Experts Oppose Classifying Gaming Addiction As Mental Disorder 301
News.com reports that despite earlier rumblings that addiction to videogames could be classified a mental disorder similar to alcoholism, experts have stepped back from that analysis. The decision by the AMA is that psychiatrists should make further efforts to study the phenomenon, while addiction experts strongly opposed the idea at the organization's annual meeting. "Even before debate on the subject began, the committee that made the proposal backed away from its position, and instead recommended that the American Psychiatric Association consider the change when it revises its next diagnostic manual in 5 years. The psychiatrist group has said if the science warrants, it could be considered for inclusion in the next diagnostic manual, which will be published in 2012. While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating."
Eating ... (Score:4, Funny)
Think positively (Score:3, Funny)
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It's all about the exercise.
Re:Eating ... (Score:5, Funny)
At least it doesn't interfere with bathroom breaks.
Well, it hasn't since I had the catheter put in.
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I think somebody else already explained why the traditional catheter must be inserted into the bladder. However, what _you_ are looking for is called a "Texas Catheter" that fits somewhat like a condom. This would be a better solution for enabling video game addition.
Re:Eating ... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Eating ... (Score:4, Insightful)
The South Park WoW episode depicts this fact very well....
Re:Eating ... (Score:5, Insightful)
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So all the fat gamers got fat when I met them?
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Is the AMA turning neocon? (Score:2)
Re:Is the AMA turning neocon? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Is the AMA turning neocon? (Score:5, Interesting)
As for video game addiction, my wife happens to also be a specialist in addiction studies and she was actually one of the first people to write about video game addiction as a disorder back in the late 80s/early 90s. It was not widely-accepted at that point that video game playing could be addictive -- but now that it's becoming generally-accepted to be so, she's feeling vindicated.
Have there been any studies? (Score:2)
I'm still not buying it. I've played video games and I have no problem leaving them.
I've played slot machines and I have no problem leaving them.
Just because someone can become "addicted" to something does NOT mean that it is addictive. But then, I'm not an "expert" here. Just someone who can tr
Re:Have there been any studies? (Score:4, Insightful)
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So, I was addicted to surfing? I surfed almost every day from age 8 to 53, spent a lot of money on the sport over the years for the latest design in surfboards, wet-suits etc and hear I thought all the time I was being close to nature, staying fit, meeting and interacting with other people. What a wasted life, huh?
Kudos to the AMA though, god knows they need it.
Oh, been living in the central US for the last nine years and h
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I am waiting for someone to
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I know health nuts who claim they feel like crap if the don't get their exorcise in the routine they are use to having it. They don't skip eating or going to work in order to exorcise.
Re:Is the AMA turning neocon? (Score:5, Interesting)
I started EQ just to play with my best friend here and there... after a couple months, I was approached about being an officer in my guild and shortly thereafter, became a raid leader. At that point, I had a dedication to the game and my guild... to top it off, I was completely accepted and thus didn't have to worry about facing the rejection of my peers. The game was a reality (though separate, I never confused the game and real life) for me that allowed me to relax and not be on guard all the time. Soon, I ended up as the guild leader and another officer and I split raid leadership duties. However, as guild leader and co-raid leader, I felt an even larger obligation to be on and helping out. That avoidant part inside me didn't want to let someone down or they might get mad at me (and thus, reject me). Factor in a regular series of personal accomplishments, group accomplishments, raid accomplishments and guild accomplishments and I was getting a regular high from the game.
I ended up playing between 8-14 hours a day and if I wasn't at work or sleeping, I was at least nearby in case something came up that needed my attention. Eventually, I started burning out and felt a need to leave the game because I knew it was taking a negative toll on my life. I couldn't quit, however, because my (then) gf and I had met in the game and we were living on separate coasts so the game was our way of spending time together every day in between flying back and forth. Not long after that, my co-raid leader realized he was in a similar situation to me and wanted to start a family so he quit. When he did, that increased my burden even more. I had to be on all the time, I had to schedule my life around a 3 night/week raid schedule (plus an "optional" 4th night for people wanting to work on their epics... I say optional because it was optional for everyone but me basically. The few times I didn't attend, I was begged and nagged, sometimes for up to a week prior to make sure I was there to help someone in particular out). Along the way, my gf and I broke up (she had a lot of mental problems herself... she left me for another one of our officers, switched servers and joined a hardcore raid guild where it was 6 nights a week mandatory and basically ignored her 4 year old daughter for the next year). With that, my main reason for staying was essentially gone but I still felt an obligation to everyone and was still enjoying the highs from my accomplishments. A few months later, my gf and I got back together and eventually she moved back to my server... at which point, her drama began all over again).
My officers hated my gf for what she had done to us, and especially me, over the course of the prior year... Our biggest problem as a guild was that the hardcore guilds would burn their people out and then proceed to bribe my guild members to leave so they (the hardcores) could sustain their pace rather than looking at self-sustainability. I had a fallout with the officers one night over yet another person leaving over a bribe after getting the last of what he wanted from us. They blamed me when in reality, he was just out to use us. After much fighting over it, I left the guild with my gf and we set out to start a new guild that wouldn't
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Gambling? (Score:5, Insightful)
The only meaningful difference is the money involved. And even then, between gold farming and monthly fees for WOW, is it really that different?
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People classified as addicts generally aren't able to fund their own treatment.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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In fact, homosexuality is deviant today, and is likely to remain so - as is being left-handed. Classifying something as deviant means not in line with social norms, it should not reflect a value judgment.
On the other hand, classifying something as an illness means that it is a condition that should be avoided and corrected if possible. Even then it isn't passing judgment on the person,
Disability issue (Score:2)
Re:Gambling? (Score:4, Interesting)
The summary talks about comparison with alcoholism, not gambling. Games and Gambling may actually be similar but neither is the same as being addicted to alcohol, heroin or tobacco.
Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Interesting)
In fact, most 'addictive' drugs can have the same thing said about them. You have to abuse them before you get 'addicted'.
Gaming can also drain someone's bank account. You talk about 'gaming addiction' as if it only applies to World of Warcraft, and the only costs are the $15/month. You completely forget the entire gaming hardware race, and the cost of consoles and other games. And it's not as if you could just drain the account once and be done, no. There are new games released constantly. More than enough to keep someone broke, especially if they've already lost their job to the addiction.
I admit it. I'm addicted to gaming. There's nothing I'd rather be doing. When I can manage to do -nothing- else but play a game, preferably a new exciting one, I'll do it. This means not showering some days, eating quick unhealthy meals, and occasionally skipping work because I just -have- to play that new game.
Do I think I need help? No. I don't even -want- it classified as a disorder that the government will help with. Normal obsessive-compulsive disorder probably covers this well enough anyhow, for those that take it far enough to warrant help.
But don't dismiss this problem simply because you don't have it yourself. And don't make fun of it, either.
Maybe we need a new 'mental addiction' category... (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, some time in the past we went from requiring these physiological dependencies for a diagnosis of 'addiction' to mere abuse. Mental addictions, if you will.
This is how gambling became to be known as something you could become addicted to. Yes, they can spot changes in brain patterns when a person is gambling, but there's no neurochemicals being introduced or interfered with l
Re:Maybe we need a new 'mental addiction' category (Score:2)
Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Funny)
Woooohoooo! Denial, laugh at him! Laugh at the addict! Huhuhu...
Ok I'm sorry about this post but I just can't get the day pass by without insulting someone on the Internet. I don't know what's with that, it's like a little personal mania. Makes me feel better.
And the post number. I had 2300 posts. No: no that they're many posts, but the "23". Anyone ever noticed how everywhere we turn to there's always 23 chasing us? When you notice it, you need to disrupt it as quick as possible, you JUST HAVE TO. So I wanted to make them 2301 posts.
Sometimes I think about this so much I need to drink myself to sleep. Which reminds me, I'm out of smokes. I need to get some on the way back from the casino, but the problem is I never walk out of the casino before I've spent all my money and bet the wife, house and the dog.
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I must admit
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For some people, they'd rather be fishing, or racing, or whatever. I prefer to play video games, and I admit I spend more time and money on it than I really should. I -can- put it down any time I want, but I don't -want- to. When I don't have a good game to play, I'm not as happy, and I get 'bored.' (That's a word meaning I don't want to do anything, since there is -always- some
Cigarettes, Wine, Marihuana, Cocaine, Women (Score:3, Funny)
Cigarettes, Wine, Marihuana, Cocaine, Women. Those are the things that I like the most. When I say I like them, i mean I _really_ like them. And yes, I use all of them daily, sometimes just a little, but I have really abused them, and I'm talking about 40 cigarettes a day, 5 750 ml bottles of wine, 20g of Pot, 10g of Cocaine, And all night, non-sleep, non-stop menage a trua. Just in a day.
To make things worst, my girlfriend likes exactly the same things I do, maybe even more.
An
It costs more than 15 bucks (Score:2)
When you play 24/7, you don't work. You would probably if you didn't play all the time, you'd earn money. An hour overtime of mine costs about 25 bucks. That's 25 bucks not earned when I play a game. Even if we assume that you make 7 bucks an hour, that's 7 bucks less you got per hour played.
What about your friends? Sure, they can't be bought (despite what people think), but I consider t
Re:Gambling? (Score:5, Insightful)
People in general have a desire to feel effective within the confines of their world. Players addicted to video games aren't really addicted to video games. They're addicted to being successful. Video games just give them an avenue to feel successful while the rest of their life falls apart.
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False. Gambling is a set of variable ratio reward schedules with an extremely potent reinforcer, money (and later after the rush is established, seratonin etc.) These same reward schedules exist in video games, particularly MMOs, and while they don't have quite as potent a reinforcer as cold cash pouring out of a slot machine, leveling can feel pretty close. However there is more
>>Players addicted to video games aren't really
Agreed (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd have to second this assessment. This behavior and its consequences seem to be exactly the same as what happens to people who put their career first. The person focuses so intensely on his or her job that all oth
Already covered? (Score:2, Interesting)
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Once again the Simpsons have covered it for us in the episode where Marge thinks she drove drunk, and says something to the effect of (about a rehab place):
"I don't this place is working, the drinkers are smoking, the smokers are drinking, and the junkies (I think) are having sex with anything that moves".
It speaks more to general psychological need than a speci
indeed (Score:5, Interesting)
it would be misleading to the point of propaganda to lump videogames and heroin under the same umbrella "addiction". something like heroin actually manipulates the biochemical pathways of reward in the brain. videogames can be extremely pleasurable and habit forming. but to think about how videogames are habit forming with the same terminology as how heroin or cocaine or methamphetamine manipulates your brain chemistry directly is extremely misleading
likewise, i would say a number of other "addictions" are really just trendy bullshit terms in order to decrease the stigma attached to being weak in character. such as "sex addiction" or "gambling addiction"
no: something that manipulates biochemical pathways directly is addiction, something that works on reward pathways via psychological stimulus is habituation
if a psychology wonk begs to differ with my terminology, fine. i may have the exact meaning of the words wrong
but everyone from the casual layman to the hardcore professional needs to understand that something that acts on the brain directly via biochemical manipulation needs another word to describe what it does that a habit forming activity that sucks you in via simple sensory stimulus. there's a simple bifurcation of meaning here that needs to be addressed if indeed my terminology is wrong
there are certainly highs and lows with both habituation/ addiction, and there are plenty of similarities, but the terminology should be different, to address how these habits form
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I can stop whenever I want.
Re:indeed (Score:5, Funny)
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Welcome to Slashdot, brother...
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sex addiction, ALCOHOLISM and gambling are all habitual and can be broken as simply as moving away from the temptation or social issue that caused you to use it as a coping mechanism in the first place.
there is no chemical dependency with these habits.
i
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Alcoholism is not a habitual addiction; though it can start out as one. Serious alcohol addicts can experience delerium tremors during withdrawal and can sometimes even die if cut off cold turkey.
The fact that you normally need a huge amount of alcohol over a period of time might be a little strange; I guess it could be that we, as humans, have evolved to resist the addictive effects over time. We've been making and drinking it for a [i]long[/i] time
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In many ways, video game "addiction" is very much like a drug addiction. The difference is that instead of putting a drug in the body, the body, in susceptible people, is producing the drug itself and video games are simply a trigger for that drug's synthesis in the body. But if someone was shooting up straight dopamine and noradrenaline on a daily basis instead of playing video games, you'd probably call them an addict, wouldn't you? So whe
i'm not downplaying the effects (Score:2)
however, there is still a significant difference between putting the actual addictive chemical in your body that acts directly on your brain versus engaging in behavior and sensory stimulus that eventually results in a release of chemicals in the brain
of course that means there is a huge overlap in sympt
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That's if your premise is that addiction is a lack of willpower. Add
no, you don't understand morphine (Score:2)
meanwhile, you take someone who knows that video games can addict you, and
i'm confused (Score:2)
why are you arguing with me when you agree with me?
about stigma (Score:2)
in a way then, you actually need the disapproval and stigma... not from outside people, but from YOURSELF, to escape addiciton. so the stigma about addiction should not be fought, it should be internalized
persona
they put solitarie on steroids for windows vista (Score:2)
damn you windows vista and your eye candy solitaire
microsoft you're a drug pusher: you made me upgrade to vista to fill my solitaire addiction. i had to have the pretty pretty cards, at any price!
Gaming addiction = Gambling addiction (Score:5, Insightful)
If anyone thinks there's a difference between gambling and WoW they just don't understand either....
Re:Gaming addiction = Gambling addiction (Score:4, Funny)
As I recall, the experiment was called "Diablo"
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It's still a stimulous craving disorder; but you're much less likely to financially ruin your family(well, as long as you can still hold your job).
I have no problem with creating or adjusting a disorder to cover somebody who obsessivly plays WoW or other game, I just think that it should be more generic, as I don't think that it's an issue isolated to video games.
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Well, once you factor in that golf players are aiming to improve their skills, or even to get promoted at work by being good at the same game that other managers play, then yes, it might.
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At that point it's not so much gambling as a 'get ahead in life by schmoozing with the bosses' strategy. In that case, you'd likely actually want to avoid being too good...
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I wouldn't say that, but you could say that a lot of golfers are addicted to gambling. Almost every round I play involved some kind of wager these days.
So if I am addicted to posting on Slashdot (Score:2, Funny)
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Having a baby too... (Score:5, Funny)
The Health Care Industry / Gov't would fear this (Score:2, Insightful)
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Redundant (Score:4, Interesting)
This does remind me of a funny thing I read years ago. It was an article about Internet addction written by a psych professor. The punch line was the link to the online support group. Online support group...for Internet addicts. Isn't that like having an AA meeting at a keg party?
Leave our games alone! (Score:2, Insightful)
Addicted to anything (Score:5, Insightful)
While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating.
So can watching TV.
Or jacking off
Or mowing the lawn.
This definition is so broad it's useless. Anyone can be addicted to anything. Why the need for special categories?
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What I've come to understand in regards to addiction and all the "special categories", or myriad forms of behavior stemming from addiction, is that there is a singular disease, that being "addiction" and that it takes many, many forms.
Because there are no lab tests to definitive measure a person's addiction, the most successful means to qualify a person as an addict is through how unmanageable a perso
Gaming addiction != Alcoholism, etc. (Score:2, Insightful)
Substance vs Process Addiction (Score:2)
So you are correct when you said "Gaming addiction != Alcoholism", but it's still a form of addiction (just not a substance addiction).
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Virtual shrink... (Score:3, Funny)
Who else read that as (Score:2)
I mean what's with the "xxx addiction" classification addiction. It's the very same psychological addiction - repetetive actions that you get used to and are the first escape place when you have the smallest problem at all.
For example: you have an exam tommorow and you gotta study, and that makes you nervous. So what do you? Study? NO,
Follow the $$ (Score:2)
Relevant quotations: Charles Kingsley, Don Marquis (Score:2)
And as for the case when enthusiasms become self-destructive: Don Marquis' "The Lesson of the Moth" opens:
"I was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires"
He asks for an explanation, and the moth replies:
"it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease
just an excuse for bad parenting. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:just an excuse for bad parenting. (Score:4, Interesting)
My girlfriend's 12 year old son is an addict... Well, at least according to the story.
You are absolutely right though, you can't just let the addition tag get slapped on, and ignore him. He can play games in moderation. We've caught him sneaking games. Like, he'll go to bed, but not be asleep. When he's confident that we're asleep, he'll start playing his games again. We've found him at 4am or later playing... The "cure"? I took the video cable from his monitor. He doesn't have a spare. He can play in reasonable amounts.
Oddly enough, he does exhibit some traits of addiction that I've seen in drug addicts. His withdrawal (emotional, not physical, obviously) is very similar. I'm not an addiction expert, I've just dealt with more than enough druggies over the years.
I think by recognizing that it is an addiction, clueless parents will now know (hopefully) that "oh, he's quiet, he's playing his video games STILL" is not always a good thing, especially when STILL is 5 days of no sleep, no showering, and maybe (just maybe) stopping long enough to grab some microwave food and go back to the game.
Please make it a mental disorder (Score:2, Funny)
If this happens...how long before ADA protection? (Score:3, Insightful)
But, it's a disease!
What you think is silly, is only the logical extent this is carried toward...or perhaps the illogical extent...but the result is often the same; and it won't be long before someone tries what I just mentioned.
Is addiction a disorder? (Score:2)
It's the behaviour that's harmful, not the games (Score:3, Insightful)
Food is a wonderful thing, yet there are those individuals who's attitudes and behaviors with respect to food are destructive. It's the destructive behavior that's the 'disorder' not the food itself.
Using stimulants like amphetamines to treat certain medical conditions is appropriate. Using them to get high at the cost of your family and career is inappropriate.
Take a look at the DSM IV - the classification book for mental disorders. In order to qualify as a disorder, something usually has to have a significant negative impact on someone's function.
I see no difference between compulsive gaming that affects one's life, and compulsive hair pulling that affects one's life.
Re:It's the behaviour that's harmful, not the game (Score:2)
If you actually stop and ask someone what is in Coke [or Pepsi, or whatever] and ask them if they would otherwise normally think to consume that, they probably would say no. It's marketting + the buzz that the sugar/caffeine gives that makes it consumable.
In the case of WoW there isn't really that
Parking (Score:2)
i've got a question (Score:2)
The "Experts" need to meet with... (Score:2)
For some empirical data... (Score:2)
Still, people arguing over whether an addiction is "chemical" or not are missing the point. The brain is one big electrochemical device - any input can cause addiction, either by direct manipulation via chemicals, or indirect manipulation of reward systems. The difference is largely in attack vector - not in the end result. (Of course, going the chemical route often has more side effects than the indirect route)
That, however doesn't necessarily mean that chem
It's time to cut the crap already. (Score:3, Insightful)
With physical addiction a substance is introduced into the bloodstream that either makes a direct chemical conversion into a substance the brain forms a dependence on or is already a substance the brain becomes dependent upon. Heroin is a physically addictive substance. Alcohol is another.
With psychological addiction the substance, behavior, or activity is NOT the bad guy, the person is. ANYTHING you enjoy can cause a psychological addiction. When you enjoy an activity your brain rewards itself with addictive substances. It is those addictive substances you then become addicted to. Marijuana addiction, Gambling, Video Game addiction, girl chasing, and thrill-seeking are all examples of psychological addiction. Alcohol is another.
There may be a genetic predisposition to some forms or all forms of addiction.
What difference does it make? It makes a great deal of difference. Beyond the term adrenaline junkie there is no other recognition of the fact that psychological addiction is a broken function of the human brain. Everywhere people want to blame the substance or activities for psychological addictions but the substance or activity is irrelevant, lack of moderation is the reason for addiction. Why would we blame the substance or activity; simply because they were an enjoyable activity our brain failed to moderate? Every time lots of people start getting psychologically addicted to something it might be worth mentioning on the news but it certainly isn't anything new medically. In fact, there are probably millions of undiagnosed addicts who sink hours everyday doing things they enjoy. Maybe they paint miniatures, maybe they work on cars, maybe they Slashdot.
P.S. Yes, alcohol is on both lists. Some are born with a brain chemistry that converts alcohol directly into a highly addictive substance in the brain. Others simply enjoy being drunk and have psychologically addicted. Someone who drowns their sorrows would be psychologically addicted. Someone who picked up their first beer in high school and never put it down is probably physically addicted.
video game addiction and socializing--MMORPGS (Score:3, Interesting)
"The more time kids spend on video games, the less time they will have socializing, the less time they will have with their families, the less time they will have exercising," Kraus said. "They can make up academic deficits, but they can't make up the social ones."
Playing a MMORPG can be incredibly social. In fact, one of the reasons that I felt that WoW was so fun. Compared with SWG, WoW seemed to push players to group up to achieve high end content. So I guilded with one of the high-end raiding guilds on my server (not pvp) and learned to play (I didn't have much else to do IRL as I was on medical leave from work. I was well enough to sit at a desk for 3 hours a night and hated tv so a buddy suggested WoW.) At any rate, I made all kinds of game friends, acquaintences, non-fans, romantic interests, etc.
My guild eventually became very competative, kicking people out that didn't meet standards and not letting anyone in--not something I really cared so much for. I did care for playing and progress--not the rewards. I was sick of raiding Onyxia and MC over and over though--boring. We were the only guild of two on the server that could kill that dragon that turned mages into farm animals at the time. (sry, my memory sucks so i can't remember its name, it was long ago.) So I stayed with them to see more content as it opened up.
I was very careful to try to keep all RL details out of the game because of a minor incident in SWG with a pervert. Eventually, though in WoW I gave in and began using teamspeak, on the huge raids. I realized this would give away my gender for sure. I figured I could deal with that, and I did. Using TS made the raids so much easier. My guild main was a rogue with most of the best non-pvp gear you could get at that time. (If you flame me here, accusing me of bragging about having a well geared rogue on a non pvp server then get a life. any WoW person knows its not hard to do this.) The only way to make playing her less boring was to find strategies to out DPS other rogues involving talking to the team. My point is I wasn't thinking that logging into the guild's TS server probably gave away more RL information than I understand because I haven't kept up with network tech. I know these details seem mundane but be patient, I have a point coming soon.
So, I was playing WoW and being very social with these people ingame. I mentioned my main was a rogue. Well everyone had a rogue, so I had some free time in game. Therefore I just sometimes hung out with some friends and did silly things like naked gnome races, the ever popular griefing of the major Horde and Alliance cities by sneaking into them, and trying to find fashion in WoW--something SWG had that WoW didn't. I made alts that made friends with characters that couldn't stand my main trying to figure out why they didn't like her. A good friend IRL that played on the server and I organized a server wide skinny-dip of Alliance NE's in Horde waters. The point is my player and many others were very very social. Many people opened up to me about in private chat about RL stuff that I really think proves this.
WoW became for me a social community just like the sports bar I'd go to with the new hires for the first year every Friday for happy hour. It was similar to the anime club I joined in college where we'd hang out once a week to watch new films and make new friends. The diversity of the community, the guild I was in and the other guilds even reminded me a lot of college intermurals mixed with the after game hanging out socialization at 24-hour diners. (There were no Starbucks when/where I was in college yet, we had nasty coffee.)
Then my social community disappeared fo
Re:Bah! (Score:4, Funny)
Those scientists are nuts.