All around the world at any given time, a night of video gaming is about to unfold as the evening's sole source of entertainment.

Although this would have been considered the height of social awkwardness and almost unheard of ten years ago, and now, it's becoming more and more common.  Ten years ago, and even more recently someone doing this sort of behavior would have been labeled a nerd or a geek,  This has changed with Blizzard's World of Warcraft.  At the end of 2005 World of Warcraft, which is the most popular massively multiplayer online role playing game currently on the market, reached its five millionth subscriber with players in Australia, America, New Zealand, Europe and Asia.  That number now has swelled to over eleven million.   In the article, “World of Warcraft Focus of Millions” the author mentions an ever growing occurrence that is making its presence known, he writes, “Where once a rented movie, a night out with friends, a few drinks or a good book might have sufficed for the evening, more and more people are finding themselves passing time by slaying opponents, helping their groups with missions or gaining experience points toward a higher level or rank.”  More and more people are electing to stay indoors and forgo actual socialization for that of a keyboard, mouse and screen.  Why is this? 

Although there are many in the world today that could easily argue that the effects of role playing games are detrimental to the youth of our time, some argue the exact opposite.

Constance Steinkuehler is currently running a study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison regarding the MMOGs and people, who play them, including obviously herself as well.

"Kids today are growing up in thoroughly networked global spaces.  Players hang out and engage with one another in informal social ways," the professor said, "most people go for the game and stay for the people. Kids today are growing up in thoroughly networked global spaces." 

Is it possible that these MMOGs are becoming the coffee houses of 2010?   It seems that may be the case.  More and more people, teens included are spending more time attached to their screens by chats or IMs (Instant Messaging) as they are also known.  And for many, that is the only way they are in contact with some of their friends.

Still many argue that the video game universe can become extremely addictive, but, in order for a true 'addiction' to exist the gamer would need to show the

following symptoms:

·        salience (how important it is to someone);

·        mood modification (it is used as a way of consistently and reliably modifying their mood);

·        tolerance (needing more and more of it to get the same mood modification);

·        withdrawal symptoms (there is a set of consequences to its removal);

·        conflict (the activity produces a conflict such that it has a negative detrimental effect on relationships, work, academic studies, life); and

·        relapse (if you have cut down or stopped there is always the tendency to relapse back to excessive levels).

That above list was obtained from Prof. Mark Griffith.  Who continues with the following explanation:

...[W]e need to consider whether excessive gaming by children is due to the addictive nature of video games for them or if it is more a matter of parents not feeling able to manage their children's behaviour effectively. Children can take many activities to excess if their behaviour isn't moderated and balanced, whether it's playing games, watching TV or eating. Research has yet to determine whether some types of game are more addictive than others or whether there are inherent features, either individual characteristics (e.g. children with obsessive compulsive tendencies) or circumstantial features (e.g. children in situations of boredom) that predict high usage. It is certainly conceivable that children with particular cognitive, behavioural or personality characteristics may be more vulnerable.

             In short he is saying it is not the game itself which is addictive but it is the circumstances in which the addict lives or his current mental state which could dictate whether or not the player becomes lost in this alternate reality.

 In the following I have taken advantage of my position as a teacher and asked a few of my students who play World of Warcraft, why they play, why they think people get addicted to the game and why certain things happen in the game.  I got some great responses and throughout this discussion I will use those interviews as well as other information that was found through various sources on the internet.

I have found that the many games like World of Warcraft, Everquest, and those other games that are of the same genre have one think in common; they have a very addictive quality to them.  Exactly what is this quality and why does it entangle some but just roll off the back of others?  We will take a look at this question as well as a few others as we try to face the problem that some feel plague many of the youths and many adults of today.

During a very informal chat with a few of my students who play WoW, I found that they usually try to self limit their play time, although that doesn’t always work.  One in particular told me that he had played for over seven hours in one seating and didn’t even realize that that amount of time had passed.  Time flies when you are having fun I guess, but why are there so many reports out in the ether saying that the addiction to WoW and its ilk is of almost epidemic proportions?  One such report was found on the public video posting site of www.youtube.com.  The video, that can be found at here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8hfK3RQs2g , depicts a British teenager that seems to be extremely addicted to WoW.  The parent states that his whole attitude and mood has changed; he has become more violent since he started playing the game.  In the video it shows the child playing the game and even slipping into an “American” accent when using a program that lets him talk to the others he is playing with over the internet.  This could be one of the many side effects of this certain addiction. When asked he just says that he just picked it up.  His actions are caught on camera as he is playing, you can see his agitation grow as things don’t go his way.  He says that he can walk away from the game anytime he wants, he just doesn’t want to.  This sounds like a classic response from an addict.

I was able to interview four of my students and I asked them to write just a little about their WoW experiences, these are their responses.  I think that they say a lot.  All those that were interviewed were 18 and male.  It seems that WoW is a much more male intensive pastime.  This could be for the simple reason that the number of females that would enjoy hacking and slashing things is few in number, although my very distinguished co-writer is a very important exception.

Taylor W.

Age 18

World of Warcraft is a massive multiplayer online game over 11 million people worldwide play this video game.  I am a level 80 Draenei Shaman.  I am a member of the Valiant Alliance.  Now while the Horde is predominantly teenagers and people in their early twenties, Alliance has 2 groups of people.  The first group tends to be immature little kids who are 12 years old and younger.  This group I try to avoid and like to associate myself with the second group.  This second group tends to be adults who are more mature and many of whom have families.  This group of players tends to be more casual and laid back like me.  However, they can be intense when it comes to raiding.  Many members of my family also play this game.  My aunt, uncle, and the rest of that family all play.  It was my uncle who first introduced me to WOW, and it was his choice to play Alliance.  If you were to ask my relatives why they choose Alliance, they would tell you it is because Alliance looks better, which is true.  Now from time to time, my inner teenager surfaces and I [play] PvP (Player vs. Player). Generally I don’t go looking for Horde to harass.  They tend to show up to harass Alliance.  Since the Horde come to screw with the Alliance, I tend to return the favor.  After killing the Horde I enjoy ganking the Horde.  I corpse camp (this is where the player would just hang around the dead enemy character and wait for him to resurrect) and sit and wait for the Horde to resurrect so I can kill them again.  As mean as this is, I do it to discourage Horde from remaining to harass lowbies.  I also enjoy testing my skills against a competent opponent.  This is why I pup in the first place.  The final reason I gank is because I like being a jerk and screwing with people from time to time.  I’m not personal and don’t only hurt Horde.  I also mess with Alliance noobs. 

  Nathan M.

Age: 18

My reason of choosing Horde over Alliance, well it wasn’t my original choice to play horde.  But as I continue to level my hunter, Alliance becomes a nuisance as they are a majority of little kids, and they love ganking (a group of people who either out power or outnumber of another group and massacre them.)  Throughout my growing life, I have been ganked ever so often because I play BG (Battle Ground), yes, on a given chance and occasion, I would choose to gank Alliance, as long as they are flagged first.

My personal reason of continuing playing WOW is the end game contort (raid). The reason people would get caught up and be addicted to this game is the constant change in the aspect of the game.  Every few patches, you will have to change your charging style as well as getting unique toys that only few people have.

Cory A.

Age 17

            There are a few reasons I play World of Warcraft.  The first one is because I have a lot of friends who play and the second reason is because the game is interesting due to its depth into the game.  There are so many different things you can do within the game.  I really enjoy the intricacy because the possibilities are endless to what you can do.  The faction that I chose to play was Alliance.  The main reason for this is because most of my friends are Alliance.  However, I do like the Night Elves within the Alliance though because as a hunter, they’re an excellent choice.  I don’t know much about ganking because I don’t play PVP (Player vs. Player).  I’m not a huge fan of PVP because a lot of people don’t play fairly or they’re ridiculously equipped, well past their true level.  A perfect example of this is twinks.  I [really] hate twinks (Characters who buy all of their high level equipment and didn’t earn it).  I enjoy PVE (Player vs. Environment) more because it’s more fun for me since I don’t have to deal with twinks and other PVP players that don’t play correctly.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Alex R.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Age: 18

[I have the following characters]  Human Mage and a Tauren Warrior, (a Tauren is a minotaur type creature), I prefer the mage much more because he's just more fun to play with because of the cool spells he can cast and stuff like that vs. the warrior just basically being a tank and taking hits and not doing nearly as much damage as the mage.

I've been playing WoW since early November.

I feel that I am basically addicted to the game just because I want to get my character to the higher level and get him the best stuff to wear and do more damage and have more life and mana, and another big reason as to why I’m addicted is because the game never ends, you just cant beat it and I think that’s pretty cool that the game is never ending and there’s always updates.

Is it this ever changing and never ending scenario that is so intoxicating millions of people and drawing them into a quagmire of a non-reality?  I guess it may be a distinct possibility.  There have been times that I have found myself getting drawn into it and even now, since I have started this paper I have found that I have wanted to play.  Although, I do not feel I am addicted to the game, I can say that if some one has an addictive personality, it could be very easy to fall into the gossamer world where one can be whatever they want. 

It used to be my opinion that most of the players of WoW were either of the younger sect, geeky, or those like myself who play it for a distraction, I have found that I am wrong, of the four students who answered my questions and of the six I asked four were athletes and one, though not an athlete was far from what would be considered stereotypically geeky.  This game has long arms and it reaches many people all for different reasons.