addiction
Latest
Psychologists talk gaming addiction, online friendships
1UP's Scott Sharkey has written an article titled "Hook It to My Veins: Can Videogaming be an Addiction?" in which he provides anecdotal experiences with excessive gaming and conversations with two experts -- researcher/author Neils Clark and psychology lecturer Dr. Nadine Pelling. The conclusion is made pretty quickly: yes, video games can be an addiction. Big surprise there! But the details can be wishy-washy, it turns out. Virtual worlds are the subject of in-depth analysis. Clark borrows from a theory by J.R.R. Tolkien by suggesting that gaming addiction is about a conflict between what ought to be a primary world, and a secondary fantasy world. Gamers with a problem have difficulty prioritizing, or even acknowledging that the gaming world is secondary. Immersion is an important part of enjoying a game, right? But if you're thinking about how you need to make sure the primary world gets its due attention, then you're not immersed anymore -- so begins the problem.
Philosony: Carpe Trophaeum
Kylie Prymus is the first columnist for PS Fanboy. A Ph.D candidate in philosophy, Kylie specializes in the sociology of technology. Through this new weekly column, Kylie will explore the impact of PlayStation on thought and culture.My PSN profile tells me that I am a Trophy n00b. An abysmal 1st level collector. I've acquired most of the trophies that you average primate could gather with ease, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get many more. I have a paltry 8 trophies, all of them from PixelJunk Eden. That puts me at a 33% completion rate, firmly in the middle of category: l-o-s-e-r. Still, I didn't download Eden for the Trophies any more than I downloaded it hoping it would teach me to finally get my snozzberry* plants to grow. I downloaded it because it was a much lauded and quirky, not to mention exclusive, PSN title and I happen to have a soft spot for such qualities (particularly the exclusivity). Being able to collect Trophies through the game is just a bonus, a diversionary side quest that makes the whole package slightly more appealing. As I venture for the first time into this whole trophy business I've had to ask myself why I should even bother. What is the appeal of achievements Trophies? Do they add to or take away from a game? What is it about the Trophy system that made it such a sought after addition to the PSN? Milestones? Bragging rights?
Advice columnist covers WoW addiction
This just keeps coming up. This time, anonymous husband "Walking on Eggshells" wrote advice columnist Amy Dickinson for help. His wife of 20 years has succumbed to the dread WoW Addiction, and is forsaking both Walking and their mutual children. Apparently, she's had an affair with a Guildmate and everything.Of course, Walking is feeling dejected, and especially burdened since he's picking up the slack around the house. He wants to get therapy, do something to help the relationship -- but his wife's just saying that he needs to love it or leave it.It's always a little frustrating as a WoW player to read about this kind of thing. My personal stance is that if they're having this kind of problem from World of Warcraft, the same would have cropped up with something else eventually. Issues like these don't appear magically on their own, wrecking houses as the login screens comes up.Amy does direct Walking to Online Gamers Anonymous. As she points out, they've got a 12 step program and everything. Well, good luck to them. I really do hope they manage to get the problem worked out. Quitting WoW can be done, but they'll need more to solve their family issues.
Addiction, the Internet and virtual worlds
The Metaverse Journal's Feldspar Epstein has just finished an three part series exploring addiction, in the context of Virtual Worlds Addiction and Internet Addiction. While many of us may refer to ourselves as addicts, the fact that these two categories even exist in the public consciousness at all is a testament to fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of both physical and psychological addiction, as Epstein explains. What is addiction, how does it affect us, and is heavy, regular usage enough to qualify? Check out parts one, two and three, and sit back and consider the role of the Internet and virtual worlds in your life and in the lives of others.
Breakfast topic: Time is the fire
Somehow I missed the memo that Blizzard was changing the minimap to include an upfront clock, alarm, and stopwatch. It's a pretty neat idea. My favorite part is that you can switch the clock to read local time. This adds to time management tools located in the account setting to limit play time. As I've mentioned before, I live in Las Vegas. It's a strange place, with time dimensions similar to World of Warcraft. You have to look pretty hard to find a clock or a window in one of the casinos and the floors are like mazes that are designed to disorient you. Why? They want you to stay there and spend your money. As far as I know, WoW has always had a clock, but until yesterday, you had to hover your mouse over it to see the time. You can always look around the room. I don't know how many times I've checked the time and wondered where the time went. I found it nice tonight to have it right in front of me.
Another reason to love Ernie Hudson
As if brilliant acting in films such as The Basketball Diaries, or his great TV work in shows such as Oz, weren't enough to love the man, we now find out he's addicted to one of our most beloved puzzle games: Tetris. During an interview regarding the upcoming Ghostbusters game, Hudson let the cat out of the bag."Years ago, I bought my son Tetris. He said, 'Wow, this is cool, Dad, but are you sure you don't want to play? Here, this is how you do it...' So I start playing Tetris. I have to be at work at six o'clock the next morning. Then it's 4.30am and I've been up all night, playing Tetris." It didn't end there, as Ernie (we're allowed to call him by his first name, it's cool) continued his affair with the puzzle game for a lot longer than you might think. "For 15 years, I was hooked on Tetris. I played it every single day. I can still hear that stupid song in my head. I thought, if that one game did that to me... I just don't have time for that. So I'm not a gamer. But the kids, they spend more time than I'd like to see them spend playing games." 15 years, only to kick the habit cold turkey? Man, Ernie, talk about impressive.[Via Go Nintendo]
Games to help curb your addictions
The "self-help" era is upon us, even finding its way into the video game industry as of late. Aside from the obvious fitness awareness game on Nintendo's other system (we mean Wii Fit, of course), there have been quite a few attempts to help gamers improve their lifestyles and habits. Take, for example, the upcoming My Weight Loss Coach and Ubisoft's "Easyway" title to help people quit smoking.Our favorite approach so far, though, was when DS Fanboy reader Dan used Pokémon to quit smoking. If there's anything we've learned from Dan's inspiring story, it's that the best way to curb an addiction is to replace it with another. We then decided that we wanted to help more of our fine readers that are suffering from such torments day in and day out. Pokémon may cure smoking, but what about other plaguing ailments? We're happy to say that after months of testing on monkeys and small children, we've finally come up with a few perfect video game cures.So, look no further than Dr. DS Fanboy, and check out our ultimate self-help guide to find the fixes for your addictions. Master that addiction!
WoW Insider Show Episode 42: Arena, addiction and Turpster's ding
Yes, we went live on the WoW Radio airwaves last weekend, and the recorded results are live on their site right now for your listening enjoyment. It was a full show -- Zach Yonzon came on to talk about Arena PvP, as did Amanda Dean (to defend her points from last week), and Matthew Rossi. Turpster was on as well, and if you weren't around on EU Sporeggar last weekend, you missed quite an event -- there were a ton of Gnomes and Dwarves who turned out to take down Turpster right as he dinged 70 on his Shadow Priest. Also on the show, we chatted about: The new Arena season -- why Zach things "L2P" isn't the biggest problem Hunters have in the Arena, what we're looking forward to with the new season, and why the timing on this season is actually just right PvE to PvP transfers and why Blizzard finally did them WoW addiction and exactly what we think of it A few things we've heard officially about the expansion -- the idea of Unified Spellpower, and what's up with Shamans. And finally, we answered email as usual from readers, including why I was completely wrong about the Gnome/Dwarf starting area, and what kind of good WoW and game-related music is out there to listen to. It was a good show -- a lot of fun to make, and hopefully a lot of fun to listen to. If you have a question or comment about the show, don't hesitate to email us: just drop a note to theshow@wow.com, and you might even hear it on the podcast. And if you haven't ever tuned in live to chat with us on IRC during the recording, mark your calendar: we do this live every Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern over on WoW Radio.Thanks for listening as always, and enjoy the show this week.
Gaming's best kept secret: World of Warcraft
Like a child taking his first step, a non-gamer encountering his first MMO is something to be cherished. Two wolves, one cow, and one top-heavy avatar later, Patrick Howe's first foray into "so-called" massively multiplayer games already has him wondering about addiction. Why, usually it takes at least four or five wolves before the average MMO gamer starts checking for the aggro radii of farmyard animals. (Patrick, when you want to know how best to take care of those pesky snow rabbits, we here at Massively.com can point you in the right direction). It's no easy thing to tip a virtual cow and realize you are suddenly standing on the lip of an abyss that contains games that can thrill you, addict you, train soldiers and fight cancer.Did you know that "there are games that require teams of people -- real people, from all over the world -- to work together to solve problems (although those problems often involve killing monsters)?" It's true! Perhaps one of the things that most surprises Patrick is that there are any benefits to playing MMOs. It's hardly surprising, considering the backdrop for his wolf-slaying excursion was an all-day conference on video game compulsion held at Cuesta College last May. It's easy to throw around that word, compulsion. Some people feel compelled to play. Do MMOs, by requiring long periods of play to build up a character and become part of a raiding guild and take part in raids, to have people depend on you, create compulsion in people otherwise compulsion-free? Or is this just the hysteria that accompanies any new leisure time activity, like music, movies, television or football?From the outside, non-gamers see us as addicted troglodytes, sitting in silence as we puppet over-stylized characters into ritual murder games. From the inside, we see it as a fun time with friends. But we all know people who really are a little "too" into their game, and need to take a step or two back, before they find themselves seized by eager psychologists hot to warn the unaware public of the latest danger to their poor children's fragile psyches.
Gamers are not social misfits after all!
It's been what, three hours since we've heard the last research study on gaming addiction? It almost seems like we could feed every starving child in the world with this research money given to these studies, but with the ever-growing popularity of online gaming, the concern is certainly no surprise.In a shocking change of pace though, a recent study conducted by Australia's Victoria University psychology Honours graduate Dan Loton shows that gamers are in fact not social rejects. Out of 621 gamers -- mostly male, mostly Australian -- only 93 could be described as "problem gamers". This is defined as people who spend more than 50 hours a week playing online games. Curiously enough, Loton added, "We found that those who played Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, such as World of Warcraft, were more likely to exhibit problematic game play." Aww, and we were so close, too.
New report: Gamers are not lonely losers
Gamers seem to get a lot of bad press. From controversial episodes in the early days of Dungeons and Dragons to WoW addictions that are more shameful than online porn. Anyone who doesn't know us might actually believe that we're 10 million basement-dwelling social troglodytes. The American Medical Association is even considering the addition of video game addictions to their big book of mental problems (also known as the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). A new study by Victoria University found just the opposite. They found that about 15% of their 621 participants qualified as problem gamers, that is they spent more than 50 hours a week playing games. Even among that 15 percent, only one percent showed signs of poor social skills. While there are some who have a major problem gaming habit most of us are normal people who unwind with a video game.
WoW Insider Show goes live tomorrow afternoon
Yes, It's almost Saturday yet again, and that means that our weekly podcast is going live on the airwaves of WoW Radio. This week on the show, Zach Yonzon just had to come on, because last week, apparently Amanda Dean said some things about Arena that he had to talk about. Amanda will be on to defend her position that Arena is broken, and Matthew Rossi will be in tow, possibly to keep the peace if we need him (probably not the best guy to do that, though -- he kind of likes a fight). And Turpster will join us as well -- he'll be promoting the big Dingstravaganza that he's hosting right after the show over on EU Sporeggar.We'll talk about WoW addiction, as well as the aforementioned Arena news (and oh yeah, some season 4 thing got announced), as well as everything we've learned about Wrath so far, and what's up with these PvE to PvP changes. You should never say never, but didn't Blizzard say never?And as usual we'll be answering your emails (theshow@wow.com is the address), and chatting live on IRC at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel. Tune in tomorrow at 3:30 Eastern on WoW Radio to hear this week's episode of the WoW Insider Show -- it's going to be a good one.
[1.Local]: Readers dig into this week's stories
[1.Local] serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.Nostalgia threads are among our reader favorites, so quite a few commenters this week chimed in on what Old World instances they'd most like to see made heroic (if such a thing were ever to happen). Readers chimed in on not one but two posts examining whether players should be embarrassed (or even ashamed) of their WoW playing. We chatted about whether or not the story behind WoW really matters and about cool things to do while we're fishing. This was also a week about preparations. We discussed shaping up smaller guilds for 10-man raiding in Wrath, and we talked about gearing up for PvP from scratch in the face of Season 4's debut. And finally, we had a rather hilarious take on hunter strategy – fuzzy logic, or no?Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.
WoW player more ashamed than porn addict
It's not the first time WoW addiction has been addressed, and it won't be the last. This one, however, is a nice change from some more sensational pieces. In an interview with The Boston Globe, well-known psychiatrist Dr. Jerald Block discusses what he calls "pathological computer use." His clients, he says, can be "more ashamed of playing World of Warcraft than looking at porn." These kind of interviews aren't uncommon, like the CNN editorial from a few months ago. However, a few things about Dr. Block's interview struck me as pretty well-balanced. First, Dr. Block has quibbles about the phrase addiction. He feels that word addresses the wrong issues and nuances. Dr. Block prefers "pathological computer use." In my opinion, that word indicates the game itself isn't the problem, but instead the manner in which the person uses the game.Dr. Block also discusses a patient who was very successful at EVE Online. After a fairly disastrous event, he felt betrayed by everyone he knew in the game. Dr. Block spells out the problem isn't only how subject deals with that issue, but that the subject's (out-of-game) friends can't understand. What might be a legitimate, troublesome event is being related-to by people who don't have context to an individual issue. Of course, while it probably ended the player's addiction -- I don't know if I'd list this kind of disaster as a way to quit playing WoW.It's a refreshing view on WoW addiction, and worth a bit more look at Dr. Block's web site.
Player vs. Everything: Why won't you just take a break?
Everyone plays MMOGs at different speeds. Some people spend just a few hours a week playing, and some of us spend altogether far too much time on these games. I submit, for evidence, that 4-hour raids three nights per week is considered a "light raiding schedule" by most raiding standards. That's almost a part-time job, when you count the time you spend farming for mats and doing random other runs on top of that! Still, it doesn't matter how much time you actually spend playing -- anyone can get pretty wrapped up in their favorite game. Even a "casual" player can get to the point where they're just playing because it's what they do, instead of playing because they're having fun. Whether you play for 5 hours each week or 50 hours each week, sometimes it's good to step back, take a breather, and get off the game for a while. Right? It seems so simple, so obvious. "Yes, of course it's good to take a break," you say, nodding along with me. "Just as soon as I get my Tier 9 Sword, Epic Firetruck, and Gleeful Gnome Pet, I'll do that. Though, I should really wait until my Tier 10 Sword and Mega-Epic Firetruck... and then help my guildies get theirs." Meanwhile, there's that nagging feeling in the back of your mind: Is this actually fun?
WoW as a bargaining chip
My wife is a shrewd little fox. She knows just how much I love the fact that she plays the game with me so sometimes, when we have our little domestic arguments, she makes sure to cancel her WoW account just to drive home a point. Of course, it doesn't mean much since we're both paid up for the next few months, but the message is clear -- "we make up (or you see things my way) or I'm quitting the game!" Of course, we don't reconcile merely because I'll be losing my favorite playing partner, but I have to confess that it doesn't make me happy one bit.For parents, World of Warcraft can be a useful bargaining chip for their kids with the parental controls feature. It's easy enough to control WoW time if kids aren't doing their homework, floundering in school, or simply not doing their chores. Conversely, a friend of mine gave his son a WoW subscription when he did well in school. World of Warcraft can be so much fun and addicting that it's often used as a social tool, and it's often upsetting when our friends quit playing the game. How many of us have had friends whose significant others have "allowed" them to play the game after, say, a wonderful date?I'm not sure if it only applies to me, but because I play the game with many of my RL friends and my family, I use the lure of WoW to full effect. I once had my brother do a specific task for the promise of an upgrade to The Burning Crusade. A little before he finished what I asked him to do, I secretly upgraded his account so he could finally make his Blood Elf Priest. Kind of manipulative, I know, but we did end up having a lot of fun leveling our alts together. How about you? How much a part of your life is WoW and has it ever been used as a bargaining chip in your social life?
The Daily Grind: Are you addicted to your MMO?
Sure, it's fun to say that you're addicted to your favorite MMO, but for some people, it might actually be true. If you can't stop thinking of playing during those rare moments when you're away from the computer; if you miss work or school because of play; if your friends and family express concern over your pastime, you might want to consider if it's time to take a step back. In fact, here's a handy guide to overcoming MMO addiction. But as serious as actual addiction is, only you can decide for yourself if you've crossed the line. And it can be somewhat tricky to make that distinction. What do you think, are you perilously close to being addicted to your favorite MMO, or can you quit whenever you want?
MSNBC readers rate World of Warcraft as most addicting game
Kristen Kalning, the games editor of MSNBC, asked her readers, "What game hooked you and why?" After the flood of e-mails finished cascading through her inbox and she tallied the votes in each one, it wasn't surprising that World of Warcraft came up as the leader.While she does say that other games like City of Heroes, and other non MMO games like Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and even Guitar Hero came up, her article took the time to mostly focus on the addicting properties of WoW. Readers added their own tales of addiction and the addiction of others, and Kalning relates some of the most woe-worthy stories she received in her inbox.However, the article isn't all doom and gloom. One reader took the time to talk about how Guild Wars helped her with her shyness while another reader explained the proud feeling his Halo 3 accomplishments give him. It's always nice to see that games aren't harming the social habits of every gamer who picks up a controller or keyboard and mouse.If you're fascinated by addiction, or just looking for a story to scare your WoW addicted spouse, be sure to drop by and check out her article, as well as the original. If it's the addicted spouse, however, may we interest you in a detox clinic?
Are you an MMO fanboi?
We all love massively multiplayer games. Otherwise we wouldn't be here reading this right now. But when does your love for a certain game become an unhealthy obsession? We're not talking about addiction, but we're talking about defending your favorite game regardless of the problems the game may have or what the game's developers might do to completely change the difficulty level.There can be a fanboi (an interestingly unisex term) for every context, but for the sake of this article, we're going to focus on the fanboi as it pertains to MMO gaming. It's safe to say that most of us can consider ourselves fanbois in one form or another. The question is, do you realize the severity of your fanboi-itis? Are you in fanboi denial? How many times can I say fanboi in one paragraph?
DS Daily: Now is not the time
For how much some of you enjoy your DS, we'd think you had a pouch for the device grafted into your skin. As such, we thought about what kind of effect playing all the time could have on someone's life. We then thought about the addiction of enjoying great DS games, and how they could drive a person to play when it's not really appropriate to.Have you ever whipped out the DS and played at an inappropriate time? Perhaps you were caught solving cases in Apollo Justice while in the chair waiting for the dentist to inspect your teeth? Have you been yelled at by friends or family for playing when you should've been listening to Uncle Carl talk about his trip to some boring location? When have you enjoyed your DS when you probably shouldn't have?
