By Lisa Eldred
"During my addiction, I hated, truly hated, going out with family during my 'World of Warcraft (WoW) time.' I never organized anything with my friends, I sulked about having to work during the weekends, I dropped all my interests...just because of WoW. I became withdrawn, irritable and lifeless."
"I'm moving to a new job soon, my first job, the one with the degree I almost didn't get due to playing WoW instead of studying."
"My son committed suicide Nov. 2010. His addiction to WoW had ruined his marriage."
These are just a handful of stories from World of Warcraft players or their loved ones, taken from WoWaholics.org. But they are also the sensationalist ones-the kind that get picked up by major news outlets and daytime talk shows because they're compelling, if atypical. These are the stories leading to studies about video game addiction. And these are the stories leading to the stereotype of gamers that they are, at 40 years old, still living in Mom's basement and living off a steady diet of Doritos and Mountain Dew.
But what does it mean to be addicted to gaming? And why do Massive Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) seem to lead to addictions? Read more...
