Quote: Original post by Ntvu
1) Have you even been addicted to an MMORPG before? What happened and did you get out of it?

Yes, but not in a traditional sense. If I am going to spend time on something, no matter what is is, I'm going to actually spend time on it until i am satisfied with the results. Whether it's work or play, I'm going to give it all I have. So for games, I'll sit down and spend a ton of time on it until I either beat it or get to where I want to be, no matter how long it takes.

Of course, being a programmer and interested in the game development field, it's easy to justify such time spent because you can learn new things by studying games while playing them. Of course, that's more of an excuse to give people as to why you spend so much time on it, but if you are serious about being good at what you do, it's necessary. It all goes to the you play like you practice: the Roman's practices were bloody wars, and the Roman's wars were bloody practices.

Quote: 2) In YOUR opinion, what do YOU think makes these online games so addictive?

Familiarity, expertise knowledge, virtual social interactions, virtual empowerment, living out a dreamworld, peer pressure, there are tons of reasons why people get addicted to games, especially mmos.

The thing is though, what might be an addiction to one person, might not be to another. A game tester will play a lot of games, by no means does that mean they are necessarily addicted to it, just because they spend a lot of time on it. There is a fine line between being addicted to something and simply spending a lot of time on something.

Quote: 3) How can I get rid of the addiction?

Usually, those games give you plenty reasons to get rid of the addiction. New updates that nerf the game, the game degrading by hackers and gold sellers, running out of time and money to invest in the game, the game community just being too immature. An addition is having tons of reasons to quit, but not actually quitting, making up reasons in your mind as to why you should continue playing the game.

Psychologically, you are making it harder than it should be. You have a mindset that you are addicted to a game and you want to quit but you can't. You have to get rid of that mindset that you need to play the game. You need to convince yourself that you have better things to do (you do, don't you?) Until you find something to replace that time and get rid of that desire to play the game, then quitting is not easy. It's all about your mentality.

There is no physical connection between your body and playing MMOs, aside from the occasional adrenaline rush. Your so thought dependency on a game is purely a state of mind. If you look at other real addictions like smoking for example, there is a physical bond with your body, nicotine, to which your body does become dependent on it. Likewise with other prescription pills, drugs, etc...

Quote: By the way I'm also kind of addicted to these games also, I play ~2 hours a day.

I'd hardly call 2 hours a day playing a game an addiction. That's like watching a different full length movie every day about, it's nothing really unless you make it something. Unless you have 0 hours allocated to your daily schedule for recreational fun and hobbies, you aren't in that bad of a position unless you really need to be doing other things in those 2 hours. You can't always work, work, work and have no time for play. I've done it before growing up and it's simply not healthy. 2 hours of gaming seems like a fair balance to keep your sanity.

There are many "addictive" aspects to the games. They are also aspects that make the game fun and compelling.

They use a series of random reinforcements. When you start out there are random drops that are awesome to you. Later you just keep hunting for that awesome high-power random drop. That's similar to gambling addiction.

Role play has always been addicting to some. The ability to put away your real life, or to completely control another character's life, can be powerful.

Social aspects can be addictive to some people. The relationships in the game replace relationships in real life. These people they don't really know become a part of their identity, and it can be both difficult and painful to quit.

Many people are driven by the desire to level-up or get a high score or "finish" the game. Since MMOs don't end they cannot finish. Other people feel the urge to get one character of every type to level 70 with a complete set of items. Whatever the motivation, they feel compelled to "finish" the game.




For the questions of "am I addicted" and "how do I stop":

If your desire to play hurts real life and yet you still cannot stop doing it, it is a harmful addiction.

By definition, you cannot handle it alone. If you could stop by yourself it wouldn't be an addiction.

You need professional help.

Quote: Original post by Ntvu

1) Have you even been addicted to an MMORPG before? What happened and did you get out of it?

2) In YOUR opinion, what do YOU think makes these online games so addictive?

3) How can I get rid of the addiction?


By the way I'm also kind of addicted to these games also, I play ~2 hours a day.

1. Yes, I was addicted to World of Warcraft off-and-on for a few years. Yes, I got out of it. I've been WoW-free for 2 years now!

2. For me, it was escapism. I loved being immersed in fictional worlds. Also, a lot of my friends AND coworkers played too, so even when I wasn't in the game people talked about it constantly. It made it very hard to quit when half the people I know, in real life, were still obsessed with it.

3. This is a mental condition, not a physical addiction, so the best thing to do is just distance yourself and occupy yourself with something else. However, since I myself went through a few relapses, I realize that isn't always easy. Whenever I quit WoW, I suddenly found myself with a lot of free time. That free time MUST be filled somehow, or else you'll get bored and start playing again. Another problem, as I mentioned earlier, was that my friends all played, and to this day haven't quit. Still when we go out to dinner, the talking points tend to go to WoW again and again. If you are trying to quit, make some non-MMO friends, and try to change the topic whenever your MMO buddies bring it up.

That all said, it took even more for me to finally quit. Back in '07, I started dating a girl and told her I played WoW. That's usually surefire girl-repellent, but this girl was curious about what I do and downloaded the trial version. Within a couple days, she was addicted. I felt so horrible about getting this girl addicted to WoW, which I had been trying to get unaddicted to for a long time myself. And when WoW first came out, I encouraged a friend to play, and now the game dominates his life. That's two people I brought to the dark side -- it had to stop.

At the same time, WoW actually injured me. Since I work as a programmer, and was working on writing a book, in addition to playing WoW, I spent A LOT of time on the computer. To make things worse, I had bad posture. Soon enough, I got a repetitive stress injury -- specifically, a pinched nerve. My health is what ultimately got me to quit.

Well, that's my story.

I also played WoW on retail for 1.5 years then quit for a long time.Now I am still playing on some private server.The thing that is most addictting for me is the PvP I just love the competition team work.PvE in WoW is so fail it wants to make you cry.

If you want to get rid of the addiction the first thing to do is to admit that you are an addict and accept that it is a bad thing.You can't quit something that you enjoy and think that is good for you.You have to see that it is pointless and you can do better things than playing a game for so long.MMOs don't have an end so no matter how much you play there will be always more so whatever achievement you get it will be obsolete soon.

For some reason I cannot get addicted to anything. After a while it gets boring. I smoked for 2 years straight and quit cold turkey.I played wow from beta to raiding aq40 then dropped it. Stayed away until 2 months ago then bought TBC and WOTLK created a new character and leveled it to 80. My toon has GS 5k+ on 2 specs and I am bored and I am leaving.

The only thing I can't seem to shake of is game programing.

1) Have you even been addicted to an MMORPG before? What happened and did you get out of it?
Yes. My guild self destructed and I was left alone. Rather than try to make new friends, I gave up.


2) In YOUR opinion, what do YOU think makes these online games so addictive?
The persistent world, friends and the goal.

The world persists even if you are not on, so there is always a feeling that you're missing something. My friends often needed help, so I would stay later to help them. Plus, I really wanted to get to level X, which took a lot of time.

3) How can I get rid of the addiction?
I think cold turkey is the best. You may also take a no TV or computer weekend or week. That should break you out of old habits.

Make a schedule for yourself and follow it, to keep old habits from coming back.


By the way I'm also kind of addicted to these games also, I play ~2 hours a day.2 hours is ok, as long as you're replacing other activities.

If you watched 2 hours of TV or reading the Internet, and you replace it with 2 hours of games, that's fine. If you're replacing the 2 hours of friends, improving yourself or hanging out with family, that's bad.

Also count forum and discussion time.