by Joseph Branch

Created on: September 12, 2008   Last Updated: August 05, 2011

That Multiplayer Online Games, (MMOGs), encompass a vast amount of online activity on the Internet is truly an understatement. As an online gamer myself, it is easy to understand the attraction for some as well as the "Addiction" for others. While I don't necessarily agree that this form of entertainment is addictive in the clinical sense, the activity does lend to obsessive tendencies and has the potential to generate a great deal of stress to those prone to stress related afflictions.

People who play MMOGs do so for many different reasons. Some play to relieve stress buildup from everyday activities, some play for fun, and others enjoy the feeling of power they have over the environment within the game. Another aspect of MMOGs, that most are unprepared for initially, is the social nature of these virtual worlds. Coupled with the imaginative and mostly superhuman aspects of character development potentially leads to social stresses in very extreme ways. The vast majority of stress related issues in MMOG style games can be linked to social stresses that already occur to some extent in the real world.

For those who have never played, it can be very difficult to grasp how something that isn't real can cause so many problems. What they fail to see is that those who play are interacting with real people more so than simple fantasy characters. After a period of time, players get to know one another beyond the scope of their virtual playground. They learn about and become parts of each others reality. As such, they are subject to the same social issues that have plagued Human Beings since the beginning of time. They have the same arguments, the same desires, and the same needs.

One more common source of stress that affects the great majority of players is trying to find a balance between both worlds. As a species, Man is an interdependent creature. Sure, a man or woman can survive alone, but this typically leads to a very empty existence. The same goes for MMOGs. In fact, these games are designed to be interdependent. It is much more difficult to survive in the virtual world without help from others. If it wasn't so, we'd all be playing single player games. This need for interdependency lends to a sense of responsibility that players feel toward each other much as we see in real life.

"But Mom, if I quit now my friends will all die!"

Talk about a stressful dilemma. The amount of stress in this kind of circumstance is proportionate to the imagination of the player

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