It's funny how China has taken over as the land of extremes from the US.

According to Lawrence Person:
"Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body."

... we're not quite there yet, but it's getting closer :)
 

As over the top as that statement is. There is an element of truth to it. For the person with an addictive personality, or the person who's real life just sucks, WOW can be very very addictive. I know several people who are just confused that I could quit the game for 8 months. It has been my experience that a lot of people vanish into wow for the feeling of advancement or progression that they don't have in real life. Which in extreme cases means they are forgoing RL advancement to advance thier in game character.

But I believe the numbers of people that are that bad are pretty low. And if it weren't wow those personalities would find something else. I used to work with someone who's crowning glory in life was that she was a commander in STARFLEET.

The flip side of that is If it makes them happy and they can pay thier bills and be a productive member of society why should anyone care.

But I also remember when Television was the root of societies evils, when Video games were the root of all societies evils and when movies where the root of all societies evils. And if you go back and read the right histories, Sci Fi was the root of all societies evils (That horrible Jules Verne or Edgar rice Burroughs), and Comics were destroying young peoples minds.

Any new entertainment is usually jumped on by those looking for an easy answer to all the things that scare them about the younger generations.