How Warcraft Really Does Wreck Lives 617
An anonymous reader writes "There's a great blog post about how World of Warcraft can ruin lives, it's written by a person that was for a long time a member of the largest council on what is now one of the oldest guilds in the world." This is a story that is very familiar to a lot of folks. I know people who are actively wrecking their lives and risking their jobs by playing too much of a video game.
70 days in a year (Score:5, Interesting)
* Ok, maybe the bar is ok..
Re:Broken (Score:3, Interesting)
Besides, even without WoW there are plenty of videogames to get addicted to, even in non-MMO group of computer RPGs. Titan Quest is currently sucking globs of my time despite really just being Diablo 2 for 2006.
Re:Let's be frank... (Score:5, Interesting)
When people who are obsessed with absolute personal accountability realize that not everything is a conscious decision, then the world will be a better place overall. True addiction, meanwhile, knows no boundaries.
What are the positive things? (Score:5, Interesting)
I played WoW for about a year, running a major guild. What did I learn?
That I'm good at self depreciating humour.
That I can get people to follow me by being the first one to stand up and provide direction.
That leading people is more about knowing where you are going than how you are going to get there.
How to negotiate peace between two people who have genuinely lost sight of what's important.
Which of those skills have turned out to be useful in my current career? 100% of them. I stand up every day knowing that basically the people I work with are no different to the people I played with, that saying something is better than saying nothing, and that if I get fired hell at least I can enjoy my unemployment hunting for epics with some old friends. It's the same confidence that people who lead sports teams at school get... and now it's available to geeks.
I might point out that being acclimatised to 70 hour working weeks and doing the same boring crap over and over also helps in the real world. Being able to have two priorities and still getting everything done with really limited time isn't exactly bad practice either.
Would I hire ex gamers? Probably. It depends if they have used their time to do something valuable, like learning how to build their confidence, lead, motivate and get along with others - and that's hard to demonstrate.
Like everything else - knowing when you have learned as much as you can and it's time to move on is a big part of determining if online games will be a constructive or destructive thing for you.
Wrecking lives? (Score:3, Interesting)
In the end, your life will simply expire anyway. Make sure you've had some fun and don't listen to other people who want to decide what you do with your time.
Re:I need help (Score:5, Interesting)
The MOMENT my GF said "You should spend more time with me and less with WoW" (cliche'd but true), I dropped WoW. Didn't take me a moment.
Re:Good post (Score:4, Interesting)
When I started, I had a serious girlfriend. She kept asking me to get a job, but I was content to sit at home and play a video game. I would ignore her calls so I could keep playing, because I knew I couldn't do anything while we talked. She, rightly so, left me a little while later. Losing my girlfriend put me even deeper into the game. I didn't care about anything else, because I hadn't realized how much she mattered until she was gone. The game let me numb my senses to the real world, it became the only reason I kept going.
Eventually, I got a job. I tried to keep playing, but I couldn't keep up with the "hardcore" guys I used to play with. I had turned into one of the guys we made fun of, because they never equalled our stature. They kept going, and I stopped playing. My passing was not missed. The world kept chugging on, and I was aware of the world for the first time after a long period of doing nothing.
Re:70 days in a year (Score:3, Interesting)
5 hours of gameplay
8 hours of work
2 hours of travelling to and from work
1 hour for meals
1 hour to do household chores and shopping
1 hour for showering, taking a dump, etc..
--
23 hours
Yeah... 1 hour a day should be enough for a social life.
If it weren't WoW, it'd be something else (Score:5, Interesting)
For my boyfriend & I, we use it as an inexpensive form of entertainment. We raid, but nothing insanely hardcore. 2 nights a week, usually. Other couples watch TV, we play WoW. You can't really beat $15/month ($30 for two) for some quality entertainment.
Re:Let's be frank... (Score:5, Interesting)
"What the science shows, he says, is that the brain of an addict is fundamentally different from that of a non-addict. Initially, when a person uses hard drugs like heroin or cocaine, the chemistry of the brain is not much affected, and the decision to take the drugs remains voluntary. But at a certain point, he says, a "metaphorical switch in the brain" gets thrown, and the individual moves into a state of addiction characterized by compulsive drug use." [beachpsych.com]
Some drugs--tabacco and meth, for example--are far more aggressive than others in altering brain chemistry in ways that make the choice to quit harder. And some people are far more susceptible than others. But there is no doubt whatsoever that addiction is a perfectly ordinary physiological phenomenon, no different from any other crippling physical disorder, and it affects some people severely enough that they no more have a choice to quit and than a parapelegic has a choice to walk. They literally lack the physiological capacity to do so.
This does not mean that all people are so affected--like any other disease, additions have different effects on different people. Some people get smallpox and live. Others die. No one thinks that anyone has a choice about it.
In the case of addiction, some people's capacity to choose is physiologically limited to the point where they lack the ability to quit on their own, just like some polio patients lack the ability to breathe on their own. I don't see anyone saying, "Whichever way you look at it, polio patients have a choice."
The article I've linked above includes disenting voices, but no one is saying that the brains of addicts aren't fundamentally altered by drug use. They are arguing over what the policy implications of that are, based on some pretty clearly delineated, and extremely stupid, ideological biases on both sides. And non-drug-related things, like compulsive game-playing and compulsive gambling may or may not involve similar physiological changes, but there is no doubt that sometimes people do not have a choice, however much you might want to believe otherwise.
Re:70 days in a year (Score:3, Interesting)
I put a similar amount of time into just one single MUD for three consecutive years at university. I also played other muds, began an ongoing Angband addiction, learned Unix (to a small extent), and how to do OO programming, worked a part time job, spent far too much cash in the SU bars, worked fulltime between terms, represented my university at sport and also picked up a very good degree from a very good university.
I finished with a character over 6 months old (/played equivalent), a lot of very close friends (who continue to be my closest friends) and never once became a zombie.
Other people spend their time watching TV, raising children, helping the poor or working for a living. 42 weeks at 40 hours a week is less than most people spend working, and I know which I'd rather be doing.
These days of course I am working full time, and I gave up WoW with just 45 days
15 minutes (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe you can get in a game of speed chess, but how much fun is it to drop in for 5 to 15 minutes of Monopoly? Or Scrabble? Do you get the guys together for 15 minutes of football? If there's no line at the lift, maybe you can get in a short ski run.
I think your assertion is not only false, but irrelevant. Now it's video games or the internet, before that it was golf and television, and before that it was radio.
There are many activities that can take up large chunks of time. And there are many people who engage in those activities without farking up the other aspects of their lives. Conversely, I can smoke some crack for 5 to 15 minutes. Does that mean crack is likely to be less harmful to my relationships than WoW?
Ok, maybe that's a bad example ;) Point is, what's wrong with taking responsibility for own life rather than blaming a game?
Re:Let's be frank... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:What are the positive things? (Score:3, Interesting)
Kudos to you for taking something from the game & applying it to real life.
Re:What are the positive things? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you're the kind of person who doesn't have the willpower to say "hey, it's time to turn the game off and go out with my friends", then you should steer clear. Also, if you're the kind of person who has any kind traces of obsessive-compulsive behavior, there's a damn good chance you'll get sucked in. As for myself, every day after I finished playing I just said to myself "Self, you didn't get an epic today. Did you still have fun playing?". For a year, the answer was yes 80% of the time. When the answer turned to "No" consistently, I canceled my account. Even when I was playing a lot, I still always was willing to turn the game off and go play with my friends...but I digress.
I feel for the people like the poster, but really, if you don't have self-control, you're going to get burned at SOMETHING. The one guy I know who really got his life devoured now compulsively works out like six days a week. Sure that's more healthy than sitting in front of a keyboard, but it's really just the same behavior channeled into a healthier pursuit. The point of the matter is that WOW is just a microcosm of the real world and everyone takes their own bullshit there. My friend can get kind of compulsive about stuff. The OP sounds like he was looking for an escape. Lots of people are are in unsatisfying relationships, or starved for feelings of success.
I guess my point is that I'm a bit disgusted that even within the "gamer" community we do what we accuse a lot of politicians of doing...we oversimplify issues until we have someone to blame. The middle east is a clusterfuck because of "terrorists," the internet is insecure because of "hackers," and I'm a lard-ass because of video games. If people can learn to look at problems and say "How much of this problem is the fault of me or people acting just as I would?" then people learn and grow. If people say "Whose fault is this?" then you stay asleep at the wheel, and it's just a matter of time until you bounce from WOW to coke or working out or an unsatisfying career.
Re:Wrecking their lives? (Score:5, Interesting)
I suspect it CAN be a real addiction like meth or heroin. I've known many meth and heroin addicts (my father included).
Psychological addictions are no less addictive, yet their consequenses are minute compared with drug addiction. Hell, I know people (myself included) who can be addicted to anger and malice. I find myself looking for reasons to be angry some days. Just like those kids you knew in high school who would do anything for attention (either addicted or have been neglected at home, I've seen both). But like I said, I'd rather be addicted to emotion or WoW than meth any day. I only play an average of 4 hours a week, depending on what else is going on in my life.
Re:Let's be frank... (Score:3, Interesting)
The part to be careful of is the part that entails "minor diversions into fantasy-land." Sometimes this is where the future addict gets hooked.
When people develop compulsive habits, or addictions, they no longer have control. They can't just decide to stop without some sort of intervention.
While it's always best for people to provide their own prevention, you have to realize that we are a society that has embraced artifical needs (it's an important component of the present moneyism). People are no longer rational; we do not live self-"examined lives," nor do we know ourselves. We are expected only to contribute to the economy, which in its turn, is supposed to care for us.
When the addictions of gaming begin to tax more from the economy than is replaced, then will be the time for regulations. An addicted populace is useful until it becomes dysfunctional.
The most useful tactic of such a society is the pretense that individuals still have their agency to choose. Once programmed into the new managed utopia, we simply fall back on traditional morality when something goes wrong: it was his fault. He took the bait. He made poor choices. The product is designed to be as addictive as possible, yet we are expected to practice temperance and moderation when partaking of it.
What you said is still true - in a perfectly human, perfectly civilized society. In a society such as ours, where we rely on external providence for all of our support (we work for someone else, get clothes, food, and shelter from someone else, and have very little or no idea at all how to produce these things in a self-sufficient manner), we can hardly be expected to be accountable for a good portion of the choices we make. A dependent people can carry very little blame.
Re:Reminds me... (Score:3, Interesting)
I've definately given up some of my hobbies though. We watch a lot less TV. Other than the remodeling projects I haven't done much for wood working or 3-d modeling. And I have some minor maintenance to do on my car that I've been putting off.
-Rick
WoW does wreck lives (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Broken (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I need help (Score:1, Interesting)
She doesn't work and she plays about 6-10 hours a day. She has two fully geared 60s, is bringing up another and is in the top raiding guild on our server. She's active in guild politics, her druid outheals the priests and pallys in the guild, and her mage can go toe-to-toe with any hunter or rogue for DPS.
Here's the issue: With all of that going on, and given that she and I can only see each other on weekends (long distance relationship), we have come within a hair's breadth of breaking up twice now over that stupid game. Both times it has been me who was frustrated with spending all weekend watching her play, and being forced to do the same just to spend time with her. It got so bad the second time that I threatened to cancel her account (it's in my name, on my bank account) as well as mine. She finally opened her eyes to how engrossed she was, and also how she was in a cycle of depression over not being able to find a job despite her skills and experience. She discovered that she was hiding from her depression in the game, which was further depressing her because of the problems it caused with us, as well as with her real-life friends that she'd been shunning all this time. She backed off from the game considerably, and now she will back out of a scheduled raid to spend time with me without me asking her to, even though it seriously endangers her standing with them.
Like any legal addiction, it's a life-drain and a danger, but played in moderation and with consideration for your family and friends (and your own mental health), it can be a good pasttime.
Re:I need help (Score:5, Interesting)
Over twenty years ago, when I was in college, I was introduced to a group called the SCA [sca.org], "a medieval history re-enactment group," that had, at the time, been around about twenty years. Over several years of various levels of involvement with the group, I watched many of the same impacts described in TFA happen to people's "real" lives. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent on gear for tournaments over some people's lives; there were affairs and break-ups, alcoholism and job loss. I remember people going off to events without their spouses, having a weekend fling while they were there, and writing it off to an excuse of "being in character" for their chosen persona. In the worst cases, I've witnessed people draw "live steel" against one another, meaning real, sharpened blades came out and challenges were made over some perceived insult to a made-up character.
The SCA isn't the only group that this sort of involvement happens in, though. People in our society want, in the worst way, an escape from mundane reality; they want some sort of control over their environment, and want to be appreciated for the things they do. Take any area of interest (Civil War, Star Wars, News for Nerds, etc.), and somewhere there is some sort of group dedicated to its advancement. Get enough people doing it, you have a society. Concentrate hard enough, you have an alternate reality.
Chances are that we're never going to be able to create a real-world society where everyone is happy with their lot in life and how they integrate with the world around them. Until then, we're going to come up with more and better ways to escape the reality we're in, and those escapes are going to have their addicts. It's kind of unfortunate, and, as TFA points out, can be destructive. I've identified my addictive side, and deal with it as best I can. Through force of will, I only delve into addictive things to a certain degree and get out before I get really hooked (though I've recently discovered that my internal clock, otherwise very accurate, stops working when Civ IV is running; I need mechanical assistance). For those that can do the same, or don't have such addictive behaviors, great. For the others, those who pour their lives into something that doesn't add value in the outside world, well, Darwin calls.
Re:Hey, don't be too hard on him. (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know the details of your personal beliefs, but I've always had a problem with the attitude that goes, "This set of beliefs give me a sense of meaning/purpose, therefore they must be true." Just because a lot of peple feel that it's useful for God to exist does not mean that He must.
I prefer to determine the workings of the universe the best I can and then see if I can find a meaning and/or purpose from there.
Re:I need help (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't mean to start an e-peen war here, I'm just setting the context for how some people can balance a hardcore raiding life with real life, and not be too drawn into the addiction.
To give you an idea of how much I've played my only character:
Total time played: 210 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes, 28 seconds
Time played this level: 188 days, 3 hours, 50 minutes, 33 seconds
Sure, I've blown off invites from friends to go to parties to instead sit at home raiding. In retrospect I would have regretted those mornings after anyway! I haven't yet lost any of those friends, as I can still find time to see them fairly often. Being a hardcore player does not mean you have to spend your entire waking day in front of your computer, I have a full time job that I must pay attention to instead.
There are many types of WoW players, each able to balance the game with their real lives in different ways. An outsider might look at a mixed group of players and not be able to tell if they're casual or hardcore based solely on the number of hours they play each day. A hardcore player who only logs on each night only to raid is also a part of a larger machine, the guild, which is organized in such a way to allow people to play less and not burn out. Or at least thats one of the intentions. A casual player will not find that kind of support simply because they do not see themselves as being able to, or wanting to, spend the time to set up such a system. They want to stay casual and will justify being so by going so far as complaining (a lot) on the public blizzard forums about every change in the game that allows people who are able to play 'more' to gain the advantage.
The above poster stated that the only difference between a casual and hardcore player was playtime and gear differential. I would say that play time doesn't factor into it as much as people might think. People are able to minimize their playtime and still call themselves hardcore. Although it may not be apparent to most other people.
Re:did ya read GP post? (Score:3, Interesting)
THe box is still shrinkwrapped from last year.
I dont want to play it because I would be sad knowing what I am missing out. Sigh
Not just for kids. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I need help (Score:2, Interesting)
And you're possibly disregarding that point in error. When someone has a psychological addiction, endorphins are released when they participate in that activity, and it makes them feel good. If that action becomes associated with the good feelings, a cycle can start, resulting in a dependency on the chemicals associated with that activity. The lines between the physiological and psychological are not rigid, black and white areas, and everyone should understand that theories regarding this particular area change quite often.
Any of these psychological addictions can become what is in essence, a chemical addiction, characterized by a degree of physical dependence. As such, psychiatrists are finding that the treatment of some of these harmful behaviours is helped considerably if they recognize and treat the chemical aspect of the addiction.
I bet plenty of people here on slashdot know people who get mighty upset (depression, irritability, etc.) if they don't get to play their WoW (or other game) at the time they usually play. Heck, a good amount of people following that description may themselves be slashdotters. Also, if a particular game is playing host to more addicts than other games, how can you argue the game should not also be in strong focus? If it seems that a disproportionate amount of people become addicted to the grind style MMO than other games, then it has to be explained by one of a few things: 1) This particular type of game attracts people with addictive personalities, thus more of its players become addicted 2) Something in the game sets up a cycle that draws in otherwise nonaddictive people, and they become hooked.
My money is on #2, because I've been there and done that. I was hooked on Diablo 2 because of the way the game works, and I realized this some time later. The thing is, there is a clear economic incentive to create addictive games, and I believe they realized this in Diablo. Back then, Blizzard didn't gain anything from me being an addict. They got my cash up front, and for them it was downhill after that. However, you pay monthly to play WoW. The more people you hook, and the longer you hook them, the more millions you rake in profit. There's a reason that it's a felony for income tax accountants to charge a percentage of their client's income tax returns, and that's all I have to say about that.