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MMO Addiction? Isn't that a fetish of some sort?
Zenren
Member UncommonPosts: 68
My life has been a hodge podge of real life and online Roleplaying games over the last few years. Alot of people will ask me, "why the hell do you play those games?"or " Aren't those games for kids?" or "Do you really think yogurt is low carb?" My answer is, "No, yogurt is not low carb and no those games are not just for kids." I go on to explain that In fact the majority of the people playing "those" games are adults, at least legally they're adults.
My issue lately has been explaining to people that I am no more addicted to MMOs than other people are to television. Of course Doctor Phil wont be having a show on television addiction any time soon, because he doesn't want people to stop watching his show, however showing some schmuck who's pretty much quit looking for a job and devoted all his time to World of Warcraft, rather than to his wife and kids, is perfectly alright. You know I watched your show Phil and I must say, if that woman was my wife, I'd choose the game too, in fact I did choose games over my wife and it ended up with my divorce. However to say that I got divorced because of the game is not only wrong, but naive. No game will be the end of a marriage. If a marriage ends, it's most likely because of other issues. In my own case the game came at the end of my marriage and to be honest, if it hadn't been for the game, my marriage would've ended sooner. As Doctor Phil stated, these games are a means of escape, my argument is that it's alright to escape!
The fact is, people will attack anything they don't understand, and often times, when they ask you to explain, it's nothing more than an attempt to gain fodder for more attacks. I've come to the point where all I say in response to someone's questions about the amount of time I spend playing games is "how much time do you watch television?"
Can games become addictive? Let me ask you this, can religion be addictive? Can exercise be addictive? Can work be addictive? Can sex be addictive? The answer is yes to all of these, but in most cases, because there's no negative connotations associated with these other activities, well except for sex, no one ever complains about them. No you're a hardworking, righteous, healthy, err... freak... if you're "addicted" to those other things.
What I'd like to see is someone start fighting against "Sports Addiction" or "Talk Show Addiction", because I'm pretty sure there are just as many people with those issues as there are people who have "issues" playing MMOs/Online Roleplaying Games.
If you're reading this, you probably need to get some sun.
Comments
The word "addiction" is ridiculously over-used these days.
Gaming is a much more "accepted" hobby than it used to be, but there'll always be morons who consider it "geeky" while they themselves are happy to sit in front of a TV for hours on end watch Big Brother or something that I would consider equally asinine.
Playing: EVE, Final Fantasy 13, Uncharted 2, Need for Speed: Shift
I agree... I believe it's all in the eye of the beholder and Doctor Phil. Got to love a self righteous bald guy who believes he can heal the world. Physician heal thyself.
If you're reading this, you probably need to get some sun.
Yea because having some fun in a virtual world that allows you to interact with people from all around the world in teamwork or competetive manner is somuch worse than watching a bunch of dropouts yapping bullshit in Big Brother... or the mediocre fucktard muppets in those music idol shows... or those v*ginas in the next flop model show.
God damnit I can't stand TV anymore.
quite agree, iam still in high school but I have played WoW for years. quite love this game and I will keep on playing
ditto. If its not on discovery, travel network or some sort of sports Im not watching it. Im proud to say the only reality show I ever watched was Hells Kitchen. And that got old midway through the first season.
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
MMO addiction is an addiction.
Being aroused by Womens high heeled shoes is a fetish .......... so the doctor tells me!
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
wtf do you mean yoghurt is not low carp?! this is total BS! why didnt anyone tell me?!
If it helps at all, cottage cheese is low carb. Anyways, I see alot of people who may have issues that play MMOs, but the issue isn't really playing the game, but rather their inability to interact with others. I think if we take Doctor Phil seriously, we run the risk of catching self-helpitis. Doctor Phil is a showman plain and simple. Although he may have a degree, his interest is in ratings first and foremost.
If you're reading this, you probably need to get some sun.
The only difference is there are good addictions and bad addictions. Good addictions at least help you in some way or form for example addiction to working out. You at least promote your health in the process. Not saying it's a good thing either way. True T.V. addiction is just as much a problem as MMO addiction but to say MMO addiction is fine because some bloke is addicted to television is naive. Playing MMOs is fine, of course anyone here including me has played MMOs. However quiting your job or not looking for a job to play MMOs is plain stupid. Who cares abou the relationships around you, what about your own life?
When I played WoW I knew lots of people who quit their jobs or didn't even care to find a job just so they could keep playing WoW 40-80 hours a week. No one is saying stop playing these games, just control yourself. I would assume the average wow player, plays more wow in a week than he/she does proactive things in their life. What really is playing wow 40-80 hours a week for 5 years going to net you in real life? Maybe 40lbs of fat and no RL friends. Just saying.
Weight Loss Tips
I guess my point is that it's just being construed as an addiction because people can't understand why someone would want to play these games. I don't play that much and the time I do spend is dependant on how much I enjoy the game. Right now I'm playing Warhammer and I can put that game down like a hot potato.
If you're reading this, you probably need to get some sun.
A buddy of mine destroyed his entire life playing EQ.
He started playing it as a way to fill in the gaps while his Wife was at work (they worked different shifts).
He was more of a stay at home guy so he didn't have many outside friends except me and another one of my friends.
It was innocent at first he was p[laying a couple hours a day while she was at work, then those couple of hours grew into 10+ hours and sooner or later his wife was spending more time After work out of the house if you get what I mean.
IN two years of Playing EQ he went from a happily married successful man to a guy that had his wife abbandon his children, then his children taken away from him due to Educational and Medical neglect.
He hasent seen his Wife in seven years and his children for six. he hasent had more then a part time job in the last four years.
Actually the guy makes more money selling Gold in EQ and now WoW then he did with his part time jobs.
He's gained about 80 pounds since he started playing MMOs.
We could talk about how MMO addiciton is just like watching TV but to be honest I've never seen a guy that liked watching TV on his free time get destroyed like that.
Due to the social aspects and achievements of MMOs they are much more dangerous. they replace peoples lives to the point of not needing to go outside, you could basically be on welfare and as long as your character is popular, has great gear and alot of Cyber friends you feel like your life is ok, TV doesnt do that shit guys.
MMOs could mess you up real bad, hell im dealing with my own brother right now sitting unemployed playing WoW 15+ hours a day, his wife kicked his ass out of their house and I'm fully supporting him. Keep telling me some guy that watches Sci-fi all day is that messed up, seriously.
MMO addiction is serious thats why regula people don't consider MMO playing and TV watching as a similar addiction.
Playing: EvE, Ryzom
"Dr. Phil" is a joke. Please don't take him seriously.
Some information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Phil
I'm sure you can find other information if you want to look, but in short he's not even allowed to practice psychology.
Something is not officially considered an addiction until it causes problems with living your real life. An addiction to exercise, for example, means that you (regularly) go exercise instead of going to work or instead of taking care of other responsibilities. So while your health may be good, the rest of your life is not.
An addiction to a MMO would mean that you're destroying and otherwise abandoning your life in favor of the MMO.
If someone says that you have an addiction because your hobby is gaming, then you can probably ignore them. As long as the rest of your life is in order then your hobby is of no consequence to anyone else. They're just ignorant.
Well I do have my own opinions, but please take the criticism the right way, it's respectful criticism. I am in no way trying to "flame" or belittle you.
While I do understand your points, being "addicted" to something, and since everything in life can fall into some category if addiction, it doesn't necessarily justify it.
Drugs/alcohol, stealing, murder, and many other things looked down upon by a lot of people can also fall into the category if addiction, just like video games/MMOs.
Simply saying other things are equally addictive doesn't justify completely ignoring life on this planet for a bit of "fun" in a video game.
Don't get me wrong I love games too, but there's a line not to cross when having fun. Certain things in life should be top priority. Marriage should be about your spouse. You should spend time with them, that is the very definition of marriage, and family should not be ignored.
Nothing wrong with having fun, but don't take it overboard
I understand what you're saying guys, but the number of people that actually do the things you've mentioned are probably less than one in 100,000, you most likely have a better chance of getting cancer, than you do becoming so absorbed with MMOs that you give up all other aspects of your life. MMOs are entertainment, and as I mentioned before, I've seen marriages destroyed because of sports... men putting football before their marriages. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. What I'm saying is that the media outlets are using MMOs as a means to gain ratings, by taking those few people and acting as if this was a major concern for the average person.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, the vast majority of people will use MMOs the same way other people use TV, to enjoy their free time. They'll still have jobs and maintain a normal life. The problem is that other people don't view playing games as a normal activity for adults, and hence they're attacking the industry.
If you're reading this, you probably need to get some sun.
Not true.
I worked with a lot of people who play one MMO or another that I would have never thought. After I met one at work, I met various others at work that also fell into that category.
Literally, 1/4 of the people I worked with played an MMO, that's a LOT of people. And now i just met 3 other people through my sister who actively plays MMOs, which is my childhood friends boyfriend, and his best friend, neither act or look like an MMO type.
And the place I worked before i started where I work now, I remember 2 people on a 7 man 2nd shift crew who played FFXI, and 3 people on a 12 man crew on 1st shift played 1 MMO or another.
It's actually more common than you think
MMOs are the worst kind of addiction out there, you can be a "god" in a virtual world, be respected for nothing other than virtual "gear" and/or skill / a legendary guild tag / and world first accomplishments.
it's a lot easier to get a world first accomplishment on some game that all you have to do is be semi good at and know the mechanics behind it, versus being an olympic gold medalist or recieve a golden globe award or an entry into the guiness book of world reconds.
I mostly agree with you.... but I have some things to say:
1) I do think that a relatively large number of people are unable to resist playing excessively for some time after becoming interested in MMO's. For example I know a young mother who recently started playing.. she has a 6 year old son....
No.. she doesn't neglect her son... she doesnt fail to support him or feed him.... but she does spend 2 hours per day that she USED to spend playing with him playing an MMO... seven nights per week. I'm sure if she was being totally rational and in control she would limit her play time to maybe 2 days per week and spend more time with her son, who after all is going to be 18 before she knows what hit her.
I myself experienced MMO addiction when I started EQ back in 2000. I slept far too little for an extended period of time... and while I did not lose or quit my job, my performance certainly suffered and I know my boss noticed. Later (while playing SWG in '03) I went for several months unemployed after being laid off..... I procrastinated looking for a new job while I played SWG... I'm quite certain if it wasn't for MMO's I would have been back to work much more quickly.
Sure.. "addiction" is all about self control for the most part... the thing is that people warn you about addiction to drugs and alcohol... MMO addiction might take you by complete surprise!
Grymm
MMO addict in recovery!
EQ,SWG preCU,L2,EQ2,GW,CoH/CoV,V:SOH,
Aion,AoC,TR,WAR,EVE,BP,RIFT,WoW and others... no more!
Bad social skills outside the game.
I didn't figure by the title that this would be a justification.
I think the OP is mistaking what the word "fetish" means. There is a difference between LIKING a bit of fantasy and being DEPENDENT on it.
When put into the realm of sexual stuff generally people use fetishism as a way to escape from real intimacy and it, in general, it tends to make so that they never have real realationships. It is therefore a problem. But it is more a symptom of the underlying problem. This is different than say liking to see a woman in high heels. This is a complete fixation upon a thing. Just because you like to some degree the trappings of some particular fetish/fantasy that does not mean you have a fetish.
MMO "addiction" does in fact follow a similar trend. It is escapism and fantasy gone wild. But its not true "addiction" it is a sort of perpetual running away from a problem. Much like a sexual fetish it is used to preoccupy the person from some other underlying problem.
In a sense people get addicted to the relief of complete abandonment, of throwing all their worries away. You could say they are both a form of cowardice. That is a brutal way of putting it, but in reality we are all a bit of a coward at times, we just make excuses and rationalization for why we may run from a problem. As a perpetual procrastinator I know I have done it often. When put into context, it actually makes it easier to deal with.
Some people have described giving up a game like WoW cold turkey and then seeing it again and starting to crave the experience. In reality they are not craving the game itself so much as the relief of their worries through complete abosorbtion.
The reason this is called "addiction" is because of the positive feedback loop. The more you escape your problems, the more problems you have and the more you want to escape some more. It is a viscous cycle. But not exactly true addiction. Many people will call any positive feedback loop addiction, this is a misnomer although it is somewhat apt. This is the same with fetishes the more you substitue the fetish for the person, the less closeness you have with them, you then have a need that is not getting satisfied yet what you do to satisfy it causes this to worsen.
As with most things these are about moderation. Many people are perfectly functional doing these things. This is not true of Heroin. I don't effing care how awesome you are. You start shooting up heroin your life will fall apart and you will be fucked. MMOs not so much. They have the potential to be a platform for someone to start a cycle that can destroy their lives but those cycles are of a persons own making and many thigns offer a platform of escapism or barrier making etc. You sometimes here Heroin addicts say things like "I never expected to be a Heroin junky." That is exactly why they are junkies, they had no idea what they were dealing with. You can get addicted to Heroin on the first try and once you are its an awful awful thing. In order to get "addicted" to an MMO you have to already be the sort of person who want to run away from things and then you have to do it to such an extent that it is self-reinforcing and finally you have to have start off as somewhat self destructive. Heroin will make you self-destructive even if you were not to begin with as it erodes your will and spirals down in despair and self-hate and you realize you are not nearly as strong as you thought you were. Many people who avoid real addiction are the people who have a healthy fear of it.
Once the positive feedback loop is started up and in full swing most addicts are basically pretty similar. In fact quite predictable in a loose sort of way. But true addiction never lets up and generally ramps up worse and worse util you fall and either die or hit rock bottom. Something like MMO addiction does not work that way since the head of steam of the underlying problem can change and is only a problem when you feel inclined to go back to various types of bad habits.
MMOs do not intially set up or instigate the environment that starts the loop unlike drugs. And the positive feedback loops that some people fall prey to can be short circuited and the underlying causes can be addressed. Its true that the two share a number of aspects and a true addict has all the aspects of the MMO "addict" but there is another level to true addiction that makes it truly scary. They can both be highly desctructive though.
Unfortunately your analogy is not wholly apt. TV and sports are passive they give you enough information or whatever to become absorbed and for extreme cases that is enough to be adequate for an already in place escapism gone wild.
But MMOs offer that same thing and also actively take advantage of various aspects of the human psyche and various reward mechanics to re-inforce and lead people towards this sort of thing.
MMOs do lead you down the garden path. Of course the person themselves has to open the gate and pile a bunch of crap on top of it to really get into deep crap. But in the case of sports or TV etc you basically build your own garden and gate and path etc etc.
So basically MMOs are going to make it more common that some people wind up in similar situations. It is similar to gambling. Although I differentiate gambling from MMOs because in the end MMOs are false and everyone knows. Gambling actually gives you real money and a person's propensity to lie to themselves can be so strong that they will belive that gambling can sustain itself. All they need to do is hit a winning streak.
There is a hard barrier for MMOs unless you are truly just plain nuts, as in schizphrenic chemical problem nuts, everyone knows it just can't quite work out in the end. There is a reality barrier. Even if true addicts are essentially living in a fantasy world there is enough leeway that they can do the cognitive break to believe they can keep functioning. MMOs simply take too much time in a way that can't possibly work out. You can't go to work and play an MMO at the same time, I mean some people have jobs that let them do that to some extent but MMOs occupy you too much. You can go to work drunk or high or whatever you just need to fool yourself into thinking you won't get caught.
MMOs have most of the hooks that gambling does, they simply lack a few other things to make the leap. And yes like TV or Sports they have a quality oif occupying you too much, but unlike those they have the hooks.
This is pretty easy to envision or even experience. Go watch a basketball game. Then go watch a basketball game that you bet $100 on the expereience is different. This is why MMOs take it to another level. But they are pretend in the end.
It's fun to see intelligent topic from time to time:D
Anyway, though I do agree that the MMOs are an addiction, it was not proven yet wether those "no-job-or-life-WoW-player" who spend 40+ hours on a game had social issues before they joined the MMO. As someone said, it's a way to escape for certain people.
I mean, let me be honest here, I do have social issues, though minor compared to some worst case scenarios, I never had a lot of friends (about 4 or 5 max) and since I started to play MMOs and look around the internet I found that this place is rather enjoyable. Not because I have socials issues though, but because the internet is a way to break the time and space barriers. I mean....would you rather randomly call someone from England while you are from Canada hoping you will call someone who has similar interest OR would you rather get on the internet and immediatly find what you are looking for? If I take my few friends for exemple, none of them enjoy gaming and actually, I've never met a MMO gamer yet aside a few casuals who play 2 or 3 hours a week. There's no "gaming club" at school or anything which makes it really hard for gamers to meet in real life (except for FPS gamers).
There's something I must say though, even if I am addicted to MMOs, I never neglected myself nor my surrounding due to lazyness. This is something that goes against the way I think things should be done, and those that do neglect themselves are a minority....though they all seem to gather at conventions.....stinks...... :þ
I appreciate the comments made so far, but I still don't think anyone has proven to me that MMOs are more addictive than television... I mean have you heard about American Idol or Dancing with the Stars? I think what people are looking for is something to forget about the problems in the real world and most therapists will tell you that's a good thing as long as you are still addressing your real life issues. Why do you think they tell you "Maybe what you need to do is get a hobby?" It's because people need an escape. I'm sure even the cavemen had things that they liked to do other than hunt and gather food... and probably those little side endeavors helped us out overall.
What I'm saying is that I don't appreciate people who really have no idea what MMOs are all about coming out and saying they're this or that, without trying one out. I know a psychologist that plays WoW and he seems to agree with me, that the game is no more destructive than alcohol is to a normal person.
I'm sure there are people that are more likely to get addicted to MMOs, but overall I think it's unwise to consider it generally harmful.
If you're reading this, you probably need to get some sun.