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Topic : 06/03 Virtual Chaos

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Created on : Thursday, October 16, 2008, 10:37:46 am

Author : DrPhilBoard1

(Original Air Date: 10/20/08) Sixty-five percent of American households report playing computer and video games, and surprisingly, the average player is 35 years old. Computer games are supposed to be fun, but when a hobby turns into an obsession, virtual fantasy worlds can ruin lives and wreck marriages. Juli says her 34-year-old husband, Fred, plays computer games all day and ignores his entire family. Fred admits to spending up 10 hours a day in a cyber world, but will he call it an addiction? Fred’s stepson, Brandon, thinks Fred is lazy and that his mom can do better. Then, Brad, 40, was so addicted to games that he spent up to 80 hours a week locked in the basement with his computer. Not only did he accumulate close to $24,000 of debt, his addiction nearly cost him his marriage and his life! Next, Liz found her 21-year-old son, Shawn, dead at his computer from a self-inflicted gun shot. She says that a role-playing game in the virtual world transformed her son from a vibrant young adult into a depressed introvert, which ultimately led to his suicide. Liz founded Online Gamers Anonymous to educate others about the potential dangers of obsessive gaming. Then, when Wendy married a video game designer, she literally took matters into her own hands and started playing herself. Are you or is someone you love at risk for video game addiction? Log on to DrPhil.com for a checklist of signs!

Find out what happened on the show.

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momeathome

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Mellow

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October 24, 2008, 11:50 pm PDT

agree to disagree

Quote From: chromos

I'm basically adressing my next post to all those out there that get the impression that it's the games fault...and the game is the reason X person got their life all screwed up, their marriaged wrecked...or in some cases suicide. Ground breaking new's people....It's the person who's behind the computer/tv screen playing the game...it has nothing to do with the game they are playing. Everyone in this world is different but stating that mmorpg's/video games are evil and they corrupt a person is a false statement. It's not only games u could relate this too, like i have mentioned in my previous post and in other posts before mine, You can get addicted to anything. Please tell me this, would u rather have your young child be addicted to playing a game where it teaches them that killing is a good thing, or let them watch movies filled with adultery and drugs...would u rather them be addicted to that? Or. would u rather have them be addicted to a game that has the ability to broaden and sharpen your mind and skills. think about that one. I wil also state something on a more personal level with the statement Dr. Phil made about us gamers=losers? Care to explain to me the logic on how that is supposed to help people? that sounds more like an insult to me. I mean instead of trying to give those people out there that ruin their lives because they get too carried away with something constructive criticizim....He calls us losers? hmm, interesting. Also on a personal note, and as i have mentioned before i am a non-addicted gamer that plays world of warcraft. You know what i play it for one reason, Self-Gratification and for a sense of accomplishment. The main goal of this mmorpg is to work together with other people to reach your designated goal, and after all the hard work u put into it and after u reach that goal it fills u with happiness and a sense that u accomplished something not many other people can do as a team. You can even relate this to your work environment or to anything in real life. Let's take for example a construction job for a hospital is there only 1 person that is going to build the entire hospital? by all means no, there is a team of experience individual's in various fields that use their unique skills and experience to benefit one another to reach their final goal...in this case being a fully built hospital. Gee i wonder what playing wow could teach a young child...especailly when they are considering their career. To sum it all up everyone your working together with in world of warcraft has a unique roll that they play...and if they dont perform to the best of their ability...they will not reach their goal as a team...so it teaches people to be able to sharpen their skills to think on their feet better...what to do in a certain situation and act with the best actions as fast as they can effectively and efficently. Im also not saying that their will not be people out there that take it overboard and ruin their lives because of it. Due to the fact that we are not perfect human beings....stuff like this will always happen, it depends on the person. Also, as another note....If U honestly need to listen to an old bald arrogant geezer tell u what to do in a situation where your doing too much of something to the point where it becomes unhealthy, then sorry but i feel really bad for you. It's only common sense where if your doing too much of something that it is unhealthy for you and hurting yourself and others that well, u stop u look at your situation and u remedy it. Just like smoking, it's unhealthy for you and when some people realize that it's bad for them and they want to stop doing it what do they do? they take steps to stop smoking ex. nicotein patches/gum ect...Well i think i have made my point. Believe me i do feel for those who have addiction issues to the point where it puts themselves and their family...and even in some extemely rare cases..their lives in jeopardy. I really do hope that those people fix their situation and their family problems get resolved. As i conclude let me leave you all with one last thought....Out of all the sick and perverse things in this world that your children or your loved ones could be doing, I think mmorpg's and video games should be the least of your worries.

But gaming doesn't help either . As a teacher I know. Schoolwork and family life suffer. They don't learn social skills by "talking" to other gamers. They also have difficulty learning to spell. They do not have their own imagination to write stories and resort to plegarizing from game scenarios. Parents have to negotiate when their children are going to do their homework, before or after gaming? This is ridiculous! Parents you are not their friends, you are their parents.

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sherylday

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October 25, 2008, 10:40 am PDT

Update for you

Quote From: seenfff

MMORPG's are games based on the community although some games may relay less on the community, but Everquest Online Adventures does not have Mercenary NPC's that a player could pay to group with. The closest thing is if your character has a pet like Necromancer, Magician, Wizard, Enchanter, or a certain leveled Druird or a level 51 Bard with 75 cms for Entrancing Song.

Every aspect of an MMORPG requires leveling beyond chatting like in a chat room; in fact, a MMORPG is essentially a video game with a very elaborate chatroom. This creates competition like any other online game like Socom, Halo, Madden, Racing games, or other.

Without the community, the game would not be fun at all; in fact, I forget the name of it. It'd be as pointless as that shooter game where you just run around shooting things that couldn't shoot back. I think that was called "Shooter". Pretty pointless game if you ask me. I prefer games with challenges, situations that require thought or some sense of reflex, and strategy. Those are games more my forte.

Such as I play Diplomacy. Diplomacy is a board game that requires all 7 players write down their orders for each unit and turn in to a GM or take turns reading off their orders, and the moves are all simutanisly adjusted. Such as, I couldn't end the move in Berlin if another unit or player's unit moved there. Because of this rule, Diplomacy is playable by mail, e-mail, or face to face.

MMORPG's would be less destructive if the designers opted for difficulty over mindless time sinks or drop sinks.

I do agree with you that the players are real people. True, a player could be someone else entirely, but as a veteran MMORPG player. Those people are often exposed fairly rapidly because they can't keep their lie straight, and people role playing their character is uncommon. Thrall did rather with the RPG aspected although I agree; this place is the inappropiate place to role play their character.

Actually, the new expansion released on Oct 21st gave us Mercs in EQ.

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chromos

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sad

October 25, 2008, 11:25 am PDT

sigh...

Quote From: momeathome

But gaming doesn't help either . As a teacher I know. Schoolwork and family life suffer. They don't learn social skills by "talking" to other gamers. They also have difficulty learning to spell. They do not have their own imagination to write stories and resort to plegarizing from game scenarios. Parents have to negotiate when their children are going to do their homework, before or after gaming? This is ridiculous! Parents you are not their friends, you are their parents.

you know..people like u make me sick...saying stuff like "Parents you are not their friends, you are their parents." First of all any good parent know's that to be able to have an impact on their childs life and so the child looks up to them..they need to develop..a close bond of friendship...kind of like a father/son mother/daughter friendship....if u honestly treat your kids with that line of thinking well it's no wonder they are addicted to video games and dont wanna do anything else....If u want your kids to be able to grow up to be fine adults with decent careers and not some deadbeat that sits around playing video games all day..having that kind of thinking is not gonna make that happen. It's kind of sad your a teacher..and I'm having to teach u that. It just sounds like to me your new to parenting and your kids have problems with video games because you use the whole not being friends with your children but just view and being JUST a parent...tbh if i was your child...and thank god im not..i would be doing the same thing..and btw i really dont feel sorry for you, i guess once u actually try to get to know your children better and become their friend..someone they can trust and love...then maybe you would have less problems with them playing games instead of doing other things.

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seenfff

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October 25, 2008, 11:26 am PDT

Denial

The people who want to place all the blame on the game; this is the full extent of the blame that you can place on the game itself. Since I played Everquest Online Adventures for playstation 2, I will use it as my example.

First, EQOA and all MMORPG's do not have a conclusion. The only designed conclusion these games have is to participate in every aspect of the game's features. 1) There are Warrior, Shadow Knight, and Paladin tank classes. Cleric, Druid, and Shaman Healer classes. Bard, Ranger, and Rogue Melee Classes. Enchanter, Magician, Necromancer, and Wizard Caster Classes. 2) There are Eastern and Western Humans, Elves, Delf, Dwarf, Gnome, Erudite, and Barbarian races. 3) A character can only gain enough experience to reach level 60 and 1500 Class Master Points for varies upgrades, Master classes, Master Class spells, and additional "buffs" or attributes. 4) There is Weapon, Jeweler, Tailor, and Armor Tradeskills "Crafter" options that require different stats to be successful (reduce number of failed attempts). 5) Numerous quests, Hunt and Gather for experience (XP), Path Quests, Item quests, and Raid quests which includes the dreaded Plane of Sky (PoS) port quest. 5) A non-game option in EQOA, Merchant. This is dubbed farmer because they kill certain monsters "mobs" to gain and sell items in demand or of value.

Second no matter what goal or goals a player sets for his or her self. They will need to level to meet their goals. In EQOA, a player who dedicates 12 or more a day will gain enough experience to reach level 60 in 1 or 2 months using Hunt N Gather quests, path quests, and camping aka grinding. 12 hours a day is not sufficient to reach 1500 class mastery points aka CMs in the same amount of time.

Third, Content above level 50 are full of time sinks. Time sinks are excessive spawn time and excessive requirement to kill a specified mob to gain the item/s needed to finish level 50+ quests. Especially, level 60 epics. Geez, it took a month playing 2-3 hours to finish the 60 epic. (This does include scheduling a raid force to kill the three vampires to conclude the quest).

If you really want to blame the game for anything, you're stuck with the time sinks, and you'll be likely preaching to the choir.

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seenfff

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October 25, 2008, 11:37 am PDT

For playstation 2?

Quote From: sherylday

Actually, the new expansion released on Oct 21st gave us Mercs in EQ.

Everquest for PC or Everquest Online Adventures for Playstation 2? Last expansion I know of for EQOA was Frontiers.

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seenfff

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October 25, 2008, 1:32 pm PDT

Apparently, you're not a very good one.

People really only have two stories. I presently can't think of both, but the other is a Epic. An epic follows this basic scenario.

1) A young and innocent character is created.

2) This character is removed from his/her known surroundings.

3) Has varying degrees of supporting characters, Antagonist, Love Interest commonly referred to as Goddess, typically 2 mentors, comic relief who are both funny and helps direct the reader/viewer/player, and often a player who has been there.

4) Conflict takes a Protagonist far away

5) Takes a long time to complete their "destiny"

Beyond the Illiad, what follows this scenario; you might ask.

Field of Dreams

Star Wars

Indiana Jones

Final Fantasy 7, 9, 10

Mercedes Lackey's Velgarth Series.

Many MMORPG quests also follow this scenario.

There's more, but I can't think of them at the moment.

Another case and point, they follow the same components, but I don't think they classify as Epics.

X-Men and Harry Potter.

X-Men deals with mutants who are attend a school that helps mutants learn how to harness their powers.

Harry Potter is about a character who goes to a school to learn about magic.

Mud bloods living together with pure bloods/mutants living together with normal humans and both preventing those who wish to "destroy" or otherwise rule the other.

Your students are plagarising if they use persay Norrath as their world or so on, and it begs the question why you haven't taught your students to take the inspiration to create a new idea. I strongly believe that this is a cop-out.

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gokudera

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Happy

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October 25, 2008, 3:13 pm PDT

Wait for it...Wait for it...Okay, LAUGH.

Quote From: momeathome

Unfortunately I also am a game widow. Thought I was the only one. Just learned the term. My husband's game of choice is Diablo ...WITH HIS MOTHER and many other games on his"PS3". We have a 2 year old son and are living in a nightmare. Counseling has helped some. Parents and fiances don't let this consume their lives. Gamers don't let life pass you by. You can't get the real moments back.

Game widow?? Are these people serious these days? Anyway, dumb term, but that's not the point. I kinda take offense to what you said: "Gamers don't let life pass you by." I'm sorry, but what do you know about it? We live life just like anyone else. And playing games is a part of that. I think you see gamers in the stereotypical view that we just lock ourselves away in our rooms and just play video games all day. Not the case. We have lives just like the rest of you "regular" people who don't play games. So don't judge us and lump all of us in that stereotypical mould of a gamer. Truthfully, people like you just make the situation worse in my opinion. If people would just take the chance to figure out what being a gamer really is, we wouldn't be having people saying ignorant things about this topic.

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gamertothemax6

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Angry

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October 25, 2008, 6:12 pm PDT

10/20 Virtual Chaos

Quote From: amanda_noll

You can't say that the real world is a scary place filled with gangs as a rationale for staying inside and avoiding reality. You can't say that a couple people have a problem--- I know a lot of gamers and the norm for them is to spend entire weekends and over 40 hours a week, loosing their jobs and isolating themselves from their old friends. Denial denial denial!

Weekends?

A weekend is a time of relaxation, They deserve to take the weekend off and play games.

40 Hours!? Are you serious?

That's less than two days!

I know people who play games for 73 hours a week and Are doing perfectly fine in their lives.

And I'm not using Gangs and drugs as a rationale, I'm using it as examples.

90% Of people who play vieo games inside their homes don't do drugs or even go anywhere near a gang.

Denial is only a state of mind, Facts disprove a state of denial.

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ssmitherzz

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Worried

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October 25, 2008, 9:06 pm PDT

you're not alone...

Quote From: phleblori

I am so glad you are doing this show Dr. Phil... I am going to make my son watch it with me..

He is 15yrs old and has been addicted to "runescape" for many yrs.. I thought he would outgrow it,but

he hasn't. We have given him chance after chance to have to try to control it himself and he's failed. Talks

after talks trying to explain, we are so exhausted. We finally took it away from him and ofcourse he's angry

so angry at us, he won't talk, he tries to trade one addiction for another and we stop it also. He just thinks

we are terrible parents. He's now only allowed to play on sat. for 3 hrs. Now since he can't play the game he goes on the computer and watches other people play, and he still tries to tell us that he's not addicted, to give him a chance. Please, I will be so anxious to see what advice you can give us on this, and hopefully when my son watches the show he will see what addiction can do. I have an appt with his counselor at school on tues to see if he can help us.. He's depressed.

We share your same concerns and one thing I was disappointed about in this show, was the lack of advice about what to DO if you already know that your child spends too much time playing without having to "put a clock on them". Our son (16) plays many games including Runescape, Halo, Rockband, etc. As a child, we lived on a street where there were never any kids his age to play with and the games were a good "filler". Now he's in high school and has lots of friends, but even when they all get together, the video games are the main attraction and the center of attention. We haven't wanted to make too much of it since he's a straight A student, but now that he's 16 and isn't anywhere close to growing out of it, we've recently decided it's our job to do an intervention. We've given him the choice of finding other things to do...going to the gym, reading, taking up a sport, etc. and if he doesn't take it upon himself to make the changes, then he's going to have to get a part time job to occupy his time. Seriously,we feel like all we do is harp on him all the time but he doesn't get it or see it and it's such a waste. We have seriously considered just pulling the plug on ALL of it. He's a real happy and well adjusted kid and we don't have the depression to deal with...YET. If he falls into depression over it, then that will just confirm what we already know which is that there is a problem and it needs to be dealt with now before he turns into one of those full-grown men on the show who can't experience the joy of a loving relationship with a wife and children because of a g-a-m-e. If we manage to fix it at home, there's always the issue of going to a friends house where the parents aren't on the same page we are. What to do, what to do???

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BrianX29

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Bored

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October 26, 2008, 11:44 am PDT

Virtual Chaos

The game called World of Warcraft. Ive heard that only NERDS, DORKS and GEEKS and really really highly educated people like to play that game...........

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