Are MMORPG video games an epidemic problem......

hmm.ok well first i too have played WOW and let me tell you friends, it is the idea that you choose to devote time to it and nothing else. yes i know it has addictive qualities but what do you expect of thee most well developed and maitenanced mmorpg to date? it does isolate one,it does make one antisocial by allowing a person to choose not to participate in mainstream social activities, but no more than some people are addicted to the internet as a whole and i subject to you that it caters to the person inside you that likes the idea of developing and participating in team efforts of organizational and strategical nature online. i for one played a human priest to lvl 67 i believe and fell just short of the current level cap and lost my passion for the reason that it cost money and is very time consuming as well as destructive to your responsibilities outside of it including time management, social activities, and personal health. you just hate spending three hours getting to the heart of a dungeon and not being able to snuff the boss whom could very likely (in my example) drop an item capable of greatly advancing my stats and capabilities as a healer. its just a choice and a fairly bad one illbeit but no worse than being a pothead, and probably less harmful than being an alcoholic or an icehead.

I have played at least 6 or so different mmos and they can be fun. But I just don't understand how you get addicted to them.

At first there fun but then you being to wounder why you pay around $15 a month to play a game that costs $30 to start with. And then you realize you would rather have bought a book or a something that more tangible then a Battle Cruiser space ship that only exists in a game.

And then theres the little cowards who hide behind there monitors an talk smack all the time and you just wish you could find out were they live and wring there little neck.

But I digress.

So yeah I also don't understand how these game can be addictive.

Now as far as coc aine goes, I get that one. I mean who needs sleep ?

I think it's just modern society, the majority of people I know are generally lazy. Like I mentioned previously I'm 31 and live an active lifestlye and so do the small group of friends that I generally socialize with. But I have noticed that the generation before me that grew up with out all these video games and electronic devices are generally more active people even in there 40's. I have a good friend for example who is 48 year's old , he is alway's outside in his garden and working on his home .This guy makes about 4 grand a year just recycling metal in his spare time ,even though he has a very physical full time job.


I also just recently bought my parent's home that I grew up in and noticed that the school bus picks up and drops off about 15 children everyday. Well right now it is the middle of summer and I hardly ever see these children outdoors. What are these kid's doing all day? When I grew up in this neighborhood in the 1980's there were alway's a group of us playing sports , riding bikes and raising hell like 11 year olds are suppossed to do. My guess is that they are all playing video games, or there parents lock them in there rooms.

I am a 17 year old child who has played WoW till lvl.. 31, then I quit.
Then I started playing Cabal Online, in fact, I always play videogames when I don't have to go to school, and I don't make my homework (not because of videogames, but just because I plain hate making homework).

As I play it a LOT, my life didn't change much at all.
I still went to the gym, and I do physical training at home.
My social life remained the same.
My weight increased by about 10~15 kg in the time I played mmorpgs (I'm not fat, nor did I become fat, it was because of the training, muscle tissue -> fat in weight terms).

I'm not a "Nightlife" person, nor have I ever been one, so I guess that one couldn't even been "removed" by mmorpgs.

MMORPG's an epidemic? No, more like a ''bad habit'', but only to those that succumb to the dark side of the world of MMORPGs. (Note that I refer to epidemic as a ''disease'' here)

I consider it to be like smoking or drugs, some can get addicted and become a ''no-lifer'' which seems to be kept alive by the computer itself.

Some have it under control, and can easily stop (even though the amount they play / smoke / use drugs makes you think otherwise).

In the end, it depends on the person that ''wants them''.
Unlike disease, you have to ''try out'' an mmorpg to get addicted to it, like smoking and drugs / alcohol.

Only difference is it's not bad for your health in the same way as certain drugs, and smoking (Though some people combine drugs so they can play games for longer times. Well, I think they're nerds. I once didn't feel tired so I played videogames / guitar / worked out for 4 days in succession, though I did ''die'' after the 4th day lol)

[edit on 29/7/07 by -0mega-]

yeah technology in my humble opinion kind of isolates us, we dont need to go and knock on our friends doors and ask for them anymore, we can just call their cellphones now, or hit them up on aim,even send them msgs on myspace. we have all sorts of media entertainment at our disposal on the web so we dont go out and build forts anymore because we can watch our favorite stand up or anime or whatever and not even have to go out to get it.we can shop for groceries and pretty much anything else you can think of from the comfort of our homes without ever stepping out the door. while there are exceptions, there are few. this is just the technology generations acting out and some wonder why we are this way because there are those who like mentioned above came before the internet, dont apply it in their homes or restrict the reliance on it and so those people intern share there parents views to some extent and surround themselves with like minded people. i say its just an offset of how technology affects our culture.an unforseen result albeit but likely unavoidable.

I don't understand the big fuss. I have spent most of my past 5 years or so playing MMORPGs for anything between 6-10 hours / day.

For about 4-6 months ago I completely stoped, it wasnt fun anymore.

Sure this took it's toll on various real life things, some called me anti-social and/or addicted. However, all the time I spent "in-game" was with other people, getting to know them on a very personal basis to be honest. I made loads of friends. Some I met in real life on meetings and gettogethers! Believe me I did NOT suffer in any way.

A few things come to mind in all this.
Do people react as strongly when someone becomes "addicted" to let's say books?
And what is it that's so "dangerous" about spending your life in a limited or narrow way? As long as you are happy?

In the end, all that ever matters is how fun did you have during X period of time in your life? I mean society in whole is boring as hell, repeatitive and non-rewarding. There's plenty of dangers lurking and it's easy to become an "outcast" by any number of reasons, money, appearances, social-status, abuse and many more.
In games many of theese "dangers" disapear, making it more comfortable to "be yourself" in contradiction to what many believe. Most if not all games nowadays are based on instant-rewarding systems with a constant feeling of progress, something life itself does not fullfill.

So what is worst case scenario? Let's leave the very super extreme case of eledged man/woman dying of sleep deprevation and or lack of food please.

You can "fall of the grid" in society, loosing your job? I doubt it since money, hardware and internet aswell as a place to live are all required to play any game. You can argue you loose your friends and/or family? Maybe, but if that is the case I actually dare say the relationship was not that good? Maybe? I mean on the bright side you make new friends, they act, feel and interact as real people, because they ARE real people and therefor are real friends!

I really dont see the problem with people spending time infront of PC instead of spending all that time anywhere else, doing whatever else meaningless thing (gym, television, pub, disco, movies). It's just another form of entertainment. Yes, there are extremes as are there in any said entertainment media.

Wow long post, sorry

Ah! Great thread.....why? Because it reminded me to cancel my subscription on warcraft!

Never really dedicated much time to it, thought it would be more fun to play. Turned out that it was merely tedious.

So thanks for the reminder!

In terms of it being a problem, I don't really think so. If you've got the time and patience to play these games then bully for you. However, there are probably better ways to spend your time..... like being on ATS!...... hmmmmm.

Originally posted by Twixly

A few things come to mind in all this.
Do people react as strongly when someone becomes "addicted" to let's say books?

Books! Yes! I went to a car boot sale and found a series of books by Robert Jorden, Wheel of Time series, massive they were and about 8 of them at the time, I bought them for £1 each! My family (partner and his mother) really didn’t like it by the time I was through the 3rd book, when I wasn’t doing something else I was reading these books. None of my family said anything direct but I deffo got the feeling that others around me didn’t like it, I think it was because I 'wasn’t there'.

Anyone ever overdosed on books? I have! This is all before the internet and when my first child was young. I picked up my new book, probably the 4th that week, I started reading it and my tummy felt sick, my head hurt and my brain didn't accept the words; I threw the book across the room angry because my escapism had been oversaturated! I cried and everything! Of course depression hit me more so, as my escape was blocked.

So yeah, people don’t react as strongly, that’s for sure but they do react, selfish people that they are! I don’t know what people expect sometimes, I’ve done my work, kid is in bed, I’m not sitting in front of the telle watching East Enders, so there must be something wrong with me! Oh woe is you if you don’t get addicted to the socially accepted substances! Like telle! Like relationships! Like tea or cakes!

Heck! You can get addicted to 2000 piece puzzles! If life sucks and you have an active brain that loves solving problems, then woe is you again! How many times I wished I was never blessed with a curious and intelligent mind, that I could happily be a sheep watching East Enders...

I am an avid WoW "raider". I have 4 nights a week of hardcore raiding in 25 man groups. We are the #2 Horde guild on our server.

There is a lot of fun in developing a strategy with your friends and using it to overcome an obstacle. We laugh and chat it up, and get down to business when it is necessary. This interaction is why I play the game. It's no different than recreational softball, other than the fact that I'm using my fingers and brain instead of my legs and arms.

Yes, the game is addictive, but it's a helluva lot cheaper than going out the bar for 4 hours. I can blow through 30 dollars in that about of time at a bar. WoW is 16$ per month! Savings, and less time spent chasing tail or sobering up to drive home.

Addictive... Yes
Destructive... Maybe
Mind Control... No

first, i say that that guy above was completely right in his point, you can do whatever makes you happy, if its wow or something like it, who cares?? as long as you like it whats the problem? second,the guy just above me was also correct, i find that few wow players are intellectually devoid. the amount of intelligence and strategical know-how in guilds,particularly end game raiding scenario guilds,imply you know how to utilize your class and stats for the benefit of the guild raids you go on, whether you be a priest,locke,warr,etc. and to be in a guild that relies on you like that you have to have some ediquette and social skills at least. if your a douche theyre going to kick you like that *snaps fingers*. its strategically and socially very rewarding to finish a dungeon without wiping even a couple times, and even more rewarding to completely own some idiot thats your lvl and acting like a total noob. easy honor heh. but my point is, its just (like he said) another form of interaction and entertainment, some people just dont understand the experience, they can be too judgemental and isolate there open ness. i think its deffinately not the type of game that anyone would like, but it is the type of game that alot of people doo obviously like! and it caters to a particular field of people with similar interests in mmorpg's but has alot of intellectuality involved in the development of your characters. its really just a great way to spend a monday night in my opinion lol.

For an addict, the game is more than a 2nd home you just love. You think about it during the day, you probably dream about it at night (whether recalled or not), sad fact. What's also a sad fact is that the real world is such a BS place to focus on at times. He'll get over it, but not before the game gets boring (for whatever reason)...

I've been there.

The best thing you can do for your friend is accept him and whether you believe it or not, show a little interest in his life. Which unfortunately for you is the dang game for now.

Not important: But I'd also like to note that while people getting some ego boost from a video game is pathetic, it is no less pathetic than someone who thinks they are great because they are popular, or look good, or drive a cool car or have a lot of possessions. In my opinion the sort of things that should boost ego are things like showing others respect and working hard, and caring for those close to you...