Is World of Warcraft addictive?

Found a not-too-badly written article of World of Warcraft addiction. Of course the arguments are exactly the same as previously discussed about Everquest addiction, this is just the next round, with the current most popular game in the role of the evil seducer.

Escapism is addictive, be it video games or TV. Me for example, I spent large parts of my youth with my nose burried in books. The good news is that for the large majority of people this isn't really harmful. Work, study, real life social interactions, and the necessities of life do not take up 24 hours per day for most people. There is time left for entertainment, and whether that entertainment time is spent reading, watching TV, playing, partying, or just "hanging out" doesn't really matter.

Each of these forms of entertainment has different advantages, for example reading a lot will increase your language skills, partying your social skills, and video gaming your eye-hand coordination and problem solving skills. People chose a form of entertainment because it stimulates them, and this brain stimulus is bound to teach them something, whether they are aware of that or not.

But of course you can exaggerate everything. Having fun at a party is a good thing, getting drunk is not so good, and drunk driving or sliding into alcoholism is very bad. And even entertainment which isn't inherently dangerous, like books, TV, or video games, can become dangerous if you neglect the rest of your life for it. There is the famous story of the Korean guy who played Starcraft for 50 hours straight and then died of exhaustion, which is the most extreme case. But neglecting your study, work, or family in favor of TV, video games, or your model railroad is a lot more common. That varies from minor neglect (coming to work a bit tired, an angry stare from your wife) to major neglect (failing to pass your grades, getting fired, or getting divorced). Yes, you can ruin your live with some form of excess in entertainment, and that includes video games.

Where most commentators go wrong is in the typical human reflex of blaming somebody else. "Addiction" to entertainment is a matter of self control. If somebody neglects the rest of his life because of World of Warcraft, that person should get some psychatric help. It is *not* the fault of WoW. Chances are that if that person hadn't become addicted to that particular game, he would have had the same escapism problem with another form of entertainment. TV addiction for example, due to TVs being a lot more widespread than computer games, could be considered "more dangerous".

Of course entertainment is becoming "better" with time, driven by market forces and technology. So you could claim that World of Warcraft is more addictive than watching "Friends", because there is only so many episodes of "Friends" you can watch before running away screaming. But with a MMORPG requiring a lot more thinking and button mashing than zapping TV, virtual worlds are probably addictive to a much smaller possible audience. In an authoritarian regime like China you can force people to stop playing after 3 hours. But while this might arguably be better for the people, such restrictions don't go down well in the land of the free. Freedom always includes the option to choose the bad thing.
- posted by Tobold @ 9:35 AM Permanent Link