World of Warcraft addicts to get in-game shrinks

[excal]

http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/games/world-of-warcraft-addicts-to-get-ingame-shrinks-20090827-f0h6.html?page=-1

Asher Moses
August 27, 2009 - 1:18PM
World of Warcraft is so addictive that a psychiatrist is planning to send a team of counsellors into the game to treat players before they lose touch with the real world.

It comes after a report published by Sweden's Youth Care Foundation this year found World of Warcraft was the most dangerous game on the market and "the cocaine of the computer games world".

Richard Graham, a psychiatrist who treats adolescents at the Tavistock Clinic in London, believes that, just as casinos contribute to the treatment of compulsive gamblers, Blizzard, the creator of the online role playing game, should fund help for World of Warcraft addicts.

He said in an interview that the catalyst for his new project was a "disturbing" case of a young man who told him that, in the 3½ years he had been playing the game, he had clocked up 450 days of playing time.

Graham said he tried individual and family therapy and even medication with the man but these had limited success.

"After working with this young man I found I was hearing more and more about technology-related issues from patients, and especially Warcraft problems," Graham said.

"However, though parents might have been extremely worried, the young person themselves did not feel they had a problem.

"Consequently, to start the process of re-balancing their lives, we needed to think about how to reach the young people playing games, or on network sites, to an excessive degree."

Graham said he encountered patients who played the game for 16 hours a day and consequently neglected other aspects of their lives, such as education.

Most stories about video game addiction centre on World of Warcraft. Because players must complete copious quests and continuously kill enemies in order to "level up", the game is seen as encouraging people to play for long hours at a time.

The first US retreat for internet addicts opened its doors last month and one of the first patients is a 19-year-old World of Warcraft addict.

The retreat, which has six beds and is located in rural Washington, costs $US14,500 for a 45-day stay. Treatment is similar to that of drug and alcohol addiction clinics and patients are denied access to all technology.

In December last year, a US teenager was charged with a misdemeanour after he told a World of Warcraft representative he was suicidal and the game was all he had to live for. When police arrived he told them he was joking "to try to get what he wanted for the game".

In 2005, a South Korean couple were arrested after their four-month-old child died when they left the baby alone to go to play World of Warcraft at an internet café.

Also in 2005, an in-game funeral was held for a young Chinese girl who died after playing World of Warcraft for several days continuously.

“I had hoped that Blizzard might be part of this discussion, but at present they are silent,” said Graham, who also hopes the company will provide free World of Warcraft accounts for his counsellors to use.

"Of course our problem was that senior therapists might be fantastically bad at playing the games, and are consequently thinking about how mentoring of good game players might be the way of establishing a credible in-game presence."

Graham distinguishes between habitual, compulsive and addicted World of Warcraft players. The latter group is the one he is targeting.

"There is a sense of ease or excitement when online or in-game, that leads to a craving for more time to undertake that activity, and a constant preoccupation with it, methods of ensuring time on the activity and a fear, and intense discomfort if unable to," he said.

"It has been most marked for those playing games, notably Warcraft."

Graham said it was difficult to help such addicted gamers because they did not believe they had a problem.

"It is this group who would benefit from someone who understands the game, who can non-judgmentally point out how much time they are spending in the game, and therein how much time they are not doing something that helps them acquire skills, knowledge or friends in the external world," he said.

Blizzard was unable to comment on the issue or whether it would support Graham's program, which is at present a work in progress.

Ron Curry, chief executive of the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, said the growing number of problem World of Warcraft players "could speak to the popularity" of the game, which has more than 11 million paying monthly subscribers.

"I think it's possible for people to be addicted to anything, not just video games," he said.

"Whether video games are a cause or an effect, I'm not sure."

[Flaming_Arrow]

ye read about that, rather a lul

[d0minicz]

hektik. ...

[lukeperry91]

Only 450?

[ReVeL]

Only 450?

3 and a half years = 1277.5 days.

So 35.22% of the last 3.5 years of his life were playing WoW.

Subract sleep time, lets say 6 hours per night (6/24 hours x 1277.5 days=319.34), and we have:

1277.5-319.34=908.16 of "awake" time.

Meaning assuming he slept for 6 hours on average, he spent 49.55% of his awake time playing World of Warcraft... :S

[Noblesse]

Will be a good idea to have psychiatric help in-game, especially when they nerf DK's again.

[TrueTears]

This is bad... very bad...

[lukeperry91]

umm like over 1/4 of his played time would be afk'ing to eat/masturbate/shower