March 27, 2007 -
We'll finish this article just after we level up...While addiction to massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMOs) has gotten much negative press of late, a new study from the U.K. indicates that the problem could be exaggerated.
As reported by GameDaily, Dr. John Charlton of the University of Bolton's School of Health, Psychology and Sport said:
Incidences of addiction could be 10% lower than some currently accepted classification schemes suggest.
That's not to say one can't become hooked on games. Despite his findings, Charlton warned that MMO addiction can be "potentially damaging for players' work, home and social life."
The research study looked at players of Asheron's Call (an old GP favorite, by the way). Said Charlton:
Asheron's Call... was a multi-player online role-playing game, the sort of game which can be particularly addictive... However, while our research suggests online gaming may not be as addictive as research has previously suggested, gaming addiction is a real issue for some people who find gaming seriously affecting their lives.
Comments
Some people go out for drinks with friends.
Some people go to the symphony or theater.
Some people work with wood, clay, paint, or garden tools.
Some people play video games.
Uh oh, Johnny's addicted to doing fun things with friends!! Someone call in the white coats!!
It's a hobby, just like any other, except this hobby, unlike many others, involves interacting with other people.
Charlton, J.P., & Danforth, I.D.W. (2007). Distinguishing addiction and high engagement in the context of online game playing. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(3), 1531-1548.
It would be a good idea what it is trying to point out so we can have a discussion we don't know.
Spoken like somebody that's never drank before.
"Son," he said without preamble, "never trust a man who doesn't drink because he's probably a self-righteous sort, a man who thinks he knows right from wrong all the time. Some of them are good men, but in the name of goodness, they cause most of the suffering in the world. They're the judges, the meddlers. And, son, never trust a man who drinks but refuses to get drunk. They're usually afraid of something deep down inside, either that they're a coward or a fool or mean and violent. You can't trust a man who's afraid of himself. But sometimes, son, you can trust a man who occasionally kneels before a toilet. The chances are that he is learning something about humility and his natural human foolishness, about how how to survive himself. It's damned hard for a man to take himself too seriously when he's heaving his guts into a dirty toilet bowl."
Then he paused for a long minute and added, "And, son, never trust a drunk except when he's on his knees."
- The Last Good Kiss.
I'm curious why you think drinking and skating are better than playing WoW. Skating I can "kind of" understand, because it's physical activity, but some people need more mental stimulation.
5 hours a day is stupid and pointless. Once my guild starts raiding I might start playing 2 hours 2 times a week and I could stay with the curve. The fact of the matter is the curve is what ever you set yourself at. You could play one hour a day once you hit the level cap and get great gear. Yes it would take a long time but if you are having fun while doing it then the fun lasts longer.
The obsessive "I WANT PHAT LEWTS" is on the player them self.
Now your main problem is with our culture which shield us so throughly from what real pain and suffering are that we have no realistic perspective on what life can be. Thats what happens when you have a 1st world country where people are born and raised and never leave. Welcome to the sheltered states of America. Congratulations on never being fluent in a second language, your now living the "new American dream". Feel free to bitch about your simplest problems.
The fact of the matter is though that within someone frame of reference that has been created by a countries culture, people can become so disgusted with their life that they turn to complete escapism to solve it. In a perfect world we could give them a nice dose of perspective and solve that problem. This is not a perfect world. A persons mind does not always make the logical jump from one thing to another.
From Patton's frame of reference, the 2 soldiers he verbally abused and slapped were cowards. In theory those 2 could have been worse than shell shocked, they could have been mangled or killed, their bodies shredded by shrapnel from and artillery air burst.
Ever hear of producing a television show, writing a book based on your experiences, or creating music and touring with a band?
I've also never experienced a TV show, book, or CD that required three to five hours of my time, every day, just to keep up with the curve and offers no insight or tangible rewards when the session is completed.
And yes, I've played MMO's.
I consider it a major character flaw when people don't appreciate what they have. I've always had to work for what I own, and had to except responsibility for myself actions as far back as I can remember. I don't associate with people who live in a McMansion, bring in 60+K a year, then bitch and moan about it.
"I can't believe my trash pickup day was moved! Now I'll have to wake up before 9 on a Saturday! That's so unfair! I just hate it! I've never been this upset!"
"I know what you mean. My wife had to watch her dad slowly die of cancer two weeks before Christmas last year, and now my son will never know the man he was named after."
Don't most non chemical addicts make the same rationalization?
You should also narrow your brush a bit? Im a wow fan, yet I don't suffer from the obsession. I might put in 10 hours a week 4 on the weekend and hour a day tops on a weekday.
MMO addiction/ scratch that any addiction to a game comes from the fact that the rewards in game are greater than the rewards they get from life. For that to happen life has to be pretty shitty up to that point.
You want perspective from people that will for the most part never be anywhere near the horror in sudan? You expect them to realize how much they have? Shit thats asking alot from people in certain places.
It's not that often I find somebody that can see MMO addiction for what it is, and doesn't try and rationalize it. I'm always read posts go something like... "XY MMO is a expertly crafted virtual experience that offers rewards far greater than any found in what you call the REAL world".
Anybody that thinks any MMO can even compare to what you can experience in the real world has led a sad, sorry life up to that point. I was addicted to on-line RPG chats when I was 17 back in 1996. I could have been drinking, skating, learning something useful, or even touching girls.
I didn't see that SNL sketch, but I'll youtube it. Sounds like something my wife would like.
"You think the people being ethnically cleansed in the Sudan wish they could have food, or a level 70 epic?"
Well, if it's an epic "bag of unlimited food", then I can see them wanting it... ;)
It's true though, it's an addiction to status rather than substance. It's like that sketch on SNL this past weekend, where the woman "one-upper" was acting like she was on crack, she was so addicted to "one-upping" everyone at the party.
Truly, you have a dizzying intellect
After Katrina, you didn't see any roof tops with the words "NEED WARCRAFT" spelled out in garbage and 500 pound shut-ins waving to the news chopper.
You think the people being ethnically cleansed in the Sudan wish they could have food, or a level 70 epic?
Well, "10% lower" isn't a lot, but it is possible he was either sloppy or misreported, and actually meant 10 percentage points lower, which is something else entirely. Later in the article, he's quoted as saying that "[doing the research the way they used to] gives an incorrect result - 10% higher than is correct", which is a sloppy way to put it if the "10% lower" interpretation is correct; if a number, A, is 10% lower than another number, B, then B isn't 10% higher than A, but rather 11,1% percent higher.
If, on the other hand, he means "10 percentage points" in both cases, then the numbers add up properly. Of course, either way he's being sloppy, and in any event, saying a figure is 10 percentage points too high is not very informative unless you know what the figure is in the first place - the difference between 12% and 2% is pretty big, unlike the difference between 50% and 40%.
Charlton, J.P., & Danforth, I.D.W. (2007). Distinguishing addiction and high engagement in the context of online game playing. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(3), 1531-1548.
So anyone in college or university can assess the article.
http://VirtualWorldAddiction.speedsurvey.com
Thanks,