I saw this on Yahoo and found it an interesting read.  It makes a person wonder how many lives have been badly affected by videogame addiction, particularly because of MMORPGs.


http://us.i1.yimg.com/videogames.yahoo.com/feature/wedding-woes-the-dark-side-of-warcraft/1186366

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

Popular online PC game is causing marital discord.

By Mike Smith

"Although best-selling online role-playing game World of Warcraft boasts over ten million subscribers, it's also leaving in its wake an increasing list of casualties.

Even though she's never played the game, 28 year-old Jocelyn is one of the fallen. A well-spoken California resident, she divorced her husband of six years after he developed a crippling addiction to the smash online RPG.

"He would get home from work at 6:00, start playing at 6:30, and he'd play until three a.m. Weekends were worse -- it was from morning straight through until the middle of the night," she told Yahoo! Games in an interview. "It took away all of our time that we spent together. I ceased to exist in his life."

Jocelyn had been friends with her ex-husband Peter since the age of 13, but it took only nine months for her marriage to collapse.

"I bought the game for him for Christmas 2004, when it first came out. By May we had our first serious discussion about where our marriage was going, and by September I had moved out," she said.

Jocelyn recalled one particular incident that was typical of Peter's habits. "I had set aside 30 minutes for us to watch a television show together, and he couldn't. He was stuck on a raid, and completely failed to understand why I was upset," she said.

Peter's domestic duties also suffered. He stopped paying bills, she says, and refused to do his share of the housework.

Jocelyn doesn't hesitate to cite Warcraft as the main reason for her divorce and remains emotional about its impact on her marriage. "I'm real, and you're giving me up for a fantasy land. You're destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you're giving it up for something that isn't even real."

Despite their differences, the couple remains friends, and although Peter still plays World of Warcraft, Jocelyn says he made an effort to cut down after their split.

A gamer herself, Jocelyn briefly worked for World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment, although not on the title that proved so damaging to her relationship. "I recognized that this was a game that would never end, and that's why I chose not to play it," she said.

"They build it in such a way that you have to keep putting more and more time into it to maintain your status. I remember thinking when I was married that it was downright exploitative to people who couldn't control themselves in that way. It's set up like a drug."

Asked if she would consider marrying another Warcraft player, Jocelyn laughed. "That's actually one of my primary criteria now -- I don't want to marry someone who is a gamer.""

this is WoW.... all this is known...

if WoW didnt exist there would be more steam users. WoW needs to be shut down.

yeah its kinda sad. ive already vowed to myself to never play WoW

Well this was a huge problem in China when I was there.

A lot of (boys) students worked(Studying hard and working in fields) whole their youth to have money to go to a University in China.

But on those Universities the most plays Videogames for the first time and I can say you it is heartbreaking to see this game ruin people their lifes...

It is their joice but it was the first time in my life that I thought 'Damned gaming is dangerous' especially when someone has played so much that he had to go to a hospital for months and then go to a centre where he has to be cured of his addicting problem...


Well that is my personal view about it...

What I found sad about the article was that even after his marriage was destroyed by the game he still continues to play it.

Agreed, Just proves how addicted he is.

though I cant really relate with him since I never got addicted to a game before..

MMORPGs are a big problem nowadays, people will choose them over their real life activities... A lot of people get attracted to them everyday, and then getting out is almost impossible(I played a game for 2 years).

I wish they had time limits per ip or per account so people could actually play it for fun and not seriously.

Ragnarok nearly did this to me, one of my mates keeps hassling me to play WoW, but I know how addictive it could get, so I refuse to ever start a file.

I'm innocent I tell you.

This is the very reason I don't play MMORPG's.