I’m sure I am like every other RPG player, more specifically MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game), which gets drawn in full force and twitches if his/her fix of online enjoyment is not met. In all seriousness the addictive power of these MMORPG’s is ridiculous, it is like any other drug that man can get addicted to. Right now I am addicted to PSU on the 360, I want to start to wean myself off but it draws me in, it talks to me, just one more run, just one more level. I recently went to Best Buy and saw the Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft, I held it, looked at it, sniffed it (ok I didn’t really sniff it, but you get the idea) and decided against it. I am still thinking about getting the expansion and firing up my old WoW character, but I recall the utter engulfment it had over my life, I would get home from work and fire up the PC play for hours and eat by the PC, and constantly fight with my wife over logging off. My life became instance runs, leveling, grinding and I always had something else to try and do that would only take me a bit longer. I look at the burning Crusade and I say not again Blizzard, you will not get me in the clutches of your crack, I fear Sega has already drawn me in and it’s too late, but I won’t do WoW, not again. The major problems with these games is there is no end, there is no final mission or goal, and if there was the developers will put out some new content, missions, weapon, item, etc. that will make you continue to play, they are truly and open ended scenario where you take your character as far as you would like, some just never know when to stop.
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Write a Comment»Blaming a video game for your own lack of self control? Perhaps you think games should be banned so that no one can ever become addicted to them like you? Because nobody in the world could have any more self control than you.
The truth: Games are FUN and entertaining. People get “drawn in” because they are enjoying it. When they spend too much time playing, they blame the game instead of themselves. YOU have control over what you do with your time, not the game.
poltergeist’s comment is only true in part if not insulting. Would you say the same thing of someone addicted to crack cocaine, heroine, or some other drug that is quick to grab hold of you and fights to the bitter end to keep you?Studies have found that many video games, especially those that are meant to semi-simulate real life are equally, if not more so, addicting than any drug created simply because of it’s ability to inoculate the player with the ideology that “this is reality” in a slow, diliberate and subtle fashion. What people don’t realize is that the human is adaptive to it’s most current stimuli, so when one is “really into” a game their mind begins to perceive time according to how the game presents it. The result is this objective that to the player should only take “just a moment” to perform will actually take 1 1/2 to 2 hours to accomplish, however to the player it will only take “just a moment”. The old saying “time flies when you’re having fun” holds more insight to how the human brain perceives time than one might think.
@ FinalEchelon - I agree, this is a bit of an older article and I have been meaning to pick this topic up again, perhaps in a newer post.
The sad part is that I am playing Burning Crusade again and tooling up for Wrath of the Lich King!
Sigh!