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World of Warcraft: The 'crack cocaine' of gaming

by jackwalk | April 22, 2009 at 05:27 pm

224 views | 12 Recommendations | 2 comments

We all have addictions, small or large. They toy with us. They ruffle our hair, whisper in our ear, slip their hands down our shirts, and tickle us just the way we like it.

Among gamers, a key addiction, according to Sweden's Youth Care Foundation, is playing World of Warcraft.

"There is not a single case of game addiction that we have worked with in which World of Warcraft has not played a part," the foundation's Sven Rollenhagen told the Metro newspaper.

Could that be because World of Warcraft may enjoy the majority of the market that some might describe as "People All Over The World Playing This Thing Without Washing, Eating, Cleaning Their Teeth, Or Attending To Their Underarms"?

Doesn't he look to you as if he's on something? However, just in case the message hadn't quite sunk in, Mr. Rollenhagen declared, "It is the crack cocaine of the computer game world."

This was shortly after suggesting that WoW is "the most dangerous game on the market."

I am sure that the foundation, whose Web site carries a curious Pac-Man image and the phrase "Game Over-Stockholm," does valuable work. But given that Mr. Rollenhagen's organization works with all kinds of addictions, which is the most serious?

The foundation says that in 2007, it received 2,000 calls to its addiction helpline, 170 of which concerned computer games. Presumably, all 170 calls involved World of Warcraft. Would it be fair to ask how many of the 2,000 involved crack?

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Jarrett Martineau

at 08:14 on April 23rd, 2009

Thanks for the post, however, this story is copied verbatim from CNET. Please use the Highlight tool to quote an excerpt from an external source — and review our Contributor Guidelines for more help.

Aristova (not verified)

at 23:27 on May 3rd, 2009

I know of warcraft. Funnily enough my friend just recently created a site for people with the addictions to hopefully find assistance and help each other ( http://www.intotheblizz.com/ ). I think that these addictions though are fine if the person is happy with the way life is and are also managing to keep a grip on life while playing.

I think the game is obviously built to absorb people into the fantasy world and get them hooked but in the end it's up to the person to get completely sucked in or have it in moderation like everything else. Either way a gamer, one way or another, will probably be spending most of his or her time playing some form of game whether this one or anything else out there.