An article has appeared on enfieldindependant.co.uk warning people that World of Warcraft is being cited as the reason for more and more incidents of youths entering rehab.
In an interview with Dr Claire Casey, an adolescent psychiatrist who specializes in treating gamers fight addiction to computer games, she reveals that gaming addiction is growing at an alarming rate, with twice as many cases this year as last year. She says that most of her cases are males in their late teens/early twenties, who play WoW for up to 12 hours a day and cut off contact with friends and family in the real world while they build up their alter-ego on the computer screen.
Dr Casey believes that WoW and other MMOs appeal to people with low confidence, as it gives them the opportunity to gain some sort of fame within the on-line community and create another persona. She also warns that the tempoarary boost this gives people out-weighs the negative impact on their real lives.
“I treated a university student in halls of residence who was so addicted to (multi-player game) World of Warcraft that he refused to eat and just stayed in his room, lost a stone-and-a-half of weight and gave up his studies. When we picked him up he looked like a crack addict.”
She also goes on to say that parents might be to blame by allowing their kids to spend too much time playing the game up in their rooms:
“When the addiction is developing, parents are lulled into a false sense of security because their boy is at home, upstairs in his bedroom on his computer, not out on the streets taking drugs or getting drunk. It builds up gradually over a period of months.”
It’s a harrowing report which is uncomfortable reading for us WoW players, but should be checked out none the less.
Just my two-cents worth here - I sometimes play more than 12 hours a day, sometimes I stay up all night playing then sleep in until lunchtime, but I can also go for a few days without playing at all. I love WoW, I often think about it when I’m nowhere near my computer, but I wouldn’t say I’m addicted. I know people that play more than I do, but I wouldn’t say they were addicted either.
As with any hobby, which is what gaming is, we enjoy our chosen activity. Would you say someone who reads a lot needs to go to rehab? They may spend hours alone, losing themselves in an alternate world, but is that frowned upon like gaming is? No.
The people who have to enter rehab are extreme cases in my opinion. And to say parents are to blame because their child is upstairs and not out taking drugs or drinking - that’s just ridiculous. Out of those 3 scenarios, even if the kid IS playing too much, at least they are safe at home and not out doing god-knows-what with god-knows-who.