Is World of Warcraft Dangerous?

Setzertrancer · 10-22-2006, 10:06 AM

I have been looking at a lot of documentaries about World of Warcraft being dangerously addictive to WOW to the point that they can give up their jobs and just want to spend every minute of every day on the game.

Here is a good Documentary that interviews someone who has some really surprising justifications for his addiction to WOW and how he dosn't beleive it has ruined his life, which it has.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw6IIz1RSTo

"If you don't spend every minute of every day on WOW your just a Noob"

Isn't that interesting.

Now the following documentary is pretty corny but even more informative then the above video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJrdm-zr8l0

"People are quitting their Jobs to play WOW and it is effecting China's economy"

"China has enforced a law that limits maximum playing hours on WOW"

Okay I think there has to be a problem when they start making legislation based exclusivly on a particular computer game.

and now here is a really emotional goodbye video someone made, to WOW, he was an extreme case playing 50 hours a week for a year. He made this video in hope of warning people against getting into WOW because of how it ruined a large portion of his life and how much he regreted it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPA-LjSIlsM

Did that give you chills or what?. That was a good song I gotta get it on my Ipod.

I theorise that WOW is too close to being a Perfect game, as they guy in the first doc said "It consumes all aspects of your life". So it is really so good that you can feel satisfied in it all the time, without getting bored. That is an amazing feat for a game. It creates a world that is really immense in size that you would have to play the game for a year to visit it all, why travel around the Earth when you have a World of Warcraft to explore? From what i've seen that world really is varied enough to have you woahing at each new area you encounter.

This next one is a long one. It is actually a lot less negative then the above ones, I spose what you have to remember is that those are pretty much worst case scenarios, and people may even get cronically addicted to other MMOGs like Ultima Online, Everquest II and Runescape. Since less people play these compared to WOW we don't hear any bad stories about them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVyzeZA5p7Q

this Final report was made the Australian show A Current Affair, and this is by far the probably worst case known of someone playing 16 hours a day and someone killing themselves over the game. I might fish up some information from these WOW addict chatrooms it mentions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8hfK3RQs2g

I luckily have only played WOW for exactly 15 minutes, just to try it out at a mate's place. But I think I would be the kind of person to fall into an addiction just like this, so I dunno I want to try WOW properly but what if it consumes me forever.

Okay, now please discuss this, what do you think of WOW?

If you are an addict yourself, tell me about it. I doubt it though or you'll never actually find time to visit this forum will you. Interesting thing is my longest online mate of 3 years. just turned down my invitation to this forums, to play Final Fantasy XI. He could have become an addict.

*Djinn* · 10-22-2006, 12:07 PM

It's only dangerous if you're stupid enough to let it rule your life. I myself was 'addicted' to the World of Warcraft, but i still maintained a healthy social life which is surprising since i played on american servers (i'm british) and pretty much had to adhere to their timetables to get anything done, which sucked. But despite that fact i still got enough sleep, socialised enough and was as healthy as i could be... ok maybe not the last one, but i wasn't exactly malnourished.

World of Warcraft is just as addictive as any other game, offline or online. The thing that ruins people's lives is their inability to make decisions on when enough is enough and their inability to stick by said decisions. Like being able to put the game down when a friend calls to see if you want to do something. No matter what the game is these type of people will always be at risk.

Seeing this thread made me think of the South Park episode with World of Warcraft in it, pretty funny, i suggest watching it =D

As a little side-note, this topic has grounds for a good debate so i don't want to see spammy 1 line replies.

Lethal Seraphim · 10-22-2006, 12:21 PM

I'd say it is definately addicting. I have never played on the main pay servers, but I played on a really small private server (don't tell on me haha) with like 4 friends and I was hardcore hooked for like a month or two. I mean I wasn't like anti-social but like If I wasn't at school or hanging with my friends I was playing World of WarCraft.

It was kinda nice that I played on a small server cuz it kept me from being too addicted. It limited the amount of enjoyment I could get from the game. Eventually I got bored cuz I was about the only one on the server at one point.

If I could bring myself to pay to play(which I can't, I think that's the stupidest thing ever), I probably would be rather addicted. I'm thinking about taking up another private server that seemed actually fairly populated, but I just don't have as much time to play games anymore as I'd like.

I know people who have failed their classes cuz of the game though. They'd just you know, not go.

Anyone see the South Park episode about it? EDIT: Ahh Djinn saw it, good stuff huh?

Sir Kenneth · 10-22-2006, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lethal Seraphim

I'd say it is definately addicting. I have never played on the main pay servers, but I played on a really small private server (don't tell on me haha) with like 4 friends and I was hardcore hooked for like a month or two. I mean I wasn't like anti-social but like If I wasn't at school or hanging with my friends I was playing World of WarCraft.

It was kinda nice that I played on a small server cuz it kept me from being too addicted. It limited the amount of enjoyment I could get from the game. Eventually I got bored cuz I was about the only one on the server at one point.

If I could bring myself to pay to play(which I can't, I think that's the stupidest thing ever), I probably would be rather addicted. I'm thinking about taking up another private server that seemed actually fairly populated, but I just don't have as much time to play games anymore as I'd like.

I know people who have failed their classes cuz of the game though. They'd just you know, not go.

Anyone see the South Park episode about it? EDIT: Ahh Djinn saw it, good stuff huh?

I just don't get why anyone would want to play on a private server. It's not like Blizzard is charging you a fortune or anything. Hell, my phone bill is about 4 times what I pay for WoW a month.

As for the question at hand, most of those videos seemed rather tongue in cheek, and I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of WoW players out there are pretty ordinary people with a healthy relationship to the game.

**LocoColt04** · 10-22-2006, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by setzertrancer

I theorise that WOW is too close to being a Perfect game

I'm sorry, but did anyone else here piss themselves from laughter?

That's got to be the funniest thing I've heard in years.

Yeah, I'll give WoW points for being addicitive, but anyone with half a brain would realize that the game is so full of mindless idiots that it's not worth your time. Blizzard should stick with RTS games, because they can definitely do those. World of Warcraft had a lot of potential at the start, yes; however, it has become so mind-numbingly popular that it is overrun with moronic halfwits.

Trust me, the only way you're going to get addicted to WoW at this point is if you're one of those moronic halfwits yourself... and I'd certainly hope you're not.

Sir Kenneth · 10-22-2006, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LocoColt04

I'm sorry, but did anyone else here piss themselves from laughter?

That's got to be the funniest thing I've heard in years.

Yeah, I'll give WoW points for being addicitive, but anyone with half a brain would realize that the game is so full of mindless idiots that it's not worth your time. Blizzard should stick with RTS games, because they can definitely do those. World of Warcraft had a lot of potential at the start, yes; however, it has become so mind-numbingly popular that it is overrun with moronic halfwits.

Trust me, the only way you're going to get addicted to WoW at this point is if you're one of those moronic halfwits yourself... and I'd certainly hope you're not.

Is flame-baiting the new moderation style around here?

Having played Final Fantasy XI, Everquest II, and WoW, I don't think the userbase of WoW is significantly dumber than that of other MMORPG's.
Of course there are newbies, and of course there are the aloof elitists, but you get that in all online games really.

**LocoColt04** · 10-22-2006, 04:54 PM

It wasn't flamebaiting, it was an honest opinion. I would really hope that setertrancer opts out of the game, or at least manages to play without logging 100+ hours a week like some people do. The public servers are so full of trash that it's ridiculous; HOWEVER, if you can find a good private server, then it's actually quite nice. The game itself is good, but the playerbase makes it difficult to manage.

Of course, it's also much worse on the PvP servers than it is on the PvE servers. The last thing you want on your first day in the game is to play on some PvP server and have your level 10 n00b character get ganked up the ass by some level 60 who things it's "1337" to go around scaring off new players.

Sir Kenneth · 10-22-2006, 05:02 PM

How much have you actually played WoW Loco? On a PVP server you will start in a region held by your fraction, meaning that players of the opposing fraction cannot attack you. Even the level 10-20 areas are either horde or alliance territory. Should you decide to venture into a contested area, the vast majority of players will be around your level.

The only way you can get beaten up by someone of much higher level than you is if you attack him/her first, or if you are in the other fractions territory. And if you do either, you are looking for a scrap anyway

But to get back on topic, have China actually made laws concerning WoW? That sounds a bit strange. WoW has about 5 million players world wide, and I doubt that the Chinese userbase could dramatically damage an economy with more than a billion inhabitants by not showing up at work.

**LocoColt04** · 10-22-2006, 05:10 PM

I played WoW for about four months back when it was new, and I enjoyed it, though I was still a bit annoyed with the playerbase. I played again for about a month toward the end of last year, and it was almost like a completely different game.

There are too many players who act like assholes to everyone, and it's annoying. Everyone thinks that he or she is better than everyone else. I know you've got your players like that in every game, but there seems to be a larger amount of them on WoW. Then again, I'm sure that not every PvP server is like that, nor every PvE server. Maybe I just came across the wrong people.

But yes... back to the topic. I don't blame them for making laws about it in China. While I don't think that the game itself is dangerous... not having the self-restraint to stop yourself IS. I have a friend who plays FFXI over 100 hours a week -- he's logged 113 in the past seven days. I've got friends who can get 120+ of WoW as well. I mean... holy shit. You know a week is only 168 hours, right? So, while I may have gone on a bit of a rant about WoW... like I said, you get stupid people in every game.

People in China were DYING because they wouldn't eat, they lived in their own filth, and they never left their computers. I don't think it's strange at all for them to place laws on WoW playtime. Plus, most of those Chinese players are goldsellers, so considering that's a break in the Terms of Service... there's another reason to limit their playtime right there.

10-23-2006, 02:07 AM

World Of Warcraft is good to play, the thing is, i am "addicted" to it but i still play other games like Maplestory. Some people can be stupid enough to think that WoW is a god.

Although World Of Warcraft, i saw my brother addicted to it, one day, my bro said "I love the game, i cannot stop playing it!" 5 times!

Back to the 2nd paragraph, it is very fun to play however it is a Pay To Play game, NOT too many people are playing that game, since i am a level 92, i am trying to reach 100, i plays for 2 hours and my bro plays for 4 hours, my bro's a level 121.

People are VERY addicted to the game and love every minute and second of the game, espically the boss fights.

**Andromeda** · 10-23-2006, 05:38 AM

I have someone at work who I talk to about MMOs. There are a bunch of us that have played several out there, some have tried out most of them. Couple even play EQ still. Anyway, the guy I am talking to has been talking about returning to WoW after he left and sold his character because there is a new expansion coming out. It actually funny to listen to him, because he is one of the addicts. Though not so much that he did not have a life, but he is probably one of those 100+ hours addicts at times.

He told me that his guild had a phone tree, where he would be called upon at any time of the day, like 3 am to get up and go fight a monster that just spawned. And then he looked at us weird because we were looking at him weird and said how come you don't have a phone tree for your raiding in EQ or FFXI. So yeah, he is probably one of those borderline addict cases. He was pretty hardcore into WoW from talking to him. Its interesting to listen to him.