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If you’ve played one of the various online games such as World of Warcraft of Everquest, you have probably dealt with video game addicts first-hand. Maybe even you are addicted. This article will address video game addiction and some things to consider when trying to break free of it.

I have played, and been addicted to, both Everquest and World of Warcraft (referred to as EQ and WoW, respectively). In the latter case, the addiction lasted longer, and relapsed. In some respects, it’s a salute to the game maker, who has made a game so good that players find themselves practically unable to stop playing.

One immediate problem is that in gamer circles, a game’s addictiveness is considered a positive trait. Read some of the well known gamer forums and you’ll see rave reviews about how addictive games are to the reviewer. They actually use the term in a positive manner.

Hardcore gamers want a game they can’t put down.

In the case of World of Warcraft, there is no real end to the game. Even when your character hits level 70 (the current cap, which will be raised in the next expansion), there are always more things you can do to improve your character. There are trade skills, better armor, better weapons, reputations to increase, and gold to be made. Not to mention helping your other characters (called “alts”) level up as well.

You can’t finish the game because there is no end.

That’s why Everquest was so well named when it arrived in 1999… There is no final battle. There is no ultimate ending. It just goes on and on…

This is how gamers are so drawn in. Not only is there an immeasurable amount of things to do in the game, but also because there are millions of other players online, making it a social environment. Some people have virtually no social lives outside of these games. I know I certainly made a couple friends online, and there were people far more engrossed than I.

So not only does game play itself keep gamers coming back, but their social investments bring them back as well. There are guilds, which are groups of people who have meetings, plan in-game events, etc. Some members of these guilds literally plan their lives around guild events within the game.

Real life simply becomes a series of bridges between World of Warcraft sessions.

There have been horror stories of extreme addiction, such as the Korean parents who were both Warcraft addicts and whose daughter died due to neglect that stemmed directly from their addiction. Or the young man who died from playing for nearly 50 hours straight. In-game players have often bragged about how WoW ended marriages and relationships. Some players have also stated a preference to the World of Warcraft than the real world. I’ve seen “real life sucks” stated in the game by other players. More than once.

Again, having been an avid player myself, I recognize just how easy it is to get sucked in.

Getting hooked into games such as Warcraft is easy, because it’s very fun early on. The graphics and music are stunning. Building a character up through the early levels is quite easy. It takes only a couple minutes to get from level 1 to level 2. Progress slows considerably later on, and then when you hit level 70, it’s not a matter of leveling up any longer, but of making your level 70 more powerful. Progress gets slower and frustration begins to set in. Instead of looking forward to playing a fun game, it becomes a habit, almost to the point of dreading it. “Oh man I have to win 5 more battlegrounds today,” or “I dread having to go farm materials for tailoring today,”… yet they do it. The game becomes one long, never-ending checklist of things to do.

Things that have absolutely no meaning in the real world.

Sometimes a player will manage to step back enough to take a look at his behavior and realize how far they have gone. A few simple questions helped me see my problem more clearly.

• Who in the real world cares if you played 50 battlegrounds to get your Gladiator’s Helm?
• What could you with all that time you’re playing… to do something to improve your life?
• Has this game affected your life and relationships negatively? Is it worth it?
• Why are you playing this game so much? Am you trying to escape from something?
• Do you get irritable when you try to cut back?
• Do you think about the game while you’re doing other things?
• Do you “sneak” on the game, or conceal your playing in any way?
• Are you playing the game during times you should be doing something else?
• On the usual Tuesday WoW offline times, do you spend your free time reading about Warcraft and basically waiting for it to come back online?

Chances are if you’re reading this article, you’re wondering if you or someone you love is hooked. And if you got this far, you probably already know the answer.

Unlike drug addiction, or even gambling addiction, it does seem that many video game addicts eventually become burnt out and give it up. Not always. And it could take months or years, and oftentimes they simply switch to a new game and continue their addictive behavior. There are dozens of other online games similar to WoW.

From my experience, and from that of my friends who have also played Warcraft, the two best ways to stop are from burnout – and simply realizing that you are wasting valuable time in your life… and also cold turkey. Cold turkey is psychologically tough because you will have the urge to play for a few days. Once you realize how much more you are getting done during your newfound free time, and how many things there are for you to experience in the real world, you start to realize how worthless it is to immerse yourself so intensely into a video game.

Another idea is to give someone you trust your user name and password and have them log into your account. Then have them change the password and the email associated with the account so you can no longer log in. Have them cancel your account and swear not to give you the password in order to re-subscribe. I don’t suggest using the parental control area to limit playing. The only way to break the addiction is to be completely away from the game.

Fortunately, breaking the spell of Warcraft is “only” psychological. You don’t have to physically detox, so going cold turkey will not kill you. It might make you irritable. Like problem gambling, video game addiction is a problem with impulse control. The causes of this impulse control is something you’ll have to address at some point.

After a few days without Warcraft, the real world comes into much sharper focus. You’ll feel an intense sense of relief, and you’ll find many more things to fill your time. Relationships will improve, chores will get done, and you’ll get more sleep. You can start working on a checklist of things to do to improve your real life, instead of the character you played in WoW.

You have to make the decision to do it. Don’t cheat and “hop on for a few minutes.” If you feel you are addicted, you must act immediately and fully. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones. If you feel that breaking the addiction is beyond your control, you may have to seek professional help. And you should never be embarrassed to do so. Do what you can break free of the addiction before the addiction breaks you.

Video game addiction is something you can and will overcome. It will also give you more appreciation of the World of Real Life, which is full of beauty and excitement that no video game can replace.

For further reading, see my post about the reasons people become addicted to the World of Warcraft.

Tags: addiction, warcraft

This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 9:38 am and is filed under Health, Internet, Self Help. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.