Help for an MMORPG Addict?

A worried comrade asks: "A friend of mine has had what many of us (his peers) are starting to consider a serious problem that we are becoming very worried about. He is addicted to World of Warcraft, and not in the same way the rest of us are. While most of us are able to disconnect from the game to take care of our own affairs, he plays to the exclusion of his friends, his job (he calls in sick a lot, it is starting to get noticed) and his life. How do you help someone who is actively throwing their whole life away to play a game?"

You asked for it...

[Tackhead]

> How do you help someone who is actively throwing their whole life away to play a game?

You buy 'em a better video card, another stick of RAM, you order a pizza, and you say "yes" whenever he asks if you wanna go on a raid.

Or did you mean to help him do something else? :)

Beat him and steal his modem

[Sodki]

Seriously.

Real Life Meetup

[Anonymous Coward]

It may be time to introduce him to that Elven princess he's been spending so much time cybering with.

My guess is that once he meets Bubba, the balding and overweight 48-year-old trucker from Idaho, his cravings will go away all by themselves.

Solution.

[Volanin]

Get him a Girlfriend!

Ok... sorry, sorry... couldn't resist. =)

One last step

[MAXOMENOS]

You forgot an important step in the death ritual: emailing all your gold to my character.

stoney mcPot

[jeezus84]

if this friend lives in Canada i suggest investing in some marijuana, a backpack, a canoe, and outdoor cookware. if this friend lives in the States i suggest tequila, a couple friends, and a pickup truck.

How I quit

[cgenman]

YMMV

It is a simple question of economics. The person can spend 8 hours grinding levels for alts at World of Warcraft to get 2% better stats. Or they can spend 8 hours with their primary character grinding date quests, with a 20% chance of success and a 5% chance of critical hit.

At the end of a week, player 1 has just 15% higher stats. But player 2 has a pretty good chance of getting (or becoming) an ultra rare pet, with only a base level 18 requirement. Depending on which server and region you are in, group quests are also a possibility.

There can be complications with item drops, but anything you don't want can be sold at the auction house.

Re:How I quit

[Spades_]

But WoW cost $15/month! I think if you tried to spend $15/month on Date quest, you'll be grinding a lot more then 8 hours a night...not on the date... You could go for the sure fire 100% crit rate but that would probably be at least a half a year's worth of WoW!

Re:I've been there

[Anonymous Coward]

"People get addicted to... ...surfing boring web sites."

Well, that explains /. :-)

Now, if you'll excuse me, the withdrawl symptoms are kicking in. I need to go read another dull story, or the trolls will start appearing on the ceiling again.

Re:Get a life

[Anonymous Coward]

I played Asheron's Vall obsessively

Must've been the German version :-p
Sorry just couldn't resist...

Re:How I quit

[balthan]

Not to mention the curses you can pick up on a date quest. Some are curable through the local apothecary, but some are permanent!

Psh, weaklings

[moochfish]

I really can't relate to your friend's problem. Why would anybody prioritize some stupid online hobby over real life??

On a more serious note, for the love of God, mod me up! I've been posting and posting trying to gain karma, and it's starting to effect my work ethic!!

Re:I've been there

[robogun]

I Had To:
* Give away all the items I could
* Drop a tradeskill
* Learn enchanting (1)
* DE whatever I could
* Give away the disenchanted mats
* Sell what I couldn't DE
* Destroy what I couldn't sell
* Delete my character
* Cancel my account
* Uninstall
* Throw away all CDs, manuals, and shred handwritten WoW notes

That's only 11 Steps, you need one more, so include:

* Cancelling the card

Seriously, if these games are this addictive, the next thing that's got to happen is a massive tobacco style lawsuit and cash settlement.

Sign him up for Star Wars Galaxies....

[SWG_Eddie]

One week with the NGE is enough to drive even the most hardcore MMO player to quit for good....

Re:I agree

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes they can. I recommend mescaline.

Re:stoney mcPot

[MyHair]

if this friend lives in the States i suggest tequila, a couple friends, and a pickup truck.

And then drive to Canada?

Re:I've been there

[eh2o]

I'm still trying to figure out how to delete slashdot from the internet.

Re:How I quit

[carlivar]

You forgot that you can't learn a Cure Disease spell in the real world though.

Re:Dont lash yourself to the mast...

[IntergalacticWalrus]

Why strap yourself to the pole when you can get the

Oops, looks like your /. account was banned before you could end that post. Hey, I told you running SLASHglider was a bad idea...

Intervention.

[dm0]

The solution for this is simple. I had a friend of mine who was addicted to EQ (I was too) -- As I realized what an incredible timesink this was, I planned on quit playing. I knew my friend never would, however. What I did may be considered "evil" by some. Here is the story: Me and a friend both had level 60 characters on EQ. We always played together - officers in the same guild, we raided and quested together (and played alts together). I knew that when I quit, he never would. I had a girlfriend, and more interest in going to do stuff in the real world. My friend had no interest in anything at all except EQ. Here is what I did. 1. I installed a physical keylogging device on his keyboard at his house. 2. I got his EQ password. 3. I deleted all his characters. He called me up the next day and said all his characters were deleted. I feigned suprise: "No kidding? Wow. Well, I was thinking about quitting anyway." He responded with: "Don't quit man -- I'll get my characters back!" So I said ok. He spent about 3 days with the Verant tech support getting his characters reinstated. He changed his passwords and virus scanned his box (I think he even formatted it). He got his characters back, called me up, and we started playing again. (A side note: those three days he was more social than in the last 6 months) I felt bad, but I did it again. I had his new password (it was like 32 chars long, heh). I deleted all of his characters again. He called me up and said it happened again. I felt bad. I knew he was hurt. I knew it would help him, in the long run. What followed was a month of the same thing happening. Verant got pissed off because they thought he was messing with them. He got pissed off because he know he didn't delete his characters. In this time where he could not play, I decided to quit completely. He said it was his fault, that his account was messed up, but I said it was probably for the best anyway. Over this month we spent a lot of time out, went on a weekend hiking trip, ate dinner out, etc. He finally gave up his quest to play EQ again. I told him it was fate or something. To this day, he doesn't know it's me. We've drifted apart since then (We were stationed in the same place in the military) -- I'm sure he's playing WOW or whatever else now, but I am happy that I helped him at least a little bit. Maybe I'll call him someday and tell him the truth... ;)

Re:I've been there

[KDR_11k]

1. Get a beer
2. Drink
3. Get another beer
4. Drink
5. Drink a few more beers
6. Try playing Everquest drunk
7. Piss your guildmates off until you have no friends left in the game
8. Accidentally trade your entire high-level gear for two healing items
9. Get angry at computer and break it
10. File class action lawsuit against Sony Online Entertainment to get your items and computer replaced
11. ???
12. Profit

Step one

[Oligonicella]

Take hammer. Smash his display device. Engage in discussion of why.

If smashing device does not yield any response (ie: subject continues to play game, perhaps by closing eyes and "visualizing" himself as his character), hit his head with same hammer. Take care to not do as much damage as you did to the display device. Then engage in physical discussion of why.

At least he'll be involved in a real struggle.

Friends don't let friends game drunk

[elrous0]

Still think drinking and gaming is cool, kids?

-Eric

Re:I agree

[elrous0]

RL isn't fun enough/meaningful enough/engaging enough.

Not to mention that RL is decidedly dragon-free.

-Eric

The solution is simple ...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you really care about him, you and your friends will continuously rotate corpse camping duty as members of the opposing faction!!!!!one!!oneone

Re:You asked for it...

[MrSkippy]

Or you could adapt a method used in the good ol' days of the AFK bot-tastic Star Wars Galaxies, described here :-

http://archive.gamespy.com/fargo/august03/autorpg/ [gamespy.com]

I know Blizzard frown on these things, but maybe if you buy a Sony CD and root-kit yourself, you can run the 'Auto-Camp 2000' undetected, have a break from the game and come back Uber!

A bold plan I know... And necessarily helpful; sorry!

Re:I've been there

[TopShelf]

Your arm? Now that sounds a bit wierd. I prefer to have members of the opposite sex attached somewhere a little more fun...