World of Warcraft: An Addiction or A Hobby?

World of WarCraft. As many of you are probably (at least) aware, is a cultural phenomenon that has taken the world quite literally.

According to Gamasutra, "Blizzard Entertainment has announced that World of Warcraft has recently passed 10 million subscribers worldwide since its launch on November 23, 2004. " (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17062) As of right now, its number of subscribed users is probably higher.

What exactly is this for those who are unfamiliar?

For starters, World of Warcraft of an MMORPG. This acronym stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The general premise of this MMORPG, as with most software that falls within this genre of entertainment, involves the creation of a game character that you wish to play as. Many of the more modern titles, give options to alter the way the character appears.

As you progress further into this MMORPG, you acquire items, equipment, and skills of which you utilize to progress even further into the game.

Do keep in mind that World of WarCraft actually does not have an "end" like many games have. Every so often, an expansion to the game is released. As it stands now, there are 2 such expansions titled The Burning Crusades and Wrath of the Lich King. Each of these expansions to the title adds additional content for players of this "world" to further immerse themselves into.

An important bit of information to be aware of is that in order to continue to play this game, a user must pay a $15 monthly fee. Also keep in mind that World of WarCraft currently retails for $19.99, and The Burning Crusades retails for $29.99 while The Wrath of the Lich King retails for $39.99. Also, keep in mind that these MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) is lowered every so often.

So...

a. a player needs to purchase the original software
b. if the player wants to continue to play the game then it would make sense to purchase all of the expansion titles
c. if the players wants to continue to play the game and the expansions, then the player must continue to pay the $15 monthly fee

Does it seem like a scam? Maybe to some outsiders, but to those who are involved with this title, it may seem like a price worth paying in order to continue their social standings amongst other WoW (World of WarCraft) players.

Do keep in mind that I personally have never engaged myself in game. Although is does sound like an interesting opportunity that I could engage myself in, strictly speaking from an opportunity cost point of view, the game would involve too much money to continue playing and far too my time investment.

Now that we have the general bits of information laid out, let's take a look at this game from a psychological point of view.

What we essentially have here is an alternate form of reality where the physical medium (our physical body) is separated by our minds' involvement with a virtual reality setting.

For reasons that differ depending on the person, some may use World of WarCraft as a form of escape from the hectic and demanding world of "reality", others may utilize this game as a form of social networking with people; many of whom the individual will not meet in "reality", and others may use it as a form of escape from their own minds; sort of like a medium by which one would be distracted enough to forget (at least temporarily) the thoughts that go through our minds throughout the day.

In a sense, World of WarCraft can potentially be seen as an addiction; something that people have criticized it to be in the past as this YouTube clip displays.

"World of Warcraft Addict"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8hfK3RQs2g

Although this young man may have issues based on (according to the clip):

- 16 hours a day
- personality changes; becoming moody& violent
-

Right away, the news reporter shows the bias by saying that "His addiction is tearing the family apart."

"They don't realize how addictive it can be."

"It's addiction and an illness."

"I'm addicted to the game, but I'm not fully addicted."

Maybe the young man is addicted to the game. Maybe he is not. However, this news report would seem to suggest that World of Warcraft is strictly the sole culprit of ruining the family. It might be an issue with the family, but what is odd is that this family fails to realize that there might be other issues that this teenage male is dealing with. World of Warcraft may simply be a medium by which he is able to cope with these feelings of hostility and confusion; something that is quite common during the teenage years.

How addictive can it get? Very. However, is it far fetched to say that virtually anything can become a source of addiction and to an extent, and obsessions if used or involved in excess?

Unfortunately, this clip does not delve into details on the family, but rather focuses on the young man's avid involvement with World of Warcraft. Hence, not much can be said here other than what can be extrapolated from this clip and what the speakers say.

They call the "addiction" to the game the same as an illness. Be that as it may, it does seem to be stretching it to be calling it an illness. It is abnormal for anyone to be involved in one computer game for that many hours at a time, but calling this addiction an illness seems to suggest that there is some kind of a disease. Calling it an illness will probably lead to the young man denying his "...fully addicted..." status and probably end up continuing to play.

In the clip, the man interviewing the young man questioned the "friends". That in a sense seemed a bit insulting to the younger man. Why?

First of all, the young man is probably aware that others see something wrong with him playing for 16 hours a day. But be reaffirming by questioning him seemed a bit unnecessary. Judging by the body language, it would seem that the interviewer seemed to be making a condescending remark.

Let's take a look at this with an example with a issue that many people around the world are faced with.

Weight loss.

We all know about the issues and controversies surrounding the topic of weight loss. We see many that are severely overweight, want to do something about it, and try even if it is in the smallest way.

But what do you think goes around in a severely overweight individual when he/she seems commercials about being overweight, people constantly reminding the individual about being overweight, watching TV and seeing what the "ideal" weight for a person to be is, etc.

It's all very condescending.

Something that is quite wrong, unethical, and unnecessary is the whole condescending nature about this issue (World of Warcraft or any other similar situations). It is unnecessary.

The individual being criticized realizes that there is something that bothers another or a group of others, and the individual is trying (even if it is simply mentally sorting out some things that can be done). But being reminded (verbally, or in any other way) constantly seems to build up a sense of shame, and ultimately worse doubt in one's sense of being able to improve one's self.

Is it so wrong to not be "perfect"? We are human, and humans are by default imperfect beings; be it in the way we think, act, and behave.

What we have here with the World of Warcraft example is the WoW player being subtly told that there is something absolutely wrong with the individual and that he must change because he is not "normal".

But what is "normal"? Is "normal" a relative term used to describe what a culture believes to be a "norm"; as in generally accepted rules (be it explicit or implicit) that a culture holds to be "true". That might be the case. But what is "normal" when humans are by nature unique, even in the smallest detail? Being unique separates us from the everyday, mundane norms of society.

This WoW player is by all means unique, and also shares many unique characteristics as the many other WoW players. By those standards, there is nothing wrong. It might even be common to see WoW players amongst the WoW community playing a minimum of 16 hours a day. Maybe not.

The point here is that people should not be criticized for being seemingly abnormal. There might be other factors contributing to the situation. If the individual is unable to express his feelings and emotions at all, what do you think would happen? It would be an absolute catrostrophe; quite possibly physically violent in many ways.

We don't know the whole story with this WoW player. As with many WoW players, there could possibly be some larger issues; many of which are personal. Other WoW players may simply enjoy the game and play the 16 hours a day, but not everyday.

In this case, it would seem that WoW is being blamed; scapegoated by the parents for the parents lack of ability to understand what the teenage is going through in life. It would seem that there is little to no involvement from the mother (since she is the only parent shown in the clip). The issue here (from what is shown) is that it would seem that:

a. the parent has little involvement with what is going on in the teenager's life
b. WoW is being taken as just game
c. playing WoW equals addiction which equals a "problem"
d. no other possible reasoning is being considered

In essence, WoW is being solely focused on. The teenager is having trouble in school to the point where he left. In the video, it would seem that they believe that WoW is the reason why the teenager left school. This might be the case, but, he may have left school from feeling uncomfortable around his peers, maybe he was ridiculed, or maybe he sincerely feels unmotivated to be in an educational institution.

That does seem like it could be a result of many factors that the teenager may have gone through. For "addiction" of WoW to be able to directly and solely cause him to drop out of school is unlikely. There is most likely a reason why he would go about deciding to do this, and it is not too far fetched to say that poor parenting (or no parenting) may have contributed to this end.

What do you think about this? Please comment below.

UPDATE#1
I have found an interesting and relevant article.

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/08/7459.ars

Clinical psychologist and founder of Computer Addiction Services claims that 40% of WoW players are addicted. So, then that means that more than half (60% in this case) are not addicted.

Online Dating

What is it with the "popularity" of online dating sites lately? Many of us know that there are many fraudulent users on such sites that attempt to make himself/herself appear a certain way believing/hoping that someone would actually search there and get a result that such person is a "perfect" match.

Maybe it is, maybe it's not. But certainly there does seem to be some psychological issues being raised here.

For one, many people tend to lie or stretch the truth a little about themselves. They sense a level of unease at their "true" selves; what they perceive themselves to be and or how it is perceived that other people view the individual.

In the end, it really should not matter as you are who you are, and it is virtually impossible to authentically change your personality & characteristics. Sure you might appear to behave a different way after some time, but most likely this change in behavior is a public persona; essentially an act that you put on for the duration of interacting or being physically present with a certain group of individuals.

Another issue here is that the internet is being used. That in itself should be a warning sign that the individual that is seeking another is not confident enough with his self but wants some kind of a relationship with another. The end goal is, by all means, is admirable, but the means by which; or more specifically the medium by which one is attempting to reach such said goal suggests many things.

Of the many things that it suggests, one is that the individual is uncomfortable with the self. If one can not be confident & comfortable with the self, how can one expect that another (who happens to be using the internet) will feel comfortable around the other and maybe even the self?

Is it not "true", for the most part, that in order to love you need to be able to love yourself? What do I mean?

Look at the phrase...

I LOVE YOU.

You need to be able to learn, accept, or understand what it means to love the self first, before being able to have the capacity to love another.

For those who are unfamiliar with online dating site, please click the following links below. Copyrights to songs, website names, etc belong to the the respective companies.

eHarmony Advertisement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3e10FP2UyI

"...if I kept dating the same type of people, or you know, trying to meet them in the same places, I would have the same results."

In this commercial, we see a young man who claims that he had been dating the same type of people and, apparently, in the same place. The question here is, if this man had negative experiences (for what it seems many times), why would he continue to date in the same manner? Would it not seem logical to change something, for example, like where he found his dates?

That might be the whole point of eHarmony in the location, but the point is that online dating (though it may or may not work) has some issues with the person in the first place. And to be going to an internet source where, most likely, all users have the same or similar issues is a problem.

What do you think about this? Please comment below.

Violent Media. What Is Its Effect? Is There Even One?

What do you think about violent media? Do you think that they really do cause/sole cause of violent behavior in children?

There have been much controversy over this issue as many of you are probably aware.

Personally, I feel it's more of a blame-game/scape goat type of scenario. It would seem to me that feelings of inadequacy by the parent/guardian to properly take care, watch over, and be aware of what their child/young adult is feeling is being transferred to something that the child/young adult invests much time into.

In this case, it would be videogames and other forms of media (TV, movies, music). Pretty soon, I suspect that Internet will be blamed.

Below, are some links to some things that have occurred recently.

April 2007, Virgina Tech incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seung-Hui_Cho

another article
http://www.livescience.com/technology/051204_video_violence.html
"The assertion that video games make people violent got a boost in May of 2000, when the American Psychological Association issued a press release saying that violent video games can increase aggression. That conclusion was taken from a study by two researchers, Craig Anderson of Iowa State University and Karen Dill of Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina. The pair claimed that they had found a link between violent video games and aggression.

Yet an examination of what the researchers actually found shows how tentative their conclusions are. The study seems to show some association between the playing of violent video games and concurrent aggressive behavior and delinquency. Yet, as any social sciences or psychology student knows, correlation does not imply causation"

"Violent Video Games Under Attack"
http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2004/07/64101
"The debate reflects a divide in the way people perceive games. Are games harmless, perhaps even cathartic, as many people who grew up playing them believe? Or are they teaching kids to be more aggressive, and in extreme cases, to kill?"

American Psychology Association
http://www.apa.org/science/psa/sb-anderson.html

"FAQs on Violent Video Games and Other Media Violence"
http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/caa/video_game_faqs.html

You be the judge of the issue. What do you think is wrong/right about violent media being the absolute cause of violent behavior in many videogamers or users of violent media?

What do you think about this? Please comment below.

Is Virtual Reality A Blessing Or A Curse?

Do you or anyone else you know use any of the following?

AIM
FaceBook
MSN Live Messenger
MySpace
Skype
Twitter

...a cell phone? Text messaging? Using any of the listed above on a cell phone?

I'm sure that many of you personally use them, had used them, or at least know a handful of people who frequently uses them daily.

Technology can be a wonderful thing. However, have you ever considered what it, as in social networking sites, are really doing to us?

On 1 hand, it is quite convenient to be able to check up on what other people are doing (online or in "real life") via computers and cellphones, but on the other hand, it seems that these online communication tools (OCTs) are creating multiple subcultures.

Of the few, the one that will be discussed in this post in reference to complete dependence of online for any and all communication.

As many of you are probably aware, technology grows at an amazing rate. It opens us to communicate with people who live on the other side of the world with relative ease. However, what is it really that compels us to communicate with, for example, our friends who live maybe down the street via online?

This is not to say that OCTs are completely bad and should be banned. However, this is more in reference to those who specifically use OCTs for all forms of communication; essentially the degree of use.

Many of you will say that you don't really use OCTs in your life, but with society today and how everything is structured around technology and being able to quickly communicate is essentially demanded by everyone, it is essentially impossible to live a life without ever encountering OCT.

But what exactly is the reason why so many of use exclusively use OCTs other than it being convenient and quick? Maybe there's more of a reason why we do so.

I mean seriously think about it. It is understandable to use it to get things done quickly but to those who use it in excess might have some underlying reason that he/she is not revealing to others.

It might be for reasons of fear; fear of judgement. It would seem reasonable for someone to fear judgement from others be it their physical state of being, the clothing being worn, and other things. Is the internet essentially the cloak from society? Is the internet being used to hide their physical being and in exchange for socializing via their virtual self with their mind (i.e. the real part of the real self); the online identifier (i.e. user name) being a medium?

What do you think about this? Please comment below.