The Addictive Qualities of a MMOG

[boscolio]

It's been said that video games like Everquest are addictive. I personally believe this to be true. I played Everquest for close to a quarter of my life, over 5 years. I'd like to take a minute and explore just why these types of video games are so addictive in nature and if it's necessarily a bad thing that they are addictive.

Before you can find out if MMOGs are addictive, you might want to ask yourself why you play them in the first place. Many people do just fine playing an hour or 2 a day, I call them "casual gamers." Others aren't happy unless they are the most powerful character in the game, I myself was this way. I felt, if you aren't in the top percentage of players, if you aren't the people others look up to, then what's the point of even playing? And I had fun playing, at first, but eventually Everquest lost it's magic. This was about 3 years ago. I no longer had fun with the game, but I derived my enjoyment from spending time with other people in the game. So I continued to play and pay.

When I logged in, I would immediatly start getting private messages from people I had played with before asking how my day went, if I was interested in grouping with them etc etc. This was such a change of pace from how I live in the Real World where I'm too shy to even introduce myself to people. I felt accepted. I was "one of the gang." Guild Chat was my version of the bar "Cheers." Everyone knew my nameâ„¢ and it felt good. When people would ask me after finding out that I played Everquest for so many years "why?", I would even describe it just like that. Some people hang out at clubs and go to parties essentially just to chat with people. I did the same thing in Everquest, I was just "hanging out." I no longer had any more fun playing the game, it itself was quite repetative, but I enjoyed the company of the other people playing.

Now, Everquest consumed most of my non-working hours, but did it affect job performance? Sure. I was repeatedly given warnings about being late and even held back from promotions because of it. But did I care? No. As long as I was raiding NToV (a place with lots of big angry dragons for you non-eqers out there), I was happy. But then I decided that I didn't want to be working a dead end job, close to minimum wage job at the age of 30. I took a stock of my life and said, what could I do to change my fortune?

I decided to join the United States Air Force. I worked my butt off, lost 40 pounds that they required of me before I could even join, took a couple tests, and finally I was in. I had my cushy government job, nice salary and I was happy and fit. But I didn't really have many friends. So I said, why don't I start playing Everquest again? And I did. In fact, I had such a good time playing Everquest, I stopped caring about my military duties. I would show up to work late and tired from late night raiding. I was given several letters of counseling about my ability to perform my duties. But honestly? I didn't care. I was having fun. I didn't fit in with many of the people in the military, alot of whom stick to themselves anyways; but again, while playing the game, I was surrounded by like-minded people. Playing Everquest also helped me find other people in the military who also played MMOGs and at further stengthened my bond to the game. I would play the game at home, and then talk about playing the game at work.

By all accounts I've been able to read about addiction, I was addicted. Playing the game affected my life and my work in a very negative way and I was unable to stop even after several times of trying. My family was worried, the few friends I had worried about the time I spent playing and even my supervisors were worried about me.

But is Internet Gaming Addiction any worse than any other addiction? I certainly don't think so. Except in 1 rare case, I've never heard of anyone killing themselves through Online Gaming. Your body doesn't become chemically dependant on the game like a drug. It's inexpensive and no one is selling their house or putting their kids into prostitution to support their EQ habit. However, if you find yourself like myself, wishing you had other things to do with your time, Looking for a way out, there are ways to break out of the Addiction of logging in every day.

I myself, haven't logged in to play for 2 months. I retired. My needs to log in anymore were crushed when I said to myself that I could still log into IRC and chat with the people I had played with for years. Only without the competativeness and time commitment required of the game, I could go to bed in a timely fashion and not "miss" anything, that was always my worst fear of logging off "early" while Playing Everquest. I also found another hobby to devote my time to. I bought a new car and have started to work on modifying it. But there I'm limited both by money and daylight, and maybe that's a good thing for me. However, I've already caught myself staying up till 3am reading about cars and different message boards about them.

I also found other people in my area that played Everquest, and started hanging out with them. At first we didn't do much besides talk about the game, but later we began to talk about other things and doing other stuff. And finally, I realized that many of the people that I had enjoyed playing Everquest with for so many years had quit before me, that I was one of the few remaining people still sticking it out in the game. I didn't feel like "making new friends" in Everquest in order to beat new content. Everquest required you to cooperate with other people to accomplish goals together. All the people that had helped me and I had helped in the past had moved on. They all said they were moving on to World of Warcraft. I've joined them. Maybe a little older and wiser I'll be able to avoid the pitfalls of becoming addicted to any kind of video game again.

I sometimes regret the hundreds of days I've spent obsessing over Everquest, what might else I have been able to accomplish with the same time invested elsewhere. I guess that's the key to identifying yourself as an addict. You have to want to be doing something different. If you spend 50 hours a week playing an MMOG, but enjoy your time spent playing, maybe you aren't addicted. I know I was.

Written by Antarius

Source: WoW Stratics

[Salalorn]

this is really scary

esp. since I can relate so well to what he is saying.... I swear when I dropped EQ I had withdrawls and even cold sweats. The people in the game was the only thing that keep me in the game for as long as I was. It's weird now, when I look back at just how much time I had spent playing that game.

But unlike the author of this post, I don't regret it, in fact the reason that I am the person that I am today is because of EQ. Learning how to type, learning to get alonge with people, learning how to interact and deal wiht all sorts of people... all taught to me through EQ. I know that some of my soical interactions or RL friends might have suffered a lil from my exp. with EQ... but overall I do feel thatI'm a better person b/c of EQ.

Just my 2cp worth :p

stay safe everyone,
-Sala

[Frogbunns]

Hello?

Frog points out when Luclin Expansion came out it was called Evercrack and there was a VALID reason.

thank you