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Friday, November 17, 2006
The view from the bottom
I just bought the 6th season of CSI on DVD. If I neglected my job and family, not to talk of other hobbies, hygiene, and good eating habits, I could possibly watch all 6 seasons in one week. Add the CSI Miami and CSI New York DVDs, and I can watch everything in 2 weeks. If I decide to still go working 8 hours a day, doing just the minimum for not losing my job, but still neglecting everything else, it will take me a month to watch all these DVDs. And then I could just start over, watch them for another month, and another month, until I can't stand CSI any more and stop watching. Should I then write an interesting blog post like "The View from the Top stating that CSI is a dangerous addiction from which I have been miraculously cured? Or is CSI a totally harmless form of entertainment, which I abused due to some personal psychological problem?
While I haven't heard much about CSI addiction, I'm always surprised how many people go for the "dangerous addiction" option when discussing World of Warcraft. I think that is part of a more general trend of blaming all sorts of problems on others, never admitting that it might be yourself who has a problem. Got fat? Sue McDonalds. Lost your wife and job? Blame World of Warcraft. Makes you wonder when the first law suit against Blizzard will arrive.
That is not to say that people overdoing World of Warcraft don't exist. But if WoW wasn't there, the same person would search to escape from the real world in some other way, be it TV, books, or video games. So we should offer these people help in the form of counselling for escapism, not shouting for warning labels on World of Warcraft boxes.
Millions of casual World of Warcraft players are enjoying this game in healthy doses. There isn't a threshold how many hours of WoW are suddenly an addiction. You need to know yourself how many hours of leisure time you have, after taking care of your family, your job, your friends, and whatever else is important to you. That totally depends on your personal circumstances, for example I'm sure I'd play a lot less if I had children. Real addictive substances don't have such a safe level.
The term "addiction" suggests that WoW is a dangerous substance, you try it once and are drawn into it against your will. Nothing could be further from the truth. World of Warcraft is just a lot of fun, and it is your free-willed decision whether you want to enjoy that fun with or without neglecting the rest of your life. The proof that it isn't an "addiction" lies in all these miraculous "cures", all these people that claim they were addicted and now stopped. Do you think people addicted to lets say heroin cure themselves that easily? What happens in reality, just like in my CSI example, is that the more you exaggerate consuming World of Warcraft content, the faster you burn out. At one point the game simply isn't fun any more, because you've seen too much of it. Classic MMORPG burnout. No miracle cure of a modern addiction here.
- posted by Tobold @ 12:40 PM Permanent Link
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I couldn't agree more with you adout the "addiction". Using the word addiction is just an easy way to remove the guilt of bad decisions from one self.
"It's not my fault I have to do this year in school again. It's WoW fault. I got addicted..."
Just take responsibility for your own life!
"It's not my fault I have to do this year in school again. It's WoW fault. I got addicted..."
Just take responsibility for your own life!
# posted by 
: 17/11/06 14:12
: 17/11/06 14:12
I don't quite agree with your analogy. TV shows are designed to fit into certain time slots, and so are written for that purpose. Sitcoms are typically 30 minutes, for example, and dramas usually 1 hour. While there is no doubt that the creators of such shows want to hold an audience and keep them returning, the episodic nature creates a natural breakpoint. And then there is the fact that much TV is paid for not by the actual consumer, but by advertising. So I would argue that there are big differences in design and purpose.
That's not to say that one can't watch these shows compulsively. I know more than a few people who have watched full seasons of the Sopranos in just a couple of days. WoW, on the other hand, depends on consumers for its income. There is no real breakpoint. One quest generally leads to another. Time sinks are a mainstay of the MMORPG. It's significant, I think, that one of the few MMORPGs that doesn't have built-in delays for travel is also one of the few that doesn't charge a monthly fee: Guild Wars. I'm sure you've heard of the Skinner box analogy for MMORPGs, where irregular rewards reinforce repetitive behavior. Blizzard and all other designers are interested in keeping customers, so this is an inherent part of the game design.
Of course consumers themselves are responsible for their own behavior, but the issue becomes a lot fuzzier when it is in the interest of the game to encourage compulsive behavior. Some people are more susceptible to getting sucked in than others. I would guess anyone who's played an MMORPG would be able to identify stretches where he/she felt like too much time was given to the game. Most, but not all of us can draw back.
OK, there's my two cents. Great blog! I've been reading for a while.
That's not to say that one can't watch these shows compulsively. I know more than a few people who have watched full seasons of the Sopranos in just a couple of days. WoW, on the other hand, depends on consumers for its income. There is no real breakpoint. One quest generally leads to another. Time sinks are a mainstay of the MMORPG. It's significant, I think, that one of the few MMORPGs that doesn't have built-in delays for travel is also one of the few that doesn't charge a monthly fee: Guild Wars. I'm sure you've heard of the Skinner box analogy for MMORPGs, where irregular rewards reinforce repetitive behavior. Blizzard and all other designers are interested in keeping customers, so this is an inherent part of the game design.
Of course consumers themselves are responsible for their own behavior, but the issue becomes a lot fuzzier when it is in the interest of the game to encourage compulsive behavior. Some people are more susceptible to getting sucked in than others. I would guess anyone who's played an MMORPG would be able to identify stretches where he/she felt like too much time was given to the game. Most, but not all of us can draw back.
OK, there's my two cents. Great blog! I've been reading for a while.
# posted by : 17/11/06 16:32
: 17/11/06 16:32
If I recall correctly, I could swear there were a few lawsuits pending. I remember at least one in China for the death of a WoW gamer.
Just did a quick Google search for: "world of warcraft" sue
There's definitely the China one at least.
I'm not going to weigh in on addicition beyond stating that I'm glad I stopped playing WoW a few months ago. It's amazing how much more there is to do out there than simply play WoW.
Just did a quick Google search for: "world of warcraft" sue
There's definitely the China one at least.
I'm not going to weigh in on addicition beyond stating that I'm glad I stopped playing WoW a few months ago. It's amazing how much more there is to do out there than simply play WoW.
# posted by : 17/11/06 19:00
: 17/11/06 19:00
There is an element of addiction to WoW, just like there is to say, chocolate addiction. You enjoy doing it, enjoy how it makes you feel, and want to do it again.
Humans are an addictive species
Humans are an addictive species
# posted by : 17/11/06 19:54
: 17/11/06 19:54
Your comparison of MMORPGs with TV watching is valid Tobold but I believe that MMORPGs are more dangerous than you portray. MMORPGs provide a much better escape from reality than TV because they are interactive and because they offer a form of social contact. This is what makes these games so great but it also increases the risk of people becoming so sucked in that it causes difficulty in their lives. Some people certainly overindulge in TV but from what I can see (mainly anectdotal evidence I have to admit ) the percentage of MMORPG players who fall into this trap is much higher than the percentage of TV watchers.
Here is an extremely unscientific experiment:
Google "TV adddiction". Number of hits: 68500
Conservative estimate of number of people who watch TV: 3.5 Billion
Number of hits per million people = 0.0000196
Google "MMORPG addiction". Number of hits: 13300
Estimate of number of people playing MMORPGs: 10 million
Number of hits per million people = 0.00133
Ergo MMORPGs are 67.8 times more addictive than TV!!!
Here is an extremely unscientific experiment:
Google "TV adddiction". Number of hits: 68500
Conservative estimate of number of people who watch TV: 3.5 Billion
Number of hits per million people = 0.0000196
Google "MMORPG addiction". Number of hits: 13300
Estimate of number of people playing MMORPGs: 10 million
Number of hits per million people = 0.00133
Ergo MMORPGs are 67.8 times more addictive than TV!!!
The guy in China I seem to recal jumped out a window after playing Warcraft III for a day and a half straight.
MBP-- ah, now I understand how pedophile Priests are a bigger danger than pedophile teachers, even though there are far more of the latter than the former....
(Do a quick servey with a large group of friends: out of 50 people, about a quarter had sexual stuff with a teacher; zero with a religious leader. YRMV, but with a breakoff like that....)
MBP-- ah, now I understand how pedophile Priests are a bigger danger than pedophile teachers, even though there are far more of the latter than the former....
(Do a quick servey with a large group of friends: out of 50 people, about a quarter had sexual stuff with a teacher; zero with a religious leader. YRMV, but with a breakoff like that....)
A coworker pointed me to this post today, and I think you make a great point! Personal responsibility has to be considered number one. That's what freedom is all about.
However, I also agree with Evylaz above: "I don't feel that being addicted to something absolves an individual from personal responsibility." I have never seen the argument summarized so succinctly.
As a friend of the guy who made the infamous post (and the host of that blog), I can also say that Evylaz nailed it a second time with this statement: "The person who claims to be addicted obviously loved the game just as much as you do and probably still does. However, they have realised a flaw within themselves."
Spot on. We still talk about Warcraft because some of our friends still play. It's an awesome game. But neither one of us wants to commit our time to it anymore... me because there are other things I'd like to do, and he because he knows he will go right down the same path that got him in trouble.
Great post though, and I'll definitely be adding this to my RSS reader!
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However, I also agree with Evylaz above: "I don't feel that being addicted to something absolves an individual from personal responsibility." I have never seen the argument summarized so succinctly.
As a friend of the guy who made the infamous post (and the host of that blog), I can also say that Evylaz nailed it a second time with this statement: "The person who claims to be addicted obviously loved the game just as much as you do and probably still does. However, they have realised a flaw within themselves."
Spot on. We still talk about Warcraft because some of our friends still play. It's an awesome game. But neither one of us wants to commit our time to it anymore... me because there are other things I'd like to do, and he because he knows he will go right down the same path that got him in trouble.
Great post though, and I'll definitely be adding this to my RSS reader!
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