Addiction therapists trying to help addicted in the game
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 27th 2009 at 5:00PM
Britain's Telegraph newspaper has news about addiction therapists joining the game themselves, specifically to find and seek out players who might meet the definition of addicted to World of Warcraft. They're actually looking for official Blizzard support, too. I'm not sure how much help you can actually provide by chatting with a player in the game ("Hello, it looks like you've been online for the last 16 hours, are you addicted?"), but they want to do it.Dr. Richard Graham wants to launch a program by the end of the year that includes some in-game outreach, and even he agrees that it'll be tough sell. Then again, maybe the guy just wants to play some WoW for free:
"While a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they're probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft. We may have to work at that if we are going to get through to those who play this game for hours at end."
Right. "Work.".
Seriously, sure, this is definitely an issue -- I have a psychologist friend, and he's done some work with people addicted to video games before, including World of Warcraft. But even he tells me that video game addiction is almost always a byproduct of some other form of addiction -- people already have the capability for a debilitating addiction, and they just find an outlet in Blizzard's game. From that point of view, these therapists might have more luck wandering around bars or casinos than actually looking for players in Azeroth.
I'm all for helping people who might have issues with addiction, but diving into the game and trying to both find and help people that way doesn't really seem like the best way to do it. Odds are that a WoW addiction will end up manifesting itself elsewhere in the person's life, and that's probably a better place for these guys to look
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Guilds, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
matthewd74 Jul 27th 2009 5:08PM
You can't be serious.....I can think of a few addictions that are much more detrimental to one's personal health (alcohol, drug, sex)....come on, doctors...go help people who are truly in need of an intervention before they kill themselves or someone else.
Pete Jul 27th 2009 5:42PM
Aren't we all addicted to sex? I thought that was nature!
nih Jul 27th 2009 6:35PM
The social cost of being addicted to WoW isn't quite as bad as the other things you mentioned, but it is there. Fortunately WoW addiction's physical toll is mostly non-existant. So you put on a few pounds and your kids learn about self reliance a bit earlier than other kids.
The thing most WoW players don't want to face is the fact that if they are addicted to WoW, any play at all is too much. The cost of addiction isn't just in the time they actually play it, it's the time they spend thinking about it, obsessing over it and preparing for it when they're not playing it.
If you have an inkling that your WoW playing habits are unhealthy, stop trying to justify it and just stop playing. Permanently.
matthewd74 Jul 27th 2009 6:38PM
nih...you have a valid point. But if video game addiction is truly an addiction, then just trying to "stop playing" will likely be a futile act with out the necessary tools and help that would be needed for other more commonplace addictions.
nih Jul 27th 2009 6:50PM
Agreed totally. There's absolutely no support for people who want to stop playing but are having trouble. The process of cancelling your account, deleting your characters, instituting 24-7 lockout hours and informing your online friends of your pending disappearance is far too many steps for most people to take without changing their minds.
Likewise people who don't play do not understand how hard it is for WoW players to not continue playing.
There needs to be a tool for WoW players to force themselves to stop playing for a set amount of time. Something like a big red button on the account management page that freezes your account and gametime for a month. It should be irrevokable by any means once clicked.
Quark1020 Jul 28th 2009 1:01AM
Actualy, there is already something like that. Its the parental control deal that is in the game to control the ammount of time played. Just have a loved one or someone they trust set it up so that they can't undo it in a moment of weakness.
Still, addicted or not, having to choose between playing unhealthily and not playing at all is a bit extreem.
LostOne Jul 28th 2009 10:57AM
I wonder how long it'll be before we see the first publicly WoW-addicted psychologist.
Aaron Jul 28th 2009 11:31AM
@LostOne that was my first thought. LOL
asdfghjkloo Jul 28th 2009 2:49PM
How about therapists are addicted to helping people.
Some people just don't need help.
Sichas Jul 27th 2009 5:08PM
Wait, why is alcohol a tag? Google whore!
sooper Jul 27th 2009 5:08PM
"video game addiction is almost always a byproduct of some other form of addiction"
- It's true. It's also more likely that even if a person is helped of one particular addiction, if the help doesn't extend beyond and during they're 'rehabilitation' that he/she is most likely to replace it with another one.
If he or she can't find a suitable replacement, they'll work their way back. So the help would actually have to be extended beyond the game. Maybe networking these people together or something could help find other things to do in the Earth. A Life-grind.
sooper Jul 27th 2009 5:09PM
^ "their"
frank_mullins Jul 27th 2009 5:23PM
"...Maybe networking these people together..."
Guess they could form their own guilds. at least there would always be someone online to group with :)
* i know, i'm gonna go to hell....*
Niko Jul 27th 2009 5:09PM
When I hit 20 days I felt like I was wasting my life...
Dr Jekyll Jul 27th 2009 6:10PM
45 days for me which was quite the wake up call considering I had only owned the game for about a year.
uncleernie50 Jul 27th 2009 7:55PM
Yeah but dont you think that if someone ran an actual timer on your other activities you'd be equally shocked. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year. I personally feel siginifigently less lame that this probably is also trute for me.. but is WoW instead.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Jul 28th 2009 2:26PM
Okay. This beats me in curiosity, but...
20 days of game time equal what? 480 hours right?
Technically since most people sleep, eat, go to work/school or actually leave the house, you’re not actually playing at a full day’s schedule... If you played 4 hours a day that means you only played wow for 120 different days in the course of a year. A span of game time played through 4 months of doing other things at the same time, really.
Drag Jul 27th 2009 5:09PM
OMG someone from the outside might come into your precious world and say you're addicted!
To people with no lives, this would be the only way to get through to them.
Ryuzaki Jul 27th 2009 6:03PM
You're replying to to a WoW.com blog post about gaming addiction.. on the internet. And poking fun at others no less ;)
Re-evaluate yourself before replying like that.
Dan Jul 28th 2009 1:03AM
That is an ad hominem attack. Pick apart his argument all you want, but being dismissive of his argument because of who is saying it and where it is being said is not fair at all.