The Sun: Readers Write

August 2008

WHILE I AM DOING MY MORNING meditation and thinking about my plans for the day, my son is just going to bed. He has been up all night on his computer. Now he will sleep until late afternoon, then get up and turn on his computer again.

When I am in bed, our heads are three feet apart, separated by a wall. He’s fac­ing his monitor, seated deep in his fake leather armchair. I have theories about what he is doing all night but not much real information. I know he’s not job hunting or going to school, as he agreed to do a year ago.

On the rare days when my son is awake during daylight hours, it’s be­cause he has not slept at all. He can be sweet or surly, depending on what has kept him up. Sometimes he’s full of ideas and enthusiasm, and we have conversations about books he has read and websites he has found. I expect he has been playing video games most of the night and chatting with other people his age, in their virtual world. I know a big attraction of this world is that it is theirs and not mine. Though I fear he’s avoid­ing reality, I also see him as gathering power, searching for his passion.

Today my son turns eighteen, and I have planned to talk to him about taking more responsibility. I don’t expect him to wake up and accept reality. Even if I cut him off from financial support. Whether he gets a job or not. I think he will continue for a while to operate on little sleep and stumble around exhausted. He won’t abandon his nighttime world until other forces prevent access to it. He’ll resent those forces; he’ll resent me. And when he does stop staying up all night, I doubt I will sleep better.

Name Withheld

More on mmorpg ruining lives…

My son is dating a 17 yr old girl. Who seems rather nice, but I really need him to get out of the basement and look for a job. I actually just want him to pay is own bills and it isn’t going to happen with him stuck on WoW and living the life of a 17 year old.
Seventeen is easy, it’s growing up that is hard, but you either have to do that or die…
I’m afraid for his future.

Ex-Blizzard Employee Divorces Husband Over

WoW

A California resident who once worked briefly for Blizzard has recently divorced her husband of six years because according to her, his addiction to World of Warcraft ruined their marriage. Never having played the game herself, 28 year-old Jocelyn stated that her husband Peter’s crippling addiction to the game became more than she could handle.

“He would get home from work at 6:00, start playing at 6:30, and he’d play until three a.m. Weekends were worse — it was from morning straight through until the middle of the night. It took away all of our time that we spent together. I ceased to exist in his life.”

Having been friends with Peter since the age of 13 and married for six years, it only took a paltry nine months for the marriage to collapse after receiving the game as a gift from her.

“I bought the game for him for Christmas 2004, when it first came out. By May we had our first serious discussion about where our marriage was going, and by September I had moved out.”

Having had many discussions on the fact that WoW had taken over Peter’s life, Jocelyn tried to intervene and schedule “together” time with him – to no avail. On one such occasion, she had set aside 30 minutes to watch a favorite TV show together, but he refused because he was in the middle of a raid and could not understand why she was upset that he stood her up. Eventually, Peter’s domestic duties also began to suffer for the game as he stopped paying bills and refused to do his share of the housework.

Although a gamer herself Jocelyn has never played WoW because she recognized the fact that it was a game that would never end and therefore did not wish to play it. She also states that WoW was the sole catalyst for the divorce and is still highly emotional about its impact on her marriage.

“I’m real, and you’re giving me up for a fantasy land. You’re destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you’re giving it up for something that isn’t even real. [Blizzard] build it in such a way that you have to keep putting more and more time into it to maintain your status. I remember thinking when I was married that it was downright exploitative to people who couldn’t control themselves in that way. It’s set up like a drug.”

Because of the emotional scars of the divorce and the reasons surrounding it, Jocelyn has stated that next time around, she will stay clear of gamers.

While this is indeed sad news for her and her ex-husband you cannot put the blame solely on WoW. Granted, it has proven to be a highly addictive game for some people, but you have to consider their personality and their choices. Someone like Peter more than likely has a mental issue and has a problem with addiction. Who is to say that he does not have some other forms of addiction as well? His addiction could as easily have been pot, liquor, porn or meth – if she were to have brought them into the house it would have been a different addiction instead of gaming. You have to go to the underlying source and peel back the layers. Was he unhappy in his marriage to begin with? Was he miserable at his job? Was he highly depressed? Was this form of escape a way to keep from coping with the living hell that his life had become? All of these plus family history can become contributing factors to any sort of addiction.

During her interview with Yahoo! Games, Joycelyn never stated or hinted around about counseling. Did the two of them ever discuss the possibility of therapy? Did she ever consider canceling their internet service, his Blizzard account and throwing his WoW disc in the trash? No one knows the full story of why their marriage collapsed or if anything was done to try and salvage it other than “together time” to watch TV. We may never know, but while this news is indeed sad for the both of them, I mostly feel sorry for Peter because he needs help before his life becomes a vicious cycle of self-loathing and addiction to something worse than a video game. Blaming it all on WoW is just ignorance.

Source: Yahoo! Games

South Park WoW

‘South Park’ WoW Parody Is Scary Accurate
The folks behind “South Park” have done it again. This time, they’ve set their lampooning sights on the World of Warcraft and MMORPGs in general. The result is a scary accurate look at the extreme side of online gaming.

The episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft” pokes fun at “no life” gamers, Blizzard and online games in general.

In the episode, the “South Park” four find themselves enjoying all WoW has to offer casual players until an uber, no life gamer who has figured out every exploit in the book goes around killing newbies where they stand. Slaughtering in the thousands, the rouge player sets into motion a series of events that are hysterical.

Rather than quit playing WoW (as the folks at Blizzard fear players will do), Cartman and the guys opt to become uber players themselves to take down their foe – an overweight, 30-something who plays around the clock.

To beat their foe, who is so adept he escapes banning, they become what they fight – overweight, around-the-clock players.

In the end, the boys are successful thanks to the “Sword of A Thousand Truths,” a player item that was taken out of the game because it was too powerful. Blizzard execs deliver it to the boys via Stan’s dad, who is a pathetic newbie player.

The really scary thing about the episode is that I think I know the rouge player. He used to kill newbies outside of the Qeynos gates in EQ back in the day. Or, maybe that was his brother?

At any rate, the episode’s right on the mark when it comes to those MMORPG gamers who take everything so seriously they lose sight of the fact they’re just playing a game. It also does show how easy it is to get sucked into titles like WoW. It does go a wee bit over the top in showing gamers as drooling nuts who won’t even get up to go to the bathroom, but I’d be willing to bet there’s someone out there somewhere who has wished at least once during a raid for Cartman’s mom and her bed pan. Yuck!

The episode seems to be ringing true with other gamers, too. Its popularity is so high, there’s even a fan site just for it. The episode’s not out on iTunes just yet, but I suspect it will be in a few days.

Haven’t seen it? See it here:

Replay video | Share video | Watch more videos

Protest!!!

Protest WoW addiction…Maybe they’ll get a clue.

WoWGM@Blizzard.com

A)

B)

C)

I dislike you Blizzard, I dislike you with the heated passion of a thousand red hot suns… You’re a drug dealer…And I will applaud the organization that takes you down.

I hope, I hope I’m there for it.

No job, no prospects just playing WoW

http://ask.metafilter.com/47579/Oh-WOW-this-will-be-bad

Oh WOW this will be bad!

September 29, 2006 12:39 PM

Today I find myself in a precarious situation. I am a college student who happens to live in a four bedroom apartment with two other guys; however, I have discoverd that one of my roommates is flying his internet girlfriend in from Alaska on Saturday morning so that they can live together (The story gets better/worse – they developed their relationship through playing Warcraft).

I am usually open minded about siuations similar to this, but I have some deep reservations over the matter. I first met David when he moved into the apartment, as he was a friend of my other roommate. Since I’ve been living in the apartment, I’ve noticed that David spends almost his entire day and night playing Warcraft. He rarely makes it to any of his classes, mostly due to the fact that he is too tired from playing Warcraft. David also tends to have some problems with remembering personal hygiene when he gets caught up with playing Warcraft (my other roommate has tried several times to get the game’s administrators to message David and tell him he needs to take a shower; however, this plea for help has been ignored). Although we could have just came in his room and confronted him there, actually getting through to him would be a problem because he is so entrenched in leading his guild in search of new armor.Apparently David and this girl from Alaska have been having phone conversations for eight hours at a time (from what I’ve heard). I don’t know of anyone in a relationship who talks for eight hours straight. At least this is just talk, but the big shocker will come when David (and his roommates) actually meets this girl for the first time. For one thing, David has never met the girl in person – only seen pictures. David seems to, from what I have heard disregard the possibility that she may not be who he thinks. I could accept this if she was just staying over to visit and meet, but they have decided to live together – as if they were in a long term committed relationship before. Like I said, this can’t end well. The reason I say “from what I’ve heard,” is because David has not actually talked to me about this (and it is Friday). I was at the Campus Union and I saw my other roommate who brought the matter to my attention. David informed him Thursday night that this girl would be arriving in Omaha on Saturday morning.David told my roommate that they would pay extra for electricity (apparently they will be playing Warcraft at the same time), but he didn’t mention anything about paying additional money for the rent and gas bill. Of course my other roommate did not inform David that this girl, if she is to live with us, she will be required to chip in on the costs. David thinks that she will just live in his room 24/7 and not use the bathroom, kitchen, living room, or any other part of the apartment. Something tells me that this girl doesn’t have much money, especially considering the fact that she’s 19, plays Warcraft all the time, and had David pay $300 for a one-way ticket to Nebraska. Once she is here though, how exactly will me and my other roommate get rid of her if she or David doesn’t pay? I am afraid that David thinks he is pulling a fast one by talking to my other roommate because he knew there wouldn’t be any inconvenient questions. My other roommate is tends to avoid confrontation whereas I tend to seek it. Unfortunately I don’t think that I will be able to confront him before she arrives due to school related projects and general homework. I think he may have even already left for Omaha by now.While me and my other roommate worry about David, I can’t help but also be concerned for the girl and what she might experience living with David. If there is any good which can come from this, David will shave and take showers regularly. But if he doesn’t and she is stranded here, what happens then? Would David be willing to pay for her to be sent back? What she stays around when the love falls apart (may I remind readers that this could happen the first time they meet). My other roommate has his own concerns, mainly the fact that his room is next to David’s and has walls which are no so thick. I wish we could send this girl back, and talk some sense into David, but this doesn’t seem to be the case in the slightest regard. Maybe this will work out for everyone, but there are many more reasons this will turn out for the worse than the better.

posted by j-urb to human relations (95 comments total) 77 users marked this as a favorite

You know what surprises me? The amount of people willing to kick mom’s ass because she’s upset about her child being on WoW One person told her to “Shut the hell up!”

Hmm. I wonder if that person plays WoW?

Well, obviously you don’t have someone you love that is intelligent and thoughtful, and capable, who’s falling prey to this and now is mean, and thoughtless and living in the WoW universe. It’s easy to say pull the plug to someone who is not living with it and doesn’t know what it’s like to have someone you love become violent because they aren’t getting their fix.

You’re not a parent, you don’t see this person falling into a hole, and not moving, not growing and not ever doing anything with their lives because of WoW.

Why don’t you shut up?

More on the home front

Well, he says he isn’t addicted. But he still is playing WoW while sick and he still hasn’t gotten a job. So what the hell is it?

He went to court and they made him pay back his loan plus court costs…However we’re still looking at his credit card bills that are inevitably going to be in default and cell phone bills that are now going to have to come out his pocket…

We’re done.

Life’s going to get real tough-real fast now.
_____________________________________________
http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/chinese-teen-bu.html

Chinese Teen Burns Classmate, Blames World Of Warcraft
By Earnest Cavalli EmailDecember 21, 2007 | 2:27:18 PMCategories: Legal Matters

Firemage After losing a schoolyard fight, a 17-year-old boy in Beijing recently covered a classmate with gasoline and lit him on fire, claiming he “had lost himself in World of Warcraft and when he committed the crime he had transformed into a Fire Mage.”

The boy has been sentenced to 8 years in prison and ordered to pay the victim and his family a restitution of 760,000 RMB (approximately $103,140 USD).

In light of the recent “Mortal Kombat killings,” we’re hesitant to believe the claims of any youth who says they have been influenced by a video game into violence. In this case, though, we believe him simply because China lacks our American legal system that allows people to claim “games made me do it,” and subsequently shift all blame to the game’s creators.

While this crime is both shocking and bizarre, we have to applaud the Chinese officials for offering a sane punishment as response. Had this occurred here in the United States, the blame would have landed squarely on Blizzard, and a multi-million dollar lawsuit followed by a governmental inquiry into the evils of World of Warcraft (possibly helmed by Tipper Gore) wouldn’t be at all surprising.

Chinese Teen Plays World of Warcraft Fire Mage In Real Life, Seriously Burns Classmate [Billsdue, via Massively]
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http://www.stumbleupon.com/demo/#url=http://www.dailybits.com/top-6-bizarre-online-gaming-incidents/

Girl dies playing World of Warcraft

girldiesplayingworldofwarcraft.jpgBack in 2005 a Chinese girl nicknamed “Snowly” died of exhaustion after playing the MMORPG World of Warcraft for three days in a row. She was preparing to kill the Black Dragon Prince, other players explained, hence why she had no time to rest between the game sessions.

Interestingly enough, her fellow game players held a virtual funeral inside the game, as reported by Yahoo News China.
___________
If only catagory:

A plague ravages World of Warcraft

worldofwarcraftplague.jpg In the middle of 2005 Blizzard introduced a new area to its popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The boss of the area was able to cast a spell called Corrupted Blood, which was supposed to infect and cause damage to all the players nearby.

Contrary to what Blizzard planned, however, the players remained infected even when they returned to their towns, contaminating pretty much everyone around them. The plague spread through the game servers and thousands of players died.

Blizzard manage to create quarantine zones within the game, and shortly afterwards it introduced a “cure” for the infection. Despite the remedies the event created a lot of buzz in online forums and community websites.

In one word: bizarre!

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http://play.tm/story/6121

Child dies as parents play MMOG in Korea

Tragedy strikes WoW players

* by Luke Guttridge
* 20 june 2005

South Korean authorities have already said that the parents will be made to defend this apparent case of outrageous neglect in court. “It’s unfortunate, because the tragedy could have been averted if the couple had just left their daughter with Yu’s mother-in-law, who lived upstairs from them,” said the police. “We booked the pair on criminal charges, judging that when you consider the situation, they were responsible for their daughter’s death.”

This isn’t the first time that gaming addictions have resulted in tragedy, certainly not in South Korea – where games playing comprises one of the nation’s staple hobbies – but this perhaps does represent a new low.
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http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/184058.html

She thought she knew Vera. It wasn’t Vera
SEAN ROBINSON; The News Tribune
Published: October 21st, 2007 01:00 AM | Updated: October 21st, 2007 02:43 AM
In World of Warcraft, an online fantasy game played by millions, it takes about 18 minutes to sprint across a virtual continent. In the real world, it takes about 13 hours to drive 720 miles from Calgary, Alberta, to the parking lot of Spanaway Lake High School.

The trip gets longer if you count burger stops, gas-ups and a bureaucratic pause at the U.S.-Canada border.

Pierce County court records say a 20-year-old Canadian Warcraft player made the trek in September. Armed with odd gifts, an outdated college catalog and a car full of liquor, he tried to hook up with a 16-year-old girl he’d beguiled for nine months.

The trip ended with an arrest and added a new creature to the bestiary of online horrors: the Warcraft stalker.

In the game, the Canadian man posed as a woman, calling himself “veraj.” His real name is Justin Michael Gregory-MacIntyre. On Sept. 10, the day of his arrest, he told his story to a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy and admitted his deception.

A search warrant affidavit recounts the incident in detail.

When the student arrived at school that Monday morning, she was called to the front office and told a man was waiting to talk to her about college. It was Gregory-MacIntyre. The girl had no idea who he was.

“Justin introduced himself as Greg, and told her he was Vera’s best friend,” the affidavit states.

The student knew Vera. Vera was the Canadian college student she’d met on Warcraft and MySpace, the social networking Web site. Vera was in her Warcraft guild. She was the friend who talked about fashion and Calgary College and how much fun it was to party there.

Pushing the Vera connection, Gregory-MacIntyre handed the girl a passel of presents, “including his car keys, a tank top, a cocktail book, ‘The OC’ season one DVD box set and some pictures,” the affidavit states.

The girl didn’t understand why he was giving her his car keys. She tried to give them back. Gregory-MacIntyre told her he had another set, and asked her to meet him at lunch.

When the girl and two friends came back to the parking lot at lunchtime, Gregory-MacIntyre was there. He said he didn’t know how he was going to get back to Canada. He tried to give the girl a brand-new laptop computer.

He stayed in the parking lot all day. The girl and her friends kept checking to see if he was still there. Finally, they talked to a football coach, who called the school office. A principal called the sheriff’s deputy.

When the deputy interviewed Gregory-MacIntyre, he gradually revealed his scheme. He said he met the girl in the Warcraft game.

“He said she wanted to get to know him outside of the game, but that compromised who he really was,” the affidavit states. “Between questions, Justin would ramble on about how he had just come to see (the girl) and deliver the package to her and how he now had to face the consequences.”

More details tumbled out. Gregory-MacIntyre admitted he called himself Vera on MySpace.

“His picture on Myspace is a picture of a female and he has never told (the girl) that he was actually a man,” the affidavit states. “I asked Justin if Vera was an actual person that he knew. He said that she was. I asked him if the real Vera knew (the girl.) He said that she did not. I asked Justin if Vera was a friend of his. He said that she was.”

By now, Gregory-MacIntyre was handcuffed. The deputy left him and began questioning the girl. She was crying.

“I asked (her) if Vera had ever talked about Justin. She said that she had not. I asked her if she was expecting a package from Justin. She said that she was not,” the affidavit states.

“I asked her if she realized Justin was actually Vera. She said that she did not and immediately started crying again. She appeared afraid and asked how she could know that Justin would not return to the school or otherwise track her down.”

When deputies searched Gregory-MacIntyre’s car, they found two computers, a camera, a framed photo of the girl and four unopened bottles of champagne, vodka, cognac and rum.

Further searching uncovered what looked like another lie, according to the affidavit. In the car was a piece of paper with the name “Vera” and a Canadian phone number. The deputy called it.

A man answered and said he was Vera’s stepfather. Vera had been having problems with someone posing as her on one of the social Web sites.

He couldn’t remember which. Vera was away at college in Ontario.

When the deputy took him to the patrol car, Gregory-MacIntyre didn’t want to get in at first. He turned and asked if he could write an apology. The deputy told him to sit down. He didn’t.

“I placed my hand on his chest and pushed him into the back seat of the car,” the affidavit states. “I rolled down the window and turned on the air conditioning. Justin was booked into the Pierce County Jail for Stalking.”

Gregory-MacIntyre won’t face criminal charges in Pierce County. After his arrest, sheriff’s deputies handed him over to the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He was transferred to the federal immigration detention center on the Tacoma Tideflats and charged with immigration violations.

He’s awaiting deportation, and not fighting it, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said Friday.

The News Tribune attempted to locate Gregory-MacIntyre’s lawyer but was unsuccessful. Calls to his phone number in Canada were not returned.

Speaking through school district officials, the girl declined The News Tribune’s request for comment. Mark Wenzel, spokesman for the Bethel School District, said the incident should serve as one more example of the dangers that lurk online, even in games.

“We sometimes see the consequences of online activity at home come to school,” he said. “That’s what happened in this particular incident. This has become, across the state, a school issue.

“We take an assertive stance in trying to communicate with our students and with parents about the importance of staying safe and the importance of good judgment when online.”

What is this World of Warcraft?

World of Warcraft, or WoW, as devotees call it, is the undisputed king of a gaming genre known as MMORPG: massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The game’s maker, Blizzard Entertainment, boasts 9 million players worldwide.

The setting is a sword-and-sorcery universe. Players create online identities, choosing from a vast menu of attributes derived from mythology and fantasy lore. Some players form teams (“guilds”) and battle monsters or other guilds in a never-ending quest to gather power.

Players can be fanatical in their pursuit of Warcraft gold, the chief means to gain levels and power in the game. Mainstream news reports have revealed examples of players selling Warcraft currency for real money on the eBay auction site.

Sean Robinson, The News Tribune

Sean Robinson: 253-597-8486

sean.robinson@thenewstribune.com

Warning: World of Warcraft may cause divorce.

___________________________________________________________________________

Warning: World of Warcraft may cause divorce.
Chad and Protoman | 7 days 16 hours ago | News |

PChttp://www.gamegrep.com/news/7464-warning_world_of_warcraft_may_cause_divorce/

Well if you thought that WoW (World of Warcraft) was addicting apparently you have not met this guy. Although if you read the article it was the girls fault. She got the game for the guy. In fact this guy was so addicted he couldn’t watch a 30 min t.v. show with her! But, bad news for every one here she doesn’t want to marry another gamer.

Although best-selling online role-playing game World of Warcraft boasts over ten million subscribers, it’s also leaving in its wake an increasing list of casualties.

Even though she’s never played the game, 28 year-old Jocelyn is one of the fallen. A well-spoken California resident, she divorced her husband of six years after he developed a crippling addiction to the smash online RPG.
“He would get home from work at 6:00, start playing at 6:30, and he’d play until three a.m. Weekends were worse — it was from morning straight through until the middle of the night,” she told Yahoo! Games in an interview. “It took away all of

our time that we spent together. I ceased to exist in his life.”

Jocelyn had been friends with her ex-husband Peter since the age of 13, b

ut it took only nine months for her marriage to collapse.

“I bought the game for him for Christmas 2004, when it first came out. By May we had our first serious discussion about where our marriage was going, and by September I had moved out,” she said.

Jocelyn recalled one particular incident that was typical of Peter’s habits. “I had set aside 30 minutes for us to watch a television show together, and he couldn’t. He was stuck on a raid, and completely failed to understand why I was upset,” she said.

Peter’s domestic duties also suffered. He stopped paying bills, she says, and refused to do his share of the housework.

Jocelyn doesn’t hesitate to cite Warcraft as the main reason for her divorce and remains emotional about its impact on her marriage. “I’m real, and you’re giving me up for a fantasy land. You’re destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you’re giving it up for something that isn’t even real.”

Despite their differences, the couple remains friends, and although Peter still plays World of Warcraft, Jocelyn says he made an effort to cut down after their split.

A gamer herself, Jocelyn briefly worked for World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment, although not on the title that proved so damaging to her relationship. “I recognized that this was a game that would never end, and that’s why I chose not to play it,” she said.

“They build it in such a way that you have to keep putting more and more time into it to maintain your status. I remember thinking when I was married that it was downright exploitative to people who couldn’t control themselves in that way. It’s set up like a drug.”

Asked if she would consider marrying another Warcraft player, Jocelyn laughed. “That’s actually one of my primary criteria now — I don’t want to marry someone who is a gamer.”
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Online Gaming: The New Addiction
January 12, 2008 iusbvision http://www.digg.com/pc_games/World_of_Warcraft_has_mentally_destroyed_this_digger_Pic

If anyone has been paying much attention to gaming in the past few years, they will notice a large epidemic currently taking place. Online gaming was not always as sophisticated as it is now. Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) gaming, in particular, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs) has taken online gaming to a whole new level. The premise behind these games is to immerse the gamer into a new world of fantasy, and allow them to build up a character persona, a reputation and pursue their own goals, dreams and fantasies. Critics of these online games wonder whether they lead to an unnatural addicted escape to a world “better” than reality.

As an avid gamer myself, I’ve played MMOs since the original Everquest. Everquest was a fantasy based game that took place in a medieval world and was released in 1999. Often coined the term “Evercrack” or “Neverrest” by its users, many who played the game ditched real life social contacts to participate in their online gaming community for grouping to fight enemies. This appears harmless at first, but what was once a mild social game became dangerous for those few who ditched real life responsibilities to participate in their online gaming community.

There is an online support system called gamerwidow.com dedicated to those who have loved ones with an addictive problem to these games. A Gamer Widow, according to the site “is a term for those who have a relationship with a Gamer (one who plays video games, be it on a console or on the computer) who pays more attention to the game than to their partner…” One case within the site of an individual addicted to their games describes his situation, “Eventually I could not tear myself away from the screen even to greet family at the door. My wife started referring to herself as a Video Game Widow. My finances were going down the toilet.” It is clear there are certain individuals who struggle with the capacity to prioritize real life responsibilities over digital ones.

There was always a draw for an individual such as myself to these games. The encapsulation of a social network and community within a realm of fantasy and entertainment is a wonderfully enticing concept. Within this social framework, one can make friends and enemies where the rules and subject matter of the game bring to the table a social structure normally not allowed in real life confrontations. Gamer anonymity even furthers the ability to create social networks and comfort zones. As an individual, one can make “friends” by representing their personality behind an avatar (or character profile) and maintain these relationships with little to no risk of rejection. All players already share their love of the game and their love of games in general, allowing a generalized topic to discuss and grow on.

The reality hits hard, however, when people realize these online relationships rarely if ever come to some kind of tangible fruition. Almost all, if not all, of my online social relationships established through an online game rarely last longer than a couple months. I had a personal short term stint of online gaming addiction with Everquest, where a few of my good friends were lost until I quit and gave them a phone call with an apology. The realization of the damage these online games caused to my own relationships did not occur until the game was removed as an option from my gaming repertoire.

Now the epidemic branches out to the wide-spread popularity of World of Warcraft who recently reached over 8.5 million subscriptions. According to Wikipedia.org even China has seen the dangers of countless individuals spending a majority of their time contributing to a digital world. “In August of [2005], the government of the People’s Republic of China proposed new rules to curb what they perceived to be social and financial costs brought on by the popularity of games such as World of Warcraft.

The measure would enforce a time limit on China’s estimated total of 20 million gamers.” Although government regulation is far from what I would suggest as a solution to online gaming addictions, it illustrates the severity of the digital “escape”. Furthermore, Wikipedia also states “Dr. Maressa Orzack, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, was interviewed August 8, 2006, stating that of the 6 million subscribers “I’d say that 40 percent of the players are addicted.””

There have also been cases as well of individuals dying from exhaustion after playing days straight on some of these games, locking their children in closets, skipping meals, skipping work and not paying bills. Moderation is the key to enjoying these games without putting harm to social relationships. If one finds themselves in the realm of gaming far more hours than making contact with real life social contacts, perhaps it is wise to shift away for a bit and put a little more work in maintaining those real life relationships. If you find yourself struggling with online gaming addiction, or want to learn more about what it is, you can visit OLGA (On-Line Gamers Anonymous) online at: http://www.olganonboard.org/.

Craig Chamberlin

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Couple divorces over World of Warcraft
Lydia Sung – Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 | 10:46AM (PST)
http://neoseeker.com/news/story/7664/

Yet another relationship falls victim to an MMO.

And here we thought these things were just an urban legend.

A woman in California has filed for divorce, citing World of Warcraft as the reason for her decision. The kicker here is that she was the one who got her husband into the MMO.

Jocelyn, a 28-year-old gamer and former Blizzard employee, gave the game to her husband, Peter, as a Christmas present back in 2004. In just nine months, the devestating effects began to show, and six years of marriage went down the drain.

“He would get home from work at 6:00, start playing at 6:30, and he’d play until three a.m. Weekends were worse – it was from morning straight through until the middle of the night,” she told Yahoo! Games in an interview. “It took away all of our time that we spent together. I ceased to exist in his life.”

Peter’s addiction also got in the way of everyday life, as he began neglecting household chores and stopped paying bills.

Jocelyn and Peter are no longer a couple but remain friends, though Jocelyn says she’s been cutting back on WoW since the divorce. Peter, on the other hand, still plays religiously.

Online addiction/families breakup/lives broken

Right now my son is sleeping in the basement. He’s probably going to have to either pay expensive court fines and spend time in Jail because WoW has created a monster that no longer cares whether or not his bills get paid. He’s not trying to get a job.

His girlfriend, who he met on WoW has had her internet taken away by her mother because of WoW. I listen to his protests on why his little girlfriend needs the internet and just giggle in my head. They’re excuses to play the game.

Other families are dealing with online addiction.

I’d like to talk to the executives at some of these companies and telling them to blow!!!

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A Yahoo question and answer forum

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http://www.geeksugar.com/1049740

When Nerd Love Dies
Tue, 02/19/2008 – 8:08am by geeksugar 549 Views

And I thought money was the number one reason couples fought! A California couple is divorcing after the husband developed an all-encompassing addiction to World of Warcraft. Jocelyn and Peter had been married for six years when she bought him the multiplayer game and he became quickly obsessed with it.

Jocelyn said Peter spent several hours every day, from 6:30 p.m. to 3 a.m., playing World of Warcraft after work instead of spending time with her. He couldn’t even make time for one half-hour show to watch together, Jocelyn said. Peter even stopped paying bills and doing his part of the housework, and predictably, Jocelyn eventually kicked him to the curb. Where’s Dr. Drew when you need him?!

I can actually see how this could happen — people can form legitimate addictions to anything, it seems, and technology only provides a whole new slew of options. I’ve been barked at by my boyfriend to stop playing with my iPhone or laptop and I’ve sniped at him in kind. Has anyone else every had relationship problems caused by their gadgets or games?

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http://www.pasqualeborriello.com/2006/03/13/why-world-of-warcraft-sucks-and-ruins-your-life/
13 Marzo 2006
Why World of Warcraft sucks (and ruins your life)
categoria: lists, english

World of Warcraft is the most played MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game). It’s also knows as WoW (capitalized letters matter). There are some things you should know about it:

15. The real game starts at lvl 60. You can get to lvl 60 in about 3-4 months: $ 49.99 (box) + $ 41.97 (3 months fee) = $ 91.96. Isn’t it too much to start playing?
14. You can never say: I’ve won. WoW never stops, it’s a fact that there’s not an ending.
13. The best things in the game happen by chance. It is irritating.
12. Digital characters cannot make virtual sex.
11. Servers are full of lamers.

10. Linux is not a supported platform.
9. It is not intended for short-time fun: WoW needs you play for at least 1 hour without interruptions everytime you log in.
8. WoW not only steals your money, it steals your time. Want to be a good and respected player on your server? Prepare not to sleep for months and months.
7. Unless you play at the beach, you can’t get tanned while playing WoW, and no one likes “death-white” faces.
6. The more you play, the less you can practice sport, the less you can practice sport, the fatter you get (probably).
5. Yes, that’s a hidden undead rogue! And yes, your eyesight has diminished after intensive playing: you need glasses.

4. After enjoying your perfect control (with a mouse) of your character, ask yourself what carpal tunnel syndrome is.
3. You just can’t stop playing WoW: it can be is addictive.
2. Killing that last monster could lead you to be late at your night date. Monster owned, (wo)man of your life gone.
1. It’s not about your free time, it’s about your life: the more you play WoW the less you can live your life.

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http://tribes.tribe.net/4eb4e34c-c86d-465a-bf0b-e29cd3a6e993/thread/8ed5e235-536d-4f1c-bdab-b8850d2537eb

wow ruined everything..
topic posted Wed, April 26, 2006 – 9:40 PM by Stephanie
I’m currently in a relationship with my boyfriend brian. we were perfect for eachother, yes we are only 18.. but we just loved eachother and bla bla bla.
well around christmas break from school he disappeared for 3 days while i was out of town. all his friends called me saying “wheres brian? last i heard he went to the store with his dad and that was like.. 4 hours ago” just non stop calls.
i would call him and his phone was off. i was like.. freaking out thinking the worst like he was dead or something crazy like that.
but nope. he ended up hiding out at my next door neighbors while i was out of town, which is our good friend dan.. well his good friend, not so much mine anymore.
well anyways thats when it all started.
its gotten to the point where he plays wow so much and im just completely competing with it. I think its f’ing ridiculous.
us girls should have to put up with it. its so controlling. completely changes the people who play.
anyways. me and brian fight almost everyday. to the point where he just emotionally abuses me constantly because im jealous of a game. yes its stupid that im jealous. but im finally aware that im not the only girl who feels this way.
it got to the point where us hanging out turned into me sitting next to him at his desk for hours while he played.
then it got so bad that he joined this like.. competitive guild or something where they went on these ridiculous raids from like 6pm-1 or 2am. nonstop playing. they took place friday,saturday and monday.. and i flipped out. those were my weekends and i hated how i was home alone while he played his stupid game.
well finally he quit that. but now him and dan made their own guild.. and websites they are so involved with.
even his mom right in front of me will yell at him and be like “what fun are you? all you do is play warcraft 18 hours a day” and i totally agree. its terrible. torture.
his friend dan, who is also addicted (he has no girlfriend, never really had a serious one) always says “brian why have a girlfriend when you have wow?” he calls me a bitch because i complain when i get ditched because of a game.
a pointless game might i add. there is no point, no end. i dont understand. its a bunch of magical BS!!!!
ugh. i threaten him constantly with wanting to break up because i feel like number 2 to a game.
he just calls me names.
he never leaves his room, its like an inconvenience for him to shower, he eats in his room so theres plates. its disgusting. i cant stand it.
i feel like im just there for his “after wow sex” or something.
everyone, including his non wow playing friends say you should just dump him already.
or just break up with him for a weekend to make him realize how much he misses me.
which to me would most likely backfire. he would love not having me nagging him about hanging out.
he would have all the time in the world to play his precious “wow”.
before all this.. he always said ” we will get married, move in, ect” now.. i dont even know.

what should i do? break up with him? just sit here and take it?
i almost feel like i should just deal with it, because id be more miserable without him because i dont think i could love anyone as much as him.
its just.. when hes playing i wish he could pay me a little more attention, call me , something. hes just so addicted.
this kid needs and f’ing intervention or something. all these guys do.

Drink the Kool-Aid

I told my son that I was writing a blog on how World of Warcraft was a problem and how many people are addicted to it like alcohol.

He told me that a lot of people write about WoW but I was the only one that didn’t play it.

He’s been trying to get me to play it since he started playing it.

I don’t really care for any video games unless it’s like solitaire and I can take that or leave it.

Besides, I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid.