Therapist Wants In-Game Treatment for WoW Addicts

[Tharwen]

So... they're talking to blizzard employees about getting reduced subscription rates for people who are trying to get people to play the game less. Anyone else see a problem here?

 

[The Bandit]

In my mind, a WoW addiction is fairly easy to solve- leave the addicted alone. If you're, in anyway, whether you be a parent or spouse, supporting the addicted, then stop supporting them. Make them pay the bills. Kick them out. If they can keep playing WoW and get along fine, then what's the problem? If they can't, then they'll quickly straighten out or be homeless. It isn't heroin, people. It's not life threatening. Stop enabling them and things should work out fine.

 

[Charli]

Gawd people Self-Disapline...learn some.

Too much or too little (of somthing you like) is unhealthy. Balance is key. *head wobble*

I like WoW, I stop myself when I play too much, Somtimes I over play, other days I don't at all.
This therapist ingame thing just made me laugh like hell though.
You really think Blizzard are going to support this? Okay maybe they will...knowing it will fail miserably. You can't raid and have a chat session about your addictions, it's just not possible. XD PvPing is even worse, at least in raiding if you're a tank or a dps and you only have to keep an eye on your rotation for a while you can slip in a word, but arena's you have 1-3-5 people trying to eat your flesh, having a little therapy session during that isn't going to bode well.

Now I must go sleep after a brutal session of Ulduar raiding and hypocritical speech there. But I have nothing else to do all week and I'm a big girl...and sick...and .

 

[AboveUp]

I can just see her stand in Orgrimmar, offering help through the marketplace chat.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

"Yet those most affected by the game don't exhibit conventional warning signs"

That quote right there made me laugh. Because ya know, being at the computer for 16 hours a day isn't a sign of addiction or anything like that.

 

[MasterSqueak]

At first it sounds stupid, but all in all, I think it will work. It doesn't matter to Blizzard if they play a healthy amount or not, as long as they get PR and a supsrciption fee, of course.

Yep.

Plus, if they let the addicts get ingame treatment, parents will be happy and have no reason to cancel the subscription.

 

[Sasco Tetrarch]

But i love playing Wow Q_Q

 

[Woem]

So in order to get rid of your addiction of playing a certain game, you need to play the game? And how this counselor get payed? Gold? Rare items?

 

[Amarok]

1: Game Addiction is a Joke, refer here for more details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNRWvabBRDc

2: There is a freaking parental control menu that allows you to regulate the amount of time your kids play, good GOD parents...

 

[Juraz]

Maybe ill start playing wow again and get the WoW shrink to see whats up with the old cranium and the wow card is much cheaper then a real shrink.

 

[Willwillwritehiswill]

Next up; cure your alcoholism over cocktails at the bar.

Or kick that nasty coke habit with this special nose-cleaning powder.

Seriously, though. This could work and be extremely beneficial to those who really are throwing away their lives just to get epic mounts. In essence, it's an environment they're comfortable in so maybe they'll be more willing to open up.

Either that or they'll put their therapist on ignore or worse gank them.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

Great point Fanusc101, and captain obvious that would be a terrible boss to fight. Insane hp, and each line of text typed slows character and lowers attributes. Must take out the psychiatrist before the party is turned to stone. Eventually a hollow husk, or husks are all that remains, forcing the players back into the real world.

I see a great deal of hunting of psychiatrists, luring them to pvp servers.

Embarrassed "addict": Yeah, I spend 16 hours on a day at least. I can usually be found ____ next to the ______. If I spot you I'll take a break and we can talk. I'm interested in hearing what you have to say. I... might have a problem.
Psychiatrist n00b: I'm glad you recognise you have a problem, this is a good first step. I'll look for you there tomorrow.

Psychiatrist is ambushed by a party of psychiatrist killers. Hilarity ensues.

 

[Christemo]

people seriously needs to get a life... i play WoW, but its only about 7-8 hours a week... whoever needs therapy for this shit is probably people who is less social than aggresive rottweilers.

 

[Christemo]

The psychiatrist will probably play as a boss somewhere. He has no attacks, but he persaudes you to quit the game instead.

or he everytime you hitted him, he broke all your equipment, confiscated all your gold and items and reduced all your characters to level 1 and changed all your characters names to "stop playing dunce".

and he would follow you around everywhere. (he would only come to people who had been online for more than 14 hours that day.

 

[Woem]

1: Game Addiction is a Joke, refer here for more details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNRWvabBRDc

2: There is a freaking parental control menu that allows you to regulate the amount of time your kids play, good GOD parents...

At one moment in the video the guy says "I play 12 hours each day" and later he ridicules the idea of addictions itself so I think that this nullifies the complete reasoning. We all know by now that WoW can be an addictive game, that in itself is not at question here. And if you want to convince yourself then here's an interesting blog posts along with comments, and after 2 years it's still going:

http://www.askapadwe.com/81/are-a-lot-of-people-really-addicted-to-world-of-warcraft/

 

[Ghostkai]

This is hilariously absurd. It's not the game's fault that it's good. It's the children's fault for not having self-control, or the parent's fault for paying for something they view as an "addiction". Christ, I bet bet most Xbox Live junkies spend more time in a FPS online than the average WoW player spends logged in, but of course - thats ok. Whats the difference between leveling to 80 and prestiging a few times in COD4? (besides the the fact that level 80 would take far less time)

Hopefully the public will wake up one day to the fact that it's just another game, in fact perhaps far more social than most games that kids use for forms of escapism.

And as for the shrink asking for a free account to scare away Blizz's customers... Are they serious?

 

[PyroZombie]

I do not play the game, from what I've heard and seen from this site and my friends? We just need a plate of cold turkey, not some headhunter therapist looking to get trapped within this game like the rest of them.

 

[Asehujiko]

Thank you. Like it or not people need this.
I quit WoW when I met the sorriest excuse for a human being ever, and if you disagree with what I am about to say, well then, I think that you need to take a good hard look in a mirror and reexamine your own priorities in life.
I was playing with a guy in SM when he said he would brb. When he came back, he said that his wife was annoying him and he told her to stop. After some discussion, he admitted that they were on their honeymoon and his wife was actually trying to "get some" but he wanted to finish the instance instead.
WTF people? How can stuff like this be aloud to happen??
I got rid of my account about a week later.

Because you are gullible and take everything said to you over the internet for granted? The amount of times i saw the excuse "brb neighbors house on fire" greatly exceeds the amount of fires that occurred in the vicinity of any wow player's homes let alone the ones in my group. How is "brb wife wants sex" any different? I occasionally go get a drink with the message "sec, angry bear outside". Also, since when is the nadir of humanity a guy who may or may not have said someone that they like to finish what they started before doing something, which is generally a positive trait that many politicians lack? What happened to the guy who killed a child while speeding and then sued the family for damage to his car a few articles back? Is he somehow better then a wow player?