Hey all, I'm writing a paper on the concept of video game addiction.  Just wondering if a few of you would mind answering some questions.  Hopefully I'm not out of place posting this here.  It'll be completely anonymous.  If you're not comfortable posting in public, just send me a message.  Please and thanks in advance!

1) Describe your most pathetic WoW experience:

            -ie. “Played 48 hours straight”, etc. but obviously as descriptive as possible.

 

2) Do you personally know anyone who is worse than you? Why would you say they are worse?

 

3) Why do you play? Do you consider yourself "addicted"?  Why, or why not.

 

4) How many hours a week do you play?  Give a brief run-down of your weekly gaming schedule. (ie. Monday 7-11, Tuesday 5-10, etc.)

 

5) If you had to quit, what would you miss the most?

Wut grade r u n?

3rd year uni.

Before I answer the questions, I'd like to add that I played many MMO's. So I might be a little vague and general in my answers.

The games I played for more than 2 years each are: EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft.

1- Describe your most pathetic WoW experience:

My most pathetic moment in World of Warcraft is when my guild tried to merge with another guild. We were two small guilds and they both consisted of skilled and mature players. The pathetic moment is we couldn't agree on a guild name. We started arguing and at some point we reached the insults. The merger didn't happen and some of the players transferred servers.

2- Do you personally know anyone who is worse than you? Why would you say they are worse?

In terms of time spent playing the game, yes I know someone who is a lot worse than I am. They play a lot more than I do. They are raiders and have time frames, weekly raids, etc. I usually play with my "Real Life" friends and we mostly PvP and BGs.

3- Why do you play? Do you consider yourself "addicted"?  Why, or why not.

I don't play any MMO anymore. I consider myself lucky to have developed a way to get out of MMO's. I think I was addicted at some points. Not to the point to stop going out with my friends and such, but to only play when I was at home. The reason I stopped playing is because it takes way too much of my time and I felt like that I wasn't accomplishing anything while playing.

4- How many hours a week do you play?  Give a brief run-down of your weekly gaming schedule. (ie. Monday 7-11, Tuesday 5-10, etc.)

I would say I used to play 15-20 hours a week. I used to come back from work and play 2-3 hours a night.

5- If you had to quit, what would you miss the most?

Before I quit, I used to tell my friends that what makes these games addicting is the social part of them. People bond with their guild mates. They become "online" friends. I quit and it's been almost a year and a half now that I quit World of Warcraft. What I miss the most is playing with my "Real Life" friends. I sometime go to their place and they are playing and I kind of want to join them. I'm glad my willpower is strong enough to not join back and play.

1- Describe your most pathetic WoW experience:

back pre BC I raided. ALOT. all of the raiding was pathetic overall. loot fighting and rage quits, and shutting out non wow playing friends to play wow. soo stupid.

2- Do you personally know anyone who is worse than you? Why would you say they are worse?

couple of mates, they still raid to this day, I got out of that once BC came out.

3- Why do you play? Do you consider yourself "addicted"? Why, or why not.

I was a couple of years back, now I'm not. I still have an account but at worse I play 5 hours in a month.

4- How many hours a week do you play? Give a brief run-down of your weekly gaming schedule

between release 2004 and 2006, I played about 24-30 hours a week. now up to 5 hours a month.

5- If you had to quit, what would you miss the most?

the ability to just random quests for 15 minutes.

I'll save you time and energy:

There is no "addiction." That feeling is because in the game you can raft who you are and how people view you. If you spend lots of time you will be regarded as top tier in game and you get a false sense of worth. People get addicted to that feeling, not the actual game.

There's your paper.

LOL if you can add about 4950 more words to that, than I'll be all set.

Big thanks to those of you who've contributed so far.

I'm just saying, that's the core reason. The other 4950 words would be bullshit which you pad the rest of your paper with.

I'm not out to debunk the existence of anything. Just presenting facts (reasons why we play games, possible biological factors making certain people more susceptible to addictive behaviour, etc.). Readers get to decide which they believe.