Breaking a WoW addiction
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Breaking a WoW addiction
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Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#2Related is Paul Graham's essay on the acceleration of addictiveness: http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html
(And to add a shameless plug, my own article on akrasia: http://messymatters.com/akrasia )
Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#3>Although WoW is a much better game than Farmville, with a substantially different business model, their tactics are fundamentally the same: use your social obligations to keep you clicking. Exploit your friendships, sense of reciprocity, and the joy of being part of a group with shared goals. Turn it all from something commendable to something frivolous that serves mainly to increase the game developer's profits.
This put into words something I've been thinking about for a while, but struggled to articulate. There's something wrong when we start doing this to friendships.
Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#4Is playing a social game where you interact with other people any different than going out to a club or bar? Joining a bowling league? A cycling group? A health club where you go to regular group exercise classes?
The meme that video games are inherently evil needs to go away. Why is it socially acceptable to join many clubs and spend time with those people all the time but not "people on the Internet"? Like the Internet is somewhere only people that can't make "real friends" go..
Addiction to anything is bad but playing WoW or any other online game doesn't mean you're automatically "a loser" in the rest of your life -- and I don't mean just casually playing. There are people in all of the top guilds achieving high ranked world kills on new content that are also successful in other areas of their life.
Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#5Caveat: it's very easy to extend the criticism of WoW to life itself.
Working all these years to be a paramedic, going to school, going to work, for what? To drive some people to the hospital? They're all just going to die anyway. Life is meaningless!
What the author is really saying is: "I find more meaning in the real world than in WoW."
But this isn't necessarily true for everyone.
Having said all that, I think WOW is more dangerous than heroin.
Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#6As someone who has played and stopped WoW for significant times over the past years. I think the article has some valid points about the addictiveness of WoW, on the other hand I feel that the choice between "real" work and WoW as presented here is a false dichotomy. "Real" work and WoW are not mutually exclusive.
The writer says he started playing he has spend his time working out. I started swimming for 40 minutes each day while playing WoW, a habit I continue now that I stopped.
He also states what if you spend the time you invest in WoW into achieving your goals. But you can't just work 24/7. I spend 8 hours a day doing research and hacking at the university, when I get home I just don't have the focus left in me to code or study. In the past I spend this time playing WoW, right now I spend this time reading fiction or hanging in front of the TV.
Now probably there are people who lose themselves entirely to the game and can't bring up the discipline to also work on their goals, but as everything in life, its really just about balancing yourself.
PS - I actually found myself being more productive during my WoW playing times then during my non-playing times. Reason? If I needed to do something I would not allow myself to log in until it was done. WoW was more addictive then procrastinating so I'd just knuckle down and do it. Now if I need to do something I find myself reading HN instead of just doing it...
Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#7As someone who has played and stopped WoW for significant times over the past years. I think the article has some valid points about the addictiveness of WoW, on the other hand I feel that the choice between "real" work and WoW as presented here is a false dichotomy. "Real" work and WoW are not mutually exclusive. The writer says he started playing he has spend his time working out. I started swimming for 40 minutes…
>I started swimming for 40 minutes each day while playing WoW
Waterproof laptop?
Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#8Exactly why I don't play these, also why I don't try crack or heroin.
Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#9Is playing a social game where you interact with other people any different than going out to a club or bar? Joining a bowling league? A cycling group? A health club where you go to regular group exercise classes? The meme that video games are inherently evil needs to go away. Why is it socially acceptable to join many clubs and spend time with those people all the time but not "people on the Internet"? Like the Inte…
In principle, sure, but the point is that WoW is indeed especially addictive in a way that a bowling league isn't.
Re: Breaking a WoW addiction
#10Caveat: it's very easy to extend the criticism of WoW to life itself. Working all these years to be a paramedic, going to school, going to work, for what? To drive some people to the hospital? They're all just going to die anyway. Life is meaningless! What the author is really saying is: "I find more meaning in the real world than in WoW." But this isn't necessarily true for everyone. Having said all that, I think WO…
OH Come on! Life is not meaningless and maybe those people will NOT die anyway.
Maybe it's just because you didn't found out by now, what is important for you in live.
One example what changes life for ever is having kids. Seeing them grow, laugh and learn things is just amazing.
I dunno if this is cry for help, if yes I would like to help.
Edit: Why study to become a paramedic? Cause you want to. Cause it is your dream. Cause you ever wanted to work as paramedic. Cause it makes you feel better when you help people. Cause it makes you happy helping people. Cause it makes you happy to work with people.