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Therapists Log On To WoW To Counsel Addicts
eldavojohn writes "So, you can't find the time to leave the World of Warcraft to seek help for your World of Warcraft addiction? Sounds reasonable. Well, addiction therapists are coming to meet you so you don't have to quit playing as they counsel you and your addiction. From the leader of this initiative, Dr. Graham: 'We will be launching this project by the end of the year. I think it's already clear that psychiatrists will have to stay within the parameters of the game. They certainly wouldn't be wandering around the game in white coats and would have to use the same characters available to other players. Of course one problem we're going to have to overcome is that while a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they're probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft.' Send in the level 5 counselor and let the games begin!"
What happens when the therapists become addicted?
I'll take "The Rapists log on to WoW" for $400, Trebek.
I am officially gone from
On WOW last night i was talking to a friend who was thinking about quitting, but i convinced him to to. however he is no where near a level of addiction the could require consoling
Its not my fault, someone put a wall in my way.
We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on dragging therapists away from their computers.
"Blizzard Entertainment was unavailable for comment at the time of publication."
/ignore that will result from an unsolicited therapy session attempt?
I'd guess they might not be thrilled with an organized effort directed at making people stop giving them money, taking place on their own servers no less. I wonder how they'll be making contact with these players. The kind of players they want to talk to is hardly the kind that will seek out counceling on their own. How will they know who to contact, will they count on friends to connect them? How will they get past the (probably) inevitable
I meet my therapist at the bar every afternoon for drinks at happy hour.
Bill you have a few patients piling up...
Hmmm? I'll get to them after this mission.
Yes, but what happens when the gorillas become addicted?
Oh, I get it, kdawson must be the cure against /. addiction...
Non-Linux Penguins ?
Although my playing habit is on the low side I can see it now... >>There's camping the shrinks in ice crown !!! Everyone come on down and support your online medical team !
Drakkenmensch [whisper]: Well doctor, I guess that this game fills for me a void in my life that ooops tank is about to pull Deconstructor wwwwwwww223333333sssww33333
You've got a good point. I mean, a true addict isn't going to listen to some level 2 noob chatting with them from the barrens! Come back when you're level 90 in tier 7 dragonraid gear and we'll talk!
S0 t3ll m3, doOD. Wh3n I kill this m0b, what is teh first thing j00 want 2 kill?
a death knight, a warlock and a therapist are in a bar ...
Surely I'm not the only one wondering who is going to counsel them when they get addicted.
Anal [Therapist]
I know quite a few clinical psychologists who won't participate in over-the-phone counseling except in cases of emergency because they feel that there is a staggering amount of information lost from the interaction due to the inability to perceive body language, eye-contact, or focus. I've staffed a hotline during an internship and a large part of the training was in dealing with those short-comings and it was universally recognized that it was not an optimal situation, but in the case where it was either talk to them on the phone or nothing, the phone is obviously preferable.
On top of that, it's notoriously difficult to convey any kind of emotional content or tone online or through text. I can't imagine any kind of reasonable therapeutic interaction taking place... "Hey, let's talk about how you feel compelled to only grind humanoid mobs..." "LOL FAG FEELINGS R 4 NUBS!" "..." "MeloveuGOLD most happiness! Many loves! Give you 10% CRAZY EXTRA FUN FUN GOLD gogogo now to wendygold.crom now!!!" Humor aside, I suppose it would be possible to talk over ventrillo or other voice methods, but even so, there would be so many distractions it'd be ridiculous.
If someone truly is addicted to WoW to the point where they are literally unable to tear themselves away from the game long enough to go to a therapy session in real life (and I would say the number of people in this situation is vanishingly small, approaching zero), then yes, this might be preferable, but as it is, it just sounds like something done to capitalize on the popularity of the game. It is, I suppose, an interesting thing to try this new avenue to test the efficacy, but I'm very strongly doubting that it'll be terribly effective.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
Level 2 is not even the Barrens.
Those "therapist" are taking the role of Morpheux and suggesting to take the RED pill pretty much!
Get out while you can,,,,it's just a game and frankly, the problem i see with WoW is that people fear losing their character if they leave it at that, i dont play Wow or any MMO, i'm more of a single RPG type, but is there a way to cancel your account but keep your character somehow and maybe start back like a year after and upload your character?
that would pretty much solve some of the "ADDICTION",if people were able to let go and come back anytime
Hello, Ill be you counceler for tonight!
Sinn3d is set to Do Not Disturb: Occupant disturbed enough. Fighting Yogg-Saron, 78% health remaining, 19/25 raidmembers remaining.
I think someone just figured out a way to expense his wow account.
This is a dumb idea, and I do not believe that any legitimate therapists would come up with it. In order for a person to get help, they must take the first step. Contrary to what we often see in movies, a person who is not willing to take the first step to help themselves will not solve their problems. If an addict will not leave their addiction to seek help, then they are not seriously looking for help, and nothing can be done for them until they recognize their problem and take the first step.
When therapists have to go into the game to solicit customers. Smart move, but I have a feeling that they will be paid in WOW Gold and/or soulbound loot...
"Care for a pint"?
People play WoW because they like playing WoW, not for some addicting need that your going to suddenly become physically ill if you don't play. I never heard of the term "mmo addiction" till after WoW came out. There was no Everquest addiction problem. Why? Because only geeks and nerds were playing it, and well the social norm is, is that these people are socially inept recluses who don't leave their parents basement or attic anyway.
It wasn't until WoW came out that "normal" people started getting into the MMO scene, and suddenly it becomes and addiction. People that lack time management skills is their own fault, not WoWs. WoW just gave them an avenue to illustate how much they lack the ability to manage their time.
What I've been thinking is how can I declare myself to be a pyschiatrist so as to buy a level 80 in T7 gear and write it off as a business expense...
An inventor is a man who asks 'Why?' of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind.
Atually stuff can be done to help people against their will.
;) ).
:)
However this is generally avoided since it's usually against the law (places like China could be different though
In general people are only allowed to stop others from taking the final step of self destruction.
After all, is it legal to use force to stop an alcoholic from drinking? How about using force to stop someone from stabbing themselves? Or stop someone from chopping their own fingers off? Or stop them from getting a really awful tattoo?
Income tax on items and gold in the "game".
.... are games. WoW is an economic activity.
Monopoly, checkers, chess
Add up the man-hours (or boy-hours) of all the players that would otherwise be engaged in other revenue producing activities. My guess is it has an impact on the real economy. WoW potatoes (like couch potato only glued to WoW instead of the couch) don't spend much sitting in front of the computer, but the time that is spent comes out of the same pool of real-world time.
Tax them, no more addiction.
Hope is the currency of fools
I wonder who is going to rescue the therapists once they are fully addicted...
I have to say that any addiction counselor with even a modicum of knowledge in their chosen field would know going into this that it's bollocks.
The fact is that you don't approach people who have a problem while they are in active addiction. Doing this is the equivalent of going to a bar to have a chat with an alcoholic. Beyond even that, no amount of pestering someone with an addiction is going to make them quit or even HELP them to quit. They simply have to come to the point that they personally are ready to take action and then you just have to make sure that the information on where they can go to get help is widely disseminated in order to ease that transition for them.
One thing that I'm not totally clear on here: Are these counselors responding to actual requests for aid or are they just hanging out and yelling to everyone that they're selling their wares? "I'll give you 10k to talk to me about your addiction...or at least be in my raid."
If they're just hanging out unsolicited and looking for people who want to talk about their problem...well it's good for them to BE there if someone wants to talk about it, sort of the way that you can pick up the phone and call an AA central office in your area when you feel that you may need help with THAT addiction, but I still don't feel that this is the best use of their time.
Maybe it would have been better for them to pressure Blizzard into including some kind of service for this. Where if someone feels that they need help with their addiction they can link to it through the Blizzard website or maybe even contact a counselor in-game. A bunch of counselors walking around unsolicited asking people if they'd like to talk about addiction though? That's a little too much like the Jehovah Witnesses for my tastes.
'Keep it Real' and suffer like the rest of the grinders or abuse your personal resources to obtain authority like the rest of the world?
I suggest joining the Horde.
OK, so now who is going to log onto WoW to help therapists with their MMO addiction?
Perhaps this is just a secret plan to rid us of all those annoying therapists.
If i ever see one, i will gank them for so many hours
Don't try that on a PvP server, bucko!
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
"Well Mr. Bloodhoof Ragescar, it would appear that our time is up for this week."
Trade window opens
"That will be 100 Gold please..."
sudo apt-get lost
If you *really* wanna reach the folks who are addicted to WoW, maybe they should get Blizzard to make achievements based on how mauch time you've spent talking to the therapists (starting at several hours minimum, of course) :-)
Make the addict's addiction work for the goal rather than against it...
Can someone explain how your rant is relevant to the topic being discussed?
"Quit trying to save me! You're killing me!"
Such was the comment from my 18yo daughter, directed at the psychiatrist in the original article. And she hasn't played WoW in 6 months!
Daughter like father -- I, too, am sick and damned tied of people telling me what I can do with my own body and life.
Until a hundred years ago, a person could simply pick up and go somewhere to get away from meddlesome, prying, and officious egotists who assume they have the only "right" answers. You could go to the "frontier", and be free of such stupidity and arrogance. But now the frontier is gone, there is nowhere to escape, and society is eating itself to death as more "do-gooders" try to "save" us.
YUCK!
All about me
Goldshire Girl: "Hi my name is Tina and I will be your Therapist for the evening. Time for you to get laid."
Libs are TehRapists?
My blog
Just remember folks, if you do have a friend in WoW who is showing signs of heavy WoW addiction, there is a fairly simple way for you to help them.
Make them your 25 man raid leader.
This always seems to (fairly quickly) reduce the amount of time that they player in question is online playing WoW.
I feel so much better now...
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
What about counseling for us gnomes who are constantly picked on?
Where can I find the therapist trainer in SW? What's the endgame profession bonus? Hopefully some couch trinket that makes opponents lie down for an hour.
And level 90 isn't in the game, and tier 7 gear is nubbish and...
I started thinking those thoughts reading this post, and then thought: does knowledge of the game make me an addict?
For full disclosure, I'm not currently playing the game, I usually cancel my account in the summer, and have stopped playing for extended periods before. I've been pretty hardcore in the past but I've also had periods where I played more casually. I've thought I may be addicted, but I never had trouble canceling my account and stopping. I usually re-subscribe because I'm bored and have no other interesting games to play, not because I want to play the game as such.
But to come back to the main point, does deep knowledge of a field makes one an addict? Does knowing a lot about wine/spirits makes one an alcoholic? Does knowing a lot about WoW makes you an addict? How about computers, the internet, technology? Am I addicted to philosophy because I read a lot of philosophy books? Or then maybe I'm addicted to reading!
The problem is that addiction is hard to define. Because deep involvement and knowledge in a subject, game or activity is not a sign of addiction as such. It is only so if it becomes exclusive and prevents other activities: social interaction, other ludic activities, work. If I know a lot about the game, but in the same period I've also had time to immerse myself in other hobbies, read Dostoyevsky and had fun with friends in RL, is it a problem?
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
Nelfs from Goldshire wanna have sex with you!
The thought behind this is to emulate the witchy mother that sometimes gets you so riled up you up ...these ...herbs?
and leave the game to get out of the house... duplicating the effect inside the game so you logout... sort of...
I can just see it now...
doctor> you are not doing much with your life are you...
patient> wait a minute i just need to pick up one more of these herbs to get a new potion..
doctor>pick up herbs...?
patient> yeah they even have some cool hidden terms for herbs that mean something else..
doctor> how do you pick up
patient> you just right click etc...
1 week later
doctor (soundign like a crack addict)>
so when you go raiding in black temple, what do you really need as potions to make it through?
patient> i could help you dude, but I would have to start charging you for these consultations!
; )
My Abnormal Psych teacher tells a story about a man she used give therapy to. He had invented his own elaborate sci-fi fantasy world that he spent most of his time pretending to live in. He couldn't open up to her, since she wasn't part of that world. What finally had to happen is that she had him give her a rank in his fantasy's galactic empire or whatever.
The point she was making was that, if you want someone to open up to you, you can't question their reality.
Property is theft.
I'll Rez you when you log off.
Personally i would never take advice from a lvl42 ratadin therapist.
And how do you pay them? Runecloth, saronite, boost thru naxx10?
To gain just a minimum amount of respect and credability, they should be in purple iLvl226 average, and above 6k achievment points.
No therapists in my guild without at least a 3k gear score; if these guys are going to "help" players they may as well help with their guild progression ;)
Given the fact that communication is 55% Body Language, 38% Verbal, and 7% the actual words used, how does this work? Over the phone has got to be tough enough given that you are missing 55% of communication. Perhaps they'll use vent?
If you're hooked on the Arena, then that I might understand, but there's really nothing else left.
The levelling game? Dead.
Twinking in battlegrounds? Dead.
Doing 5 mans in anything but end-game instances? Dead.
So what is a WoW addict these days, addicted to?
There are multiple issues that the therapists will have to overcome before they can be reasonably effective at this. They've already acknowledged 1 of them with the line quoted in the summary: "Of course one problem we're going to have to overcome is that while a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they're probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft." Related to this, and a challenge that they may not yet be aware of, is the fact that there are over 200 realms in North America alone and they have to be on the same realm as the person they are trying to help. The quoted line indicates that they are planning on actually playing the game with the addicted players, and that means that they will need a level 80 character on each and every realm that one of their patients plays on. That's a lot of time spent leveling.
/ignore. If the therapists persist and attempt to get around the /ignore (by using other characters or whatever), then they cross the line of what is acceptable under the game's Terms of Use and may find their accounts suspended if their target decides to report them to a GM. Additionally, if they attempt to hire a power-leveling service to get their therapist characters up to 80, they'll quickly find that to be very much against the rules - I've heard of cases of permanent bans with no warning for people caught doing that.
If the person they are trying to help hasn't already agreed to meet with them, they aren't going to get very far. Unsolicited attempts in-game will be seen about as favorably as gold spammers and will get the
In short, I forsee this endeavor falling flat. I hope they aren't spending any taxpayer money on it.
Intelligent responses welcome, flames will be met with marshmallows.
Ah that's the beauty of the thing, come winter the gorillas will freeze to death.
WTF!!! We had a raid last night, where were you?
My WoW counselor's solution was heroin. The good news is I haven't played wow in 3 months... The bad news is I still haven't left the house for 3 months. Probably should have just stuck with the wow.
... if you're a WoW addict with mulitple level 80s and full tier 8 gear on all of them, would you listen to some level 1 nub trying to counsel you to quit?
*yawn*
Every time addiction is brought up, there is the "what is addiction???" comment(s). And it's always the same stuff, rehashed. You have contributed nothing new. Just stop trying.
WoW Patch Announcement:
"The new Therapist Class was simply too powerful. We had no idea that these new powers like 'chat', 'counsel', and 'a/s/l' were so dangerous. This goes beyond normal player killing behaviors to final death where players actually have their accounts deactivated. Worse yet, it appears as if the player has deleted their own accounts which makes it very hard to uncover the bug. We have taken major steps such at removing the Couch item and the entire Freudian skill tree. Players who were affected have had their accounts automatically reactivated with a free years subscription and a personal account representative has been sent to their homes to help them get back online."
AA groups have started meeting in bars.
We need a therapist for Heroic Asylum, our healer is starting to beat on our tank!
I work on Icecrown, horde side, as a Tauren, "Cownselor." This is a pretty tough job sometimes. Here's a chat transcript from a couple of nights ago:
To [Stabbz]: Hello, Stabbz. My name is Cownselor. My mother asked me to speak with you about your time in the World of Warcraft.
[Stabbz]: Stabbz is busy fighting against Freya (32%, 22/24 people alive)
I usually re-subscribe because I'm bored and have no other interesting games to play, not because I want to play the game as such.
It's this sentence that worries me the most about myself. When my first choice to do something when I'm bored is something that I don't particularly want to do, I get to wondering. It also tends to be something that I used to find fun and don't anymore, which functions much like drug euphoria - I keep going back trying to relive the glory days.
Therapist: You should quit playing for good, it's doing you harm.
Addict: I understand.
Therapist: Good! Now log in tomorrow for our next session.
In other news, Alcoholics Anonymous will begin meeting in bars during Happy Hour. Their latest positive reward program allows you a tequilla body shot for every step you complete.
... /emote holds up his sarcasm sign.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
It would have to be in the Valley of Spirit. I think there's still an empty building out in that desolate part of Orgimmar. It would be convenient to sneak in and out of the city for Dr. Appts. You could treat it like it was an instance. Of course, I could only imagine the therapist playing an Undead, and I can hear the ragged voice of the undead female, saying.....Helloooooa. You'd need a /couch pose so you could effectively have your character lie on the couch. Or you could have a /smoke, for those who are nervous while talking to their therapyst. Instead of nerf bats for beating out your aggression, you could just duel your therapist.
This sounds pretty good to me. Do therapists charge extra to quest with you? I know I have a couple of quest that I could use some help on. And do they charge WoW gold. Hmmm. /ideas spawning.
Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
Knowing about a game doesn't make you an addict. Caring enough to correct someone when making a joke about it probably does. I think one main factor of an addiction is that you keep doing it when you don't even like it. Many smokers hate smoking, and I'd bet many WoW players find it as much of a mindless tedium as anyone else.
Well, WoW has been out for a long time. Knowing a lot about it, doesn't necessarily mean you play too much. I don't think addiction is that hard to define though. If you play WoW, in spite of negative effects to yourself, then you are probably addicted. That is, is it negatively affecting your work, social life, family, school, etc. If you start blowing off friends to play WoW. If you play hookey (work or school) to play WoW. If your sleep is suffering from staying up late and having to get up early. If you aren't getting homework done or aren't studying enough. You get the idea...
... If your addicted to the Internet, don't look for help ON the Internet.
Same case. Seeking help for WoW addiction ON THE DAMN GAME is like holding an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in a bar. You'll just drink and drink and drink, and forget you have a problem.
Can't wait to hear the story about the Therapist who goes in to cure, gets the "disease" and becomes and addict themselves..
It seems like sending a bunch of rapists after WoW addicts is kind of harsh... but I guess you gotta do whatever it takes sometimes.
Best thread ever.
Mod up.
NO SIG
Shut up...
Shut up, shut up shutupshutup shutup!
Waaaaa!
If you were an elven king, id have slain you already!
INFIDEL
NO SIG
Aw, come on, everyone needs consoling!
xbox or ps3?
Join a raiding guild full of douches, that is what got rid of my wow addiction...
sadly now its eveonline
still better than wow
Could the therapist be a tank* or a healer? Because that would be great. Not addicted or anything, but there's a shortage of tanks and healers, so I could pretend if they wanted to run, say, daily heroic, or fill in on a Naxx 10.
* The person can be as non-threatening as they want as long as the toon can /generate/ it, youknowhatI'msaying?
"These people look deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined" --Homer re:
So what, you join a party to go do an instance and all of a sudden when you get to the entrance its an intervention? Its a good idea I guess, most WoW addicts I've seen (note I said ADDICTS not players) are on par with methheads in both easiness of agitation and anger whenever it isn't able to be used. The problem is when the kid counsels the 4 guys and gets them all hooked instead, that mom's gonna be pissed.
"They confiscated everything, even the stuff we didn't steal!"
The shrinks to join the gold farmers in spamming players.
He'll probably just kill em. lol
Isn't this like counselling a drug addict while he's high? And then also getting high themselves?
Why dont we talk about your smoking addiction over a nice, slow, cigarette?
Winkey shortcut mapping for 64bit windows. WinKeyPlus
Can't wait!!
Why have real, qualified therapists when you can just use your friendly, neighborhood implementation of ELIZA to drive WoW players crazy?
CATS/Diebold '08- All your vote are belong to us!
What if the Therapist played the game and socialized with people, maybe even joined a raid guild, but instead of encouraging them to quit he encouraged them to simply play less and achieve more elsewhere in life?
After all WoW will only destroy your life if you allow it to.
"If you dance with the devil, the devil don't change. The devil changes you."
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
I scorn your Real Life game as the outdated, buggy, boring, pointless waste of time that it is. There's no support and no expansions. The player base is riddled with self-serving, rude jerks. Significant progression is impossible for most players, and the ingame economy is wrecked.