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How World of Warcraft Almost Ended a Syracuse Professor's Life
firefly2003
Member UncommonPosts: 2,527
As amazing as today’s high definition visuals and immersive 3D worlds are, video games are still a new entertainment form. As such, their potential effects – both positive and negative -- have yet to be fully researched. A new book, "Unplugged: My Journey into the Dark World of Video Game Addiction" tells the story of how tenured Clemson University professor Ryan G. Van Cleave, Ph.D., spent over two decades hooked on games like World of Warcraft (WoW) and watched his real world fall apart around him.
Like many people currently in their 30s, Van Cleave grew up playing classic console games. His family owned an Atari 2600, which his father won as a prize as a top salesman for Amoco, and he’d sneak over to his friend’s house to play Odyssey games all night long. Van Cleave stuck with videogames as he grew older.
"I played a ton of fantasy and military games throughout the '90s and early 2000s like Empire II, Lords of Magic, 1503 AD: The New World, System Shock, and The Nations," said Van Cleave. “It's an easy transition from there to Mechwarrior 2, the whole Baldur's Gate series, Diablo, Starcraft, Halo, and the first Warcraft games. Somewhere along the way I picked up Everquest and liked it a good deal, but it never had that much of a hold on me. It was just another game among many. World of Warcraft, though, was far different.”
Before he became addicted to Blizzard Entertainment’s bestselling massively multiplayer online game, which currently has over 11.5 million subscribers, Van Cleave was actually selling the game through a third-party business on Amazon.
“I was selling dozens of World of Warcraft games a week and I finally wanted to see what the heck was so compelling about it, so I opened one, fired it up, and was entranced,” explained Van Cleave. “From the moment the operatic music kicked in and I saw those amazing doors to a new universe where I was a co-creator of the story, I felt like I was in heaven. This was the type of immersive digital experience the others teased me with but never fully delivered upon.”
Van Cleave dug into the game, playing three different simultaneous accounts. All told, he built up (and still has) over 60 characters at the game's one-time maximum level, 70. He actually recently went back and played some more recently to help research his book, so he also has a pair of level 80 characters.
While the majority of World of Warcraft players balance jobs and social lives with their fantasy lives, Van Cleave said that from 2004 to 2007, he was playing the game about 30 hours per week on average. Some weeks, he’d top 50 hours of virtual exploration. And during the summer, when university was out, he’d easily top 50 hours a week.
"Looking back, I now see that the impact of playing that game on my life was immediate," said Van Cleave. "My parents came into town the day after I started playing Warcraft and I blew them off a couple of times to keep gaming. At the time, I justified it by saying they'd be around for a couple of days and they were really just there to see the kids anyways."
Things got really bad in the real world as Van Cleave continued to spend more time in the game world. He lost a tenure-track job at Clemson University because of his excessive gaming. His entire financial future went to heck (his Clemson house sat vacant for about a year while he did a one-year job in Washington, D.C.). His wife and kids were constantly threatening to leave him . And most of his friends in the real world didn't bother trying to keep up with him anymore.
"I got my best friend Rob, who's a high school teacher, into Warcraft, and he started having huge problems with his family and work," said Van Cleave. "I kept looking at him and thinking, 'Wow, he's really got a problem.' But I never once thought about whether I did or not. Not until my New Year's Eve walk on 2007 on the Arlington Memorial Bridge."
It was nearly his last New Year's Eve: that night he almost committed suicide. He didn't, but even after he decided that he still wanted to live, he slipped on the icy bridge and nearly died. It was then that Van Cleave decided to go cold turkey and stop playing any videogames. For the next week he had chills, night sweats, insomnia, 103-degree fevers, headaches, and a general malaise so severe that he nearly went back to gaming just to stop the agony.
"It was a massive withdrawal, and I went through it alone," said Van Cleave. "It's kind of a miracle that I made it. It's tricky to get off videogames because they're everywhere -- they're in your car, your cell phone, your computer, your TV, and your wristwatch. You can't even go to 7-Eleven without seeing a rack of games there. As an alcoholic, if you just avoid bars and don't put booze in your house, you can probably get through 80 to 90% of your life fairly easily because the object of your desire isn't right in front of you. But it's nearly impossible to escape videogames. You have to negotiate some kind of balance."
Ultimately, for those who haven’t read his book, the biggest question that enters people’s minds is, how can someone with a PhD, a wife and two children, and a good career get lost in a videogame world?
"I can give you some technical stuff about neurotransmitters and dopamine and the delayed gratification response that's so similar to gambling, but honestly in the moment I was just, well, in the moment," said Van Cleave. "You simply lose perspective. Someone asks you how much you've played that week. The real answer is 45 hours, but you genuinely think it's maybe 20. It just absolutely enthralls you and keeps you from living a real life because even when you're not gaming, it's all about 'How quickly can I get back to the game?' 'Do I really have to go in to work today?' 'Can I show up 15 minutes late for that meeting?'"
Today, Van Cleave lives in Sarasota, Florida, where he works as a freelance writer for outlets like The Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic Adventures and Psychology Today. He also has jobs as a writing instructor and an addiction and recovery consultant. He has included his contact info in his book so that videogame addicts can talk to him about their own problems.
Van Cleave only games occasionally these days to keep abreast of what new titles there are out there, in an effort to help those who he counsels. He no longer plays World of Warcraft.
Comments
Hmm. Sounds like a cool game.
But yeah; I'm sure that WoW is to blame for ruining the life of a suicidal, mentally-ill compulsive.
When will the horror end?
Van Cleave, hmm, Van Cleef? Deadmines anyone?
Why do people persist in asserting that games are the cause of the mental problems that people have. The mentally-ill sometimes focus on something in this way. If it had not been gaming, it would have been something else.
Do not mistake the effect for the cause.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
WTF? No subscription fee?
Doing a bit of ten cent detecive work.
There is not now, nor has there ever been a Ryan G. Van Cleave, Ph.D on the Faculty of Syracuse University.
I call Bullshit.
Just like any drug, if it triggers the areas responsible for making one feel pleasure and happiness, well we naturally try to obtain that high as much as possible. Anyone with an addictive type personality is susceptible to this. He sounds like he is a prime candidate - just as a heroine user or an alcoholic might be. Some people cannot drink alcohol due to the effect it has on the balance of the chemicals of their brain. They like it to much!
Escape From New York?
The Magnificent Seven?
nah i'm looking for 3 more DPS and a tank, since i'm a priest i think we're fine with me as a healer
This is why the so-called "quality" of videogames and mmo's isn't a good thing. It's just an euphemism for addicting power. Boring grindfest games will bore you and stop you from sinking too much time, so in a way, are actually doing players and the society a big favor.
Let's face it, aside from improving hand-eye coordination, videogaming isn't a healthy hobby. The only ones really "win" in videogames are game makers themselves.
Better spend time in our "real life avatars" in picking up a skill or two, than "winning" some virtual rewards that go puffed when the game shuts down.
"...he had chills, night sweats, insomnia, 103-degree fevers, headaches, and a general malaise so severe..."
Really?
[quote] [i]Originally posted by jotull[/i] [b]Doing a bit of ten cent detecive work.[/b] [b] [/b] [b]There is not now, nor has there ever been a Ryan G. Van Cleave, Ph.D on the Faculty of Syracuse University.[/b] [b] [/b] [b]I call Bullshit.[/b] [/quote]
10 cent is right... He was a professor at Clemson University, as stated in the article. The OP got the subject wrong. [
http://www.psychologytoday.com/node/41572
http://www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/brochures/english/english.php?PHPSESSID=8jh51nsm6uaeqv08cq60reogb7
Well, the title seems off, since the article mentions him at Clemson and living ins Sarasota now... Not sure where Syracuse comes in at all.
Anyway, at least he's found a way to capitalize on his video game addiction. Good for him!
This again huh?
MMO's are a bit like Jedi Mind tricks. They are only a problem for the weak-minded dolts...
I could actually point to a time in My life that MMO's saved Me. I lost My dream job and I was depressed beyond imagination. But I dove head 1st into MMO Gaming instead of drugs, alcohol, or overeating like a good number of my friends. It gave me something to take My mind off My troubles that was not hurting anyone, or Me...After a while I snapped out of the depression, good a good Job, met an awesome Girl, got engaged, and now I don't Game nearly as much as I did...But I look back and, in way at least, I realize Gaming might have saved Me from the bottom...
Everybody's got a story I guess...
what are you doing here?!
anyway, Gaming = Fun. Word.
He was a professor at Clemson in 2001.
Wow, such incredible detective work, a 10 second google search popped up pretty much every single aspec of this guys life including his lifes publications...and there are quite a few of them.
This book is on sale at Amazon Sherlock.....go on, i dare you, claim you were being sarcastic....
Expresso gave me a Hearthstone beta key.....I'm so happy
Actually very off but still this yet another dumbass Dr Phil lets blame the game, the gun anthing that takes the spoyligth off of the real issue human weakness. But hell it's off yahoo what do you expect.
You sir, need to show some compassion.
I would like to make a few points.
First, this man may have been mentally ill and WoW may have been a catalyst to cause his addiction to whatever deficiency he had in real life, but he seemed stable, with a normal life.
Second, he only became suicidal after realizing the effects that his addiction had on his life. In his eyes, he had lost everything he cared for. Put yourself in his shoes, how would you feel after losing your family, your job, and your home to an addiction. Imagine how you would feel about yourself.
Third, it never says World of Warcraft was responsible for his addiction. Only that he was addicted to World of Warcraft. His addiction cost him almost everything. His depression and suicidal thoughts would have came from his feelings of low self worth as he could not stop himself and nearly lost everything. If anything, he blames himself and his addiction, not World of Warcraft.
I myself have played the game for years and know how addicting it can become. I currently no longer play, because I find the constant gear grind to be a bit boring and have other time constraints. I do however, have friends and family that still play, and I definitely see an addictive problem. I agree that the problem starts with the individual and circumstances, not the game. However, this game is extremely good at what it does, which could cause people to turn to it to solve/avoid problems instead of using drugs/alchol. For four years, I have watched a father ignore his child, as his child grew up around him. It is a sad thing. WoW is not necessarily the cause of these addictions, but simply another catalyst/habbit forming agent, that someone who isn't prepared could easily become enslaved too.
All I ask is that you avoid sarcasm, try to understand, and show some compassion for your fellow human beings.
Thank you.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke
Coincidently, saw this book in the bookstore at lunch. I think the Syracuse might just be bad news reporting. The books doesn't say anything about Syracuse. I skimmed its front and back, and like the article, book only mentions Clemson and some other Universities.
Agree with others, and I've worked a lot with addicts of many types...it can be anything...shopping, gambling, drugs, religion..people can go off the deep end in a myriad of ways.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
I missed the part where WoW almost ended his life. Did an orc jump out of the screen? Does WoW emit a carcinogenic substance?
Let's be blunt; the guy's complete lack self-discipline was the cause. If it wasn't WoW it would have been something else.
LOL.. WoW only eats up your time and social life nothing else (if you can't handle it).
Agreed!
And still something about this smacks of Bullshit. The guy was a tenured professor at a major university. Clemson is one if the top Engineering and Agriculture universities in the south and they have a medical research department that is second to none. A tenured professor at such a university makes a hell of a salary. Yet he still had an Amazon store that sold PC and console games…..getting distributorships for games like that isn’t a small matter you have to be ready to spend a great deal on stock..you just don’t drop ship a couple games when someone decides to buy, plus you have competitors like …Amazon itself, Ebgames PlanetX etc etc…why would a professor go through all that for no significant return? It’s just a very unbelievable story is all.
Let's be honest here. If there is one thing that mmorpgs do better than other games is simulating real life. The less time you spend in the game the less you achieve. The same can be said for the real world. The only difference is that there are no cash shops in real to help you speed up and catch with others.
Some games do teach things. Two such genres I can think of are simulation games and historical strategy. Few of us will ever operate a real F-16 or an attack helicopter, so those games do have some educational value. Historical strategy games made me want to borrow books from library to learn something about background settings at the time.
But games that operate on carrot-and-stick are bad. They reward you for the time spent, and item drop is based on chance. They do, however, provide the setting for social activities and teamwork. So as players we can take advantage of those. Just don't get too obsessed with rewards and winning.
Firstly, I'll address your third point and direct you to the title of this thread. "How World of Warcraft almost ended a syracuse professor's life." The wording is very clear. It's antagonistic and accusatory.
WoW was not the catalyst to this mans mental illness. He simply fixated upon the game as the focus of his compulsion. He could just have easily have fixated on something else.
Such is the nature of a compulsive disorder.
You're purporting to acknowledge that the focus of a compulsion is not the cause of it, but look at the terms you're using; "WoW is not necessarily the cause." .. "someone could easily become enslaved too" .. it shows bias. Millions of people play WoW regularly and suffer absolutely no adverse reaction to doing so.
I can have compassion for the man and his situation; but this story just smacks of sensationalism and that's something that I simply can't abide.
Personally I dont consider wow a GAME but a RACE.
Lets be honest, most of wow hardcore players feel the NEED to play.
They dont play for joy anymore, instead they play for being the best rated in their server or to have Arthas horse etc...
Ofc I know a lot of players play for the fun of it (mostly casuals) but after 5 years of a game if you still play about 8 hours a day...
Its not only WOW fault´s ofc but EVERYTHING in that game is being made in such a suspicious way.
Excuse me my bad english but maybe I can explain it to you with an example:
We all know that somking its addictive. There are many brands worldwide. But some put more nicotine than others in their cigarretes.