The Daily Grind: How should we fight addiction?
We talk about addiction with some regularity here. The genre we cover is designed to be addictive; MMOs that make money are MMOs that keep people subscribed or buying new items for several consecutive months. Latest in a long history of addiction-issue coverage at Massively: a link to the blog of Exgamer, a recovering MMO addict.
Exgamer suggested that some of these games should come with a warning label: "this software can and has been shown to cause addictive behavior." Such a warning might be helpful to consumers who know they're prone to addiction. On the other hand, some folks argue that the software does not on its own cause unhealthy addiction, so the label is unfair.
To deny the basic reality of the MMO addiction problem is ridiculous. But given that agreed-upon premise: how do we curb this? Are warning labels a good idea? Would they even be effective? What measures would you suggest to fight this illness?
