Dude, I've seen some hard core gamers but this is a whole new level!

The Ultimate Warcraft Fan? (http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/gamer-juggles-over-30-warcraft-characters/1255554)

This guy, runs raids and plays 36 accounts all by himself on eleven computers! It costs him over $7000 in subscription fees! I don't know about you, but someone is pretty damn dedicated. I won't pay for one WoW account, let alone 36 XD.

The Set Up is Pretty Sick (http://videogames.yahoo.com/featurescreenshot?eid=1255557&index=0)

Yeah, I saw about this on digg. The guy apparently does the raids all by himself but with the aid of some game macros. It's amazing the time and money some people have. Time to play + putting together those awesome rigs. Hope the rigs were custom, if not then there's a perfectly good waste of time he could have been putting together his own pc's which would have given the guy more awesome points.

Wonder if he has considered playing Guild Wars, no subscription fees. Haha!

Wow, I believe it's okay to play games for recreation, but this is well... a bit over the top. When people spend literally their entire lives in a silly game that will be long forgotten years from now is just a waste of life, and time. What can they say on their tombstone, "Here lies -*insert name* --- He was level 70 in WoW --- Slayed many n00bs"

That's too much. I'm all for using some of your time to play games -- I do it myself. But I feel like this guy isn't actually... creating, I guess. Personally, I like Freud's definition of humanity that he gave to a reporter when he visited America: "to love and to work." By work, I think he meant having some kind of creative output (which, strangely enough, comes from sexual desire...). Plus, I feel like a full life ought to involve a sense of connection with others.

Is he really good at playing a game? Yes. Does that mean he's actually making a difference for anyone but himself? Maybe not. Maybe we just have different values on what a good life is, but I know I couldn't spend all my time in a virtual world, even if it were life-like.

EDIT
Of course, I don't actually know what else he does with his life. But WoW seems like it takes up a lot of time....

What can they say on their tombstone, "Here lies -*insert name* --- He was level 70 in WoW --- Slayed many n00bs"

LOL XD.

And I thought I had dedication to video games.
Or is this obsession.
Or a combination of both, that is pretty scary.
I didn't think a person would do this.
This was like :eek: to me.
I thought a whole bunch of computer screens and playing video games was only a story thing.
I'm scared now.

Sounds like my older brother.

I wonder what a person like that would do if power was cut from his house, and couldnt play the game for a day...

Also, i wonder what the death rate would be if Blizzard one day said quits to WOW and took their profits and braught a few small islands.

Also, i wonder what the death rate would be if Blizzard one day said quits to WOW and took their profits and braught a few small islands.

I think a better question would be how long before public outrage forced the US government to invade the Blizzard Isles :p.

WOW is addictive. I used to think of myself as a WOW widow. "Honey, I'm naked and horny, come to bed." "Hold on, I'm doing a raid and I'm SO close to levelling." "Fine, I'm going to bed alone...honey...HONEY" "What? Yeah. Fine. Goodnight." Talk about a blow to the ego. Thank God we are too poor to keep up the subscription. LOL Althoug he did just get Saints Row 2. Sigh.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p234/Scarlett_156/wow-jenkins.jpg

But seriously, folks: If you substituted the words "heroin", "cocaine", "betting on horse races", or "porn" for "World of Warcraft" here it would be a more cut-and-dried example of someone who has a TERRIBLE PROBLEM, lol, and no one would consider it the least bit cool or noteworthy.

On a more positive note: I do love hearing about how many people get so sucked into the cyber-world that they abandon normal existence completely. It keeps em off the streets, right? ;)yours in Chaos, Scarlett

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p234/Scarlett_156/wow-jenkins.jpg

The greatest episode of South Park eva :D.

Yes people. We are dealing with someone, with absolutely, no life.

Question: How do you kill that which has no life?

XD XD XD XD XD

Question: How do you kill that which has no life?

Holy damage should do the trick.
/nerd

As addicting as Wow is, it'll never beat its elder

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7061/wowjq9.jpg
By speedyjjj (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/speedyjjj) at 2008-10-16

They were the days! (Actually i never played it, just was around when it was doing the rounds in the 90s))

I think sick is exactly the word to describe that... An addiction of that level is staggering. If it was herion rather than WoW, he'd have been dead long before reaching this stage.

I think sick is exactly the word to describe that... An addiction of that level is staggering. If it was herion rather than WoW, he'd have been dead long before reaching this stage.

Actually the "sick" part was more referring to "wicked sick" as in seriously dedicated. Boy is he dedicated. I wonder how he earns all that money to pay for that.

I think sick is exactly the word to describe that... An addiction of that level is staggering. If it was herion rather than WoW, he'd have been dead long before reaching this stage.
That's a bit harsh, don't you think? The only thing we know about him is that he has a lot of money and a pretty cool pc setup. I'd like an actual interview before making my judgment.

Sick might be harsh, but sad isnt

but who am i to judge ones passion.....

A doctor would indeed call someone like that an "addict", regardless of whether the person could afford his substance or not.

Yes, a heroin addict is passionate about heroin and has a relationship with the drug that he takes very seriously--but he's still considered by medical science to be ill.

Most of the drug addicts I'm personally acquainted with would kill to be able to spend $7,000 a month on their favorite drug--and some of them, usually via means of some illegal activity such as prostitution or thievery, do actually spend more than that. (NOTE: These are not people I am really close to, but people I know or have known.)

One man who was a client at the mental health center I used to work at started off doing about $100 worth of cocaine a week, which he could easily afford since he owned a home decorating business. Then he started spending $200 a week on coke--then $500 a week, then $1000 a week. At that point his business was starting to suffer because of his habit. He ended up losing his business. At that point he started going out with a partner and burglarizing homes to get the money he needed to buy his drug.

His business had been netting him over $250,000 a year, and he had been living a great lifestyle--he was married, had kids, had lots of toys to play with, etc. When I first encountered him at the mental health center he was under a court order to get treatment as part of his probation, because he had finally been caught burglarizing a home. His wife had divorced him and he had lost his business.

You could certainly say this man had a "passion" for cocaine! Was he sick? I think that anyone would and perhaps should have the right to judge someone like that, as it is very, very obviously abnormal.

Look at it this way: If you have a passion for a particular person, you buy that person gifts, take him/her to dinner, and spend as much time with him/her as you can, right? That's healthy, normal, and good "passion".

If you started spending $7,000 a month on this person (whether you could afford it or not), and spending 20 hours a day with that person, and were otherwise obsessed with that person to the point that it consumed your entire life and all your waking hours--would you still consider that a "passion"? Or would it be an "illness"...? (This is a serious question.) xoxoxo

I can't judge that person since I don't know him. I can judge my husband for cohosing WOW over sex with his wife (it sucks to be repeatedly rejected for a video game). I can judge his friends who have kids yet have 5 characters over level 70 and spend all day on the computer and none with his kids. Even if it is not classically "addictive" it can certainly become compulsive and interfere with your life in a negative way.

If you started spending $7,000 a month on this person (whether you could afford it or not), and spending 20 hours a day with that person, and were otherwise obsessed with that person to the point that it consumed your entire life and all your waking hours--would you still consider that a "passion"? Or would it be an "illness"...? (This is a serious question.) xoxoxo

Most certainly not an illness by any account, if you could afford it, youd still be i the $$ right, healthy both physically and mentally, so no ;). Time wise it wouldnt be bad as some people have to work with their partners, so youtr allowed to groan and winge than. :D

If you started spending $7,000 a month on this person (whether you could afford it or not), and spending 20 hours a day with that person, and were otherwise obsessed with that person to the point that it consumed your entire life and all your waking hours--would you still consider that a "passion"? Or would it be an "illness"...? (This is a serious question.) xoxoxo
Are they mutually exclusive?
Anyway, I don't think this guy spends 20 hours a day playing (just in case that was what you were trying to say). He has to get those 7000$ a month SOMEHOW.

Don't take my word for it; after all, I'm not a doctor (I just play one on TV.)

You should speak to an actual doctor or someone with a medical degree about it, and see what he/she would say. Many drug addicts are shockingly healthy, and indeed one can't even tell they are addicts unless one knows them. The medical profession doesn't differentiate between different substances, but treats them all pretty much the same. Google the phrase "video gaming addiction" (in quotes to get better results) and see what you come up with.

If it was gambling, and the guy could afford the $7,000 a month he lost at the track--you would call it a sickness, wouldn't you? The medical profession does!

And really--you don't need to defend this guy, or take my remarks personally. If you had to live around Mr. Sick Gamer, you would probably have started to think there was something wrong with him long ago, either that or he would have dragged you into his addiction along with him. That's what addicts do--there's never a middle ground. xoxo

Not defending him at all. I just think we're under-informed, that's all. Also, I don't think video game addiction is in the DSM, which is pretty much the bible in the psychiatric business.

Not defending him at all. I just think we're under-informed, that's all. Also, I don't think video game addiction is in the DSM, which is pretty much the bible in the psychiatric business.

DMS-IV (the latest edition) was published in 1994, if memory serves. That's not particularly up to date.

DMS-IV (the latest edition) was published in 1994, if memory serves. That's not particularly up to date.
Oh, lol, I wasnt' aware. I just assumed they updated it. Do they plan on releasing another version or something? I'm sure they've made some breakthrough in the last 14 years, haha.

Oh, lol, I wasnt' aware. I just assumed they updated it. Do they plan on releasing another version or something? I'm sure they've made some breakthrough in the last 14 years, haha.

DSM-V is scheduled to be released in 2012. They do simple text and organization revisions as needed, but major revisions happen around every two decades.

I wouldn't classify a video game itself as an addiction. Usually, when one has an unhealthy obsession with video games, they are used as an outlet for underlying problems.

I'm not trying to ruffle anyone's feathers here. I am a gamer myself, though lately I don't have much time for games as I am working three jobs and also trying to write. I've also been a heroin addict before and known people who were, and been around addicts of one type or another. A non-drug-related addiction such as gambling (which is after all gaming, just not VIDEO gaming) is still considered an addiction, and the addict is considered ill.

A schizophrenic may be perfectly healthy to all appearances and even to a medical checkup--but he's still sick. You just can't see his illness.

I know lots of people who love video games, just as I do, and who spend lots of time gaming. However, there's a huge difference between a guy who will interrupt his game so that he can sit down and eat dinner with his family--even though he might be thinking about the game the whole time--and a guy who will miss the birth of his child because he's about to level up. (And yes, it does happen!)

The guy in the OP is obviously obsessed with WoW. Your point that none of us knows him personally is a valid one, but from the evidence presented, it kinda seems like he has a problem. If it was a drug that he was spending so much money on, or shoes, or racetrack betting, people would AT THE VERY LEAST be condemning him for wasting his time and money, whether he could afford it or not. xoxoxo

I agree, it think it's likely for him to have a problem. I hope he doesn't and he's just a quasi-rich guy having a lot of fun.
If it was a drug that he was spending so much money on, or shoes, or racetrack betting, people would AT THE VERY LEAST be condemning him for wasting his time and money, whether he could afford it or not.
I'm sure they are :p, but I don't like the idea of people condemning for wasting his time and money. It's his time and money. If I wanted to spend 7000$ on shoes, nobody better condemn me for it. (Unless it is a psychological problem)

I'm sure they are :p, but I don't like the idea of people condemning for wasting his time and money. It's his time and money. If I wanted to spend 7000$ on shoes, nobody better condemn me for it. (Unless it is a psychological problem)

Actually I'd condemn you for very poor cost-benefit analysis :p.

Spending $7000 on shoes might give the economy a boost. I say go for it. Whether or not something is a problem is not determined by the amount of time of money someone invests into it, but by the impact that it has on his/her life. If the fantasy world of gaming is keeping you from face to face interaction with friends and family, it is a problem. If the games take more priority than your job, and you are facing disciplinary actions or termination, but can't stop playing, that's a problem. If you can't stop playing long enough to eat, drink, or sleep, that's a problem.

Whether or not something is a problem is not determined by the amount of time of money someone invests into it, but by the impact that it has on his/her life.

Nicely said. :)

I own 1 WoW account, and I play probly about a maximum of 2 hours a day, so not bad. I actually take 5 month breaks every now and then. It's a fun game, but damn is it addicting.

I knew a guy that played almost 40 hours a week, he had a part time job and wow and that's it. I couldn't do that, I have school, work, friends. I have a life besides WoW :p

and i thought i was a hardcore gamer, sheesh:p

The berserk gamer is ignoring his studies,verily ignoring,apparently too indolent.The gamer is under duress to spend his money on games,too unfeasible.Wouldn't this gamer spend the money on studies?Well,probably the gamer's family is affluent.

If that addictive gamer hankers for this,let it be.I abhor playing online games,be it cliche or novel.Well,when did I quit playing games?On this year.Precisely and candidly,I quit as I do not know why,I do not know why I behave the way I am?But it is laudable to relinquish playing games,I now spend my whole day reading and assimilating the enigma of doubts.

It costs me exactly $5711 in subscription costs per year

Where is everyone getting the $7000 a month from :confused:

Anyway, people spend more money and probably just as much time with other hobbies without being labelled as "sick", as the guy tries to say in the article. I would call him "sad" by my standards, as im sure most people would. Maybe he is "sick" if people want to put a label on it, but who can really say that simply based on the fact that he likes WoW and his family is willing to spend too much money buying him computers...

I played Lord of the Rings Online for a few months, mainly because I loved Lord of the Rings as a kid, and I was amazed at how much time people are willing to put into MMORPG's. Some guys who you would see logged in during the morning would still be there late at night (15 hours later) without taking a break, eating at their keyboard, and that's no joke. They were doing this day after day, and some of them even had kids.

As far as I'm concerned, there's a form of exploitation at work. These people hungered for the in-game kudos (armour, ranks, titles etc) because they got respect and esteem in-game for them that they seemed to lack in real-life. The game developers would turn their game into a repetitive time-sink (grinding and raiding) to keep these needy individuals hooked for longer and longer, paying subs all the while.