Before I question some of the hyperbole floating around the mainstream media over the 'World of Warcraft is like crack' story, I have to make a disclosure. I do play World of Warcraft and am in fact a Level 80 Fire Mage. Snigger all you want, but there's dozens, if not hundreds of you reading this that play WoW too, and you love it. More on that later. The latest iteration of … [Read more...] about World of Warcraft: the ‘crack’ myth
addiction
The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction – a book review
This book review appeared yesterday over on Metaverse Health, but given the book's Australian author and it's broad examination of online behaviour, I thought it was worth re-posting it here. Nicola Johnson from the University of Wollongong in Australia, recently released a book titled The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction - The Misrecognition of Leisure and Learning. … [Read more...] about The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction – a book review
The rise and rise of the Game Widow
(From our sister site, Metaverse Health) This article in the Canadian publication, the London Free Press, describes in detail a couple of case studies of gaming addicts. The case studies themselves paint a fairly standard picture of someone with a compulsion for intensive gaming, though some effort has been made to provide balanced coverage of the issue. The premise of the … [Read more...] about The rise and rise of the Game Widow
What looks like addiction, but is not – Virtual Addiction, Part 3
I spend hours with my computer. It is my favorite tool. I spend time in and out of virtual worlds; I spend time on and off the Internet, surfing with my browser. I communicate, I work, I play. From the sheer amount of time spent with my machine during the day, according to some measures, it would be correct to say that I am addicted to the behaviour of using my computer. I do … [Read more...] about What looks like addiction, but is not – Virtual Addiction, Part 3
On Being a Virtual World Whore – Virtual Addiction, Part 2
There's been a great deal of debate of whether "Internet Addiction" and its close cousin, "Virtual World Addiction", should be classified as disorders separate from other behavioral addictions. Psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg reputedly borrowed the criteria for substance use and impulse-control disorders from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition … [Read more...] about On Being a Virtual World Whore – Virtual Addiction, Part 2