Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
No Such Thing as MMO Addiciton?
Jimmy_Scythe
Member CommonPosts: 3,586
Go a week without playing an MMO. If you aren't addicted, then this should be easy.
I'll just leave this here and see what you guys do with it....
Comments
I do all the time...with todays games it is really easy thing to do. ^_^
Funny story, My video card went out about a month ago. A week and a half ago I put it in a box to RMA. Since then, I haven't been able to play any MMOs (I have a netbook but can't play anything on it really).
I have been playing some xbox games and things like that maybe an hour or so a week, but last night, I had a lot more free time then I usually do which is where I would start some MMO playing, and couldn't. I ended up picking up a cheap, spare card so I could play while I wait for the RMA.
Addiction? meh... don't think so, but who am I to judge.
hmmmz ...thinks last time I went a week without some type of mmo......and....it has been about 4 years
Same here. I haven't played an MMO in months.
I do it quite frequently.
Besides the presence or absence of withdrawal does not mean addiction. It is only one of several possible signs and you need a few signs for the old definition.
The new definition doesn't even use the word addiction.
Venge
edit - in the DSM-V (for good or bad) things like gaming, internet, gambling will be called abuse because of the lack of disregulated receptors
Are you addicted? There have been several times in the last two years I have gone a week without playing. I don't enjoy the extra time mainly because there is nothing else to do.
I don't think there's such a thing as "MMO Addiction" but rather specific game addiction, and THEN....it's not like everlasting for most people, so is it really an addiction? Probably not.
I've been addicted to UO, EQ2, and WoW....but only until I got sick of them. So I don't suppose they were really addictions but more just like projects from my hobby (MMOs) that I was really enjoying at the time. I managed to work, eat, sleep, have a family, etc. during the years I played these games too, so again....not likely addiction.
Maybe MMO addiction does exist for those poor souls who lose their families and jobs because of a game. I think so.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I haven't played any games, MMO or otherwise in well over a week. I find that at times a break from all gaming is a refreshing change of pace. Besides it's the best part of Summer right now and being outside doing things with family and friends is far more important to me lately. I still use my computer in the evenings mostly but it's mainly random surfing, watching movies or other videos.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
Heh, yeah. Sad but true.
As long as I can replace it with something fun like fishing, motorcycle riding or time with my grandkids then that is easy. I regularly do that a few weeks out of the year and at least twice as many weekends. But if I had to do that while still working during the week it would be much harder. I don't play console games and I don't watch TV, ever. I would pretty much be stuck reading every evening and while that is good for a while, that many hours of it would wear thin quickly. MMOs are what I do instead of TV because TV is boring, nothing good on any more.
The trick to not getting addicted to an mmo is to switch which one you play ever few months. Don't get too attached to any one game.
All die, so die well.
People who are really addicted and go without MMO for a while just compensate with other games or instant gratification.
Yes, they stopped playing MMO, but now they're playing something else that's just as addictive.
I haven't played an MMO in a month, I don't feel there's anything new and fun to be played and I'm too busy to devote days on MMO.
funny thing was i used to think i was addicted to mmos.... well actually it was WoW
. anyways i used to be really, really into it. would dream about it, and spontaneously wake up at 2 am so i could go farm the rare mats. i would think of nothing else all day but be able to go home, boot up the comp and farm BGs for purples. i would start sweating just thinking of my next arena session. at times i even declined to hang out with friends because i wanted to log on. i would litteraly sit in front of my comp for 8 to 12 hours at a time. skip meals, skip sleep just to play. thank god my work allowed me to make my own hours or i might have started skipping work too.
i serioulsy started to worry that i was hoplessly addicted.
it lasted for a good two years and some, but then something just happened. not sure what, but the game sort of started getting really repetitive and i wanted something more. i tried a few more mmos but none would do. left WoW, came back, left, came, back, left....i just coudn't get back into it the same way. every time i came back the fun would last less. the spark was gone.
i still play mmos but not nearly as much as i used to. i am a much more casuall mmo gamer now. maybe there is an addiction component to mmos but it's nothing as serious as drugs.
Horrible thread. Guy tries to start an argument about something that is proven in psychology books. Trollish. You can be addicted to any substamce, object, food item, other person you ever encounter. If something exists, someone out there is addicted to it. This is fact.
Error: 37. Signature not found. Please connect to my server for signature access.
LOTRO cost me my job, my girlfriend and my family.
MMO addiction is very real. However its been years since I've experienced it unfortunatly.
Remember Old School Ultima Online
There are many reasons why a person might feel compelled to play a video game despite the fact that they shouldn't. Exactly zero of them are properly called "addiction" by psychologists. Calling that an addiction makes about as much sense as calling a punch in the face an infection. It's a completely incorrect use of the term.
I do hope you are joking.
Completely and totally untrue. You won't find a registered psychologist, psychiatrist or practicing medical doctor anywhere that agrees with this.
Anything can be abused - even extemely abused. But addiction requies a disregulated receptor.
Venge
People can be "addicted" to anything depending on personality type and history. There's classic drug and alcohol addiction, which is a chemical dependancy, and there are other addictions such as gambling, gaming, chaos, and sex. Outside of the drugs and alcohol, those other activities aren't inherently addictive. People aren't going to stop having sex just because a certain percentage of people become addicted to it.
So what's the point of this thread?
Actually they can't be addicted to any just anything. The newest defintion of addiction based on diagnostic criteria is a disregulated recepotor reflecting the locus of control being exterior to the person.
All others are considered an abuse because the locus of control is within the person.
This reflects a fundamental difference between the two and is dependant on the cause, and thus reflects different treatment.
Not everything is addictive, and not everyone can be addicted to it. But everything can be abused - even extremely and dangerously so.
Gambgiln, gaming, chaos are no longer considered addictions but abuse. Sex is an iffy one because there are definately receptors associated wiht this.
Additionally the idea of an addictive personality has been disproven - well maybe not disproven but after 30 years of research into it there is no evidence for it at all, so that idea has been dropped.
Now a certain number of people will be born with a disregulated receptor, and another number (both relatively unknown at this point) can have receptors become disregulating based on their actions. But not everyone can become addicted. Current neural research is now showing that only about 20% (which is still high) can ever become addicted to hard drugs such as cocaine. Marijuana - only about 4%. Alcohol - almost everyone because it acts on about a dozen different receptors.
But everyone can certainly abuse thes things and many others - and still destroy their lives from it. But the definition of addiction has now changed to reflect the locus of control.
Venge
edit - however I'm sure we'll be saying this for a long time. It normally takes about 10-15 years before the research makes its through the masses.
edit - as we learn more about an issue, our understanding about them changes. As our understanding changes so does the definition and thus the words we use to communicate the meanings.
I guess, the only thing I'm addicted to is gaming in general, but I can't play a single game for long (minecraft being the exception it seems). I can play a single title for a couple weeks for a couple hours a day, but then I always change it up to something else otherwise I get burnt out. That's why I find it hard to play MMOs these days since they're more about time commitment than anything (even casual ones seem to require about a few hours a week of committed playtime to be worth it). It would be funny if someone created an MMO that actually rewarded players for novel ways to alternate their playing habits (duration and role/mechanics). I wonder if such a game would sell in the current market with such a basic principle.
I'm having trouble trying to stay in a MMO.........so I decided to sub for 3 months of Rift
then hopefully I can stay longer in SWTOR and GW2, even possibly in TERA.
I'm sad about current games (maybe except rift and aion), but the future is looking bright.
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
When people say:
"you can get addicted to anything"
I think that isn't true to begin with, and it's often used as a justification for something.
It also doesn't take into account that some things are a lot more addictive than others.
(I think MMO are addictive btw)
I smoked cigarettes for 17 years, I quit cold turkey 2 years ago.
I drank caffinated drinks for 20+ years, I gave up all caffiene about two months ago.
But when i'm on the road for a few weeks, all i think about is gaming...
Maybe games are more addictive then nicotine and caffiene. Or maybe its just easier to identify those addictions and overcome them, where video games are an obscure obsession and hard to isolate and overcome.
"I swear -- by my life and my love for it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
- John Galt
A week with out playing an MMO? Easy.
Try going a week with out using a computer or any other electronic device. That's hard.
-Azure Prower
http://www.youtube.com/AzurePrower