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WoW Addicting?
whiteboinoob
Member Posts: 1
The Effects of World Of Warcraft On Society
Hey my name is Evan Herman and im just contacting you to let you know that I feel really strongly that World Of Warcraft is an extremly addicting game and its ruining my friends life.I used to play the game , but due to getting hacked i was forced to quit. Many of the kids in my town play this game and it really runs their lives. I have a friend sitting about 5 feet away from me raiding in molten core at the moment, and anytime i talk to him he just ignores me or gets extremely angry at me. In the following paragraphs I will give just a few examples of things that I have noticed in my expieriences with the game, and my observations of my friends.
I have a friend who used to play World of Warcraft, his characters name was eagh and he played on the dalaran server. He was a pretty decent student with a gpa of 4.4 in his freshmen year of highschool. World of Warcraft came out during the summer of freshmen and sophmor year and he played it pretty regularly, but as the school year came around he would be forced to attend school from 8am-3pm and the second he came home he would play WoW. As he reached level 60 he became so addicted that he would start not doing homework, and stop leaving his home or hanging out with friends for the game. If thats not addicted I surley dont know what is. As he recieved his report card his grades went from A's down to B's. He thought that the year was a little tougher than freshmen year and didnt think that WoW was effecting his grades at all. As the year progressed he had 3 level 60's and his grades had dropped down to C's. As I mentioned his grades to him, and mentioned how drastically they have dropped he started to relize how the game has taken hold of his life. Not many people can admit that they are addicted to the game, but this kid did. He quit WoW a few days after and gave his items and money to friends. It is now Junior year (the hardest year of all four) and he has a current gpa of 4.6, in 3 honors classes. He hangs out with me every weekend now, and actually leaves his house becuase he doesnt feel that he has the need to stay home and play the game.
I have another friend that plays WoW in the dalaran server, his name is blacknija and he plays a good 4-5 hours a day. He plays the game for hours on end, ignoring what his parents say and any time the phone rings he refuses to answer it. He used to be a decent kid, he never got the best grades, but had a 2.8 gpa. As the game went on he because more and more addicted feeling that the game was taking grasp of his life. He had to stay home on weekends for raids, and was forced to log in to check auction house every hour or so. On weekends he stays up untill 5-6 am, drinking red bull or other highly caffinated drinks so he can stay up. I feel that this game has led him into becomming addicted to caffine, as he is forced to drink them to stay up late and I fear that he will start taking pills to keep him awake. Being that he is a close friend of mine i try and watch out for him and make sure he doesnt do anything that he shouldnt be. I try and explain to him that WoW is taking hold of his life and that it is really starting to control him in a way. But he doesnt see how the game is controling him. One day another friend of mine logged into his account and got him suspended for 3 days for cursing. Now im not saying that I wouldnt be mad but this kid was almost in tears. He hit him a few times and kicked every one out of his house. He seemed to be having withdrawl symptoms like he was on drugs. He couldn't get the game off of his mind. He started playing on other peoples characters just so he could keep ontop of things with his guild, so he knew what was going on in auction house, what items were selling good. I can't see this as anything good because he couldn't stay away from the game for 3 days. He can barley take a few hours off of the game, and when he is off of the game its because hes at school or sleeping.
Finally, there is a current case of a kid who jumped out of a 24 story building while reinacting a scene in the World Of Warcraft game. Im sure your very aware of this law suit. But seriously if kids like him are playing this game dont you see how things are running peoples lives? I know it may not matter to you because you guys are all making money and keeping the kids who are addicted to the game "happy" but just because they are "happy" doesnt mean that it isnt effecting other parts of their lives. School, Social life, and mental health are all important key factors that are being effected because of a virtual world inside of a computer. In China you have a "anti-addiction system" built into the game and I really feel strongly that you should think about inserting it into the north american game servers. It would seriously force people to improve their lives, and relize what this game is doing to them.
This game is seriously addicting, in all the cases I have presented in this essay it should be clear that people DO become addicted to this game. Limiting time useage of the players would really do some good to the community. I feel strongly that the kids of today are the future of society and being addicted to a game will force them to be less educated, and have alot less skills such as communication, public speaking, and time managment. Please seriously consider putting a time limit on amounts of time that you are able to play a day, or even a week. I believe that it would help out in creating a better future, and a better present as well.
Sincerely,
Evan Herman
"Previous World of Warcraft Addict"
Comments
Any source of entertainment can be addicting if your self resolve is not greater than the short term pleasurable results of that entertainment given.
TVs, Ipod, Consoles, mmorpgs, Alcohol, gambling, any form of entertainment can result in addiction. It just depends on how strong your resolve is. I.E., can you stop? Do you want to?
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Is'nt it - addic"tive"?
These arent good stories and if its effecting lots of people in the same school or town could'nt you and your freind that decided to stop playing because of the addiction do somthing? - im sure their parents have noticed, if its its getting to be a serious problem maybe they could help each other out with the help of others. Like hang out together doing somthing else like playing a sport or going to the cinema, they're lucky that they have people around them with the same problem instead of being alone...
I dont think WoW is any more addictive than any other mmorpg, they are incredibly addictive but then so are computer games and the internet and drugs and any other of the thousands of things more fun than real life can be sometimes. Just do a google serach on computer games addiciton or mmorpg addiction and you'll see how its now an established academic subject.
At the end of the day i'd rather be addcited to an mmorpg than crack, but if its a real problem they could help each other through it - with you and your freinds help?
paragraphs are your friend!
GPAs of 4.4 and 4.6? you do know the GPA system only goes to a 4.0?
my question to you, if this is all true and you are in high school, where are the parents? the parents should have some kind of control over this? how are these kids playing WoW? mommy and daddy's credit card? the parents should cancel. they should also use the new parental controls in the game.
if you're so worried, contact their parents and let them know whats going on.
lol I had to stop reading, the wall of letters hurt my eyes
"there is a current case of a kid who jumped out of a 24 story building while reinacting a scene in the World Of Warcraft game. Im sure your very aware of this law suit. But seriously if kids like him are playing this game dont you see how things are running peoples lives?"
Guns don't kill people....
Well i think your right in the points... but i think theys a lot off resasons why mmorpgs and wow is addicting!
mostly my guess will be that he/her has some problems in real life; so that a mmorpg seems nice, cause you get further and further in it.
You lvl up get new gear and make friends on either sides if your one off the good/bad players
Most will off course say no; that the game is addicting cause they are addictet to it... could be they are stuck in real life, with no bright furture in sigth, and only getting further inside a fantasy world!
Others just tend to drink go on drugs/pills; so they can keep ignoring how they lifes really is, or they need to pass something...
but about that system that prevents you from playing more then 3 hours each day; im not supporting that
hmm, interesting. I do agree that WoW is quite addicting, but as everyone sys here, so are alot of things, and alot of things that are addicting are worse than WoW, IE drugs, achohol, etc. Would you rather he stop playing WoW and start smoking, or drinking. Also, being addicted to caffeine, although isnt good, isnt the worse thing ever. Caffeine doesnt really hurt you unless you take it in high doses, and its not the hardest thing to stop doing. Just go cold turkey for a day or 3 and he'll be fine. Also, the guy that talked about the parents is right. People cant keep whining about the kids having problems and blame it on video games and tv and crap. The parents need to work. If it wasnt very idiots whining about video games causing every problem ever, then people wouldnt have made parents expect things like the ESRB to help raise their childrens. RAISE YOUR F****** CHILDREN YOU LAZY PARENTS STOP WAITING FOR CRAP TO RAISE YOUR CHILDREN FOR YOU! If you are really worried then, like other people said, contact the parents, or go on their computers and delete WoW, and destroy their cds or sumthing. At least tell them to limit their time. That brings me to my other point. I dont think that the game should limit peoples playing time. They are choosing to crap on their lives, and its not the game companies fault. Is that wat you meant by limiting time. well thats my peice. Im outty
Am I ever wrong??
I don't think MMO's are any more addicting than television. And have you seen the studies of what your brain does while you're watching tv? It goes into a sleep pattern.
When you're playing MMO's your brain is engaged.
Who cares about addictions anyways. As long as you've got a job, pay your bills, and take care of your family, and personal life you shouldn't feel guilty about playing a MMO every once and a while.
I do have personal note to make here though. I thought about this and came to the conclusion that it would be fun to get my family involved in the gaming instead of watching dull tv everynight. So I bought everyone a copy of WoW so we could play together. My 12 and 14 year old are now no longer allowed to play unless either myself or my wife are on with them. And my 10 year old (who was actually the best player, hehe) can't play at all any more. The reason? Because of the community.
I wish the GM's would take crude, vulgar, and unneeded behavior more seriously. It would make the game better and more family friendly. I'm just glad my kids were shocked at what they saw people saying and doing. I feel better about the way I've raised them.
first off i smoke...
second; has anyone ever died from wachting, to much, televison caused bye dehydration or to much stress?
I agree with you that MMOs are not a bad addiction and certainly better then becoming a vegetable in front of the TV. Addicitions also really aren't an 'addiction' per se until you obsess about it at the level that its detrimental to your health. Smoking and drug addiction is one of the things that is an addiction pretty much no matter how you look at it because the stuff is bad for your health, but games, reading, sports, eating (when eating healthy), etc. I really can't call addictions.
On the issue of vulgar content by other players, I don't think there is a lot they can do. With 5 million players, they probably are swamped enough as it is with the actual reported complaints they get much less unreported problems. I've heard Blizzard is one of the better game companies out there to take action, however the problem is really just the gamers themselves that have little respect or manners. Not only is it not up to the gaming company, because they can't have an employee per player ratio to monitor everyone's actions (or more rationally, even a 50 to 1 ratio would be impossible), but they also have to be careful how strict they get because people can get upset when they're griefed, contantly killed, offended, had a bad day, etc. To some extent, I would even say its not right for Blizzard or any other company to just ban people for saying an offensive word every once in awhile. Thats a customer they are taking money from then taking back the product without a refund just because of a lost temper or whatever. Unfortunately most of human nature doesn't have the self control ideal for a great family environment online or out in the real world. Thats why you will always see the warning now on any online game that states the game content may change and the rating is not dependable.
So it is great you raise your children well enough for them to be shocked or opposed to the unnecessary actions of others, but its certainly something good for them to get used to dealing with in life because an online game can only be as much of a reflection of human nature more then a reflection on bad moderation by the game company. Its up to your children and you to choose not to act that way in the face of others who haven't learned to act more appropriately, and find a method of understanding, acceptance, or personal methods of moderating the content (like /ignore, just like you would walk away from such a person in life) to remedy the issue.
As a side note to the affects of gaming, I read an interesting article somewhere about the positive effects of gaming. It was analyzing all the benefits and obvious skills developed through gaming such as improved problem-solving abilities, quick computer reflexes for faster tasking in any program, more focused attention to detail, ability to adapt quicker to new situations, teamwork (for those that choose to develop it), and a few other things. My boss and I were talking about it just the other day because he and I both play Warcraft, and you can always tell a gamer working on the computer versus a non-gamer. The difference in speed and focus on the computer is like night and day, and in this day and age where everything is being computerized, its a great thing to develop.
The GP system works differently for Honor classes, an A in an honor class counts as a 5.0.
Also on to subject, as a player of many mmo's I find it true that they are addicting. The main reason why is because it takes alot of time in mmo's to do things; and many people play games to get a sense of accomplishment, which in most cases doesnt happen in mmo's unless your on non-stop. After you play alot of mmo's you start to not care about the new ones you play that much and it is alot easier to leave; but despite this fact it is actually pretty hard to not come back to the mmo you started on.
okay; i diden know that...
but theys someone over the age off 18 for instance; who died on they own from wachting to much televesion?
okay; i diden know that...
but theys someone over the age off 18 for instance; who died on they own from wachting to much televesion?
Are you talking about that kid in Korea playing Starcraft? I would call that anecdotal at best.
Quote from http://www.bbna.com/Well03/tvdeath.htm
"Can it be any surprise that more than half of American adults are now overweight, and nearly one-third are clinically obese? Television viewing is our number-one cause of physical inactivity, and physical inactivity is now our number-two preventable cause of death, behind smoking."
yere for me... but thxs for the info!
EDIT: well after reading it all... its not really the same when you play a mmorpg...
cause what i can understand from that is you die slow cause off fatness in 2 or more years...
players haved died from mmorpgs caused they played em 24/7 in 3 days and ignored they hunger or thirst..
anyway just to sum it up im not fat; and i take the bike to work each day...
no its not addictive but you can be overly occupied by it and you can be tied up in the game by certain "arrangements". Everquest, however, I once was addicted to that. Though arguably it could be defined as what I just said. I hardly played any other game when I played Everquest. Fortunately I've learnt from that or hope I have.
mmorpgs aren't addictive unless you make them addictive.
if you jhave some self control, you can prevent addiction.
People with addictive personalities can get addicted to anything...
Personally I get addicted to NOTHING, but the downside of that is I get bored very quickly...I just suppose I'm ADD. WoW's been the closest, but even that only kept me glued to the computer screen for 3 months (and not concurently either), and even then only for a few hours a day. (I went overseas for 4 months, averaged 4 or 5 alcoholic drinks a night, for the whole time...came back and haven't had a drink since...nor even thought about drinking...well until now...hehe...like I said, it's all in the genes)
It's not addicting to everyone, just simple minded gamers who get too easily caught up in something.
depends how you define addiction. I mean playing hardcore like is necessary for a game like EQ2 could be defined as addicted to someone else. All depends.
I mean where do you draw the line at addiction? You can have a game you want to play and it can be time consuming as most mmorpgs inevitably are. To keep wanting to play the game is what most games are designed for. And there are non mmorpgs that can be described as addictive gameplay and they're not dangerous. I think the question is not whether its addictive, because games could be described as that, but whether it is addictive beyond someones control, does it physically or psychologically have an impact so as to make gamers longing after it beyond that which is healthy. Noone can answer that question without objective evidence. But from a subjective point of view, it can eat up more time than you think.
And another point, the game may not be addicting but people may come to rely on it due to problems in real life. Whether thats the fault of the game or the people is arguable. But I think most people would say its the fault of the person from an unexperienced bias.
These games effect different people in different ways. It can be addicting, but as you will find out when you become older so much in life can be addicting if you let it. The addictions make up for voids, or holes in the persons life that are already there waiting to be exploited. If it was not WoW it could be drugs, or booze, gambling, sex, destructive relationships or any number of other self destructive behaviors. None of the things I mentioned above are bad in moderation, but any one of them can ruin your life or even kill you if done to excess.
I think your a very smart kid, and I give you props for realizing whats going on in your life and your friends. When I was your age I would have been tailor made for being addicted to a game like WoW. You saw your addiction and took care of it without help, and for that you should be proud. For trying to help your friends, even more so.
You are wondering if Internet gaming is healthy? Well it can be relaxing in moderation. If you are an adult of working age and you are putting in 6-8 hours a day into WoW or any of the other games then something is seriously wrong with your life. People try to rationalize it in many ways, ie: its my money, my time....who are you to question what I do with it? To some degree thats true, but we are more and more becoming a society of people who sit in front of screens instead of interacting with real humans. I think thats going to become a major problem down the line, but thats just one mans opinion.
Good luck to you man, and hope your friend gets help- he really sounds like he should be in therapy.