Ok, So Maybe They're Not Good for Everybody...
by Mike D'Anna 
Mar 24th 2006 at 9:00AM
Over the last few weeks, we've
posted numerous articles espousing the virtues of gaming, but this article from Chips, the student newspaper of
Luther College (wherever the heck that is),
delves into the realms of video game addiction, and points the finger at online games, and WoW in particular, as the
reason some college students aren't making the grade.Now, I'm sure video game addiction is a very real thing, albeit a rare occurrence, and I'm sure that many a kid has flunked out of college while whittling his time away playing games instead of studying...but I'm just not sure how much the games are to blame. I'm pretty sure that if the game wasn't around, they would just find some other hobby to use as an excuse. After all, people have been flunking out of school for a lot longer than Warcraft has been around...
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Therin Mar 24th 2006 11:59AM
All my life... ok, at least since I first played a game I instantly got hooked :|
have been addicted to games ever since, but never failed a year in school and in some cases had good grades. (though not many)
wow is to blame for bad students as TV is to blame for violence.
ppl find it easy to point a finger at something they dont like.
obo Mar 25th 2006 12:44AM
I'm going to buck things a bit and disagree.
If you take out the multiplayer element, WoW has tons in common with, say, Morrowind - a huge game world that encourages exploration, tradeskills that focus on collecting items, and a bajillion quests and subplots. These bits already keep people who are a bit obsessive-compulsive playing.
But WoW, and EQ as well, adds a few elements that really lock people in even when they don't want to, or really shouldn't, play. You can always turn Morrowind off and save your game. Turn WoW off in the middle of a raid, though, and you'll be out of your guild in short order.
You can leave Morrowind for a week, or a month, or a year, and not miss out on much. Do the same for WoW and your account will expire, or you'll feel like you're wasting $15 a month to maintain your subscription.
Add the social element common to all MMOs, such as guild pressures and the desire to stay in contact with friends who play, and you have an excellent formula for a game that hooks you so badly that you ignore important responsibilities in favor of playing.
I had a roommate who very, very nearly failed out of college because of EQ. He had several end-game characters and was a leader of a large raiding guild. He did lose all his scholarships - he had a full ride and 4.0 GPA in the year before he found EQ - but managed to finish with a decent GPA (amusingly, he paid part of his last two years by selling his EQ character for quite a sum). I don't doubt similar scenarios have played out with WoW, while I can't really imagine something similar happening with, say, Morrowind.
Sure, people have flunked out of college forever. But there's no way my roommate would have come close to it if he didn't feel like he was an important guild leader in EQ with a demanding raid schedule and guild obligations. He felt obligated to others in EQ and didn't want to let them down, and his family, professors and friends were never as important to him as his guild to compete for his attention.
I saw similar problems with EQ players and work obligations as well, but not at that same level. People on their own had to pay the bills eventually, even if it meant drifting between part-time junk jobs instead of pursuing something stable.
Again, not saying MMOs are the sole cause of people flunking college. But some people who do flunk out never would if it weren't for WoW or EQ or what have you. Sometimes there just isn't some other hobby with the same attractions and demands as an MMO.
obo Mar 25th 2006 12:51AM
BTW - Luther is an Evangelical Lutheran college in northeast Iowa.
Mike D'Anna Mar 25th 2006 1:21AM
Thanks for the info, Obo! No offense to any alumni out there, of course...