Do I Need Rehab?
Let's see if I can get some people off my back and some stress off my chest.
Lately I've been accused by some of my peers here at college of being "addicted" to Guild Wars. For those too lazy to click the link, or don't already know what it is, Guild Wars is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game). Think WoW except without the monthly fee and more emphasis on actual player skill rather than leveling to unlock more stuff. Also, no hugely time-consuming "raids": the longest continuous common Guild Wars play would probably be the 3-4 hour long Underworld "Fun" Clears (corrected to appease complaining UWSCers), compared to WoW raids running into over 10 hours (of what I hear). Plus, in Guild Wars teamwork is mandatory (with NPCs or Human players), for better or worse.
This isn't a game review, though, but rather just my little spiel on what being "addicted" to a game means.
addiction n. Being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs) -- Princeton WordWeb Online
But I need those bottles to get my prestige title!
So, to be addicted means that I am "abnormally tolerant to" and "dependent" on Guild Wars. That is, assuming that Guild Wars is "psychologically or physically habit-forming". Well, it's a video game, so physically not so much. Psychologically, sure, we'll go with that.
Also for reference is the Wikipedia article on Video Game Addiction. It cites:
Some players become more concerned with their interactions in the game than in their broader lives. Players may play "many" hours per day, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play, play at work, avoid phone calls from friends and/or lie about play time. Relationships with family and friends, and performance at work or school, may suffer.
Now, let's tackle this beast. I'll just grab the symptoms Wikipedia provides one by one, for starters.
Players may...
- play "many" hours per day: I play 0-3 hours per day of Guild Wars.
- gain or lose significant weight due to playing: I've been stuck at 126 lbs for a long long time now. I've probably lost some weight recently, but that's because I've been sick.
- disrupt sleep patterns to play: If I did, I'd be up during the night. Since most people I play with are in the same timezone, I don't have company if I play at night, so why would I?
- play at [school]: Yeah, right, because they don't tell us to shut our laptops off enough as is. Plus, Wine on Ubuntu introduces some very inconvenient lag if I play during class.
- avoid phone calls from friends: Heh. As if friends call much. They prefer IMing me or messaging me in Guild Wars.
- lie about play time: Even if I said I didn't lie, if I was actually lying I'd say that too, so this is of no argument.
- relationships with family and friends [...] may suffer: Not that I'm aware of. Family relationships certainly aren't boosted a lot, but Guild Wars is a kind of social tool too, now that I'm far away from my old friends.
- performance at work or school may suffer: See above point about school.
So, now, am I "abnormally tolerant to" Guild Wars? Not sure what that really means, but probably yes... and to computers in general. I could type my name before I could write it, and I had beaten Doom II before I entered elementary school. I've been coding since the end of first grade, and have owned my own PC since around that time too. I think that if there are such things as eye callouses, I have them. (Hint: they're called glasses)
What about "abnormally dependent" on it? Yes, I have chills, dry heaves, and depression when I don't get my daily dose of gaming.
</sarcasm>
And hey, whoever said nothing productive came out of it? I learned how to use Drupal: http://lite.opensourcenerd.com. And I've met one of my best friends through Guild Wars. I think that alone is worth it.
But anyway, up to you guys: do I need to rethink my life, maybe go into rehab? Should someone stage an intervention? Or, being less self-centered: are you addicted to something?
"Disrupt sleep patterns to play: If I did, I'd be up during the night. Since most people I play with are in the same timezone, I don't have company if I play at night, so why would I?"
I call BS. What were you doing at 2AM on the 14th of September? Right. Thats what I thought.
1) UWSC is 30 mins, it's a SPEED clear =P.
2) Teamwork is not mandatory, you can hero/hench most of the PvE aspect.
3) You were on 2 AM last morning and you should know Craig and I will usually be on in the wee hours of the morning playing GWs >_>.
4) We played a decent amount at lunch.
5) As you should damn well know, I'm probably at least partially addicted to GWs (though I've tried going a week or w/e without it and been just fine).
6) Nah, screw rehab.
@Tru:
- No, it's UW Slow Clear, at least by my observations waiting for some people to finish it.
- Teamwork with your bots is never as fun as with other people. Even if they suck.
- As both you and cahaseler pointed out I was indeed up at 2 AM in HA. The point is though, that was an isolated instance. I have not been up that late gaming in a long time.
- So?
- Speak for yourself. I don't live in Kamadan.
- /agree
Oh, and it's not like I could have slept even if I wanted to: there were 3 people loudly playing SSBB in the room.
"And I've met one of my best friends through Guild Wars. I think that alone is worth it."
:-D
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1397#comic [smbc-comics.com]
I think in order for you to be considered "addicted" you would need to put in more game time. Also, you are not as outcome focused as people I would consider addicted.
Basically, you seem to play for the social aspect and are not as consumed by missions, loot, and battles. Not to say that you don't have some pretty sweet loot and skills.
Thanks, but I don't know if that math/reasoning applies. Or if it should. Ever.
I for one am glad that nothing more addictive than Tetris was around when I was in college.
I personally have noticed that you are able to set the game aside if there is something else to do. IE spend time with friends here at the college, homework, etc. Therefore I would say you are not addicted because those who are addicted can't do that. I would like to thank you for the power of self-control that you have unlike others I have known and met. Thank you...
Ok, if Filip is addicted to Guild Wars.... Im like.... way addicted....
I think ive played about 15 hours straight with very little breaks. Called in sick to play gws... maybe ones or twice. Met my boyfriend on the game. Stay home from parties with my friends to play sometimes.
some people may think its sad but... I love this game, and im having fun so why does it matter?
Also UWSC only takes 15 mins or sometimes less with a good team :)
"Some people" may point out that GW does indeed interfere with your AFK life a little more than a game should. Meeting your boyfriend online is all fine and good, and staying home from parties to be on GW just shows priorities at work. However, 15 hours straight can be physically harmful, and staying home from work to play GW... could be qualified as an addiction. Be careful!
And okay okay, I get the point of the "speed" clear already... Geez.
I think the fact that you took the time to rationalize all that is more indicative of your psychology then the fact that you play an MMO a few hours a day (like millions of otherwise healthy people). I don't know, it just seems interesting that someone without anything "wrong" with them would write such a thing...
There are many things wrong with me, "Hmm...". Also many things wrong with you: such as appending characters that broke the Python socket implementation to the end of your comment. It would be appreciated if you didn't do that, hmm...?
Let's face it Fillip, you must decide for yourself if you are addicted or not. If you are addicted the first step to changing is admitting that you are. If you don't believe you are then your right. If you do believe you are then your right. None of us can tell you.
I wouldn't write this just to ask the world if I'm addicted or not. My objective was to create a sort of anecdote of how silly diagnoses of "video game addiction" are most of the time. Guess that went whoosh over people's heads.
That went over people's heads because the title specifically asks if you need rehab for it or not. Maybe you should consider the implication of your words before you say them in a sarcastic manner. Not everyone understands sarcasm.
Well they should because my sarcasm is flipping awesome.
I see your point though, and it is a constant issue I have - making people understand my sarcasm.
Eh, you don't sound addicted to me. Dependent on computers, maybe, but you have good reason to be, and many people are anyway. Accusing someone of being addicted to computers is almost like accusing them of being addicted to like, cars. Anyway, I'm glad you're not one of those WoW losers.