by Joshua Simmet

Created on: June 29, 2009   Last Updated: June 30, 2009

Once upon a time I was a major gamer. I started out with the normal home gaming systems, Nintendo, The Playstation. Eventually I moved on to computer gaming. But it was still a few years before I encountered my first MMORPG, Runescape. A friend of mine introduced it to me, and together we quickly climbed in level and reputation in that game. We were both very high in many of the lists that Jagex has on their site of the players with the highest levels. But eventually Runescape grew old, stale. At that point we were looking for a new game to play. My friend experimented with EverQuest, but I could never get into it. I tried Guild Wars, but it wasn't very satisfying.

Eventually we found World of WarCraft. For us it was perfect, and after about 2 months we had characters at the highest level, were in big time guilds and played an inordinate amount of time. After a while my computer broke, I don't recall exactly in what way, and I canceled my subscription. He kept playing for a while and eventually quite for whatever reason. I don't think that either of us ever were really truly addicted to the game, our school work, social life and jobs never really suffered from our involvement in the online world and we never really suffered from the withdrawal that would result from the separation of the game.

However it is easy for me to see how an online game can lead to addiction. When the gamer has an unfulfilling life immersion in the online world and the creation of an avatar that is everything that the gamer wishes to be, it is reasonable that the gamer would prefer to spend time in the online world. Another thing that some people would prefer about the game is how easy it is to meet new people, after playing for a few days or weeks one can have dozens of friends, as opposed to the oftentimes socially awkward gamer in real life who may have difficulty meeting new people.

This combination leads to the gamer's dependence on the game. Especially once the gamer has gained a certain proficiency in the game, the better he/she is the more she/he will want to play. And when the gamer gets to those higher levels he will in all likelihood have gained other obligations, such as if he belongs to a guild or clan, he will be expected to help out with certain things. Because some guilds, the more high end ones, operate like actual businesses; everyone has a role to play and everyone is expected to play that role.

Breaking an addiction to online games can be handled in much the same way as any other addiction. It takes time, support and understanding. Unfortunately it is often hard for other people to understand how someone can become addicted to the games.

So if you know someone addicted to video games, or you are addicted, seek help. Find someone who knows how it is and is willing to help.

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