Those crazy chinamen....

[Thorin]

What does a MMO junkie do when their game gets shut down?



I dont think its an addiction.  I think calling it an addiction gives the so called "addicts" a crutch to lean on.  I just think that comparing WoW to Heroin is rather wrong.



What is the withdrawl symptoms of a MMO addict?  Loneliness?  *haha*

I know someone who I would consider addicted to screens.  It took his wife and kid moving out on him for him to start looking for work.  He considers sitting behind the computer with his child in his lap, ignoring the child while he plays the latest game, to be quality time.  If he's not behind the computer, he's behind the TV.  At first I judged him and said he was a lazy slob.  But I've noticed lately that if *anything* is on the TV, even something stupid like Power Puff Girls or Ants In My Pants, he'll sit and watch it, unable to even turn his eyes away to tend to his child that just fell and got a bleeding lip.



So what are his withdrawal symptoms?  Crankiness, unexplained anger at his family, absolutely stupid decision-making, loneliness, yearning for more moving pictures on a screen.



He used to play MMOs, but couldn't afford them anymore (he missed three months of student loan payments and a month of the phone/internet bill before he cancelled his WoW and DAoC accounts).  He definitely acted like an addict, giving up important things like family and the ability to pay rent to game.



So can you get addicted to MMOs?  Of course.  You can get addicted to anything.  Although addiction used to be defined only as physical dependence on a drug (legal or illegal), the word has grown in meaning:

The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.

If you spend your waking hours thinking about it, thinking about how to get it, thinking about it to the exclusion of all other things, and will risk your or your family's safety and wellbeing for it, you are compulsively occupied with it.



Hmm, thinking about that, I actually know three MMO addicts in whom I've seen that behaviour.  One has recovered and is now happily married.  One has not worked for over two years, and is constantly being threatened by his parents that they will kick him out (he's 25!), and is currently involved in three separate MMOs that keep him busy all day (plus two D&D groups), and the third I described above.