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.

I'm not addicted, I can quit anytime I want

now excuse me while I go on my first of 5 weekly, 3hr long raids

And?

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 )

Re:And?

Actually, from a business perspective, Blizzard would be better off if their players were not addicts, merely enthusiasts (yes, there's a difference).

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. I've seen this happen with people who were definitely addicts, who have eventually quit to play another MMO.

On the other hand, enthusiasts will play when they have free time, rather than quitting their jobs or skipping classes. They'll get through the content slower, probably enjoy more time roleplaying and whatnot, and this means Blizzard can count on their monthly fees for a longer period of time. Blizzard can also take more time to develop new content, since their audience can wait. And that audience, the players who genuinely enjoy the game and haven't gotten through everything yet, will most likely stick around until they have. So long as Blizzard is relatively quick about adding content, they can extend this audience out for a long time.

Blizzard makes more money the less time you spend in their game each month. It's like Netflix, they want you to keep that one DVD on your coffee table for years at a time.

Here's a hint: You can do that

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.

Enjoyable hobby, NOT addiction!

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!

Re:Enjoyable hobby, NOT addiction!

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.

Re:And?

So the real story here is that only 40% of the people playing are addicted

No, not really. That was just a speculation on the part of the clinical psychologist interviewed in the article. She does not appear to have any data to support that figure. The headline of the slashdot story is, as usual, provocatice but misleading. It should read 'clinical psychologist who makes a living treating gaming addiction believes 40% of WoW players are addicted'.

Re:And?

I thought the point of MMPORGs was for people to have fun, not to spend every waking hour performing menial, repetitive tasks over and over again to nudge an exp bar a few pixels. That is what WOW & EQ do. The locations might change but the game is ultra repetitive slog. It starts off easy, but then begins to take, hours, days and then weeks to progress. The only way to progress is to play for longer and longer periods. Why do people put up with it? Because the game conditions them to expect random rewards from persistent play. And the longer they play, the more they invest emotionally in the game and the harder it is to stop. That's not fun, that's an addiction.

I went through all this shit with EQ. I wouldn't say I was hardcore, but I did feel like I had to play 2 hours a day just to feel like I was making any progress. Once you got beyond level 18 or so, the game was almost impossible to play without extensive periods of camping in groups. Fortunately Verant snapped me out of it during the Shadows of Luclin launch debacle when the game crashed on an almost nightly basis. Thanks to their own ineptitude I canceled my account and I'm so glad I did.

I've played MMPORGs since and I enjoy some. But in general I think for anyone thinking of playing an MMPORG, they should play the free trial period or the initial 30 days included with the retail box and realise that that's as good as it's probably going to get. Give me something like Oblivion any day.

I'm not surprised.

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.

Re:I'm not surprised.

the social component is what makes it so addictive, imho. its why i still play it. i would've gotten bored and quit a while ago, since the end game gets pretty repetative. i play it for the friends i've made along the way.

the prevalence of ventrilo/teamspeak allows playing the game to be a much more social environment where everyone shares a big common interest.

WoW allows Parental Control

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 [worldofwarcraft.com] at their site for more information.

Re:WoW allows Parental Control

The problem is: how am I going to convince him to give me his password?

"Convince him"? Screw that. Who is the adult here? I know his mom is the ultimate problem here, so this is not necessarily directed at you, but you don't "convince him". You tell him to give up the password or he's not allowed to play. If he starts getting "unmanageable", you start taking away stuff. You ground him. Take away everything he owns (music, etc). If he's still out of control, you take his room door off his hinges so he has no privacy. If that doesn't work, you threaten to follow him around at school to all his classes (in front of his friends, of course).

It's pretty clear that he's used to whining and screaming until he gets his own way. He needs a major attitude adjustment.

Re:WoW allows Parental Control

Jeeesus, just find her a man, already. A 300lb trucker, who will whale the hell out of the kid on the one night a week that he stays over. You can find a suitable candidate by pretending to be a 13 year old Asian girl in #truckers-n-teens on IRC. Do we have to think of everything for you?

Re:WoW allows Parental Control

I don't know exactly how it works, but my youngest brother fucked up enough that he got put on a sort of system where, if he starts acting up, my parents just call the sheriff to come pick him up and take him to the juvenile detention center. Threatens to run away? Locked up. Runs away? Locked up. Threatens suicide? Locked up, solitary, on suicide watch, evaluated by psychiatrist. My brother, since being put into this system, has drastically altered his behavior for the better and the sheriff hasn't actually ever been called. If a kid threatens to kill anyone, that is waaaay illegal and grounds for a longer-term lockup.

If a kid is going to play with fire, (s)he should get burned.

Re:WoW allows Parental Control

[Y]ou start taking away stuff. You ground him. Take away everything he owns (music, etc). If he's still out of control, you take his room door off his hinges so he has no privacy.

...dad?

Re:I'm not surprised.

He didn't come to the last BBQ we organized. He spends all his days (and nights, I guess) behind his computer playing WoW.

To be fair, when I was 14, the last thing on Earth I wanted to do would be go to a family event. Heck... When I went to family re-unions, I'd either bring my NES or old school Gameboy and hide somewhere.

Considering the amount of time playing Doom and BBS games and then later MUDs I can see where he is coming from though. But if its affecting school or he's going crazy and threatining someone's life because they stole his cloud song... Well...

Re:I'm not surprised.

Heck, I'm 24 and still don't want to go to family barbeques. What, it's my day off and you want me to drive for 2 hours so I can watch NASCAR and tell my relatives that yes indeed, I still work at the same place? Can't I just stay in bed?

Re:I'm not surprised.

"What is it about the human mind that enjoys those dreadful experiences once we grow up?"
Beer. At 14 you cannot drink.

Dry eyes?

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?

Re:Dry eyes?

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.

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

"I can quit any time I want"

...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.

Addicted?

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.

No problem.
 
/cast Abolish Disease
/dance

Re:Addicted?

If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, back aches, erratic sleep patterns,

I've got all that and I don't even play MMOs. It's called "aging poorly."

This is very true

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.

Re:This is very true

"WoW is more economical"

I used to make that argument, when I played. "Wow, look how many games I don't have to buy or play to fill in my free time" "I would be spending so much more on other stuff if I didn't spend time playing WoW... I'm saving money"

But the opportunity cost of playing wow 100 hours a month is FAR higher than the savings. Imagine what you could accomplish with your real life if you invested 100 hours a month into it. In one month you could broaden your knowledge, learn new skills, or experience many different stories (books, movies, going out and living them). A plethora of experiences instead of running the same instance over and over again, living out the same story over and over again, hoping for a random drop of a fake item that gives you a fake feeling of accomplishment.

Re:In the future this will be bigger

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?

Re:In the future this will be bigger

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.

Politics

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.

Micah

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.

Re:Micah

I honestly feel for you. A friend of mine who was playing Everquest looked and behaved the same way until he got kicked out of the university, got kicked out of his flat by his roommates, had hair to the shoulders (not because it was cool but because there was no money/time/incentive to trim it) ate raw sugar if anything at all, smoked cigarettes made of newspapers and old tobacco from the roommates ashtrays etc...

Shall I go on?? He was about the smartest person I ever knew and now he is working as a facility manager in a small appartment building.
Its a fucking tragedy. If you want my advice break it to your brother that he either quits playing or should no longer rely on you helping him out. Its like alcoholics. As long as you help them out of their mess they wont change their behaviour pattern...

Personally I cant afford playing these games although I would love to because of this exact problem.
Its my retirement plan however locking up in a room and lvl away. How sad is that? ;-)

Hmmm

"Doctor with vested interest makes sensational statement to support business model" shocker.

Mad props for the Night Court reference

"I once counted to a million. Missed the entire Ford Administration. But I'm feeling much better now."

Moderation

"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?