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40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Addicted
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:34 AM
from the thats-probably-a--bit-generous dept.
from the thats-probably-a--bit-generous dept.
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.
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Gamespot is running a piece looking at a UK study which may indicate serious addiction problems among a large number of Massively Multiplayer gamers. The study, conducted at Nottingham Trent, showed that almost 12% of a 7,000 person study group showed symptoms of serious addiction, as laid down by the World Health Organization. From the article: "The survey was filled in by a self-selected sample comprising mainly males with an average age of 21, and was concerned principally with the potential for addiction to online gaming. [Director of the International Gaming Research Unit Mark] Griffiths said, 'I'm sure if we'd done this survey looking at non-online players, looking at gamers that play on stand-alone systems, my guess is that... addiction-like symptoms would have been much less prevalent.' According to Griffiths, the problem with online games is there will never be a point where the player has battled the final boss, tied up the story, and can turn the computer off with a feeling of satisfaction."
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And? (Score:5, Insightful)
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? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Parent
Re:And? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
I'm not surprised. (Score:5, Insightful)
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. (Score:5, Insightful)
the prevalence of ventrilo/teamspeak allows playing the game to be a much more social environment where everyone shares a big common interest.
Parent
WoW allows Parental Control (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Parent
Re:I'm not surprised. (Score:5, Insightful)
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...
Parent
"I can quit any time I want" (Score:5, Funny)
Addicted? (Score:5, Funny)
No problem.
This is very true (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Politics (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:5, Interesting)
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 (Score:5, Interesting)
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?
Parent
Hmmm (Score:5, Funny)
Mad props for the Night Court reference (Score:5, Funny)
Moderation (Score:5, Insightful)
Evolution (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Shiny and new! (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Shiny and new! (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Anything can become an addiction (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
40 Percent... (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Dry eyes? (Score:5, Insightful)
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
Parent
Re:Headline incomplete. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:In the future this will be bigger (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Parent
Re:In the future this will be bigger (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Parent