Anywho, I'm currently the guild leader for one of the Top 20 best raiding guilds worldwide in WoW. I'd like to think that being among the top 500 or so players in a game with 11 million subscribers puts me at an adiquate position to speak on this subject. Qualifications aside, let me tell you a few of the things I've seen in my 7 years of leading high-end guilds in MMOs:

A good first story would be about a Paladin in my guild. Out of nowhere, the kid simply disappeared. No one heard a word from him. Well over a *YEAR* later, he returned. Come to find out, the guy tried to rob a convenient store for money because he quit his job to play WoW.

I can also tell you about a guy who got both of his kids taken away due to child neglect because he played the game instead of taking care of them, and another individual who was actually homeless for nearly 6 months after getting evicted because he didn't have a job to pay his bills.

Aside from the couple extreme cases, I've also seen more people than I can even recall who've dropped out of school because of WoW. Then there's people who've quit their jobs (or, in most cases, got fired because they didn't show up), and lets not forget those who had to move back in with their parents to continue their gaming habbits. Oh, and you've also got quite a few failed marriages along the way, as well as a handful of suicide attempts.

I'm sorry, but I don't see how these can be qualified as anything other than an addiction. People addicted to drugs do anything and everything within their means to get that next hit. They completely ruin all aspects of their lives because they're consumed with the drug. While MMOs may not induce a chemical reaction for withdrawals like drugs, there's definately a mental reaction that makes people feel like they must play the game.

For most people who play MMOs, it's simply a feeling of responsibility or friendship with other people. That's what keeps us playing. However, for others, it's taken to great extremes - if these examples are any indication of that. They sacrificice everything in their lives to continue their need to play the game.

Leading an "extremely hardcore" guild, I definately see a lot of the "extreme" cases that MMOs can produce. I can tell you that a lot of these people are completely normal when the game is removed from the equasion. They aren't "failures at life" nor are they "someone who simply couldn't deal with real life hardships". They're people just like you and I who simply got consumed by a substance that was introduced in their lives.

I honestly don't know how people can view this as anything other than an addiction.

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Check out the various definitions of "addiction", the simplest of which is "an abnormally strong craving".

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As for "game addiction", it's no different than any other form of psychological addiction. Whatever someone gets a release from they will keep coming back to it, no matter what it is. Smoking, drinking, sky diving, cutting, playing games or anything else.

And with that, you will always have the select few who take it too far and will place too much of their time and life into the particular activity. Sure, there's probably not as many people addicted to games as there are alcoholics but it doesn't change the fact that they may need support just like anyone else with any addiction they can't control.

One just has to look at the unfortunate Brandon Crisp story or any number of incidences with MMOs to see that some things can lead to very bad situations, and if people can get help before something terrible happens then so be it.

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On the other hand, my psychological addiction to cigarettes (as opposed to my chemical addiction to cigarettes... huge difference) causes an entirely different effect.

Now, I will concede that I'm *addicted* to the natural secretions of dopamine and adrenaline that gaming provides. But if it all boiled down to that, I'd be able to take my excess playing and put it into another chemical releasing activity, like jogging.

Sorry if that came out rambling. Just free-writing my chain of thought on the subject there, as it's definitely a concern I've had for awhile.

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Back in the good ol' days, we had to guess all 20 digits, uphill, both ways!

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