World of Warcraft Addiction
Posted by Stropp on November 7, 2006I was reading the World of Warcraft Addict’s blog and he was commenting, perhaps ironically, on World of Warcraft Addiction. It is a good read, and has added some good points to the on-going global discussion about WoW addiction. There is certainly a lot of commentary on the web at the moment about game addiction, in particular World of Warcraft addiction, and much of it seems to be pointing the finger at Blizzard and Gamers. I’ve been thinking of writing something on the topic for a little while, now seems like a good time.
First I have to say that it is parents who are responsible for raising their children. If a child becomes addicted to a game to the extent that it is messing with their school or family life, then you have to ask why the parents haven’t intervened. It is a parents responsibility to ensure that their kids lead a balanced life, and that they are teaching them the skills to lead that sort of life when they become adults. Unfortunately, these days parents don’t seem to be doing that. They leave their kids in front of the TV, or unsupervised on the Net, and expect these devices to nanny their kids for them. Then when things go wrong, they blame whatever is closest, or most visible, when they should be taking responsibility for the problems.
Who is at fault though if an adult becomes addicted to a game? Is Blizzard responsible there too?
A lot of people have been comparing MMORPGs to drugs, and game companies to drug dealers. For years Everquest has had the nickname of Evercrack, and even WoW has been refered to as World of Warcrack. Cute ways to refer to the addictiveness of these sorts of games. Lately though, it seems that there is a lot more serious comparison to addictive and dangerous drugs. I really don’t believe that this is a valid comparison.
For one thing, drugs are pretty universally addictive. Give heroin to a hundred people and you’re pretty sure to have a hundred heroin addicts, regardless of their personalities.
Set up a hundred people with WoW accounts, and you might be lucky to get one full blown addict who screws his life up over the game. And I wouldn’t mind betting that this person has a personality that is prone to addiction anyway. If it wasn’t for WoW, something else would take that place. Maybe real drugs, or alcohol? There are 7,000,000 World of Warcraft players in the world today. How many of these people are literally addicted to the game?
The reason we hear so much about the ones who are is because there are people out their with agendas. Some are probably looking to make a name for themselves, some are probably trying to sell a book or theory. Like a lot of things, the biggest noises tend to be made by the smallest groups that generally have an axe of some sort to grind.
I’ve spent a lot of time playing World of Warcraft. I still go out with friends to the movies, I catch up regularly with my family. I read books and watch a little TV, though I don’t watch as much as I used too. I have time to do this blog, and I work a solid working week.
What would I be doing if I didn’t play WoW?
I guess I’d be watching a lot more TV, I think a lot of other WoWers would be doing this if they quit.
I’d probably go out and buy a couple of other games that I’ve had my eye on. I might read a little more.
I doubt if I’d go out socialising much more than I already do. I’m a bit of a home-body anyway, playing a game or not playing it wouldn’t change that.
So, what’s better. An addictive person who plays WoW, or an addictive person who gets drunk everynight and becomes an alcoholic? Or uses drugs? What about the person who gets addicted to TV, that’s better than a WoW addiction how?
Okay, so any addiction is bad. I’m not suggesting that it is okay for someone to throw their life away over a computer game, just as it’s not okay to throw your life away for drugs, alcohol, or TV. But let’s get some perspective. Do we blame the company that makes the beer, or the company that makes the soap opera? (Yes we do blame the drug dealers.) US society doesn’t even blame the companies that make the guns when a shooting occurs.
So why do we blame the game companies?
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"What about the person who gets addicted to TV, that’s better than addiction to WoW how?" If the addiction were to a televised English class, it might teach you not to write fused sentences. It the addiction were to the history channel, one might find out how this country was driven to impending catastrophe. If the addiction were to the discovery channel, one might get an idea for his/her science project. Like John Stewart once said, "Television is a box. You get out of it what you put into it." Escapism has it’s place, but the mind-numbing repetition of the video game is preparing our youth for acceptance of and participation in the eminent religion wars.
But the addiction isn’t to those educational and edifying programmes. It’s to the daytime and night time soap operas. It’s to the reality television shows that are designed to be unreal. If the Discovery Channel rated better than Big Brother I might agree with you. But it doesn’t. There’s a lot of ‘if’ in your comment, but not much of those ifs happen.
As for the mind-numbing repetition, sure there is some of that. However, there is also working together as a group. There is social interaction with a guild. There is a lot more to get out of playing a MMORPG than there is in watching Days of our Lives.
If people blame the game companies, they need a reality check. The truth is that all these game companies care about is the money. They really scored big off of world of warcraft, and will most likely keep banking because people HAVE TO keep playing. I think that the biggest problem is that people confuse this as reality. Just because there is another computer out there with a person attached playing WOW does not mean that this constitutes as a person to person interaction. More and more I see people buying the game and ignoring the fact that there are real people all around them and just because they don’t have big ears and a sword does not mean they are not worth the time of day. As for real drugs being worse than the game, I agree. I would like to point out, however, that there is rehab and support groups for people addicted to drugs, so when will there be a rehab for people who lost their families,jobs,friends,etc. because they where hooked on World of Warcraft????????????
p.s. A person who spends all day long at a casino, loses their savings, homes, etc. is still considered an addict. They have a rehab for that too. Aren’t they just games as well when you get right down to it?
I’ll be brief. Im a recovering WoW addict. I didn’t believe myself to be an addict until After I quit. The problem with addiction is the abusers can only recognize the severity of it once in recovery. The path is textbook I played for small satisfaction, then I stepped it up to see more content, then I became committed to the raid, then things in my life moved around to make game play more likely to be successful. I realized that I won’t play my whole life right? maybe..maybe not? If you can see no end to your playing then your playing won’t end.
Peace and good luck recovering!
I was recently taking a shit and reading this article (laptop mounted by the toilet) — Anyways, the addiction is not the companies fault, they offer a fun game to play and its that simple. It is up to you how serious you want to take the game, and to devote all your time to a bunch of internet bullshit is your own problem.
Agreed… Blizzard should not be at fault, they provide a healthy fun game and someone has to go and take it to the extreme…
http://www.quazen.com/Games/Computer-Games/World-of-Warcraft—reasons-to-play,-reasons-to-stop.13704
my point is the one of the guy who wrote this…
For one they made this game to hook you and get you addicted so in a sense it is very much so there fault. And if your saying you can still play a little here and there and still be active with ur social life ya but you WILL not get enough done on wow and you WILL eventually either take it to the next step or quit for good which i doubt. And if your only playing and lvl 20 after 2 months and ur playing 1 or 2 hrs a day then this isnt the game for you once u do hit 60 you would of wasted all that time to find out you aint the gamer to raid 6 hrs a day so its the end of the road for you. So obviously once again they made this game so theres so much to accomplish, so you feel in control, so people can make a change on the game etc. watever the reason is wow made it this way to hook you, and so theres so much to accomplish and its required to play so long that is no ones fault but theres. Addictions are not the players fault when its a game and theres not enough information about the addiction so how can you blame other than blizzard? Yes
Kyle, TV producers make TV shows to keep their viewers coming back too. Is it wrong for a game company to design their game in such a way to keep players coming back?
It’s time parents and players started taking some responsibility for the problems caused by not moderating their game play. Just like a drink-driver has noone to blame but themselves when they cause an accident, players shouldn’t blame anyone else for over-indulging in a video game and crashing their lives.
gents, i believe it is just as much the gamers fault as it is the gaming companies. i have played WoW and know how addicting it is. the game appears to be designed so everything takes a long time to accomplish, especially at the higher levels. so as far as that is conserned, the companies are at fault.
just because there is a trap doesn’t mean that we have to sping it for our selves to see if it works! yes the game is addicting but it is the gamers chiose to put it above everything else in their lives.
now i am sure you will correct me if i am wrong, but i believe that video game addiction is a little harder to ween your self from then TV addiction. as i believe someone said earlier, in video games the gamer is accomplishing objectives. these objective give the gamer a feeling of having accomplished something that has a slight impact on the "world." there is no interaction with the TV. you aren’t doing anything but watching. i fail to see how that can be comparable.
We recieved our sons 2nd report card in the 9th grade and it is worse than the 1st one. He has been an honor roll student through out grammer school and in all advanced so far in Jr high school. Now we don’t know if he will be able to stay were he is. We thought playing WOW was better than him hanging out around town….but after seeing the way WOW has taken over ALL HIS TIME!! (after school, all weekend) If he wasn’t at school he was on WOW. We would ask him every day “have any homework to do?” he replay “did it at school” and we believed him. I feel terrible but I banned him from playing WOW, Yes cold turkey. I blame the gaming companies. I hope that keeping my son away from it will break the addiction and not destroy the relationship we have built.
I was wondering y parents think that wow is so stupid and that it is a complete waste of time. The accusation that wow has no “connections” to other people and that merely talking to other ppl over a headset is better then talking to them in real life. I have been in advanced for quite some time and my grades are going down i will admit that although i do not see that wow is the reason for that. And someone here brought up the point that if i wasnt playing wow what else would i be doing. All my friends play the game and im responsible for that because im the reason they started but i dont think that wow is at all to blame for the grade decrease. If i wasnt playing wow sure as hell wouldnt have been studying instead. My parents have always had something against the fact that i found pleasure in video games. B4 i played wow i played xbox and gamecube and although the time i spent doing those was less it wasnt as personal as wow. I am talking to real ppl and getting to know them and i strengthening relationships with my rl friends. I just dont see y parents think that wow is the reason that nothing goes the way they want it to and it seems that that is the only thing they have to fall back on if your not doing their “expectations” -Crondak
Hi Concerned Parent,
I think you did the right thing by banning your son from playing. If he wasn’t doing his school work, then it was the right thing to do.
But a question for you. Why didn’t you set limits for him before things got that bad?
If you could see that he was having problems, from what you said he was always playing, then surely you could have limited him to one or two hours a day. My parents did that with me when I was growing up. I wasn’t allowed to watch more than a couple of hours of television a night, and though I resented it then, I see the value of it now.
Please forgive me if I sound harsh here, but I still don’t see how the game companies are at fault in this case if you didn’t take responsibility for your own sons gaming time in the first place.
I completely disagree with your desision “Concerned Parent” your child should have the right to choose whether or not he should play the game and it is completely rude and untrustworthy to ban him from something that he apparently loves to do.
Zingdoom i was just curious but are u a gamer yourself?
No i am a parent of one and i say it is his choice.
I only found out that I could block my son’s playing time on the line at the game stop waiting for the expantion pack, just a couple of weeks ago. The first marking period we said if you don’t bring up your grades, there would be things taken away. I just didn’t get up one morning and take WoW away. We treated him like I would wanted to be treated(and he didn’t change a thing, Oh wait, he went down even more). I think school is more important at this point of his life, than playing an online game. There is a GA, AA and soon there will be a IA(Internet Anonymous).
I disagree i think that u should let your child decide his own future and not have it walked through by his parent i think thats intruding on his life and i just think that its his life let him live it the way he wants and if that involves playing wow then so be it. If he has fun with it who are u to deprive him of that? and dont say “his parent”
Oh and nice insult “Oh wait he went down even more”
That’s the way you want to raise your child, that’s your right. I think an education comes first. When he can balance everything in his life, he can get Wow back, within reason.
Well u are entitled to that right but in my opinion i do not think that u should raise your child like a dictator. Do u honestly think that hell give a crap about u if u take away the one thing that he loves to do. I brought my son up so that he believed that he was the only thing that mattered to me and that i would love and care for him and keep him happy because i lost my father when i was 12 not literally lost he didnt leave the house or die or anything like that but i stop loving and caring about him. I never want that to happen to my child so i will let him do what he wants and if he wants to play wow for joy and still go to school and do average well thats ok with me because i wasnt good in school and i see no reason in distrusting my own childhood and making him something that i never was just because it will ensure his future. He can learn from his own mistakes and if he is in advance then he already has quite a resume in that because, just a little fact, 84% of people who were only in advance for 2 years thats 7th and 8th grade went to above average colleges and continued on into a proffesion that they gained the right to choose. They were not restricted merely because of the fact that they were in advanced for those two years and if your childs school is like my childs then the yellow cards that show placement for last year have already gone out. These show their placement for next year and if he is going into AP courses(Advanced Placement) then he will be secure for the rest of his life because only 22% of children in advance classes get into 2 ap classes so i am curious how many ap classes your child is going into.
He is going into 4 ap classes next year.
Well then i dont understand if thats true y are u being so hard on him that means that he is in the top 16% of his grade and that he will be picked by many of the “hard-picked” schools or schools that have a low percentage of accepted students. The fact that u think that thats not good enough is in my mind pretty stupid on your part no offense of course im not here to throw punches i am just saying that if he has that kind of future waiting for him then i do not agree with your statement about the fact that u are insuring his future because u seem, and this is merely an observation to think that WoW was a stupid thing for him to start and that he is not allowed to have fun doing it and if he can do tthat good in school and still have wow then i think that thats amazing because thats better then 5 of me put together could do.
Zingdoom what is your profession im just curious?
I am a trend analysis i pretty much take information taken from a number of colleges such as Harvard, Yale, Hoffstra, and other top-notch colleges and put them into trends and percentages. This year i was mainly focused on the effect of advance level and Ap courses to college placement hence the percentages that i just gave Concerned Parent
Stropp whats your say in all this?
Wow! A conversation! Excellent.
I’ll have to comment in more depth later guys, I’m currently at work.
Kk
It’s just not school that he’s giving up on. He used to play Volleyball,Golf, Soccer,Paintball, Clarinet, after school club’s and now dosn’t want to do anything but Wow…..You tell me how playing a online computer game is worth all that????? And if you tell me it is……..Just because it FUN for him to do. Being a parent is not being a best friend to your child, you should not let them learn from their mistakes(you should help them avoid mistakes) and if you try not causing waves in your relationship, what kind of relationship do you really have. Even though I took Wow away from my son, I know he loves me and we can talk these kind of things through. I only wrote on this site to share and to find out what other parents think about online gaming.
Yes, Crondak is my son.
Zingdoom……Let’s hear from you child
Stropp, You want conversation….I’ll get my son Wow friends and their parents to respond.
Maraz said,
I was recently taking a shit and reading this article (laptop mounted by the toilet) — Anyways, the addiction is not the companies fault, they offer a fun game to play and its that simple. It is up to you how serious you want to take the game, and to devote all your time to a bunch of internet bullshit is your own problem.
———————————————————————
I say Maraz ftw.
I thought you all might have a little fun on my site. It’s a parody on our contemporary technology usage, including video games. We do not have WoW players in yet, but there are sure some videogamers logged in. It has been fun, so far, and it would be even funnier if some of you would make us the honor to post something there.
Thanks!
In response to Dan.
Yes, I am a gamer. I am 26 almost 27 master graduate and work full week in an international company as a marketing pro. I consider myself as a relatively successful person with an active social life. Video games were part of my recreational activity since teenagehood uptill now. I remember the times when I used to spent nights playing games, but this usually used to come and pass like waves. I played all genres of games as long as the game was good though never bothering to cross the border of the MMORPG realm. The good thing about most games I played is that they had an END or a clear milestone of advancement – be it a completed mission in RTS or FPS, an end of the match in sport simulation or just boredom of repetitious shooting in Counter-Strike. After it you can exit and go to sleep. And after completing a game I mostly have a few months of non-playing period untill some other good game comes to my hands.
I played all Warcraft series games since 1994 and I was pretty excited about Warcraft saga (btw I am also a fan of fantasy genre). And yes, I do play WoW now. It started very recently, only 3-4 weeks ago after almost half year of no playing PC games at all. The beginning was very non-threatening - I was killing time at home one weekend with a 4 CD survival horror video game and while surfing net for more in-game info I stumbled upon my local gamers site with hyperlink to the 10 day free trial „World of Warcraft“ offer by Blizzard. Thats where the Fun Begins.
I dived into WoW with a passion I NEVER experienced before about a video game. The game dazzled me with its limitless realm of exploration and adventure. It is like a fantasy book in which YOU are the hero and YOU make the story. This game has captured my soul with its alter-reality with my alter-ego living there. When I come back home from work I grab a beer an log-in, when I wake-up on Saturday morning I log-in while brushing teeth. The game is addictive – no questions about it. It has the exploration depth and fascinating story line like in Diablo, the simulatory „second-self“ feeling from Sims, the continuity of Warcraft saga, the freedom of actions and movement of GTA: San Andreas, the social „friendly“ aspect of ICQ, the team-playing spirit of Counter-Strike FPS (and even better) and finally the gradual progression in skills, talents and levels that makes you play, play and play.
In those 3-4 weeks I started to notice things changing around me. My apartment looks messy as never before with pizza boxes and drink cans piling up in the kitchen. I am less productive at work and arrive late often due to playing WoW untill 4 a.m. I also gave up a few nights out with friends because I wanted to do WoW quests and level-up and I noticed myself to get frustrated when friends phone me while I am playing. There were NO single day without WoW from the 1st log-in. I had a recent 4 day business trip to another country so I used my laptop and Wi-Fi to go on playing all evenings and exploring Azeroth instead exploring the real-life city I visited 1st time in my life. That where the Fun Stops.
I don’t consider myself to be a lost in WoW person. Yet, I enjoy World of Warcraft more than the real one. So I googled for “World of Warcraft addiction” and found this site. Today I have a corporate party and I’ll be back home late and drunk. It is going to be my first WoW-free day. However I fight the urge not to show-up and skip the party in order to go increasing honor stats in Battleground and slay some Horde bastards. No matter what, thanks Blizzard for such an experience and a playing-life balance challenge. And thank you, reader, if you managed to read this far.
Vito
Vito,Your comments are interesting. A "real life"/WoW balance is possible. The game will always be there for players (I’ve been playing for about 3 weeks) and after playing too much and too long at first I cut back and have skipped several days in a row. I’ve also played for only an hour and have enjoyed myself. The fascinating narrative that the players develop is an opportunity to discover both desirable and undesirable attributes about your personality — ambition, competitiveness, helping other players or not, greed, taking risks, traveling into unknown territories, etc. As far as the violence goes I prefer slaying monsters to humanoids (an interesting term in itself) – too close to humans. As in real life the unexamined WoW life is not worth living. And the old adage of "moderation in all things" is sage advice and not without good reason. I would probably eat a huge bag of Cheetos (crunchy kind yum yum) every day if I didn’t acknowledge the weight gain and clogged arteries!So my approach is to enjoy a fun game and not take it too seriously. If not when would I have time for the other activities that also bring me a good feeling?After I quit smoking a long time ago I decided that nothing would ever rule my life again.Good luck to all parents who are struggling with how to provide their children with more balance in their lives.Do activities together — and don’t be afraid to limit time with WoW. Maybe you and your child could negotiate the times for playing. Also, you might try sitting down with your child to have her/him show you how they play.It is possible not to play too much! Ann
“For one thing, drugs are pretty universally addictive. Give heroin to a hundred people and you’re pretty sure to have a hundred heroin addicts, regardless of their personalities.”
Yes, but some people can drink alcohol and walk away while others ruin their lives. Does that make it any less addictive? No.
Why is WoW Addictive?
I would say the first problem is not many people are willing to think of a videogame as addictive, so few people find the support they need to quit. You are wondering why people can’t quit, and here is why: Blizzard is a very cleaver company and this game has many lures that hook people, much like a cumplusive gambler. At first the rewards are quick and easy and the combat system seems simple enough. This gets almost anyone into it.
Video-gamers all have this in common: we all love our fantasy. But unlike a console game with a clear start and finish, WoW is an endless game. You feel like you want to be the “best” at a game, and beat it…but WoW has not “beating it”…just another level, just one more epic, ect. WoW Endgame has a variable reward system, which is the strongest addictive reward system possible..much like gambling. It is the same reason gamblers will pull that little crank for hours and hours: the reward is not everytime, but just enough to give you a quick rush when the little bell goes off and coins drop (or the epic you want drops) and everyone cheers for you! But the reward and rush is short lived, and you are back to the mind-numbing grind. But WoW is even worse: instead of a quick pull of a crank, you spend hours and hours wiping on a boss and several runs before you get a Engame Reward (i.e. Epic Item). Lower levels go by quickly to suck you in, but you have to spend several hours in WoW to achieve anything at higher levels. By that point, you have invested time and energy and are hooked.
Add to all this, a social environment of like-minded people (chat, vent, TS, forums) and people feel like they are not socially isolating themselves. You have got a full environment of quick rewards and a group of supportive ‘friends’ who ‘understand you’. The more you play WoW, the more these people seem to understand you and other ‘outsiders’ don’t. Of course they understand you more if you have just spent hours and hours online with them and neglecting anyone else! Millions of people have crappy jobs, bad families, lame relationships, lives that kinda suck …so WoW will always have millions of faithful players. It is easier to zone out in a game where you can be God-like then to face having to make hard choices or deal with the emotional speedbumps of life. And the more you play obsessively, the more these other areas of your life suffer.
The only reason you do not see the extreme behaviors (such as stealing) from WoW addicts is because it only takes 15$ a month to feed the habit. I almost wish it would lead to illegal acts, because then it would be taken seriously by society and get the attention it deserves.
Definitions of Addiction:
•Strong emotional and /or psychological dependence on a substance such as alcohol or drugs that has progressed beyond voluntary control.
http://www.dphilpotlaw.com/html/glossary.html
• Addiction is a primary, chronic, neurobiologic disease, with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. It is characterized by behaviors that include one or more of the following: impaired control over drug use, compulsive use, continued use despite harm, and craving.
http://www.ampainsoc.org/advocacy/opioids2.htm
I have a friend who constantly plays wow, but he’s the same normal person everyday. I mean we still do comunicate and sometiems we spent times together. I guess when u get older u start to get interested in things that are more advanced even if its playing computer games. Concerned Parent, I don’t think u should ban ur son from playing wow just because ur son seems to be playing wow all the time. He’s just a teenager and he’ll never get this kind of an oppertunities to play computer games. One day he grow up to be like u , a father who will one day have a son that will play computer games 2 24/7. I mean didn’t u play computer games when u were young. Its a never ending circle.
There are things in World of Warcraft to make it addictive.
1) Random drops - People always want that better item, it’s the same as “gambling” which is known to be addictive (random drops are more addictive because instead of paying 25 cents a spin it’s a free 20 second monster kill)
****drops to a non wow player are like watching a car fall from the sky landing beside you and remain intact with a big bow and tag saying for you****
2) Social - We meet new people, and we are happy to make new friends etc. (only thing is most wow people treat others like garbage and don’t really value them usually)
3) Time invested - You find it hard to quit because you have put soooo many hours into something you made and created.
4) Levels - Once you get a new level it makes you feel good, releases those good chemicals, ahhhhhhhh so relaxing.
5) Pressue - Keeping up with the jones…. it’s what north america is all about, for example. You want what others have and you want more of it and better!
Lets see, some people on the other side of the world are starving and about to die.
People in north america have too much food, too much money, too much free time and they want more and more of it, why? because they think they are entitled to it.
Funny thing is, we don’t care about anyone. We just want our rare or epic item, after all thats what is most important right?
6) Virtual world - nice art, nice music, you go where you want to, like a movie where you are the star, your in control.
7) Challenges - If you like to compete you can do it forever on wow. Lots of quests and stuff and bosses to find.
example (- people cutting you off in traffic -next door neighbour with his music on blast when you are trying to sleep and he tells you to f off, polluted enviroment etc etc)
So….. as you can see tv, drugs, etc does not have all of these things included.
If you think about it, this game has been made carefully to exploit every weakness in the human brain to make it addictive.
I have been playing WoW for almost a year now. i play aprox. 24 hours a week (3.5 hours a day), maybe a little more on school holidays. But i still go out with my freinds on weekends, spent time with my family and participate in regular exercise and eat dinner and breakfast with my family (i am at school at lunchtime FYI). I also get good grades at school and get all of my homework done. i reguarly go on holidays and when i am on vacation, i dont feel the need to get home and play WoW, i dont even miss it when im away, i actually enjoy having a break from it. i also sleep for 8hrs+ everynight. yet some people would still say I’m addicted… =\ or thats its ruining my life. i dont see how this is the case if I still have what i would consider a normal life.
So i pose a question to WoW and non WoW players, would you call this addicted? comment back pls =)
p.s. sorry for the spelling and grammer mistakes, i was in a hurry =S
Blahsta, Nope. I wouldn’t call that addicted. I’d call it a hobby. Some people spend more time than that collecting stamps or antique tea cosys. If the rest of your life is in balance, there’s nothing wrong with it. And no worries about the spelling and grammar.
no one is speaking of the mechanism used to trigger the addiction.
so i will address the issue.
this article is based mostly on my own observations. i attribute my findings to god, having prayed to see the truth.
this is not only in regards to wow, but also refers to other corporations using the techniques.
the whole game is loaded with what i call “hypnotic devices”. what are hypnotic devices? having searched the interweb for information on this subject & finding basically nothing, i have made up my own term for it.
it is my belief that there is no information on the subject, because advertisers, big businesses, etc, funded the research (showing test subjects images etc, while studying a catscan of their brain & studying the reaction), & it is in their interest to keep the information quiet, as studies have shown that the process is less effective when the subject is aware of it.
you would be familiar with hypnotic devices if you have watched tv.
adverts use swirling motions, “floating objects” (such as bubbles, or sparkles falling through the air) flowing streams of computer graphics & colour, objects vibrating, flipping over, spinning, jiggling, “dancing” or bouncing.
even the news programs, with the slow banner scooting accross the bottom of the screen which constantly “feed” watchers a stream of news are hypnotic devices.
news programs also like to include a flowing backdrop, say if someone is presenting the news, they might add a graphic of a waving flag behind them.
these are only some examples.
to quote david icke; “repetition is the most basic form of hypnosis”.
basically to keep people in a hypnotic trance, something on the screen is always moving, even if its a small object, such as a banner in wow, flowing in the wind in the corner of your screen, moving even so slowly that the motion is almost undetectable.
another favourite of tv & especially movie producers is the “white flash” often accompanied by loud crashing noises and violence.
consumers get visually coaxed into a trance, which puts them in a suggestive state.
the next logical step for advertisers is to begin programming the consumer with commands; sometimes verbal.. such as; “buy now and save” which we all know is contradictory.
hypnotic sounds include, but are not limited to; rhythmic drumming, swooshing / airy sounds, jingling bells, repetitive bass lines..also, sometimes they use very childish/ simple sounding tunes.
kk back to the subjuect of warcraft..wow uses the characters (and their actions) as hypnotic devices, designing them to be constantly and repetitively swaying.
the movements are more pronounced in some toons than others. ie the taurens tail waves back and forth excessively, just like a hypnotists watch..the undead female looks left to right frequently, under the guise that the toon is “alert, & looking for danger”.
the raptor & wyvern mounts tails sway a lot, as does the hunters pets tails, like the cat pets.]
when a player competes a quest, or levels, or gains reputation with a faction, he is rewarded with a gratifying sound to mark accomplishment.
there are too many things to list.
its in the entire games design, & its been incorporated so cleverly that it is disguised.
i have offered this information for free, & at my own risk, i ask one thing, that you pray for me please. thankyou.
also, if youre addicted to wow, & are looking for reasons to hate it, cuz u want to quit, i can list a few..
#1~ blizzard doesnt care about players, or what they want..all theyre interested in is your MONEY.
#2~ THE LONGER YoU PLAY THE MORE YOU PAY, and blizzard has made an art out of drawing out the game, so that it takes a painfully long time to get anywhere.
#3~ as if it wasnt enough that you have paid rl money to play, youre going to work like a slave in game.
#4~ blizzard has thought of EVERYTHING, there is no way youre going to outsmart them & get ahead.
#5~you will be taxed as you play either by way of your gold or your time- or both. blizzard deliberately sets up players to fall & lose durability, taking their gold, (see battlegrounds) & if you are conscious of that & try to avoid a fall by taking a “safe route” it will take longer, thereby costing you time.
#6~ blizzard is NOT your friend. they are constantly devising ways to wipe u. (mobs run away in fear, with intent to agro another mob, to finish you off so you can go for a time consuming corpse-run, all the while your GHOST is getting STUCK on useless objects that have been convieniently laid in the path, so u get stuck on them or have to go around). even lvl 70s on their flyers get knocked out of the sky & killed by mobs.
#7~players like to take the shortest route from a to b. blizzard finds all kinds of things to block this direct route; mailboxes (see x-roads inn how the mailbox is right in the way of the entrance), torches, even a rock in the hordes AV cave. why? apparantly the 1 or 2 seconds you are stuck matters to blizzard, i guess when you place enough of these things through the game plus having 9 million or so players getting caught on them, it adds up. be conscious while youre playing, just how many times you get stuck on something. you will begin to see just how many things have been placed in the path.
#8~the actual layout of the terrain is designed to funnel players to their destination using the MOST INDIRECT ROUTE, such as unclimbable mountains that you MUST go around. designers also use spiral staircases which take longer to climb. also windriders do not fly a direct line to the desired destination, they touch on out of the way flightpaths, taking longer.
#9~there is no good reason for a computerised auction house to take a cut of your profits, its just another way blizzard eats away at your gold. because gold takes time to get. & your time = $ to blizz. that is one reason why blizzard punishes gold buyers, but not AV honor leeches, because if you buy your gold youre not spending the hours & hours of farming that blizzard intended you to do.
#10~basically when it comes down to it you have to really ask yourself, “am i having fun doing this?” well, are you? is it fun to farm gold? is it fun to corpse run? the rest of the game is a mindless repetitive grind of killing this, killing that. when you fight the opposing faction do you feel good, or do you get worked up & frustrated? do you tell yourself you play because you like the on-line community? your guildies? wow players are typically very selfish, & only have time for players that can benefit them in some way. what kind of ppl are they? after playing wow for 12+ hours, their conditions deteriorate & players become angry and abusive, verbally assalting even innocent players. there are also many ppl who just spew verbal garbage in general, minimising the act of rape & misusing the word, comparing it to a game..great community, huh?
if these things ive written make you angry & you think theyre untrue, you might be an addict in denial.
all i ask is you be more aware of the things around you as you are playing, & question what the makers of the game have to gain by doing these things.
please pray for me, as well as the people who are enslaved by wow who would like to escape & live good lives. ty
btw ..one more reason to hate wow, the bond with ones own faction has been destroyed imo, because now we fight each other in arenas, everyone is a potential enemy. GG those who roll need to disenchant that “unwanted” drop so the random who wins it can sell it / use it to chant their own weapons to fight you in arenas.
No one else… Thanks for your comment. I hope you find what you are looking for.
the windrider master at shattarath occasionally says; “do you require medication?”
couldn’t agreee more best article on wow addiction i have read so far
huggs and kisses 
My son has totally screwed up his college career because he can’t stop playing WOW. My husband and I have tried to control him, took away his laptop computer, his desktop computer, his TV, his phone and even his car. We’ll punish him for a couple of weeks and as soon as we think it might be save to return each item back to him, he gets back on to WOW and forgets about everything else. We’ve had holes knocked in the walls of our home because of his temper. He’s somehow managing a minimum wage job and barely. If you are a parent reading this and your son has started to play WOW or Everquest, please get his computer out of his room and into the kitchen with a very limited amount of time.
Angie,
Thanks for your comment.
Looking closely at your comment, it’s pretty clear that World of Warcraft isn’t your sons problem. First of all, you say he’s in college. Doesn’t this mean that he is over 18 and an adult? Yet you say you are trying to control his life and punish him when he messes up. That doesn’t sound like you are treating him as an adult.
Secondly you say that he has episodes of rage where he punches holes in the wall. He’s obviously angry about something. The fact that he is doing so badly in college is another symptom. He doesn’t care about college. He’s angry. He’s doing things that you don’t like (playing WoW).
It’s probably time to cut the apron strings and let him stand on his own two feet. He’s an adult, treat him like one. If that means he has to move out, so be it. There;s nothing like having to feed yourself to force you to take responsibility.
A lot of people see others ’substance’ abusing WoW and think the game is to blame. Not so. It’s a symptom of a deeper issue. Take the steps that are necessary for any other addiction. See a professional.
As for parent taking their kids computers away if they start playing MMORPGs. That’s pretty reactive. Parents should be monitoring their children’s use of the computer and what they do on it. It’s simply taking parental responsibility. If your kids play MMORPGs like EQ or WoW, take an interest, make sure they are behaving responsibly and act like parents - appropriately.
Very good Blog Stropp. Thank you for providing this venue for people to discuss this issue.
I am a current WoWer of nearly 2 years. I am 32 years old, college educated, promising career, and most importantly happily married with 2 beautiful children. During year 1, it was pretty bad, 30-40 hours per week playing the game, more time in game than with my family, and a progressively frustrated wife until it came to a head last May. In game I have 3 max level characters, and I have experienced a significant (but not even close to all) end-game content.
Currently my game time is around 1/3 of that, due to these issues. Luckily for my wife, I am a very understanding person, and can typically realize what is more important in my life pretty quickly. My trick is that I schedule my WoW time, and made a promise to myself that I would actually track the amount of time I played the game. If it was more than what I spent with my family, I had a problem. If it was less, I was in control of my gaming.
Key phrase there: “I was in control of my gaming”. I do not and never have completely blamed Blizzard for creating this video game. However, there are millions of people with very weak wills, very frustrating real life issues, and some of those people need an escape. WoW grants seemingly endless fictional rewards, and offers very challenging puzzles to solve, and real life personalities to interact with, who share your passion. Bottom line, it is very fun to play, much more fun than the hundreds of other video games that I have played in my life.
For those of you who do blame Blizzard, I must ask you, what is your goal? If you expect someone to come in and regulate a video game company, I’m afraid that even with a million voices, you would fall on deaf ears. Guns, drugs, and pornography are much more harmful than video games, and surely you can see how well they are regulated. You need to become the regulator. If your life is affected by a WoW addiction, don’t push blame on something that you have almost no control over, but focus that energy toward the more local issue. Take aggressive action before its too late. Don’t stand idly by while your significant other refuses to change a diaper, or your child falls behind in his or her school work, simply because they are in the middle of a WoW raid. Don’t be that person’s “friend” and continue let it slide, because the only thing you are doing is losing respect from that person. They may even thank you for it later.
Angie,
You have an interesting situation that I’m sure is shared among many other parents of adult-aged children; and with your last statement, your solution to restrict the activity before it really affects his/her life, is so vital to others who may begin to see this behavior.
My parents currently have a similar situation with my younger brother, and I even had my own “hobbies” in college that affected my grades.
Most parents want to help their children in the best way possible, to the extent of their resources. For nearly a decade, my younger brother has had a much more dangerous issue than your son, at least from what I read from your post. I won’t go into details, but my parents have tried every possible solution they can for him, and have spent well over 6 figures doing it. Some days he is cooperative, other days he sinks back down into his hole. Unfortunately, he is just one of those people who wants to do what he wants to do, and no one is going to tell him otherwise. Some people are just like that, and there is usually very little you can do to help them. “Growing up” sometimes is the only solution, but you’ve got to keep trying. By all means, never give up.
Stropp makes good points about possibly sending him out on his own. This is a common solution that does work in many cases, but is almost more reliant on the strength of the parent, than the strength of the child. It has got to be tough to even think about kicking your child out of the house, and putting him on his own; much less actually acting on that plan. Legally he is an adult, but psychologically he is still a child; most males are just like that well into their 20s. That psychological culture shock of living on your own, is sometimes the best medicine.
But before you go that route, something to consider would be consistent, tactful communication and patience with his addiction since it seems it has already come to a head, and affected a major priority in his life. I know first hand, that having that patience is really tough. Try to schedule some family activities, but perhaps centered around what he likes to do. Take him to his favorite restaurant, go on a vacation to a place he really wants to see, go camping, etc. The important thing is to put him in a venue that may encourage good 2-way communication. It seems he has some anger issues, so do not use a forceful approach. Which parent is he more receptive to? Maybe even do it one on one with that parent, not both of you to keep it from being an “inquisition” type of atmosphere.
Another point of advice is possibly for you and his father figure to seek out other parents with similar issues, but in a support group atmosphere, not just casual phone talk with another parent of a troubled teen. These venues can be so helpful for parents to get good advice and share their issues with several others with similar issues.
Patience above all. Even if it takes him another 6-7 years to actually graduate from college, he does have plenty of time. I didn’t graduate until I was nearly 25 years old, and while I wish I could have done it sooner, I do not hold any real regrets about it.
I truly hope this helps, and wish you the best of luck with your situation.
i had similar issues as mentioned in other posts; with my husband constantly ignoring me over the game.
his solution was to get me addicted as well.
i neglected housework, & got to the point where i didnt want to go outside, even to get the mail! =o
i quit wow the same way i quit smoking; i tried by my own power a few times & failed.
then i asked God to pls help me quit.
God will create an opportunity for you to quit if you ask Him, but you have to be willing, & TAKE that opportunity when it comes along.
also, once you have been freed of it, you must guard yourself against sliding back into old habits.
if you have quit & are feeling weak like youre going to get sucked in again, pray for strength & for Jesus to take the desire of wanting to play from you.
basically; i learned that i had to make a decision. i either smoke, or i dont, kuz i cant just have one cigarette, same with wow; that one hour of play turns into two, then so on & so on.
i dont want to “live” like i did when i was on wow.
i like being able to keep a clean house, go feed the ducks, ride my bike & walk in the park & enjoy the sunshine ~~*
…………………………………………………………..
Re: angies situation;
theres this guy, his name is paul washer. hes an awesome preacher. in this sermon, (its about courtship, but imo it applies to this situation) he points out the fact that, around the world throughout history, when a boy reaches a certain level of maturity, he becomes a man, & is allowed the priveledges of manhood. but our society has developed “adolescence”; an “in between” stage where a young person is permitted the priveledges of manhood, without the responsibilities.
..”a young boy, at the age of 12 or so, becomes adolescent, & remains in that adolescent state until hes 35 years old…the dangers of adolescence is, the immature youth is allowed to participate in activities that require adult maturity, in order to avoid serious harm…you should not be thinking about having a relationship with the opposite sex while dad is paying your car insurance”.
“i see nothing wrong with a young man marrying at the age of 18, if he is a man;
and i see everything wrong with some men marrying at the age of 35, because theyre still boys”.
he says that if the priveledges are witheld, the youth has some motivation to accept the responsibilities of a man, rather than playing video games & watching spongebob.
paul washers webbie is *Heartcrymissionary* & the sermon is *courtship part 2*
go listen to it, its awesome. hes a genius
theres vids of him on youtube as well.
gl ppl
No one else, I think you make valid points.
WoW makes me physically sick to play it. I think a lot of it has to do with a) my real life is satisfying, and b) I never played Wow with the sound turned on.
I’ve noticed many hardcore players play with the sound on, and perhaps you are right about the hypnotic cues.
Wow makes me nauseous. I played a character for about two hours a night for two weeks, and it’s gotten to the point I can’t look at the log-in screen, or any screenshots, etc. of the game without getting sick.
Perhaps some of the illness comes from the frustration of it being difficult to move the character. Too many rocks and such, and the long way around using the path if you don’t want to get ambushed.
Ganking is encouraged in Warcraft, because it takes twice as long to finish a quest when you are getting killed by an over-leveled player every five minutes.
I signed onto the game as a favor to a friend. All of his friends were busy with jobs, etc., but now I see I wasn’t being a friend at all. I quit, telling him the truth of the effects the game had on me.
I would log on, then look out of the window, and see all the beautiful trees in my neighborhood, and dreamed of being on my porch, doing something I would truly enjoy.
Why would a person put up with such an unrewarding experience when they can be having fun enjoying real life?
* how to quit WOW *
tI will tell you all how to quit wow. It is easy. the key is to identify why you play. and I’ll tell you why you play, and then I’ll tell you how to quit FOREVER. Yes, this is your end of world of Warcraft. congratulations.
How to quit FOREVER:
Step #1: Day 1: Unfortunately you have to break the law to quit properly, decide that the risk is ok for you.
Step #2: set aside 3 days that you will be un disturbed by many people and you can fully execute the quit tactic shown here.
Step #3: Realize that you play WOW because you cannot sandbox the game. You cannot cheat and therefore you have to grind it out, which is leeching your time.
Step #4: Acquire a complete copy of the mongos complete wow private server from torrents.
Step #5: follow the steps carefully and give yourself GM privalages.
Step 6: Take a full day going through all instances and seeing ALL game content. You can do this by creating a .die macro that will be your only skill, click target and kill Kel’ Thazud.
Step #7 : Day #2: go into game and use the /lookupitem database quiry to find ashgandi, tier 6 armor or whatever you end goal was. Run around with it and kill things in the game world easily.
Step 8: reaslise that you have a /played of 120 days for absolutely nothing. You were an idiot and this is all the game is. NO TANGIBLE GOODS sorry, you are without a job and if you do have a job, then its time to focus on work.
Step 9. DAY #3: one shot all raid bosses and create carnage in stormwind, by dropping Ragnoros in the middle of the city. Continue doing this all day….
Now return to US.WOW server and realsie where you are in the game. Realise that you have juse see all the content you are striving for. Realise that it too you 3 days to see 7 gigs of data.
Then help your freinds and kiss your wife for the first time in 5 months.
GOod luck! and congratulations
@TheOneWhoKnows: Of course, if you want to quit, it really is as simple as cancelling your account. If you can’t do that, perhaps you don’t really want to quit after all.
BTW, you mention in Step 8 that the playing for x days is for nothing… that’s not true, or at least it’s no less true than sitting in front of the TV for the same amount of time. Video games are entertainment. If someone is enjoying the game, who are you to disparage their chosen hobby?
The game has over 10 million players, so there surely has to be some addicts in it, as well as other kinds of people. Some people just can’t say no to a lot of things, including WoW
I know this post is a bit old, but Nick Yee (probably the oldest “MMO” Psychologist from Harvard and a TerraNova contributor) posted the following article you may find interesting:
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2008/11/its-not-an-addi.html
“But the more we work with these kids the less I believe we can call this addiction. What many of these kids need is their parents and their school teachers - this is a social problem.”
“This gaming problem is a result of the society we live in today,” Mr Bakker told BBC News. “Eighty per cent of the young people we see have been bullied at school and feel isolated.”
“In most cases of compulsive gaming, it is not addiction and in that case, the solution lies elsewhere.”
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