2.4 Million World of Warcraft players are addicted

9 August 2006

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Posted by:Ferry

A recent interview says that as much as 40 percent out of the around 6 million World of Warcraft players are addicted to the game! Twitchguru talks with Orzack to find out more about the issue of game addiction, and the effects of games like Blizzard’s World of Warcraft.

To quote: “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, Massachusetts, 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.”

A lot of comparisons have been made between video game addiction and gambling addiction. Are the two similar?
Dr. Orzack: They are pretty much the same. They have many of the same symptoms: neglecting work and severing personal relationships, for example. People get the same type of excitement from gambling and playing video games. It’s called variable ratio reinforcement, which basically means that you keep playing or gambling and failing until you reach your intended goal, but once you reach that goal, you still keep playing.

What about self control and willpower? Should players take some responsibility for their heavy play?
Dr. Orzack: This isn’t about willpower or restraint. These games are very elaborately designed to ease you in gently, entice you, and keep you there. And it’s a cycle: people begin to spend too much time playing and their careers and personal relationships begin to deteriorate. Then they begin to withdraw more into the game because it’s an escape from their real world problems.

So what’s the solution?
Dr. Orzack: For patients, there has to be a readiness to change. Without that, there’s really no point. I think another important factor is awareness – more people are beginning to accept that this is a real problem. Currently, video game addiction isn’t found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [the primary handbook used to diagnose mental disorders and illnesses, published by the American Psychiatric Association]. Until that happens, most health insurance companies won’t recognize it, and therefore won’t cover the treatment. But there’s more hope that this is changing, and it is being accepted as a real clinical disorder.

Read the full interview at Twitchguru, it’s worth the read, especially if you play World of Warcraft. – Via Slashdot