Lawyer Disbarred Over Videogame Addiction

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
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Lawyer Disbarred Over Videogame Addiction



It doesn't matter if you're addicted to games or not; if you're a lawyer who keeps screwing up cases, you're going to get slapped by the long arm of the law.

When news surfaces about people getting into trouble over gaming habits, they tend to be students in high school or college. However, a middle-aged lawyer has been suspended from practicing law because his videogame "addiction" caused him to flub a number of cases, which wound up harming his clients.

43-year-old Mathew Eshelman was apparently fired from the firm he worked for in 2007 due to his addiction (which he claims stemmed from job stress and problems at home). After that, he set up his own practice and worked with a number of new clients. And, according to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Disciplinary Board, that's when things got really bad:

"When attempting to conduct his own law practice, he sought refuge from his problems by playing video and computer games with an even greater intensity. He described himself as 'addicted' to the games," lawyer Howell K. Rosenberg wrote in the 89-page report.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Disciplinary Board's report detailed 17 cases - mostly involving bankruptcy, divorce, and debt collection - that Eshelman mishandled. He missed deadlines, lost track of client money, and once lied in a divorce filing - all while ignoring calls from increasingly angry clients.

Sick of being ignored, Eshelman's clients (understandably) started filing complaints against him.

Reportedly the Disciplinary Board wanted to originally suspend Eshelman for five years, but lessened the sentence because the man used to be a decent lawyer. If Eshelman's videogame habits are really as bad as he claims, maybe he should <a href=http://arstechnica.com/gaming/guides/2009/12/fighting-the-pixel-addiction-video-game-rehab-examined.ars>think seriously about a rehab program.

Source: <a href=http://articles.philly.com/2011-08-22/news/29914780_1_disciplinary-board-video-games-debt-collection>Philly via <a href=http://gamepolitics.com/2011/08/22/pa-lawyer-disbarred-video-game-addiction>GamePolitics

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Mrsoupcup

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Jan 13, 2009
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People like him play games for the same reason you drink, to escape. He should get some self help to figure his problems out and lower his stress.

Balancing escapism isn't hard unless you have depression or something.
 

Tartarga

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Jun 4, 2008
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It doesn't say what games he was addicted too, so i'm just going to assume they were Phoenix Wright games. I'm just glad this wasn't another story about how games caused some kid to kill a number of people or something, we have enough of those to fill up a room by now.
 

Korolev

No Time Like the Present
Jul 4, 2008
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I've known good people who have significantly set back their careers due to video games. Don't get me wrong - I play video games, but if you're over 18, you should know when to stop. I knew someone who started an undergraduate degree 2 years before me and finished it 3 years after I finished mine - so that's nearly 8 years... for an undergraduate degree. The reason? World of Warcraft is the reason. He just couldn't stop playing it. It was that guild of his - always telling him "we need you" and he'd always oblige them. During his World of Warcraft years, we never saw him. He frankly disappeared. The only time I heard from him was when he phoned up because he needed ME to buy him food. I eventually stopped getting his food for him. It was pathetic.

He stopped playing WoW, and for a while, his friends (the real ones, that you know, live near him) actually saw him and he finished his degree. But since he finished his degree, he thought that he could handle MMO's again, and now he's in the clutches of Rift. I've written him off at this point.
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
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Get out of my Commonwealth, you bum!

I swear, if someone raises a shit about this when it was HIS FAULT...
 
Feb 13, 2008
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So he's found that games reduce stress and was suffering from over-stress. Hey look, I've just changed the whole tone of the article!

Love to know what games they were though...Phoenix Wright would make me howl.

Actually, this is better:-
and once lied in a divorce filing
A LAWYER LIED IN A COURT CASE? STOP THE PRESSES!!!!!!!!
 

Ranquest

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Nov 10, 2009
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Serves him right for not following normal lawyer conventions and getting addicted to cocaine.
 

Richardplex

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Jun 22, 2011
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It's compulsion, not addiction, brain isn't being dependant on chemicals yada yada yada. Edit: It's psychological addiction, disregard comment.
Korolev said:
I've known good people who have significantly set back their careers due to video games. Don't get me wrong - I play video games, but if you're over 18, you should know when to stop. I knew someone who started an undergraduate degree 2 years before me and finished it 3 years after I finished mine - so that's nearly 8 years... for an undergraduate degree. The reason? World of Warcraft is the reason. He just couldn't stop playing it. It was that guild of his - always telling him "we need you" and he'd always oblige them. During his World of Warcraft years, we never saw him. He frankly disappeared. The only time I heard from him was when he phoned up because he needed ME to buy him food. I eventually stopped getting his food for him. It was pathetic.

He stopped playing WoW, and for a while, his friends (the real ones, that you know, live near him) actually saw him and he finished his degree. But since he finished his degree, he thought that he could handle MMO's again, and now he's in the clutches of Rift. I've written him off at this point.
I don't know why long-distance friends are apparently fake friends now, but other that, similar experience with fake friends when I played wow.
 

UnravThreads

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Aug 10, 2009
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bleachigo10 said:
It doesn't say what games he was addicted too, so i'm just going to assume they were Phoenix Wright games.
If they were Phoenix Wright games, I would assume that he would have snapped and killed someone by now.
 

ImprovizoR

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Dec 6, 2009
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Well I guess you can use any excuse these days to justify your own inadequacy. A lot of people play games all their life and they have no problems managing studying, work, games and everything else. So his problem lies elsewhere. Somewhere in his psyche.
 

Firia

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Sep 17, 2007
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I have a lawyer friend. The practice of law usually leads to SOME form of vice. Alcohol is something she knows her predecessors use as their coping mechanism. She fears that it will be hers too, one day.
 

SyphonX

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Mar 22, 2009
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It seems like his personal problems, and relationship issues, etc, are the main theme in this. I highly doubt he picked up a game and just "got addicted" like crack, and stopped showering, stopped talking to his loved ones, etc.

When someone has problems at home, and much stress in their daily life, they tend to pick something up, anything, and they get "addicted" to it. Games are not a substance.

I love games, and play them a lot, like any gamer. But I don't get "addicted", I don't get withdrawals if I stop playing. I can spend 3 days by myself, buried in a book, and no one would say I was "addicted" to reading, but as soon as I pick up a controller or hunch over a keyboard, then I'm at risk of being called an addict creep by my peers.

I have to say, it was much worse in the 90's for gamers. I shudder to think of being a gamer in the 80's... Stereotypes ahoy!!
 

hypovolemia

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Mar 25, 2011
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Richardplex said:
It's compulsion, not addiction, brain isn't being dependant on chemicals yada yada yada.
I am kinda angry at Extra Credits for reinforcing that notion.

There are two kinds of addictions: physiological and psychological.
The former is when your brain chemistry starts to depend on your consumption of certain substances (e.g. drugs). The latter is exactly what is described in the article (i.e. using a certain behavior as coping mechanism and then completely depending on it). It is possible (in theory) to get psychologically addicted to pretty much everything, though it is much easier with behavior that is pleasant or reliefs stress (including video games).

A compulsion, on the other hand, is when you suddenly (without apparent cause) get the urge to do something and feel tense (that's a severe understatement) until you comply with that urge.
 

SyphonX

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Mar 22, 2009
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hypovolemia said:
Richardplex said:
It's compulsion, not addiction, brain isn't being dependant on chemicals yada yada yada.
I am kinda angry at Extra Credits for reinforcing that notion.

There are two kinds of addictions: physiological and psychological.
The former is when your brain chemistry starts to depend on your consumption of certain substances (e.g. drugs). The latter is exactly what is described in the article (i.e. using a certain behavior as coping mechanism and then completely depending on it). It is possible (in theory) to get psychologically addicted to pretty much everything, though it is much easier with behavior that is pleasant or reliefs stress (including video games).

A compulsion, on the other hand, is when you suddenly (without apparent cause) get the urge to do something and feel tense (that's a severe understatement) until you comply with that urge.
I wonder what the greater problem is? The actual 'problem', being stress, that caused him to go over the deep-end, or the "video games" that gave him his only reprieve from mental suffering.

The west in general never accepts the fact that stress kills the mind and body and is wholly unnecessary. The US and other "business themed" countries are absolutely addicted to stress. Hard day at work? No one cares, drink coffee for 8 hours. Have crippling migraines from work-related stress? Well thats your problem, drug yourself with medications and get back to work.

I hate how people, as a society, wear their stress-related illnesses and injuries as some sort of badge of honor. This is the true problem, imho.
 

Rossmallo

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Feb 20, 2008
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I love how this was mentioned in the news, but all the other lawyers with other addictions are ignored.
 

Idocreating

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Apr 16, 2009
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What, no mention of what games he wasted his career on? Le Boo!

I'm betting it was that plumber guy, corrupting the children and making them jump on turtles!
 

Phishfood

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Jul 21, 2009
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Korolev said:
I've known good people who have significantly set back their careers due to video games. Don't get me wrong - I play video games, but if you're over 18, you should know when to stop. I knew someone who started an undergraduate degree 2 years before me and finished it 3 years after I finished mine - so that's nearly 8 years... for an undergraduate degree. The reason? World of Warcraft is the reason. He just couldn't stop playing it. It was that guild of his - always telling him "we need you" and he'd always oblige them. During his World of Warcraft years, we never saw him. He frankly disappeared. The only time I heard from him was when he phoned up because he needed ME to buy him food. I eventually stopped getting his food for him. It was pathetic.

He stopped playing WoW, and for a while, his friends (the real ones, that you know, live near him) actually saw him and he finished his degree. But since he finished his degree, he thought that he could handle MMO's again, and now he's in the clutches of Rift. I've written him off at this point.
See, I read these stories and think "Do I have a computer game addiction?" I mean, its pretty much my soul leisure activity lately. But then people come along with a story like that and I know I'm ok because I'm working, eating, sleeping and showering ok.

Here's the moral kids, if you want to play computer games 18 hours a day, go for it. If however that then impacts on something else you have a problem.
 

Hungry Donner

Henchman
Mar 19, 2009
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Rossmallo said:
I love how this was mentioned in the news, but all the other lawyers with other addictions are ignored.
Yeah. I've certainly seen news articles mention alcoholism and such in these situations, but they rarely make such a big deal about this. Then again it looks like the lawyer is trying to blame his game addition rather than the problems that supposedly caused it.