Should you finish reading my first post on the same topic, you now will have some good understanding on the World of Warcraft (WoW) game.
Although an addiction to computer game is typically linked to kids or teenagers, but it is not quite the same for the World of Warcraft (WoW). Almost 40% of all players in WoW actually comprise adult whose mean age is more than 20-year old. I have even heard some 50+ year old adults who have dedicated a significant portion of their time to play WoW. Before you start making any judgement, you should also know that these adults though have real jobs and come from different walks of life. Some of them are quite famous such as Hollywood stars Mila Kunis, Dave Chapelle, etc (…you can google it and extend the list yourself!!). Even a WoW playing hut has once been impressively designed by a WoW addict, who is also a promising PhD candidate from MIT in the US (http://web.media.mit.edu/~cati/wowpod.html). Personally, I even got to know at least two doctoral candidates and many full-time professional employees who used to spent (or are still spending) up to 20 hours a week playing this game!!
As I told you earlier, this game can be controversially addictive, which have led to various real-life issues such as broken marriage and family, violence, hallucination, health deterioration, etc (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/digital-life/games/world-of-warcraft-addicts-to-get-ingame-shrinks-20090827-f0qj.html). Some concerned experts have even set up rehabilitation centres specially-dedicated for WoW addicts, and a few websites have been dedicated to help curing this addiction (www.wowdetox.com). Even the popular, and yet offensive, US cartoon South Park has dedicated some of its episodes to make fun of the adults who play this game.
Why do people so love this game that even adults have been spending resources and their valuable time in front of their computer screen? And yet you can almost gain nothing tangible by playing this game.
The answer list may be endless, but I may only be able to answer the two most common reasons that drive many of them to do it. Firstly, it is related to the nature of the game itself which requires every player to endure the hardship of finishing a long chain of quests which can take up to few days in order to reach the top level. No such rule like “play it only 2-hours a week” can be applied into the game since a player will always be motivated to reach top levels as soon as possible by so many factors such as curiosity, invitation to join top-game raid, pride factor, or even just to make the full use of subscription money. To sum it up, the game itself offers so many alluring offers and uses its awesome 3-D world effect to attract casual gamers. That’s why I called this game a “Revolutionary” game of its type.
Secondly, adults play this game to fulfil their personal needs, which can range from self-fulfilment to social needs, and they sometimes use this game as a means of escaping the misery in their real life. One of the very core needs of human nature is the need of interaction with the other human being. But sometimes it cannot be completely fulfilled in real life due to various reasons, which then prompt a search for other alternatives. Many of these alternatives, including WoW game, can potentially yield negative impact in the human life. I like to think about it as a “soft” but destructive addiction, which can be as deadly as the addiction to drugs.
When I was in my hometown in Medan and Jakarta a few years ago, I still heard many young people still playing the old version of Warcraft and its expansion DotA. It’s still relieving though to know that the addiction of a WoW (online) or similar MMORPG game has not deeply infiltrated the life of young people in our nation (and it’s better still if it won’t happen at all!!). I think it is better off for the young people or computer freaks in our nation to invest their resources and time developing such revolutionary and creative game (already one project has started, http://www.nusantara-online.com/), but likewise when you create something, you should assess its potential impact and take responsibility to develop some sort of control.
