Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Of course, it's never the persons (or their parents if they are a child) responsibility to monitor their interaction. Its the companies fault for making a good game right? This case is not like the tobacco industry where there are real chemicals in the product causing the addiction. This is normal human behavior. Dr. Orzack: No, I disagree. You can't say that about Blizzard, which structures the games like World of Warcraft to be addictive. They design these MMORPGs to keep people in the game. I do think the problem is tied in with other things like family issues, but the games themselves are inherently addictive. That's ultimately the cause of the problem. Interview Link comment []  trackback []

*Caution RANT* Here's a crock of a headline. At the rate that mental health experts are boxing our normal behaviours into some sort of categorical mental deficiency we will soon not even be able to go to the bathroom without being "addicted to fluid release." If 40% of WOW players are addicted then how many people are "addicted" to using their blackberry or treo? Is that a clinical illness? I'm sure there is vastly more handheld users sending email and text messages that would classify as "addicted" then gamers. If that's the case then there will be class action law suits against all the handheld manufacturers for causing an illness. Ridiculous! Soon all people that use a computer at work will sue their respective employers for causing them to be addicted to using a computer - because most people probably have email/myspace/games/movies/music/pictures/or anything else on a computer at home. When will it end? To the mental health professionals: Please stop packaging up normal behavior into categories of illness. This only exacerbates any possible real problems by saying "it's okay that you do .... because your an addict and it's not your fault." This behavior also takes the focus from those people that really do have an illness. An addictive personality may just be addictive no matter what the medium. These kind of bold headlines only cause panic amongst people and raise suspicion. Dr. Orzack: You are scaring people. You accusing normal people of being sick. This debilitates their ability to control their own actions. This broad over generalization is hurtful to society. Article Follows: 40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Addicted. Heartless Gamer writes "MMORPGs and game addiction. If you're suffering from dry eyes, headaches, back aches, erratic sleep patterns, it may be more than just your average hangover: according to Dr. Maressa Orzack, you could be suffering from video and computer game addiction. A clinical psychologist, Orzack is founder and coordinator of Computer Addiction Services at McLean Hospital in Newton, Mass., and is also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Computer Addiction Services is one of the few outpatient clinics in the U.S. that provides specific treatment for game addiction." but I'm feelings much better now. [Slashdot] comment []  trackback []