MMO Addiction News Segment Video
By Daniel on Friday, May 25th, 2007 at 12:13 PM PST In Blizzard, Computer, Gamer Life, Sony, Videos, World of Warcraft
It seems blaming video games for everything that goes wrong in life seems to be the easiest way out instead of putting blame on the individual and their parents. Your 15 year old beat up a pack of kids in kindergarten? Blame video games. Did he also burn down a church with a moltov cocktail? Oh yea, you better believe video games made him do that. But the thing is, putting blame on video games for actions we take in life is absolutely absurd and it needs to be put to an end.
Take this video from Action News 6 in Philadelphia, PA which we reported on yesterday, but whose actual video was made available today. They did a report on how addictive MMOs are and how it can literally suck the player into the online world they’re playing in. Early in the video, one thing they mention is how playing these games make you anti-social with your friends & family in real life. But, what if all of your friends were playing World Of Warcraft? I know that when I was into WoW, the friends I was hanging out with on a daily basis were also into it. So if anything, our adventures in the world of Azeroth were that much better because not only was I experiencing a great game, but I was experiencing it alongside my closest friends.
Further into the video, we are introduced to Elizabeth. She is the mother of a former Everquest addict. The way he was able to quit his addiction was through suicide unfortunately. But is Everquest really to blame for his death? The news reporter states he played the game constantly, stopped taking his ADD and epilepsy medicine, quit his job, and cut off his phone. For a person to do that for an online game seems to me that person really was unbalanced to begin with.
We all know MMOs are addictive and the more we play, the greater the rewards, but we need to stop blaming games for everything bad or negative that happens in life. The more we blame games, the farther we get to the real root of the problem, which is to put blame on the individual and whoever their close friends/family are. Because if I ever had a friend or family member who did anything crazy over an MMO, you better believe I’d put a stop to it.
MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN PLAYING EVERQUEST FOR 7 YRS. ITS TOTALY OUT OF CONTROL LONG HOURS, MISSED FAMILY TIME, I HAVE 3 KIDS. I GET ON TIME WITH HIM, AND WHAN I DO I SPEND TIME WITH HIM LOOKING AT THE BACK OF HIS HEAD. 36 HOURS A WEEK PLAYING AND THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON 7 YRS. I TELL HIM HE HAS A ADDICTION TO EQ, HE SAYS NO OF COURSE. WE FIGHT ALL THE TIME ABOUT HIS GAME PLAYING ALL THE TIME. I HAD A BREAK DOWN AND SAID ITS ME OR THE GAME. HE PICKED THE GAME, THATS SAID WHEW YOU PICK A GAME,AND THE PEOPLE YOU PLAY WITH (WHO BY THE WAY HE KNOW NPTHING ABOUT, THESE PEOPLE CAN BE ANYONE, AND SAY ANYTHING, YOU MIGHT THINK YOUR TALKING TO A WOMEN TURNS OUT TO BE A MAN)OVER YOUR WIFE OF 14 YEARS, WE HAVE KNOW EACHOTHER FOR MORE THAN 23 YEARS AND DATE SINCE I WAS 16 AND HIM 17. I GO TO ALL THESE WEB SITE ON EVERQUEST ADDICTION, AND I CAN SEE I AM NOT ALONE. WHEN I SAID ITS THE GAME OR ME, AND HE PICKED THE GAME, MY MOM SAID DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE ALONE, AND I GOT TO THINKING I AM ALONE AND HAVE BEEN FOR SOMETIME NOW. I HOPE HE KNOWS I LOVE HIM VERY MUCH AND WOULD DO ANYTHING IN THE WORLD FOR HIM AND MY FAMILY, I AM ALWAYS LAST, AND I DONT MIND THAT. BUT WHEN I ASKE FOR TIME WITH MY HUSBAND IS THAT TO MUCH TO ASK. THE THING THAT GETS ME IS WHEN HE SAYS : WELL I COULD BE OUT DRINKING AT A BAR, I GOING TO STRIP CLUBS, BUT I DONT I AM HOME. HOME IS HE REALLY, HOME IS HIS COMPUTER AND HIS CRAZY FRIENDS ON EQ AND HIS WORLD OF EQ. I JUST HOPE THEY ARE THERE FOR HIM WHWN HES SICK, AND OLD. WE THEY CARE FOR HIM, I THINK NOT. I LOVE LOVE TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING THRU THE SAME THING EMAIL ME ANYTIME, THANKS
DAWN IN NJ
LOL
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I am a gamer who once was the victim of crippling depression, and I was lucky to not get into MMO’s when I was most emotionally vulnerable. I need to debunk a few myths regarding games, and a few stereotypes;
1) The great majority of non-MMO gamers out there, play marathon sessions because they want to. Addiction is generally defined as being unable to stop, even when you want to stop. That is, crack addicts for example, even as the drug destroys them, they can’t stop. Even when they no longer even wish to take it. For the great majority of gamers out there, myself included, we get sick of a game, we won’t play it. Its that simple. So I need to state, for the reccord, that the great majority of video games out there are not addictive in nature. Addiction, is when you want to stop, but you can’t. If a gamer was addicted, truly addicted to a game, even if long after they are just sick of it, even after its “gotten old,” they would keep playing. Most people who are sick and tired of a game will stop the marathon sessions, and ever after only play brief sessions.
2) Video games played too much causes a phenomenon called “burnout.” That is, so overexposed, you can’t even look at it anymore. Myself I burnt myself out on Devil May Cry 3, Resident Evil 4, and Dead Rising. I will admit I sometimes miss those games until I remind myself why I sold them in the first place. I know that with addiction, true addiction, there is no such thing as burnout. It just doesn’t happen.
3) If I had to come up with a definition for people who play too much video games it would have to be “voluntary addiction,” which is an entirely new phenomenon I feel. Voluntary addiction differs from regular addiction, in that the activity may not cause any significant biological or psychological damage BUT, time spent in it isn’t healthy. A drug addict, they could be crying their eyes out as they inject themselves with heroin, or whatever they chose, from their inability to stop themselves. By all accounts I’ve read in my Psychology studies, addiction is pure hell. The cliche is true; you don’t use the drug, the drug uses you. See, that does not apply to games; there IS an addictive nature to them, but it is voluntary. Whereas simple counseling will not stop a crack addict, more extreme measures are needed, it can stop voluntary game addiction. People think that games are like drugs; they’re not. As a gamer myself, let me reassure parents out there, that if they say “sorry, can’t stop” they are lying to you. Do not let your teen lie to you; they are fully capable of stopping, they just don’t want to, and they are using the myth that its “like a drug” to get you off their back. You tell them stop, it is fully withing their power to stop.
4) I love video games; in fact you can call me a “hardcore” gamer. In fact I want to get into game development one day if I get the chance. Even as a “hardcore” gamer, I can’t stand MMO’s. I tried one myself, but I stopped playing because I realized everything within that world was designed to keep you playing. You stop watching your character for even 50 minutes, just 50 minutes, and you come back, reload the game, and he or she is dead in a ditch somewhere, or you discover than an army attacked your town.
I feel that MMO games are unfair, and yes, they are designed indeed to keep players addicted. Normally, gamers and witch hunters like Thompson do not get along. But if common ground can be found here, it is in the form of MMO’s. MMO’s, are the true dark side of video games, here’s why;
Having majored in Psychology, I know all about behaviorism. The way addiction works, like in, say, gambling casinos, is that you set it up so that a player will lose frequently, so that the infrequent reward is more satisfying. That is the nature of gambling casinos. Psychological behavior studies have shown conclusively that infrequent rewards keep people more interested, than frequent ones. MMO games were designed with a panel of Psychologists who worked with the developers to keep the games as addictive as humanly possible.
If MMO RPG’s are as addictive as they are, as consuming as they are, it is because they were designed by unethical men and women who understand the human brain, and human behavior. Those games were designed to get people addicted, and parents are indeed correct in wanting to sue the companies. The behavior of the Psychologists in those design panels was, to say the least, unethical. I was able to stop myself, and not get trapped in that world becaus having studied Psychology myself, I know how they think.
See though other people do not have the benefit of an education in the mind sciences, and are thus unable to spot the various behavioral cues to cause addiction. MMO RPG’s operate under the principles of both operant and classical conditioning. The first involving association, the second, involving the continuation of a behavior. The method used to keep people addicted, is that the more time a person spends, the more powerful their character becomes BUT, the moment said character becomes powerful, it is only a matter of time before an event in the game makes those powers “obsolete.” In that way, using association and operant conditioning principles, the game is set up, deliberately, to cause addiction.
Any parent interested in suing the company, will have to take the game to a panel of Psychiatrists or Psychologists, so that they themselves play the game and analyze it. I guarantee they will find the applications of operant and classical conditioning used in the game to cause addiction. If any parent can use as evidence, the testimony of a qualified mental health professional, that would be evidence enough to issue a court order against Blizzard and other MMO makers to design their games so as to not trap people in that virtual world.
The behavior is unethical to say the least, and potentially more dangerous than drug addiction because its more insidious.
Let me reassure parents, as a gamer myself, the great majority of games out there are not addictive, but I will make an admission, this time as a Psychology major and as a gamer, that MMO RPG’s are the dark side of video games. Forget violent games; you need to focus your energies in stopping MMO’s, as those things are fare more dangerous to the mental health of your children than any other kind of game.
1) Hire a psychiatrist, or a clinical psychologist to play the game in order to analyze it, ask them to look for any applications of operant and classical conditioning for the purpose of causing addiction within the game’s world.
2) Ask them to actively take notes.
3) Hire an attorney, and take the makers of that game to court. They are indeed actively committing a crime, but because the majority of people do not understand Psychology, or how it can be abused, they are getting away with it.
You will need the testimony and evidence collected by professionals, have an attorney present it, and in that way, if at all possible shut them down or ask them to take measures so that the games are not so addictive. Or least design them so that a character will “live” automatically even without the player playing, who knows, but do something. I love video games; they are fun, mentally challenging and certainly a lot healthier than smoking weed, BUT, I am against MMO’s. Not only are the games frankly boring as hell to me, but I spotted way too many things in them to keep me playing when I don’t WANT to keep playing for an eternity.
Nothing makes me angrier, than a video game set up so that its a long time before your next save, or you have limited save options.
MMO games I hear, are very bad with that, to keep pepople playing.
As a gamer, I ask you not to be witch hunters regarding violent games, you don’t want your kids playing them then, read the labels, be responsible. Please focus your energy, not on Rockstar, not on Grand Theft auto, but MMO RGP’s because, once again, those games are indeed dangerous.
good luck to anyone reading this.