Topic : 06/03 Virtual Chaos

As a gamer, and a player of Warhammer online, I applaud your efforts. THESE GAMES ARE NOT FOR KIDS THESE GAMES ARE NOT FOR KIDS THESE GAMES ARE NOT FOR KIDS. I would never let a 15 year old play an MMO. This is an adult's game, and honestly after a long day of school/work when you just want to sit down and kill some Bright Wizards (who are super OP btw) I really don't want to deal with kids when I play. They can't contribute anything, never play their classes right, and generally ruin the experience for everyone else.

On a serious note, gaming, especially MMORPGs, are a great way to chill out and play with friends. My friend met his girlfriend playing WoW. Its a blast playing with your friends and it's a very social game (For the record, I play Warhammer, not WoW, Warhammer is more player vs player focused.)

Honestly, Blizzard is doing EVERYTHING in their power to make WoW noob friendly and more casual. There is no excuse for someone to be spending 80 hours a week on that game, or any game for that matter. Blizzard has created the most succesful MMOs in history, and they are truly some of the greatest game developers on PC, or any platform for that matter.  WoW is succesful because its a good game. Personally, it bores me to tears, but 11 million subscribers can't be wrong.

Let me explain this to the parents again: its not the game's fault. Its not Blizzard's fault. The game is not evil. Blizzard is comprised of some of the most talented developers in the games industry and makes so much money each year they could probably buy the Dr. Phil show if they wanted to (and use it to promote WoW! I kid, I kid.). My point online game addiction is the result of little to no self control. For the love of the Raven God (Warhammer refrence :D) PLEASE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR KIDS. ITS NOT THE GAMES FAULT ITS YOURS. Unplug the computer, do what you have to, or at least make him pay the $15 subscription fee by getting a job.

     Yeah, the game has no fault whatsoever.

 

    By the way, I'm formerly an Eastern Human Bard of Freeport known as Lynata, a level 60 powerpath Minstrel with 1236 class mastery points. On the playstation 2 version of Everquest Online Adventures on the Mar's Fist Server.

    Yeah, it's not the game's fault that it takes 24 hours of gameplay over two days 12 hours a day to gain just one Class Mastery.

    It's not the game's fault that Skaynir and Lady Vox only appears (spawns) two-three times a month.

    It's not the game's fault that Noxxious, Twins, Cazic-Thule, and others spawn even less than that, and there's always more than one household (guild) scouting their spawn points.

    It's not the game's fault that after level 45; quest mobs spawn more typically between five to fifteen minutes to appear once.

    It's not the game's fault that it takes at least 20 players minimum to kill level 60 epics

    It's not the game's fault that four years ago; the development team admitted character inbalance and begins class balancing forcing players to place even more time to develop their character at even the most basic elements of the game.

    It's not the game's fault that content above level 45 consists of requiring killing a single type of mob many many times for a single item to drop and requires the player to repeat the process an additional four more times.

 

     Just to make sure, I'm on the same page. The game's designers/producer should not take any responsibility for deliberately programming a game several factors to guarantee that a player must dedicate excessive time to attain a sense of accomplishment.

     If you're not a gamer, this is how MMORPGs work.

The game begins with a Continuous Positive Reinforcement. Players level their characters rapidly or gathers class mastery points rapidly.

Then, the game begins using a Fixed Ratio Method of Positive Reinforcement. Players begin leveling/cming less rapidly. And then less, and then even less until it takes 24 hours of game play to achieve a single level or class mastery. After that, it takes even more time to accomplish the same success therefore sense of accomplishment.

    These game's thrive on this design.

 

    The players must take responsibility too.

My whole life I've been into video games and technology. From the moment my hands played Pong I was hooked. Videogames were the stepping stone into the future. And I love them like I love my favorite authors or recording artists or films. These are not simple games either. There are skills required to play them. They require you to think and work as a team. The only downside to them is that they aren't physical. I think that there lies the rub. Because people sit on their butts the whole time, society feels it's not as good as going and moving around. I'll give you guys that one, but somedays these games will truly be immersive and people will become physically active in them, because that's the ultimate immersion experience.

 

Unfortunately, society thinks we're weird because we like 'fantasy' instead of real life. How is the guy on this show different from the Sport Junkies out there who spend every waking moment worshiping some team? Or NasCar fans who decorate their entire home in honor of Jeff Gordon? I think the most ridiculous sport of all is golf. No wait...I take that back. Curling. That's the most ridiculous sport I've ever seen. Let's agree that anyone who turns their whole existence into something other than the family and friends they can actually touch, needs to figure out why they are doing it.

 

As to the instances of someone who died because of a game, my heartbreaks for them. But again, this isn't any different than the person who thought that there were voices when the record was played backwards. These are all lost people looking for meaning. And there's no denying it's sad. But I don't blame the game. I don't blame anyone. Sometimes people just get lost and it always easy to look backward and say "this was what was wrong.

 

I just hope that people don't assume that it's the game's fault. I feel that people who get obsessed with anything to that degree are simply not finding life satisfying enough. They need to find the joy in themselves and the world around them.

 

Now, I am going to cook dinner for my family, eat dinner together, clean up together, and then afterwards, I'm going to log online and start kicking some butt. At least until my tv show is done taping and then we're all going to watch it together (AS A FAMILY).

I say this for all of us who actually have to deal with the addict, this is not a joke. Your comment is not funny. These games actually tear apart lives!

If you read on most games, esp the  ones that are flashy, it will tell you if you have epilepsy not to play that it can cause seizures. 
Even though that is not what happened to Liz's son, I think it is something that parents don't know or overlook because their kids want it. 
I have epilepsy, I didn't play the games but my   my sons did, we didn't realize the danger to me until  I had a seizure watching my sons play.  We also set limits, they couldn't play in their rooms and only 1 hr a day and 2 on weekends.

First off i play video games 2-4 hours a day, I started playing video games when I was real little, I played video games because i was made fun of.

 The guy that tried to commit suicide and the one that DID commit suicide was NOT addicted..they were unstable and should not of been playing cetain video games Ive played WoW and i was not addicted, I loved World of Warcraft but i DID stop playing i admit i played WoW for  about 2 month's at 60 hours a week also the players there are REAL POPLE DO PLAY THE GAME THEY ARE REAL PLAYERS  I played WoW and meet hundreds of friends i know get out and hang out with The woman that had her son commit suicide is just trying to pin the blame on the game which is not tru he was not STABLE if he could put a rifle to his head there was sumthing wrong with him, im sorry to say that but its true, People like that do not need to play a game like WoW, Runescape, Warhammer, Everquest, And free online games like Perfect World  and  Last Chaos.

I have a job a girlfriend (she playes games with me too and she has a job also)

Sorry for my errors(My spellchecker messed up and im on an old goofy keyboard)I have a  to play a game for 1-2 hours then i go to work, if anyone has a problem with what i said please email me at joshua1228@hotmail.com. Or just argue with me here

Same type of thing happened to me, So, yes I agree, it can happen out of no where. A couple hours a day is fine, but 8-12 hours a day is crazy!!!!!!!!!!!

Back in the 80's my husband's parents thought D&D was a cult because they saw something to that effect on TV. He (at 12 years old) sarcastically asked his parents "You think Dave Brown and I are a cult?" The two of them played D&D in the basement together.

 

So far as I know, they never worshipped the devil, they just played pretend battles. They did the same thing with action figures and army men, only there were no books and no dice and no one thought THAT was a cult. Your post made me laugh, remembering his parent's reaction to D&D. :)

At least tell them about the guy who is 25 who make the "watching guys on cam doing stuff comment".   What he did to you is a crime and he is probably doing it to others as well.  He could seriously hurt someone and ruin lives if he hasn't already.    He belongs in a jail cell.   

How do you know your internet friends are who they claim to be?   They could easily be a different age than they claim to be.   Do you know what has happened to other people your age who have met in person with online "friends"?    Do you understand that at thirteen there are certain corners that you can't see around that someone older than you can?

Please watch Dr. Phil's show about texting and driving.  Hopefully you are not driving yet, but please remember this show and all the lost lives who are real people with families, before you ever get behind the wheel.  When you do make sure you don't text while you are doing this.   

I hope that you will not take this the wrong way, just understand that I am writing this out of fear for your safety.  

But please make sure you stay in touch with the real world enough, so that you have a job, pay your bills, and don't look for handouts/bailouts from hard working tax payers like myself.