BellaOnline Forums Family Addictions & Children WORLD OF WARCRAFT ADDICTION

I allowed my son to be entertained (and somewhat babysat) by WORLD OF WARCRAFT online gaming. He is soooo into it now that I see a real addiction happening, but my husband thinks i am overreacting and totally supports my sons interest in it, saying that it helps build his intelligence and self esteem with his online buddies. I have kind of bought into this thought as it keeps him "occupied" and out of our hair, but I really am starting to feel like I have sold out as a parent and my inner voice is telling me "WATCH OUT" and to pull him out of the game ASAP, regardless of the anticipated kicking and screaming I am sure he will give me. I am looling for forums from parents worried about this game , and found one called WOW recovery and was I amazed and scared. IT IS ADDICTIVE and is claiming lives of college students and adults, that say it is ruining their lives, lost jobs, school grades dropped, gaining weight , lost friends, etc. I read that at first the game rewards you a lot as you play, but then becomes less and less and requires you to play more than 10 hours at a time to "level up" . My son is now doing this , since it is summer time out of school. But now he eats his dinner so fast and runs back and forth to the comuputer to keep touching the keyboard so his character stays in play... I know I have the power to pull the plug , what a wimp I am to be scared of his retribution and anger that I think this is the right thing to do, plus his dad will think I am a total worry nut, but something in my gut tells me to get a grip on his gaming before we loose him completly to the online strangers that are his "friends" . Am I overreacting? It is safer than him going and hanging out on the streets with friends , or being a loner in his room playing gun games on playstation all the time. It is hard to know what is better, but definately I need to step in a limit the time that he is playing, but this is a total hour by hour battle between me and him, because when I make him get off the computer and do some chores or go somewehre with me , all he can think about is getting back online as soon as possible.

Ok , so I found a web site called "WoW Detox" where there are over 700 pages of postings from people dealing with their addiciton to this massive online game. I showed it to my son and also implemented a 5 hour time limit per day that he can play and that also he has to be off my 9 pm . I have told him of my fears and was so happy to have this "detox" web site to support my worries. He was actually pretty attentive and seemed to soak up some of the seriousness of playing too much. I have also said that in exchange for doing a few chores around the house when I ask him, and/or doing some family activity /exercise will reward him with an extra hour or two during the week or allowed to play until 10pm . dont know how long this will last, but am hopeful to make a start at making him aware. Plus His eyes have just start to experience blurry vision, which I am pretty sure increased by so many hours of close up playing on the computer. Of course he scoffs when I tell him this, but nevertheless, we go to the eye doctors next week........

It's definitely an addiction. I myself was addicted for two years straight, from age 33-35.

This wildly adventurous game gives so much stimulation, and it's even social, so you get a false sense of sociability, because you start making "friends" and "meeting" in certain places to accomplish a goal. These goals can take anywhere from an hour (a "quest") to SEVEN DAYS (an "instance") to complete.

Many people who aren't normally social get so hooked. Prior to WoW, I used to date, go to dinner with friends, visit my parents, work out, craft, etc. During my WoW addiction, all that stopped. I'd even come home from lunch and play. And I'd play for 12-20 hours a day on weekends.

What stopped it? I forced myself to look into my past hobbies and get myself back. I forced myself to attend a scuba dive happy hour one night (though I was SO tempted to jump in the game that night), and I wound up meeting the man I'm still dating 9 months later. We've had no less than 8 trips (two to Mexico) since then, I've been working out religiously, started playing tennis and racquetball, crafting, took up guitar, going to movies, visiting the folks...what a change.

I do miss the game every now and then, but I've been out for so long that I'd have a ton of catch-up work to do. Not worth it. Real life, when you make it so, is SO much better.

As for your kids, limit them. Know that they have to be in the game for a few hours to get anything "done," but don't let them forget other hobbies and friends.

You said that maybe playing WoW may be better than if your son "being a loner in his room playing gun games on playstation all the time". However, he IS currently a loner in his room playing games all the time. So what if there is some online innteraction with people. You are the parent. If your gut tells you something - follow your gut. This is why we have been given "instincts". But, talk to your husband calmly about it first. You both need to back each other up on this or your son will pit you against each other. THAT much online gaming is good for no one but especially not for a kid.

I m also addicted to this but during my free time only.

Hello I am a Ex wow addict i am 17 and live in denmark here is some warnings about making him quit the game or well atlest what happend to me after i quit .. i have ben wow free for 10 months here is how it all started. One of my friends started playing the game and persuaded me in to buying it anyway i started leveling casualy playing a few houers a day then i hit 70 and was intruduced to PvP and raiding i started playing like crazy becouse i notished i was beter then some players and kept improving. So i raided hardcore i think i was the youngest guy in the second best guild on the alakir server. Suddently i quit seeing my friends dident go to partys and so on i went home right after school and started playing and playing until 1-2 in the night when i went to sleep ... i have had 80% school absence true the entire 9th grade luckly i culdent get kicked out. My parrents couldent do anything becouse if they pulled the plug on the net i refused to go to school and so on. anyway after 2 years i managed to sell both my accounts and quit for 2 months. Then i got bored one day and started playing again this time it was worsh WOTLK just hit the stores and i was gaming insanly much 10 houers a day aprox my grades ware [censored] my social life was [censored] and so on. anyway one day i looked back and tought "What have i acomplished in these 3 years ... and i realised it was all a bunch of pixels"... it was like i had ben asleep for 3 years i dont remember any happy memories of wow that ware worth remembering so i quit ... now i have ben wow free for 9 months. Anyway my ticket out was a big party loads of booze and a girlfriend. But since i quit i also started smoking both cigs and weed atm i smoke weed like every second day maybe more if i am with some friends or GF. anyway smoking 20 cigs a day and a joint once in a while so all i got to say watch out what your kid is duing if you manage to get him to quit wow (: Ps: 5 days after i quit wow i had my first cig and a few days after my first joint.

I'm glad you were able to talk to your son about it. Sounds like he has a powerful addiction since he has no interest in anything else. My husband has avoided WOW because he didn't want to pay the monthly fee, and knew deep down he wouldn't want to give it up once he got started. A friend of mine is going through a divorce she credits to WoW---she stopped playing because they finally figured out it was triggering epileptic seizures, but her husband never stopped. I find your comparison to a Playstation shoot-em-up game interesting. Most parts aren't as direct or visual as the games I'm sure you had in mind because it is a strategy game, but it is a WAR game. The one playing improves by how much he destroys and kills. I just saw you posted this 2 years ago. How has he been lately with the game? (without the game?)

I know exactly what you are talking about. I am from Korea where there are millions of addicted online gamers. You would see news that someone die of malnutrition while s/he (most likely male students) plays StarCraft so much. It is crazy there.

You should stop your son from play that game too much. It is absurd that they spend too much time with the game.

I am also an ex wow addict... I wasn't as addicted to it as some.. I am 24.. and have just recently came back to wow >.< but I don't play very much at all.. maybe 4 hours a week in total. WoW addiction, in my personal opinion is a serious issue. I believe the actual addiction comes once you hit the end game. ( for those of you that don't play.. by end game I mean after you have "leveled" all you can) my current Boyfriend I believe is a wow addict. and its a MAJOR issue.. all he does is work and game at this point.. I even get random texts whiles hes at work saying how he cant wait to get home and "kill sh*t" . But back to my point, I think the addiction comes at the "end game".. My reason for this, is as I've noticed with my bf... its a social game.. they have "guilds" and alot of the "dungeons" or "instances" in the end game cant be done solo... it takes groups of people being on at the same time.. to get these things done. so its a sense of " I HAVE TO BE ON". people feel accountable, have to be there. I have seen situations where people actually get [censored] at other players for not "showing up" or getting "black listed" ( if you miss raids sometimes you will get black listed meaning people will see you as unreliable and you will be unable to get a group) Back when my bf use to "raid" it was a 4-8 hour process.. and since its a real time game.. you cant just "leave" without being chewed out for it. For him it was more of a job.. an obligation. Personally I feel a game is suppose to be fun and if it it becomes an obligation, its no longer fun. But that's how many people I know have gotten sucked in.. they just have to get that new epic mount... the new tier... and since I've been back to wow I've noticed its only gotten worse.. now their are "gear scores" if you have busted your butt to have the "right gear" you wont be included in "the fun". Its funny, the loading screen for WoW says " play in moderation" .. But with the length of these instances, raids, dungeons whatever.. its impossible to play in moderation. When I asked my bf " why cant you just put it down?" he compared it to cleaning house.. or work.. he said " do you start washing dishes and just stop when u only have a few more plates to wash or do you stick it out and finish?" .. " do you leave work after lunch or do u stick it out til the end of the day?".. I hope this gives a little more insight to those mothers, girlfriends, wives.. that dont play the game but have loved ones that do. and personally the only way I have found to break the addiction is to get rid of the computer.. or the internet completely. you cant wean someone off an addiction.. if you are addicted to crack, cigarettes..or alcohol and you are trying to break the addiction.. do you leave those things in the house or get rid of the temptation?