In-game addiction therapy for WOW
Psychiatrist seeks free accounts.
A London psychiatrist has proposed offering in-game addiction therapy to young World of Warcraft players.
Dr Richard Graham of the Tavistock Centre told the Daily Telegraph: "We will be launching this project by the end of the year.
"I think it's already clear that psychiatrists will have to stay within the parameters of the game. They certainly wouldn't be wandering around the game in white coats and would have to use the same characters available to other players."
Graham, concerned that young players were spending up to 16 hours a day in WOW and neglecting their social lives and education, has called on Blizzard to give therapists free game accounts so they "can more easily communicate with at-risk players in their preferred environment", according to the Telegraph.
"Those affected don't exhibit the same outward warning signs as most teenage anti-social behaviour issues do because they're in their bedrooms most of the time, seemingly out of trouble," Graham said. "Because of this we can't get through to them in the traditional educational environment or intrude on their actual bedrooms, we need to turn to the internet itself to tackle these problems."
A slightly more realistic idea of Graham's is to recruit existing, moderate players to act as "peer mentors" to those struggling with online gaming addiction.
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Comments (29) Latest comment 3 years ago
Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!
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and moved onto Eve.
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oh wait, I'm still mildly addicted. bah.
/gargles
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OMG! It r end of world!!
Your assumptions aside MMOs are all about social interaction. That's why people get so into them, they're a form of escapism where you and your guildies can forget about the world, relax and talk crap in a fun environment while playing a game you all know and enjoy.
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"a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they’re probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft"
Doubt they'll meet any addicts in Northshire!
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Not right now obviously, with 3.2 just around the corner, but yeah. Any time.
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16 hours a day...whoever lets their child do that shouldn't really be a parent (unless they are power-levelling or gold-farming to bring in the money needed to pay mortgage payments of course). **rolls eyes**
@schnide aww bless. Tomorrows generation won't need social interaction skills for going down the pub or other 'in person' scenarios. It will all be digital (if you leave your house you will get murdered by mobs of un-enlightened hoodies - the trend is already beginning. I read the Daily Fail by mistake and now I know the true horror of youth Britain) and the LCD screens implanted onto our eyelids will allow us to view our digital friends and buddies. No more social inadequacy for not being pretty, thin, etc, your avatar will be perfection personified...and so many outfits, certainly two for every occasion!!
Yes social interaction 3.0 will be the dawning of a new era, and whilst my crusty old husk of a body withers away in a retirement home being tended to by monkey butlers (or immigrants, whichever will work for the cheaper wage) then my brain will still be logging into the most recent MMO of the time (Universe of Warcraft 18: Protoss insurrection) and people will talk to me like a human and not like a newborn child just because I'm so old with a little hearing trouble.
Pro-creation will be less....sticky...with digital insemination occurring from a synthesis of the avatar DNA.
The future sounds excellent. Social skills? pfft. That is so 2008.
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I am also very glad that I have never even considered joining WoW, or any MMO for that matter. I don't handle addiction well.
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It's a bit like having AA meetings at the local pub.
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It makes perfect sense.
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Save the Children!
Get them away from from something they love to working a dead end job 9-5, 5 days a week, 49 weeks a year!
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Did it for me, shamed me it did.
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People can become addicted to anything and anything can take over and be the focus of someone lives. I am not playing down WoW having a effect but it has the same effect as any social problem. Some people avoid Pubs for example as they dont like being around a lot people yes thats a social issue however doesn't mean you need a specialist to change it.
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Let them get on with it as they will soon learn that if they dont get an education they cant get a job,( and in their future) no job is no money, no money means not being able to pay for broadband, wow subscriptions or pc hardware.
Then they go cold turkey.
They Kill their families and get put into special care homes where the Psychiatrists realise the only way to keep the calm is let them play wow.
There...a whole social disease resolved in a few sentences.
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Like all narcotics, the best way to quit IS cold turkey.
Well in the case of WoW... a hammer to smash the install discs after quitting cold turkey.
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General Chat:
Dr: Hi all, are you addicted to WoW? Come to the fountain in Stormwind where we can help with your problem!
xxikyllUxx: STFU! newb!11!!
Eaurliy: Reported for spamming
Freddy982: Bet he's just a pedo! Come feel me!
Dr is now offline
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[link url=http://www.affsphere.com/Games/Online-Games/ Kicking-the-Habit-1.html
]http://ww w.affsphere.com/Games/Online-Ga...[/link]
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Get them away from from something they love to working a dead end job 9-5, 5 days a week, 49 weeks a year!"
I bet if they spent the time played studying or training some skill, they would be not locked in a dead end job.
Instead, they are wasting their time in something consisting in little more that clicking on a monster, watching it die and then clicking to another monster all for at least four hours a day.
If someone spent that time resolving differential equations although is nearly as useless in real life, still he is building mental skills that will be allow him to take on real life problems.
Now, they are only building resistance to doing the same thing for long time periods of times... ummm, they are going to be great at working at something like a supermarket or a chain factory.
I was once addicted for about two/three months to lineage 2 until after grinding for a week in a dungeon I asked myself "whate the fuck I'm doing?" I realized how boring and pointless was a game about clicking on monsters and waiting them to die for hours. Since then, I have not played again a game (for more than a day) that don't requires a brain to be played.
Even if they got a job instead of wasting their time playing, they would gain money so they could spend it in wasting it in dating girls, travelling, getting drunk or whatever and they will get a good job record for getting a better job in the future.