MMO addiction?

eyetrip

eyetrip

eyetrip

Soldato
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8 Nov 2006
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I remember hearing stories about people getting sucked into MMO's to such a degree that it's become problematic.

I never doubted it, but never really understood it.

So recently the other half and I started playing Star Trek Online. First MMO for either of us.

Now, I am quite good at moderating my time on it. There's other stuff I want to play and do, so if I don't touch it for a week, it doens't bother me.

The other half, not so sure about. Within the first two weeks of getting the game, couple of days we taken off - leave though, which is fine, except the complaint was "tired and need to rest", and all the time was spent behind the computer, playing STO. Which is not relaxing!

Then not long after the leave was a sick day. And after just a couple more days back at work, complaints of feeling ill ended up with trip to doc, and a two week sick note.

I have broached the subject and voiced my concerns, as lightly as I could, and was assured the time off was genuine, and that the game really wasn't being taken too seriously, but I have my doubts.

I mean, this is someone so anal about a clean hosue it's not funny, and the other day I got home to find some cardboard hadn't been taken to the recycling point. May seem like nothing to some of you, but I was honestly shocked, knowing this persons typical behaviour.

Am I being paranoid? Think I have grounds for concern?
 
You're asking in the wrong place, to be honest. It's a bit like asking a room full of smokers if cigs are bad for your health.

I don't care what anyone says, on your first mmo in particular, it's easy to completely loose the plot and want to play it all the time. Best thing to do is remove her access to it somehow and see how she reacts.

If her reaction is overboard, try to point that out to her as gently as possible.
 
i would say it's worth taking the time to talk about it with them.

Having been in a similar position, it can put a lot of strain on the relationship. There is however probably a reason for it which you should try to find out, e.g. Problems at work, trying to forget about something or so.
 
It's worth pointing out aswell what most mmo's offer - the illusion of progression, power and importance.

If a person's self esteem is particularly low, or they're struggling for direction in their life, an mmo is an extremely attractive substitute for dealing with the problem.
 
MMOs can have a really negative impact on your life. If you get addicted they suck up all your time and make you neglect pretty much everything else. When I played WoW I can safely say the time I spent playing it was problematic to say the least.

From what you've said you do have a reason to be concerned.
 
I tried STO and a day on the WoW trial. I thought STO was better than WoW but still I didn't like it anywhere near enough to ***** £10 a month on it.

I cannot see the addiction of any MMO. Anyway, my ramblings are off topic. Maybe best to cancel both your subs while your ahead before it esculates into mental health problems.
 
For me MMOs are first and foremost time sinks. In that you need to spend considerable amounts of time to get anything done.
I played Lineage 2 as my first MMO and it felt like I had to put in 8 hours a day to 'keep up with the pack' so some might have thought I was addicted back then.It never felt like I was but I can see how it might have looked that way.
Nowadays I have my WoW sub which I have had for probably 4 years. There have been periods where I spend 30 hours a week on it then other periods where I might log in twice in 2 months.

I would say though that I have never pulled a sickie or booked time off work for the sole purpose of playing a game.
 
when i used to play wow years and years ago i was sinking 6 hours a day 6 days a week at last into the game.

you get aggitated and stressed when you cant play and rl stuff takes a back seat to the game.

its a nasty thing to get to into, its really why ive stopped playing mmos because you almost need to play like an adict to be good (depends on the game ofc)
 
Eve was good for that very same reason, your character "advanced" even without you being there. Essentially this allowed for "pick up and play", didn't matter if you hadnt logged in for months. I played as a pirate until the problem of blobs effectively took all the fun out of it. Great game though, although a steep learning curve.
 
A straight forward rule to apply here is what was being done on the days that the alleged illness was present on. If people are genuinely too ill to go to work they would also be too ill to sit and play computer games. So if they were "ill" but spent the day playing STO instead, then I would suggest that they actually werent ill but were simply finding an excuse that would allow them to play.
 
MMO's are nasty business, i wasted hours a day for a few years, finally managed to quit a few months ago and haven't looked back.

You would not have got me to admit a problem though, and in hindsight i think there was one.

For me i needed to start to hate the game and the repetitiveness of it, once i done that i was able to start playing less and eventually just go cold turkey.....

Good luck.
 
I dunno, I managed small doses of STO recently during a horrid bout of strep throat. I had to keep going for lie-downs, which I couldn't have done in work (more's the pity :D)
 
Sleepery said:
I dunno, I managed small doses of STO recently during a horrid bout of strep throat. I had to keep going for lie-downs, which I couldn't have done in work (more's the pity :D)
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Indeed, but as you say your physical state forced you to have to lie-down and could only play in small doses. Someone who is allegedly "ill", but then spends hours and hours of the day playing a game would cause me to very much question just how ill they supposedly are :)
 
Tombstone said:
Indeed, but as you say your physical state forced you to have to lie-down and could only play in small doses. Someone who is allegedly "ill", but then spends hours and hours of the day playing a game would cause me to very much question just how ill they supposedly are :)
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personally i dont agree with your view, although i think this is very dependant on my job as it can be very physical, ive had time off recently where i judged myself too sick to go to work but did spend most of my time at home on games. i have told my manager and he did agree that if i had an office job i would have been at work but i was run down and even going upstairs meant i was out of breath, meaning climbing 25m storage tanks was out of the question.
 
GTanny said:
personally i dont agree with your view, although i think this is very dependant on my job as it can be very physical, ive had time off recently where i judged myself too sick to go to work but did spend most of my time at home on games. i have told my manager and he did agree that if i had an office job i would have been at work but i was run down and even going upstairs meant i was out of breath, meaning climbing 25m storage tanks was out of the question.
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I guess it is a touch job dependent, as you say, if your job entails office work or sitting at a desk or anything like that then its a tough call to say that you cant do that at work but can do it at home playing a game for hours on end. Then again lets face it, in all honesty half the time that people say they are too ill for work they probably arent, its just they dont feel like going in that day.
 
I don't understand the whole MMO addiction thing. I played WoW on and off for probably about 4 years and I used to play like 8 hours a day 7 days a week during the summer holidays, but at the time and even when I look back I had nothing else to do. When I was playing the game I'd think I did nothing with my days, give up, and realise that I don't do anything when I'm not playing wow anyway O_O. If I didn't play WoW I'd have played CS:S or some other game just as much.
 
This person you speak of is on the fringes of becoming seriously addicted if they are taking time off work to play it.
Definately talk to them, but suggest other games to play which arent as addictive. After all i found the main thing that kept me playing was to keep up with everyone else...

You could also try to do other activities with her that arent to do with the computer. Visiting places int he country, photography, mountain biking etc etc
 
I used to be well addicted to WoW but not to a point where I was taken time off work to play. I would play between 20-30 hours a week, now I'm play 5-10 hours a week mainly fps.
 
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