewarding scheme is what makes us sentient. As to WoW addicted kid - simple way to cure psychological addiction is reward substitution, if you can match what WoW has to offer to him. Kid got so heavily into WoW simply because it is an easy way to create peer network, get peer recognition and social interaction. Chances are his is lonely, considered a nerd by his peers, ignored by adults and doesn't have many friends - how can this compete with WoW where he is recognized, valued and probably respected member of his WoW peer group?
60% of W.O.W. players unemployed.
75% of W.O.W. players consider female dark elf dance moves as softcore pr0n.
90% of W.O.W. players still virgins living with their mothers.
Every WoW user I have ever had the "pleasure" of talking with is most defintely addicted to the game. They can't put it down and think about playing it all day long to the distraction of friends, family, work, school, etc.
Other games have an end or can be played for a period of time and then stopped. RPGs take on a life of their own because you have a virtual doppelganger that lives on growing in experience, wealth and power. Almost like your own personal mini-me.
Please if you can't handle playing RPGs as a game and not making it your life GET HELP....
Game playing taught me much about designing and creating 3d content. Gambling taught me a lot about statistics. And drug use, well, I know that stoners are bad at gambling video games.
I dispute the notion. Having been heavily addicted to MUD in the early nineties (and having seen people like Orzack around for that long), I've also seen 99% of the heavy MUD addicts move on, sooner of later. To claim that 40% are mentally disseased, to earn money, is a harsh statement which reflects badly on this person. In the Netherlands we have a saying for this based on a TV commercial: "We, from Toilet Duck, recommend: Toilet Duck!". Moreover, I question sales motives where one scares potential clients with making them feel sick, diseased and disordered. Bah!
I had a buddy in high school, when we graduated we went to different colleges. I tried to keep in touch with him and it seemed like he was doing pretty well. All the sudden, he dropped off the face of the earth. I tried to get a hold of him and talked to his roommate, turns out the guy dropped out, not because he was getting bad grades or it was too much pressure, but because he wanted to spend more time playing WoW. The guys future could be ruined now, all to play some MMORPG.
Personally, I won't touch the game, because I know I'll spend every waking moment on it. That doesn't mean it's wrong, though.
BSD: The most efficient way of subsidizing the enemy.
After Everquest, I never really played MMORPGs. Tested a few, but once you're off the kick, you realize how much time you spend doing other things when you're not playing the game. But during that 2 year stint, I was pretty hooked. Here are some of the symptoms:
1) People listening to your phone conversations with other EQ players may truly believe that you have a sword you pried from the hands of a dead orc in your closet. You literally talk like you lived it: "Last night was great! Can't believe we survived that....Did you end up getting the sword? I didn't see. Oh, cool. Any chance I could borrow your axe then, until I get something better?"
2) Pressing, I think, F10 would toggle off the menus so you could see more of the screen. Driving down the highway with the shade things down (can't remember what the actual name is), instead of just putting them back up against the ceiling to see better, I put my finger out towards the dashboard...
3) You've heard this before, but it's true: You walk down the street and con people. Big ugly guys con red, so do beautiful women with attitudes...
So yes, you think about the game alot, and try to play it whenever you can. Very happy I got out of it.
Why does this remind me so much of the anti-drug situation? Some people turning what is a hobby into something that controls their lives, with those in government trying to target those parts which it feels are undesirable, which just happen to be the part everyone enjoys. They ride on those who let the game consume them and generalize it until there's no money left to be made in the legal market and it just because something done at parties. When it's all said and done, the only thing left legal will be alcohol and The Sims.
Overtly dramatic, but I'm just making a point.
My work colleague is addicted to Everquest II. She doesn't seem to be much into raiding, but is totally addicted to roleplaying. All she talks about is her in-game character. She treats it like its a real live child, boasts about its social achievements, about how it has a relationship with another guild character. In game her character appears to be witty, popular and something of a leader.
In reality this person has under-developed personal skills and hates real-life social engagements. She's blown off several meals with work "friends" work in order to play Everquest. She lacks the ability to tell when she's annoying people and speaks over them when they're talking. She lives in a pigsty of a house, is grossly overweight and stinks to high heaven in summer. She is rapidly losing friends and can't see it.
I want to help her (because I work with her and to be frank she's annoying the fuck out of me with stories about her swashbuckling gnome) but I can't see how. When I've tried to broach the subject of addiction she just starts to get defensive and talks about how people just don't understand gamers.
Sorry for ranting, but this person has done nothing but talk about Everquest all day and this thread comes at a time of me being very annoyed with her. Don't mod this up - it's just a vent.
(BTW I've tried playing the game in question, but I can't see the appeal).
make up diseases and disorders to give themselves work and research grants. And, yes, 98% of all statistics are made up.
This seems to me to be a lot like Holodeck addiction from Startrek. An alternative life, where you really do have a chance of bettering your social position and increasing your wealth. Where people treat you differently (better, perhaps) and where you get to live the life you want, not the one the real world forces you to.
Sure, it's a level grind, but isn't life too? I level grind 8.5 hours a day at work, just to get a bit more money so one day I can actually live. And I'm a computer technician, not a burger flipper...
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
40% are addicted. 50% are too busy playing to answer. 10% are liars.
nothing for you to see here move along
What the hell is wrong with our society? I don't believe that such a thing exists as being addicted to non-narcotics (such as games, sex, your friends, a good book). I think that's just called ENJOYING LIFE.
For example: Would we have called Leonardo DaVinci addicted to science because he spent long 20 hour days cutting up cadavers or studying mechanics?
Would we have called Einstein a hopeless physics junkie?
It's called having a passion. Doing what you love. What's so bad about it?
In this work-obsessed culture we live in, if you aren't working and doing something THE MAN tells you to do, you must be doing something wrong. You don't see clinics popping up for people that work at overtime at McDonalds because they can't pay their bills -- we find it absolutely OK to not see your family most of the week because your job makes you work from 8 till 8, but when a person comes home and wants to spend 3-4 hours doing something *they want to do* you have people thinking its some sort of a disease.
I don't get it. Where are the priorities? I really am an advocate of being a professional idler and trying to get out of wage slavery. What's so bad about playing a game for 40 hours a week (something you CHOOSE to do, and ENJOY)? Compare that to working which is something you HAVE to do or else you get evicted by some property owning assholes and end up living on the streets and going crazy!
So people like to do more of something they find enjoyable, and less of what they hate, or Variable Ratio Reinforcement as Dr Quack likes to call it. Amazing! Whether that constitutes addiction I am very doubtful.
This kind of thing trivialises and undermines people who have their lives destroyed by and struggling against drug and alcohol dependence.
My first MMO experience was with FFXI. As painful as that game was, it sucked me in. I got to the point where I had to rely on a lot of other people to get anything done. I really hated to be a burden on others so I just gave it up. I vowed not to play another game like that again because it just sucked me in.
When WoW came along, I just ignored it. That is, until my brother stated playing. It looked like a lot of fun so I decided to join him. He stopped playing but I continued, surpassed him, and joined an end game guild. I made all the raids and was probably the most educated and was made a high ranking officer. I then not only wanted to play the game, I was obligated to be there to help run the raids. But some raids had some timing issues...and it really ticked me off. It is really hard to make me mad (unless you are family). I had to step back and say wow...I am getting pissed off at a video game. I was gaining weight and my mind was infested with thoughts of WoW. I finally had to admit to myself I was addicted (even though I did a fairly good job of keeping it under control). So a few weeks ago I told my guild I was taking a break...but, was actually quitting. I just logged off and never looked back. So, while it is addicting, it isn't as hard to give up. I am much happier now since I quit and I know that I will not touch an MMO ever again.
As much as people want to criticize this article...there is a lot of truth to it. It eases you in and as you build social relationships becomes more and more demanding. But you have to look at what you want out of life. Even if you are great and well loved in WoW, it will eventually go away and you will be left with a few people on your IM list that will fade away. Much better off spending that time on something that is more long term. While WoW is a well done game, you really have to becareful. I'd say most people who are in a raiding guild are addicted and should probably walk away. Not that I want to tell other people how to spend their freetime, just because it isn't healthy. In the same sense that I think people should give up smoking (thankfully dropping WoW is so much easier).
Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
"the friends he'd stolen from said he's kinda nomadic now, traveling around, mooching shelter and bandwidth; relegated to Everquest since his ancient computer cannot play newer games"
It sounds almost romantic, like a Western except it would be shot in suburbia.
Love Interest: "But Ricardo, what about us?"
Addict: "Sorry, I can't love you the way you want. I have to move on. I have to find a new wireless connection."
Love Interest: "But after all of the raids we've been on? How can you leave me!?"
Addict: "You new I'd eventually hit level 60 and get bored. Maybe I'll stop playing rogues. I don't know what I'll do but I do know that I need a bath and some exercise REAL bad."
*Old Ultima V music surges in the background*
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I think one of the reasons, besides the social networking, that WoW is "addicting" is that completing quests and turning them in for rewards is like hitting a bar for a pellet. There are clearly stated guidelines that you must follow, and if you do, you receive a pre-determined item. Now, on the the fact that it's an "addiction", sure, I played it for a year, and I pulled all nighters, and I also did some pretty irresponsible stuff because of it, but that's exactly it. I, personally, wasn't responsible. I chose to make those decisions. I think people are throwing the term addiction around alot these days, without actually realizing the gravity of the word. Talk to a heroin addict, or meth head, and then maybe you'll see some addiction.
WoW is plenty fun played casually. I have a friend who still, to this day, doesn't have a level 60 character. He's close, but not there yet. And he's played since a few months after it opened. He has plenty of fun, just plays at his own pace.
If you can't do that, the problem isn't the game, the problem is you. It would be analogus as if at the gym you felt you had to keep up with everyone sports wise, even the pro or semi-pro athletes that played there. That you couldn't have fun unless you were one of the best.
So if you want to play WoW, or any game for that matter, for a couple hours a night, do it. No big deal. Just turn it off when your time is up and go about your business. Don't get all competitive and act like there's an artifical goal you've got to meet. Do what you like in the game, at the pace you want.
But don't go and blame the game if you can't do that. If you can't control the amount you play and/or if you have a need to meet some atrifical goal, that's your problem you need to figure out. Maybe you deal with it by not playing, that's a fine soltuion, but don't think it's beacuse there's something wrong with the game.
If Blizzard set up a server that limited all players to an average of two hours per day, or five hours max and reduced the XP required to level by half, would you play on that server? I would.
the first thing i thought of was, "i wonder if my mental health policy covers the treatment and if FMLA will cover my work absense..." i
I don't normally advocate violating anyone's (yes, even a 14 year olds) privacy or personal space UNLESS it is for the good of the child. Which, in this case, it appears to be so just do the underhanded but right thing - use a keylogger to get both his username and password.
Day 1) While he's in school, slip in his room, install keylogger, make SURE to leave everything undisturbed (paranoid 14 year olds know when someone has been in their room), and then let him play that night.
Day 2) Retrieve keylogger while he is at school. Analyze the data, log into his account, set parental controls. Or, better, change the password so he has to ask his mom (or you) to be able to play. Make playing the reward for acting in the manner his mother and family expect him to.
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
Just found this toay:
http://www.civanon.org/
Admittedly it's not about MMOs, but it really cracked me up and is still slightly on-topic.
A few qoutes:
"It was the Industrial Age that finally did me in. I was into the hard stuff, man: electronics, combustion, motorized transportation."
"I've been attending CivAnon meetings for approximately 18 months now. Partly because I began to get a perverse thrill out of wiping out entire civilizations with atomic intercontinental ballistic weaponry, and partly because they serve cake at the meetings. I like to kill, that's true. But I like cake even more."
"One more turn. One more turn."
VPS-like shared hosting, on under-crowded servers.
From the article, he says his "addict" lived in WoW because real life sucked. Perhaps WoW is a good therapy - as opposed to being bogged down in depression or self harm - he plays a video game.
Who woulda thunk it?
Leeeerrroooooyyyy Jenkins;
Least I got Chicken
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
Sitting in a resturant one day, I overheard a Doctor talking with a co-worker in the next booth. He was ranting about the number of people that used Chapstick (or Blistex or whatever your favorite brand is.) That it was a self-reinforcing problem. The more you used it, the more you became dependent on it as your body chemistry changed (locally) to need the protection of the ointment.
.) .)
.
Which I though was stupid, but refrained from telling him. What does he thinks happens to start someone using a lip balm?
(Trenchcoat clad figure approaches young child on the playground. .
Trenchcoat: "Pssst, hey kid come over here."
Kid: "Hi Mister."
(Opening coat to reveal rows of various lip balms, speaking in a hushed voice. .
Trenchcoat: "Wanna try some Chapstick? You'll like it."
Kid: "Gosh, I don't know."
Trenchcoat: "Trust me, you'll like it. First hit's free, but then you gotta pay."
No one gets "addicted to lip balm" because they were lured into it by some unsavory individual. They start using it because their lips are already dry, cracked, and near (if not already) bleeding.
The doctors false assumption was that "Everything was otherwise fine and normal." That it was the act of becoming addicted that caused the problems.
Same bad assumptions here. That playing (EQ for me, not a WOW player) is ruining my other personal relationships.
I have to ask . . . "what" other relationships? You've started out assuming that I have this loving wife and children. (Apparently I'm required to have one of these as a standard part of life, to leave at home (presumably "barefoot and pregnant") to pickup the UPS package deliveries. Since UPS won't abide my instructions and just leave them on the apartment porch.)
Not everyone has this "assumed" gift, nor is there any guarantee that they would have it (either instantly or for many years to come) if they stopped playing the mmorpg at this moment.
Lots of big unwarranted assumptions going on here about "what you're guaranteed to get in return" if you don't have the mmorpg addiction.
Yes, it's the addictive personality that is more likely to turn to Alcohol or Gambling TO COMBAT THE PREEXISTING PROBLEM.
I understand that "piling on" the greater burden of Alcohol won't make it any easier to solve the "other" problem. . . but without a solution or relief from that initial problem. . . Solving the Alcohol problem will only push the addiction to something else.
Know anyone that's given up smoking, and in return. . . is now 50lbs heaver, or consumed chewing gum like its going out of style?
There's a new book every few months like Bowling Alone that surmizes that society is becoming more disconnected. I suppose that's my ultimate point. . . Are these people hurting the rest of their lives because they're "addicted to WOW" . . . or are they addicted to WOW because they're already hurting in the rest of their lives. .
And I can stop playing EQ anytime I want. I've barely logged in all summer. Did I mention I bought a motorcycle? Let me tell you all about it . . .
No, I don't remember your name. But the memory mapped screen on a TRS80 from 1977 is from 15360 to 16383 if that helps.
That would explain my 18 year old son, who comes out of his room long enought to take Ibuprophen, and eat...
----- I have bad karma for a reason! -----
I started WoW on November 17, 2005. That is 265 days ago now. A quick look at my three main characters will show that I have played 75, 24 and 14 days for a total of 113 out of the last 265 days of my life spent online, in that game, and that is all I do and all I think about most of the time. I spend my vacations at home doing marathon WoW sessions. My weekends consist of all night sessions separated by a few hours of sleep. The sad part is that I probably would play less if it was not for Blizzard's horible constraints on items such as mana potions and basic manufacturing materials. I spend half of my life farming the materials I need to help me be a viable member of my guild. Take away 20+ hours of material farming each week and I might actually have time for a walk. Yea right!
With addicts, they're going to be playing all the time. ALL the time. They'll get through the content very quickly, and complain loudly about not having more of it pumped out in each new patch. They'll also use a lot of bandwidth and server time, which Blizzard has to pay for. Chances are these addictive personalities will eventually cause them to jump ship to another MMO to get addicted to, which means less monthly fees.
There are two flaws with this argument. First, the game has built-in timesinks, grinds, and other time traps. These tasks are specifically tailored to increase the time in-game artifically. Despite all this, the addicts grind away...and when they hit the wall, they just start a new character. From scratch they do it all over again. I should know...I have 5 level 60 characters. I consider myself an enthusiast with a cyncial mindset, and I can tell you from playing the game that Blizzard is not angling towards casual gamers at ALL. Quite the opposite...their development philosophy seems to be "be hardcore, or be gone".
The second objection I have regards those level 60 characters. It takes around 240 hours to level a character to 60. Multiply that times 5 (such as in my case) and you have a HUGE investment of time. To leave the game is to lose those characters, forever. All those hours, all that time...and it's gone. I ask you, how does an addict handle this? Quite simply, they don't. They'll be signing over their Social Security to Blizzard in 40 years to keep those characters "alive". The single greatest hook that Blizzard has developed is that attachment. Every person I have spoken to that has thought of quitting has used a variant of this argument to justify continuing. Some even go so far as to continue paying the fees even though they stop playing, just in case they want to come back...and they always do. Netflix can't touch that.
And that is the perspective of a genuine WoW enthusiast. Don't get me started on their development focus...
If you're male... you may already be an addict.
"If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, wrist aches, erratic sleep patterns, it may be more than just your average hangover: according to Dr. Maressa Orzack, you could be suffering from masterbation addiction. A clinical psychologist, Orzack is founder and coordinator of Masterbation Addiction Services at McLean Hospital in Newton, Mass., and is also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Masterbation Addiction Services is one of the few outpatient clinics in the U.S. that provides specific treatment for masterbation addiction."
There's also the battlegrounds route for getting some epics (it takes a lot of time, but that time doesn't have to be consecutive).
This comment is well-meaning but incorrect. There is no casual route to epics via PvP. There are 14 ranks, and around 10 is considered "high" and starts to yield decent items of "superior" quality. On a server of medium-high population, to reach rank 10-11 means you are one of the top 100 players on the server. You will accomplish this with a semi-casual approach of 2-4 hours of PvP daily...but you will progress no further.
In order to break rank 12, and get your first epic, be prepared to PvP for many hours a day, and earn a minimum of 200,000 honor a week in order to jump 3-5 spots a week on that ladder. Break the top 25-30 and you're there! But once you hit rank 12, the pain starts. You will PvP constantly, and only in pre-formed groups, such as with a PvP guild. You can't afford to have losses....the queue times make each loss a staggering blow to your rank. Once you hit rank 13, you will say goodbye to all friends and family. You don't need them any more. 2 months later, if you keep winning, and you have 8-12 hours a day to invest, you will have the privilege of earning rank 14.
What happens then, you ask? You get to spend a LOT of money. Borrow from friends, because you WILL lose that rank before next week, and if you are not currently rank 14, you cannot access the rewards. At this point you will quit PvP, and possibly the entire game, being a burned out shell of the person you used to be only 9 months before.
How do I know all this? Because I know the guys who have done it. I feel sorry for them, because the items they won so painstakingly are inferior to the ones I won on PvE runs that took 1/10 of the time. It's very sad, horribly broken, and Blizzard should be ashamed.
s
Just because some people think that other people shouldn't do something all the time, they lable it an addiction and try to stop the person from doing it. People like to do diffrent things;
Some people like to hang out with real-life friends all the time.
Some people like to talk on the phone all the time.
Some people like to read all the time.
Some people like to spend time with their s.o. and/or family all the time.
Some people like to play table-top rpgs all the time.
Some people like to play mmorpgs all the time.
Some people like to be on computers all the time.
Some people like to eat healthy and exersize all the time.
Some people like to play sports all the time.
So why are some of those activities ok to do all the time irl, but others aren't? How come doing some of the rl activities online instead (example: hanging out in chatrooms all the time instead of hanging out irl) would get you labled as an addict? Why is it that people can get addicted to bad eating, but you never hear of people being addicted to eating healthy and exersizing? Playing with your kids can also cause headaches, back aches, and erratic sleep patterns, so how come no one is ever addicted to spending time with their family? Playing sports can cause the same pains, so why is it ok to play real life sports all the time but not to play sports games all the time?
I'll tell you why: the personal beliefs of what is good and bad of the person trying to stop the addict.
Some people think it isn't good for people to play games all the time; I dissagree. But I'm not going to try to get people who don't want to do it to do it. I don't like hanging out in real life, but I'm not going to try to stop people that do. I believe in living my own life and not telling anyone else how to live theirs. If more people would follow this philosopy, the world would be a much better place.
To those of you saying "I want to stop so-and-so from playing WoW all the time because it's ruining their life" So? It's THEIR life, not yours. If they want to change, they will change. If they want to get help, they will seek it out. Who gave you the right to decide what's best for someone else's life anyway?
I think the people who want to stop game/computer addicts are addicted to interfearing with other people's life.
Hell with that. I don't have time to be addicted...I have a raid schedule to keep.
Lets clips some of the quotes from Dr. Orzack and play Mad Libs style.
Original Quote
Dr. Orzack: I was talking with a patient, a young man, the other day. He was a heavy World of Warcraft player, and I asked him what happens when he plays the game: was he simply playing a virtual character or did he feel like he was actually in the game? He told me when he plays, he is in the game completely. He had become immersed in World of Warcraft and had trouble removing himself from that virtual world. I also asked what he expected to find each time he turned on the game, and his answer was a sense of belonging. This individual came from a family that was unfortunately breaking up, and World of Warcraft was his way to escape that. This 18-year-old individual was miserable. He didn't get along with any of his family members and kept withdrawing into the game.
Now change 'World of Warcraft' with any socially acceptable activity, say, 'football'
Dr. Orzack: I was talking with a patient, a young man, the other day. He was a heavy football player, and I asked him what happens when he plays the game: was he simply playing a virtual character or did he feel like he was actually in the game? He told me when he plays, he is in the game completely. He had become immersed in football and had trouble removing himself from that virtual world. I also asked what he expected to find each time he turned on the game, and his answer was a sense of belonging. This individual came from a family that was unfortunately breaking up, and football was his way to escape that. This 18-year-old individual was miserable. He didn't get along with any of his family members and kept withdrawing into the game.
So, with Monday night football, bowl games, and the super bowl, aside from body paint, and screaming at the television, a person is socially acceptable and not considered for commitment into a therapy regime.
Now, I seem to remember a demographic statistic a couple of years ago(correct me if I am wrong) of 18 to 36 year old males stops watching television and plays video games. This sort of thing gets the attention of the TV industry because they aren't watching any more, the activity becomes scrutinized for it's habit forming potential, and labeled a psychological hazard to the partakers of the activity? Nahhh, too much conspiracy, it would never happen like that.
I suggest trying the above Mad Libs word replacement game with other options to see if they work
ie. Replace 'young man' with 'young lady', and 'World of Warcraft' and 'playing' with 'reading Shakespearian poetry' it might take some grammar tweaking, but the results could prove interesting.
I have a feeling that using the above technique will determine that a few more of us are 'addicted' in our own special way. Is that truly bad? I doubt it matters much unless your addiction itself is destructive, ie drugs and alcohol or human sacrifice, otherwise, have fun and ignore societies labels.
bad data, bad labels, ..... now where was I in completeing that trade skill quest for my mage?
People can and are addicted to non-chemical substances. They exhibit the same behavioral patterns as an addict,
This I can believe.
they have the same neural-chemistry as an addict,
In what ways, sir? Since much of neural-chemistry addiction is based on the chemical nature of the addictive substance, I do have to see evidence.
and they suffer the same kinds of withdrawal symptoms as an addict.
Oh, really? What physical withdrawl symptoms do behavioral "addictions" mimic?
This sort of thing is very well documented, you may want to do some research before you claim that this type of addiction doesn't exist.
They're your facts. I would have appreciated it if you had at least cited one such research study backing up your points.
On the other hand, you've got people thinking that enjoyment of games automatically means addiction. This is untrue.
With that distinction in mind...
But so is saying addiction to games doens't exist.
I still submit that there's a large distinction between
"if I quit, I'll be morose and lethargic, almost catatonic"
and
"if I quit, I'll go into convulsions"
All too true... There are quite a few people I know whose relationships have broken down over WoW. For one girl, her boyfriend wouldn't even stop playing for sex.
llleeeeerrrrooooyyyyy jennnnnkkkkkiiiinnnnssssssss
Jesus Saves
I didn't know the SGC cared about MMORPGS...
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
Make him suffer! Go outside and play in the sunlight, Johnny!
80% of "experts" will sensationalize and spew any kind of crap they can think of just to see their own name in print.
Come on, this is absurd... 40% are addicted? Funny, most people I know who play WOW aren't addicted. However, they don't think there's anything quite as entertaining hence all their spare time goes to WOW.
This is as stupid as that stupid finding released by Statistics Canadian that so called "experts" used to claim that using the internet leads to being antisocial. Honestly, I think people should be required a license come to conclusions like that just so we can take it away and shut them up.
Oops, how did this get here?
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I am really getting sick of 'psychological addiction' and the industry of treatment that has sprung up around it.
Addiction is a physiological reaction to certain substances. There are clear and properly defined symptoms of addiction. So-called psychological addiction is the fuzzy opinion of some individual who decides that a person needs to be treated as an addiction patient, rather than a mental health patient.
I could live with the misuse of the term addiction, except that people who are being treated as addicts for their psychological dependency on games, sex, email, or socks are not getting the proper help; and also are being encouraged to develop symptoms of physiological addiction that aren't symptoms of psychological dependency.
Withdrawl is a horrible thing--the body goes through hell while it tries to compensate for the loss of a drug to which it had become accustomed. Removal of a psychological dependency can easily lead to depression, but it isn't the same as withdrawl. Nonetheless, there are cases where people are encouraged that typical withdrawl symptoms are normal for someone who has had their game du jour taken away. Utter bullshit, and most importantly, HARMFUL bullshit.
"Game addiction" may not be a good thing, but it ain't addiction.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Yeah, MMO geeks generally have lots of opportunity for that. This one time, I almost got trampled by twenty hot chicks trying to break down the door to my mom's basement.
Which is one of the best things about the net; it puts like minded people together. However, these people are not your friends and one of the biggest worries about these kinds of additions is that people lose real friendships for virtual ones.
A virtual friend will not buy you a beer when you are broke. They won't cheer you up if your wife leaves you. They certainally won't say that "perhaps you play too much WoW..." ;-) Life is all about balance; some of the most interesting people I know are those I have met online. However, in terms of a meaningful relationship/friendship, meatspace wins hands down, no contest.
Yep, sounds like science to me!
FTA:
Okay she can't be serious. She's comparing video game addiction to cancer. How does anyone take her seriously after a statement like that?
Although in her defense, I used to get crippling cases of "nintendo-thumb" back in my youth.
WoW is not popular here in Ukraine. But we have a lot of problems with other popular on-line and off-line games. Children take out a stuffs from the house and sell them to buy some hours of game in computer club. I know some teenagers who make crime for the same reason - yes, here in my town! May be they have missed their trainings of willpower? Or, may be we must wait for something? Of course, they should take responsibility for their acts...
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60% are in Denial
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What about those of us who choose to not join an endgame guild, usually comprised of 50+ of the least nice folks around; kids with nothing better to do (or so they think) others who aren't socially comfortable or have just moved to a new location, retired, disabled, sure there are nice people in the "addicted" category, but it's been my experience that the nicer folks are the more casual "I have a life" players.
Okay... but I WANT to see the neato-geewhiz-bang-coolie-WOW!! stuff that the developers reserve for endgame content... reserve it for endgame content to keep the max level players interested and from moving on.
What about people like me, and there are many of us? We are foreclosed from accessing the fun stuff. There is no option for us to access that content that THAT isn't fair. This is the main gripe I have with WoW -- be a casual player? Be locked out of all the
"coolest" content.
I won't be an addict, I won't spend my time on a minimum of 4-5 4+ hour raids a week. I won't. But that also means I don't get to see the cool stuff; and *that* isn't fair. The game is in effect telling me that if I want to really enjoy what it has to offer, I have to give up my life; and that is a choice that no game should EVER force a person to even consider -- nevermind make.