Addicted to World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft by Blizzard, often referred to as WoW, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for the PC that may be the most addictive PC game ever made. One of the reasons why this particular game is so addictive is because of the leveling and equipment gains require several players to be online at once.

World of Warcraft (WOW) by Blizzard has many fine points and reasons to play. This being said, the great game that it is, comes with certain caveats. For one, it has great artwork, encourages team-cooperative play and has a system that benefits loyal players. Now this last element is deceiving. To level up in World of Warcraft, one needs to group with others and go on instance hunts, or area raids. This is fun, in that it creates a team-building environment, but it's diabolical in that it requires an unparalleled investment in time.

We are not talking one day a week here. And we are not talking group with a few friends. To get the great EPIC equipment, one often needs to ally with 15+ players to beat any of the real baddies in the game. Now this element is not exclusive to WOW, but more prominent because of its immense popularity. The point here is that Blizzard has created a game requiring virtual online interaction through teamwork and strategy where individuals slowly lose their lives (literally in any social network they belong).

People tend to play World of Warcraft for long periods of time. The game, thank you Blizzard for helping regulating time (at least tokenly) has a method where you can see your playing hours. The clock is nice for objective addiction studies in that it proves many players play for 8+ hour sessions, often on a daily basis. It is a very real attraction where players become enchanted with the character development and thus ignore the time spent to build he or her.

The fun does not stop here however. Since teamwork is required, clans and WebPages are developed outside the game, where officer powers are granted and there is a whole hierarchy of power and leadership - a player created hierarchy that carries over to the game. Web administrators restrict access, bestow pictures and basically do Blizzard's marketing goal of promotion all in the name of "fun."

The game has no end, and has been criticized as an indefinite cash cow, luring players to a social black hole. The release of the new expansion "Lich King" encourages more of the same, but more appetite for addiction. Although, the new content may seem like an ever-expanding customer service feature, the endless system guarantees that you will never "complete" or "totally conquer" WoW.

The key point about World of Warcraft is that it is not simply a game it exists as a second universe where people can involve themselves in role-playing that harkens back to the days of Dungeons and Dragons. Although one will hear, people use it to get away from reality; the truth of the matter is that many use it to avoid responsibility.

Now before, one argues, that the game does not encourage constant playing per its "rested state" (a state that empowers your character wile offline) I will prove this as a fallacy. Even if you benefit from resting, you do not gain the advantages - in equipment and leveling you do while playing. Hence, you may receive some benefit, it certainly does not compare to interacting online to improve character "damage per second." The end game here is that the "rested state" becomes a poor motivator to stay offline.

Finally, I wont fail to mention the presence of parental controls. I will aquiece that Blizzard inputted, controls to monitor playing time for concerned parents. This is great, except for the fact that you can bank on this feature being seldomly used. How many parents actively log on the WOW interface and go into individual character screens? Not many. Parents are simply not accustomed to the WoW extravaganza. Hence, there exists little use of this feature.

Overall, WoW may be a terrific game, but its addiction is deceptivel and deadly as the dragons that inhabit the dungeons. Get out, while you can or get your friend or family out. Especially the competitive ones. They fall prey to addiction even more striving to maintain their character's power above any and all other competing interests in Azeroth or the real World.