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The Daily Grind: Have you ever fallen into unhealthy play habits?
Pretty much no one who plays video games regularly likes to be called a game addict. There's a stigma attached to gaming, one that makes a lot of players particularly uncomfortable. But we are frequently able to recognize when we're putting in more hours than are entirely healthy in various games. We don't want to be called addicts, but we recognize that spending our entire weekends in Final Fantasy XI or World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2 is probably not a great sign. Sometimes it's just an isolated thing when we have a free weekend and wind up spending all of it gaming. Other times we step back and realize we're devoting too much of our time and energy to our games of choice and we need to back off a little bit. So does that sound like you? Have you ever fallen into unhealthy play habits by accident? Or do you feel you've never been a bit too focused on playing your MMO of choice? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Swedes say WoW is as addictive as crack
We've heard a few horror stories from Sweden already about excessive WoW-playing there -- we've reported on a 15-year-old collapsing after not taking any breaks, and we've even heard from a teacher in that country who's targeted World of Warcraft as a challenge to her students' attention. But now one group up there is claiming it's an epidemic -- the Youth Group Foundation has released a report comparing the game itself to cocaine, and says that of all the game addiction cases they've encountered, World of Warcraft has played a part in every one.Obviously, here at WoW Insider, we're fans of the game, and it's hard to blame an inanimate object like a computer for serious problems in someone's life -- while World of Warcraft is one of the easiest ways an addictive personality can manifest itself, millions of people around the world are able to play it and maintain healthy lives and relationships.Still, if you're playing World of Warcraft (or doing anything else) so much that it's affecting your health or social life, it's time to stop and/or get help from an organization like this. We won't blame the game for causing someone to pass out (common sense says that doing anything for 15 hours straight isn't good for you) or do poorly in school, but if either of those things are happening to you, in Sweden or anywhere else, because you're playing the game, then cut it out.
Gadgets blamed for teens' lack of sleep
We've seen gadgets blamed for increased violence, the fall of contemporary art, and even broken hearts, but the latest study to pin more blame on the gizmos we simply can't do without purports that teens are missing out on crucial sleep thanks to their gadget addictions. According to a recent report by The Sleep Council, "gadgets in bedrooms such as computers and TVs are fueling poor quality 'junk sleep,' and considering that nearly a quarter of respondents "admitted that they fell asleep watching TV, listening to music, or with other equipment still running more than once a week," it's not too hard to understand how the conclusion was drawn. Nevertheless, it was suggested that these electronics were hindering kids' ability to get the recommended eight hours of sleep each night, but hey, when (most) free nights begin at 9:00PM, how can ya blame 'em?[Thanks, Joel]
