World of Warcrack has 40% hooked: expert
by Spencer Callaghan 
Aug 9th 2006 at 6:00PM
Put this one in the "well duh" category, but a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School says that as many as 40% of World of Warcraft players are addicted to the game.In an interview with Twitch Guru, Dr. Maressa Orzack claims that excessive video game playing is similar to drug use and gambling in terms of its addictive qualities and says that the gaming industry should be forced to put warning labels on their products in much the same way as cigarettes do.
Personally I knew WoW was addictive the first time I watched the sun come up without even realizing what time is was.
Why stop at warning labels? Why not do tax MMORPG games to death like the government does with all other fun things?
Filed under: Odds and ends, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Deafdumbandblind Aug 10th 2006 7:38AM
Hello my name is Deafdumbandblind and I am a WoW addict.
In my heart I would like to play WoW 24hrs a day until all my chars reach 60th and then after that until they max out on their crafting skills...and then after that...
You see, I know it will never end. In my head I know that if I spend too much time on WoW the rest of my life goes to hell in a hat basket. I argue with my wife, I stay up late, get up late and become totally focussed on the game.
That said, WoW addiction is NOT like drugs, alcohol or gambling addiction. Not even close. You'd have to try very hard to kill your self playing WoW, it doesn't damage your health THAT badly and it won't drive you bankrupt.
It will separate you from normal society but on the other hand you meet so many more people in game so that's another bunch of people to replace the old ones.
I play with about 4 or 5 friends who I knew before WoW and I have to say that its much more enjoyable meeting up with them online on TS and doing instances and quests. In fact, I would say that without my pals online WoW is a bit dull.
Anyway, I've limited the amount of time I play WoW but on slow days at work I can spend hours trawling through WoW websites such as this.
Gustaf L Aug 10th 2006 3:53PM
If I would ask you what you did in 1998 and 1999 you'd probably tell me some stories and some important events that really made those years special to you. Memories of places you visited, girls you hung out with, important steps in your career and maybe how you followed someone that had a hard time close to you. In my life - those years are blank when it comes to the real world. All I have left is 221 screen shots.
Yeah, of course I remember when Lord Lobster hunted me down in Covetus, when the server war was on, when we exchanged tickets during Christmas and I still know all the eight pages of spells and how to make a perfect combo of Magic Arrow, Explosion, halberd hit and finally a flame strike. I was in the lead of the pvp:ers. We messed around, got pkyed - killed pkyes, robbed houses and played for 9 hours straight while being on the phone and then cheered in the night when we achieved what we wanted.
And now, all I can is the computer going off and leaving me with silence as the fan quietly died. I could hear birds outside my window and my body was just so tired when I unplugged the phone and hung things over my curtains to protect my room from sun light. As I was gonna sleep at least 6 hours so that it would not be later than 3.00 pm when I went up.
Of course I met friends - the best friends ever. But after a few years after I'd broken the CD with the game in two pieces I realised that we had nothing in common anymore. All we ever had was that game.
Life around me didn't know what the Catskills server was or why Trinsic Bank was the best place to hang out at. All they knew was that they hadn't had me around when they needed me. Two years is a long time. I wanna see you select two of them to be gone from your life. And in the end. Was it all worth it?
Now eight years later - people are dying that were close to me back then, people are having familys and talking about trips they did at the same time. Some young people have grown up with scars that I could have prevented them from having. Others have so much experience from real skills and I always feel that I am two years behind in so many areas.
And what do I have from my game? I have nothing - just those screenshots, age and some wisdom.
I don't regret playing; I learned a lot of things. But I regret playing so much. I regret when I gave up real things, real people and reality in all its shapes of fragrances and tastes. I miss those years and nothing can make them come back. All I can do now is to learn from it.
And use my time.
So its simple - all I want to know is: What did you want accomplish in 2006-2007?
If your life ended in 2008.
And as long as you are happy with your answer. Then it's all worth it.
Michael MacDonald Oct 31st 2006 5:24AM
Define addiction? Labels can be as devistating as any drug, in this society. If you don't like something, stop. Don't whine about how hard it is, or I can't do it.. If you want to stop more than you want to do something you can stop. There are plenty of people out there just DYING to help you.
Me, I've been online most of my life. I have a lot of "RL" experiences to look back on, yes, and I have alot of online experiences to look back on. I don't much differentiate. No reason to. WOW enriches my life! I have wonderful in game experiences with people from all over the world! I have a large group of friends there that I can talk to any time, 24 x 7. I enjoy it. When I stop enjoying it, I will move on.
I'm not really sure how to put this, but some people will regret any decision they have made in their life, real, or online. I did too much of this, not enough of that. We will almost always arange our own priorities according to what we value most at any given time. Just because we change what our values are doesn't mean that we were wrong, or "bad" to value something different in the past! If there is something that we notice in our lives that is obscuring something else that we have decided is of higher value to us, then it is time to change. Change is ALWAYS hard! Still if we value something different enough then we will almost always endure whatever difficulties are involved to make that change.
So, that brings things back to my first statement. If your eye offends you pluck it out. I don't know how much simpler to put it. If you aren't breaking any laws, or hurting other people, who can place 1 persons values over anothers? Quantify meaning.. What is good, and works for one person hardly ever is the same for another person. Though we are all similar, we are NOT all the same.
Still, to label someone an addict because they have different values than you, and enjoy different things than you do is grossly discriminatory, and WRONG. I don't beleive that anything on this planet is inherantly evil, however that comes about as close as you can get!