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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.
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!
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)
...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.
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.
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.
Along those same lines I guess you would have to conclude I am addicted to Excel and analyzing gas chromatography results as I feel like this at work constantly
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.
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.
"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.
They have to be -- anyone who raids as much as they do has to be turning down sex.
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.
The question is, do the creators deliberately make them addictive? I know that there is some argument that Gambling institutions do, by making them noisy, give free food and drinks (so your body doesn't have an excuse to leave) and having lots of flashing lights.
Is there even a difference between making a game enjoyable to play to some people (easy to get learn, fun to continue) and addictive to others?
The woman is in one of the silly sciences, and almost all of what she says can be discounted, but this was interesting:
What? From the article:
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.
I don't even think that needs explaining, but I'll do it anyway: Clinical psychologists are probably the most pragmatic people in the social sciences (what you call the silly sciences). Her work has absolutly nothing to do with Freudian psychoanalysis (there was nothing in there about gaming addictions meaning that you want to have sex with you mother and kill your father), but instead on the scientific method.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
People can and are addicted to non-chemical substances. They exhibit the same behavioral patterns as an addict, they have the same neural-chemistry as an addict, and they suffer the same kinds of withdrawal symptoms as an addict. We're not talking about what people enjoy. If somebody's still enjoying the game, they probably don't have a problem. It's when they have to play it, when they experience extreme discomfort when they aren't playing, when they turn their backs on everything else in life to play it, it's not about enjoyment, and that's why we talk about addictions to things other than drugs. 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.
On the other hand, you've got people thinking that enjoyment of games automatically means addiction. This is untrue. But so is saying addiction to games doens't exist.
-mrxak
Onions Will Kill You