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MMOG Addiction Makes Mainstream Media
Via Game Politics, a story in the Philedelphia Inquirer about Massively Multiplayer Game addiction. The lengthy article looks at the usual complaints from gamers too wrapped up in WoW or Everquest to deal with their real lives. It's surprisingly even-handed, though, showing both sides of the issue. From the article: "Not everyone into Warcraft, EverQuest and other MMORPGs neglects his or her life. Those most susceptible have preexisting problems, such as depression or anxiety disorders, therapists say. Temple University psychology professor Donald A. Hantula said he believed the medium was not to blame for dysfunctional behavior by its users. 'I know people who spend 40 or 50 hours a week playing golf,' said Hantula, who is executive editor of the Journal of Social Psychology."
It's not just that they spend so much time on this, it's also that they get absolutely nothing out of it (unless they are a gold farmer). I used to play 2-3 hours a day on WoW and that was just too much for me. I can't even imagine playing 16 hours a day like many people were reported to on our server. It's more than a full time job for many people.
Online gaming addiction is much more enjoyable when its free. That way, when you lose your job you can keep on playing and sink further down the spiral! Huzzah.
Kate Bennett plays "World of Wasrcraft" in the bedroom of her apartment near Pottstown. Bennett, a counselor who has dealt with online game addictions, is herself an avid player.
That's, of course "World of Warcraft," unless Wasrcraft is some kinky sex game I haven't been made aware of (playing in the bedroom, after all...)
the quote says it all. Yes, you can spend an unhealthy amount of time doing anything, just because it is electronic/a "game"/SF/F does not make that thing BAD, it just makes you a lazy bum with not selfcontrol.
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
I can't believe that the press still uses Shawn Woolley as an example of MMO addiction. The Inquirer glosses over the fact he had a fairly serious mental illness, as I recall he had episodes where he believed game characters were chasing down the street. This was not a normal guy.
It's sad commentary when you have to note that a media piece is presented without bias.
Try Philadelphia. Can't even cut and paste?
I was semi-hardcore about EQ and later WoW at my worst, but even that took up more time than was reasonable. One of the things I hear MMOG addicts say (and I've said myself at times) is that at least it's better than watching TV. I am not so sure about that anymore. I finally pulled my head out of my ass and walked away from WoW around the time my kids went back to school this year and oddly enough, I find myself spending less time watching television than I did even when I was playing.
MMOGs are fun but they always build in artificial time sinks to keep the most dedicated players from chewing through limited content too quickly. The problem with this is that it is a system that it forces everyone to play the same way, and success in the game becomes a contest of who can spend the most time in front of their computers.
Now somebody go ahead and flame me about saying everyone has to play the same way, and somebody else please elaborate for me about how I should just play for fun. Everybody knows that success in EQ/WoW/Whatever means maxing out every stat you can - it it weren't people wouldn't spend so much time playing.
Politicians are like diapers - they should be changed frequently and for the same reasons.
Commodore64_love: I don't comprehend people who're so frightened of death that they'll bankrupt themselves to stay alive
Why isn't there a 'minder' program or algorithm that would prevent people from logging on constantly? Let's be honest here, no one should be on for 24 hours straight or 80 hours a week. The system could either boot you off or reduce the amount of rewards you get if you spend too much time in the system. This would reduce gold farmers as well. Now you can argue what the lower limit is going to be before you get kicked off or lower rewards, but some reporting would be nice especially for parents of kids who play MMPORGs too. Just a thought, flame at will...
I don't think it's necessarily a problem for someone to spend 40 hours a week playing WoW. Plenty of reasonably happy, well-adjusted people spend that much time watching television.
However, anyone in this day and age who still plays Everquest should seek help immediately.
I had a serious problem with WoW in 2004/5 where I played so much to escape problems at home & work. I would literally play every waking second that I wasn't doing something else. My wife filed for divorce, and I quit cold turkey for 4 or 5 months. Didn't play at all. I came to find out after she left, that I had been really depressed. WoW was a sort of a "fix". Now my marraige problems existed before WoW was released, but playing WoW was just an easy escape. Funy thing, after she left, I got a better job, got out of debt, found a hotter girl friend, and am no longer "addicted" to WoW. (I play a minor 6-8 hrs a week now) I watch less than 5 hrs of TV a week. 1 hr dedicated to heroes and the rest split between a movie or two and/or a few minutes of the local news.
There are controls that you can set that limit the times during the day that you can play. They even have a seperate password so that you can have someone set your limits and not be able to change them. But for the serious addicts there are always other ways around -- whether it be getting a second and third account or playing on some of the homebrew servers around. I noticed with my son that whenever he couldn't get on WOW he just hung out in the forums. I finally ended up keeping the power cord to his computer except for the few hours a day I would allow him to play. I would like to have him take advantage of the internet for all the things there are to learn out on the net, but whenever he has computer access he is either on wow or on the wow forums.
Self Control(TM).
I hear that the new version is currently in open beta.
Why not download it and try for yourself?
> no one should be on for 24 hours straight or 80 hours a week
After my summer law class ended--a four-week gruelling ordeal--I took a week off work to stay home and "recover". I spent much of that time playing MxO. It felt great to be able to indulge in 12, 14 hours straight gaming with no other demands on my time.
Do I do this often? Of course not, almost never. The demands of real life don't allow it, and I do have other hobbies and interests besides. But if the system had logged me off because someone else decided for me that it was unhealthy would really have pissed me off.
Now, if they were serious about wanting people to limit their online time, they'd charge by the hour instead of by the month. They'd probably rake in a lot more money that way too--it would certainly be enough for me to cut down my time spent gaming, that's for certain. It would also piss a lot of people off though.
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
Wife and I do the same... unfortunately we play seperate games now (I play EQ, she plays WoW ... ) but we still have fun sitting next to each other, watching over each others shoulders.
Another aspect which is most excellent and hasn't been brought up - my wife and I are transplants, we currently live 1000 miles from where we grew up. But we have a few friends that play the same games we do. It is nice to see them online and be able to chat/interact with them in real time.
I thought this subject hit "mainstream media" attention when one of my favorite shows (South Park) did a show about it...
Everquest has a handy little in-game egg timer. Set how long you want to play and it will pop up when the time expires, reminding you to log off and tend to real life.
That being said, self-control is what it all comes down to. You can have all the controls in the world but if you choose to ignore them or never use them, what's the point? Like everything in life, self-control.
Games like this USED to charge by the hour. And a few have tried recently and died a miserably, lonely death. The truth is that charging by the hour doesn't work.
If you charge $.10/hr, your casual gamer eats you alive with admin fees, and the hardcore gamer gives you barely enough to get by. If you charge $1/hr, you get the casual users, but the hardcore gamers can't afford your game. Is there a happy medium in there somewhere? I say there's not. You would have to pick hardcore or casual gamer, and price according to that, shutting out a large portion of your market either way.
In the end, I think this whole movement is silly. MMO-addicts need help just like Smokers do. It should be available for those who want it, and totally out of the way for those who don't. These people CAN give it up any time. There is only the natural chemical rush involved, no outside chemical influence.
In fact, when I was younger, I was an addict. I played these games as much as I possibly could. And I grew out of it. I don't enjoy grinding all day for nothing. I need games with substance now.
I still feel the occasional need to play an MMO. But I can usually grab a free trial and after a few days, I hate the whole system again and I'm good for months.
Another analogy: Rock climbing is time-consuming and dangerous. We need to stop mountain climbers. Uh, no. No we don't. Let these poor people alone.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
MMORPGs are only addictive to people who already have mental and/or emotional problems. The thing is, though, that MMORPGs are designed in such a way as to entice only those types of people to play them (as opposed to use them as chatrooms) for any appreciable length of time. That's why their communities suck so bad.
Rob
Yeah...
Not that I'd ever play for 24 hours straight, but I PAY for 24/7 access to their servers. Putting a limit on time you could be online reduces the value of the service I'm paying for. Even if I don't use the service I've paid for to its fullest, I did pay for it.
"By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect 'Hungry.'" -Gary Larson
Watch this nine minutes YouTube video. It is a short story on MMORPGs from a New Zealand television show, Campbell Live.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Oh course, the hourly rate could be variable. For example, $1/hr for the first 10 hours per month, and $.10/hr for any hours after that. Then you would be able to address both the casual and hardcore gamers.
I know people who have dropped out of their PhD programs to play MMOs.
This is not good.
Well, seeing what his title is, I'd be surprised if he's not one of them.
At least people who play that much golf die of causes that we were ment to die of, like skin cancer. People addicted to things like WoW suffer the rest of their short lives with Carpal-tunnel syndrome, poor souls
One second we're all complaining about computers fucking up the democratic process in this country, the next we're asking for our computers to tell us when we can or cannot play video games. I got two words in response: fuck that.
"I know people who spend 40 or 50 hours a week playing golf,"
The difference here is that state and federal legislators also play golf, which makes it harder for them to treat golfers (compulsive or otherwise) as "the other."
Maybe if we all got together and started mailing law-makers a DS Lite and a copy of Brain Age...
Im a 15 year old sophmore in high school who recently, by myself, got rid of my pretty intense "addition" to WoW. The summer of 2006 and my freshman year were full of glory days of not getting A's in my classes or recieving recognition for achievment, but killing infamous dragons and completing the most grueling 40 man dungeons in WoW. Oh man was it fun sitting down all day playing World of Warcraft. I even got a full set of the second best armor in the game! So what is my first intention after my armor set is proudly sitting on my body? Get a new weapon, and while im at it, why not just get the first best armor in the game? Another half a year spent. Until i realized one thing, where in hell is this taking me? I woke up. I mostly quit WoW and the consequences were AWSOME. My grades skyrocketed, my health improved and even my mom stopped complaining. WoW takes you nowhere at all, i realized how little there is to gain from that game. I recently started looking around at the people around me, only to find that all my friends are the same way i used to be. I asked my friend Dillan, literally, a day ago, how he did on his end ot he quarter math exam. He replied "Well, my guild had a BWL run the night before so i had to attend, only got about 15 minutes of studying in, however i did gain some awsome DKP points. Honestly i got a D on it, but whatever." It saddend me to see my friends literally homing in on failure. I challenge someone to find a reason why WoW is a whole lot better to play then studying for exams and doing homework which will get you into college, which then, will allow you to get a job and possibly even start a family. There is just nothing to gain, thats what i realized when i woke up.
Read it. Learn it. Do it yourself.
Let me start off by saying that I play WoW maybe 1-2 hours a day, maybe. I've been playing since the game started, and only have one lvl60 character that doesn't even have tier0 set. I work 50-60 hours a week, married, and have a pregnant wife (who is 39 weeks and 2 days, and also plays WoW) and have never lost what come first in my life. I would love to see someone tell me I'm addicted for just playing the game. From what I have read on /. and other news sited about this MMORPG addiction is that they are trying to blame the medium for the users inability to control ones life style. So if you blame the medium, does that not also make me an addict. Now we are blaming a genre of games, why not them all?? Lets just say ALL gamers are addictive. Why not stop there, lets say, that since sports are a type of game, lets say that all pro athletes are addicted to there sport. Lets take it ALL away and go back to reading books by candle light. Thats what I see happening here. People that can not control their lives and can not prioritize their family, jobs, and hobbies are the ones to blame. They tell you in AA that its the alcohols fault when really, its yours for not knowing when to put the bottle down. People, get with the picture!! When someone gets hurt, hurts another and/or more, or hurts themselves, they DO NOT know how to blame themselves and take responsibility. They blame whatever is in from of them, around them, or connected to them in some way. Its just like saying Manson is responsible for Columbine, Doom is responsible for other shootings in the mid 90's, etc.
I will end this by stating one true and undeniable, old but true, fact:
Guns don't kill people, people kill people.
I've known people to flunk university for MUDding. Nothing new here, except that it's happening to significantly more people these days, move along..
You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
Yes, posting as AC.
I'd like to know where this 'tradition' of 'loser pays and winner keeps the table' comes from.
Figure it from my point of view, for a moment.. if you can. I go to bar to play pool. I don't play that often, and I'm there to relax and have a night out with my girlfriend. There are 8 tables. 4 are being used. I have the change required. Walk over to unused table #1. Look around. No one using it. Pick up a queue stick and go to put money in. Some bar fly wanders over an informs me that this is 'his table' and I have to pay for his game for me to play.
Lovely situation. No, really.
Can anyone out there explain to me why I have to pay for someone elses game?
Let's go on to 'one shot rules'. Make sure you google all world rules beforehand though. It's amazing how many times I've pointed to the printed rules on the pub/club/work's wall and said "I'll believe it when you should it to me in black and white".
It saddens me whenever games pop up in the press regarding social issues. Usually, in a negative light.
To put things in perspective, I played EverQuest from Jan. 2002 to Mar. 2005 and World of Warcraft from Dec. 2004 to Sept. 2006. I also "suffer" from depression. By all accounts, I should be an addict. In reality, having stepped away from WoW after 10 months of raiding 3 nights a week (about 4-5 hours a night), I'm not feeling withdrawals or a burning desire to play. I do miss the socializing though.
Also, the "farmers" are typically many people playing, or rather controlling, a character 24/7. Much different than an individual that escapes reality.
Oh man, I could hear the complaining that would cause. You MIGHT get away with some kind of gradual reduction... But I doubt it.
On the other hand, PSU is charging $10 a month and has virtually no content the first month, and they got away with it... So maybe you could charge anything you want and they'd pay anyhow.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Very good point. I do not play WOW anymore since I do not have the time to invest in farming at lvl 60 or multi-hour instance runs.
However, I do play DDO a few hours on the weekend primarily to socialize with friends that have moved far away and otherwise would not be able to interact with in a group setting.
Meet the new sig, same as the old sig