February 2005
“Have you played World of Warcraft yet?”
“No, I uh…no…”
“Dude, it’s not EQ. You really need to check it out.”
This was coming from someone I used to play Everquest with years before. I would average about 5-6 hours a night. When our group/guild would hang out, we would get dinner, watch some anime, talk about EQ, and then head back to our respective homes to log on and play the rest of the night.
My longest day was about 16 hours. Traveled from Qeynos to Freeport, bound, took the boat to the other continent, explored it fully (as full as my level would allow), and just really had a long day mixed with exploration and camping.
A few months later one of the guild was playing a lot…like a lot. And we couldn’t keep up. Alternate characters of theirs would even pass us up. Eventually many of us moved on, but I saw less and less of the one who seemed genuinely addicted.
So, having WoW presented was kind of odd. I never considered myself addicted, since I could easily play off and on and had quit for years, but I had already seen the comparisons to a drug. Sony was sending me a free month to reactivate EQ. Like it’s a drug. Here’s your free high, come back to me if when you want more…
My name is Bovaltine, the Tauren Druid and I’m an addict.
I did end up playing WoW, for about 6 months pretty steady. Rarely broke 4 hours in one day though and I did have 
much more fun than with EQ. I knew several people in the game in real life (and still do) and I enjoyed being back in the online community. Eventually, as stated in my bio, I had to give it up. Having a level 47 Rogue and a level 43 Shadow Priest have to leave groups several times unexpectedly to tend to a new born was a pretty good sign that my wife at the time and I could no longer commit to the responsibilities that seem to come up after about level 25-30.
Although for a while there my gaming was primarily of a more healthy kind, Dance Dance Revolution for example, I did occasionally play an offline console game that was your average button smasher. But really, those can be addictive too. I know people who quit WoW and come back, or one kid I know who for a while there was so addicted that he had to have a game…or anything game related with him. If he wasn’t playing, he would look through video game magazines. If there were no magazines, he would be looking through game manuals. Any game, no matter how small or how old the technology it seemed, was a fix for him. 
Doing a bit of digging on the subject out there, I was not only reminded of some past references I came across over the years, such as the Star Trek The Next Generation episode “The Game” and the Intervention episode “Pete and Renee”, but article after article about internet/gaming addiction.
From Wikipedia to WebMD it seems to be a problem not just for MMPORGs, although they reward system blended with the community feel makes it easier to get addicted for many, but for stand alone console games as well.
Via WebMD article Video Game Addiction No Fun:
According to the Center for On-Line Addiction, warning signs for video game addiction include:
- Playing for increasing amounts of time
- Thinking about gaming during other activities
- Gaming to escape from real-life problems, anxiety, or depression
- Lying to friends and family to conceal gaming
- Feeling irritable when trying to cut down on gaming
In addition, video game addicts tend to become isolated, dropping out of their social networks and giving up other hobbies. “It’s about somebody who has completely withdrawn from other activities,” Young says.
This isn’t to say that I am writing this article because I think MMPORGs are bad, that all games are addictive, and 
everyone who plays games has some sort of a problem, otherwise I would have a problem with myself (especially with playing Mad World last weekend). Just that it is sad to see something get out of control. Any hobby that overtakes one’s life can be pretty sad.
Even Norman Bates would agree: “A hobby’s supposed to pass the time, not fill it.”
I have had friends delay plans, show up late, cancel plans, and turn down any invites because of gaming in the past. It gets to the point where I would see them less and less, or they would invite me to play the game with them instead (knowing they would be higher level and probably only send me an occasional message made me opt out). Some of them, like the one I mentioned from the EQ days, I haven’t seen in over 5 years. That’s where the real sadness comes, when you are substituted with a game. When they would rather grind and level up than hang out.
I have been there, online, in a community and having a good time. I understand the level of commitment that can happen when 5, 20, 60 other players in the game are relying on you to do your part for an instance or raid. But I also realized when it was time for me to step back and realize the difference between gaming as a hobby vs gaming as an obsession.
I can only imagine what others have gone through with a real game/online addiction leading to irrevocable social issues in their lives.
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