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World of Warcraft is without doubt the largest MMORPG (Massively Multi player Online Role-Playing Game) ever. To that end it is inevitable that there will be more attention drawn to the people that have addictive personalities and abuse their time on the game.

As its core it is just a game that has many, many hours and days worth of content to explore. This is the reason that so many people spend so many hours on this game. It has been designed to allow the casual gamers to pick up on it very easily as well as having lots of content for the advanced gamer that always strives for the pinnacle of everything the game has to offer.

To say that it is addictive is simply a perception of a person or people that do not fully understand what this type of virtual world allows a person to accomplish. Meeting people from all over the world, killing monsters, and saving the damsel in distress that we all read about all have their place inside the game. That is how the part of the population that cannot keep their craving in control get "hooked" on the game.

I would argue that other on-line games have their accused addicts as well but given that there are no others even near to the size of World of Warcraft they do not draw the attention from the media to the same degree. Anything and everything in our lives has the potential to addict us. For some people it could be a certain television show or a soft drink. Many people will tell you that they are fill-in-the-blank addicts.

To that end World of Warcraft is no more and addictive replacement for real life than lying on the couch after a hard day's work and reading your favorite novel in a series of writings by a particular author. Having the idea that Blizzard should implement in game timers to restrict play is like having Dodge install a timer in my car to keep me from falling asleep at the wheel because I'm driving longer than is recommended. If the issue is with a child still living in the parent's home then they can use the parental controls Blizzard provides on the account pages of their website to limit the hours the child can play. As adults we have the choice of turning it off and walking away. It is after all just a game.

I am yet to see World of Warcraft putting people out of their homes and jobs as drugs and alcohol do so I cannot even begin to think that it would be considered an addiction. If you have not tried the game then you must realized that the 8.5 million people playing world wide represent just a very small part of our global population. How many would you estimate are addicted to drugs that cost much more than the $14.99 a month to play World of Warcraft? A game it is but an addiction it is not.

Learn more about this author, William Conner.
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