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.”

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?

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

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?

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

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 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.

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.