The world was shocked when in 2001, a 21-year-old man in Wisconsin put a rifle to his head and ended his life over a game of EverQuest. In 2004, blogs around the world picked up the headlines about a 13-year-old Chinese boy who fell to his death from a 24-storey building when attempting to fly off to "join the heroes of the game he worshipped,” Warcraft III. Time and again, we hear cases of gamers dying from playing a favorite online game for days without rest, with the most recent case of a 15-year-old Shanghai boy dying after 48 hours of consecutive play occurring just this past May. The stories seem endless, each bringing more headshaking from the general public and threats from politicians to stem the gaming tide with legislation.
It isn’t new news by any means, but it’s been over 6 years since the EverQuest suicide, and the death toll has only continued to rise. To date, over two dozen people worldwide have died PC game-related deaths, and with causes ranging from suicide, neglect of self, and even premeditated murder, the deeper psychological effects that the supposedly harmless past-time called online gaming deserve a closer look.
Gaming as Social Interaction
First of all, why do people play? We interviewed a few WoW addicts and heard answers ranging from “because all my friends play,” to “I like exploring the world,” to “because it’s fun to kill things.” As suggestive as the latter quote sounds, the young woman who spoke it assured us that it was a taste acquired from years of MMORPG-ing, and a testimonial to a game’s well-crafted battle system more than any real desire to hurt something.
As varied as the reasons were, one resounding answer was given time and again: people play online games “to socialize.”
“You save so much money playing WoW,” said Will, 27, an long-time StarCraft player. “A typical cable bill can be $50+ a month. A movie these days costs $10 per ticket. It's true that you have to pay a monthly subscription, but you're paying for an ever-evolving world. Just think: $15 a month for all your total entertainment expenses.“
WoW and similar MMORPGs with forums and messaging functions are indeed becoming a new social scene in and of themselves. On a typical game server, there are an estimated 1500 – 3000 players signed on at any given time, which is exponentially more than the amount of people a club hopper would encounter on a night out—and all for less than the cost of three drinks at the bar.
Better yet, there are plenty of activities to keep a player busy even when their favorite online companions are away.
“The game's initial appeal to me was all the extra little features,” said Evelyn, 27, an avid World of Warcraft player. “For example, you can fish and cook in WoW. You can also learn different professions. I went with tailoring and I can make some pretty obscene lookin’ tops and dresses!”
The downside of this, however, is that some players get to like their online lives a bit too much, spending hours a day at their computers to build up their character’s level and professions, or to be available for in-game meetings and quests. Devoting so much time to cultivating their online skills and relationships, time for real-life jobs, relationships, and even personal hygiene begins to give way. Oftentimes, game addiction is the next step and, in extreme cases, injury and death occur as a result.
Signs of Addiction
With the increasing number of lives gaming addiction has claimed, psychologists have begun turning a serious eye to an addiction that some consider akin to alcoholism. Usatoday.com has drawn up a list of warning signs for game addiction:
· Having a sense of well-being or euphoria while at the computer.
· Inability to stop.
· Craving more and more time at the computer.
· Neglecting family and friends.
· Feeling empty, depressed or irritable when not at the computer.
· Lying to family or an employer about computer activities.
The article goes on to state that those exhibiting even one of these warning signs may be in danger of becoming a game addict.
Governments Get Involved
Concern about gaming addiction has spurred into action the governments of China and Korea, where an estimated combined total of 50 million gamers spend upwards of $4 billion per year on games.
The Chinese government has attempted to curb overuse by implementing a “fatigue system,” in which players are tracked and limited to a set amount of continuous playing hours before their characters start to suffer consequences (e.g., a reduction in level and ability to farm) and impose stiff fines on internet cafes that admit minors. They’ve even opened an Internet addiction center, where treatment includes both traditional and alternative medicine as well as electric shock therapy.
The South Korean government has taken even more proactive measures. Gaming is a national pastime, fueled by its technology-crazed young people. The country has one of the highest rates of broadband access per capita in the world and tens of thousands of PC bahngs (public gaming rooms) where gamers can play on high-speed connections for just a dollar an hour. In addition, the country’s most famous gamers are treated like rock stars, receiving salaries into the $200,000s, unable to leave their homes without being instantly recognized and followed. Some young men, in search of this kind of fame and money, devote a majority of their time to perfecting their gaming skills so they can try out for one of 11 national teams. With the country in the throes of gaming fever, it’s little wonder that South Koreans have been especially susceptible to addiction: of the nearly two dozen game-related deaths reported, half of them were South Koreans.
To deal with the staggering numbers, the government has set up the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), which has been tracking players who contact them for help with gaming addiction. The numbers are staggering: they quadrupled from 2,243 in 2003 to 8,9778 in 2004. The next year, the number was expected top 12,000. In 2006, the government went a step further by opening a game addiction hotline.
Companies Help Out
The problem has become widespread enough that even corporations are jumping on the intervention bandwagon. A South Korean communications company, Xtive, claims to have developed an inaudible sound wave that will send subliminal messages to gamers to stop playing after a preset amount of time. The phonogram is meant to be built into a game, and will allow the user to preset how much time should pass before the message is played. Whether or not this method is effective or if it will even find its way into mainstream games is still ambiguous.
Fatal Addiction or Collateral Damage?
Game addiction: scientists have diagnosed its warning signs, companies are inventing means of preventing it, and legislators are creating laws to discourage it—but are we overreacting? After all, compared to the 400,000+ people who die annually from diseases caused by smoking addictions in the U.S. alone, what are two dozen over a span of six years internationally? Online gaming certainly isn’t the only hobby in which casualties result; take rock-climbing, for instance, which counts about 20 to 40 fatalities among its recreational practitioners per year in the United States alone.
Still, with China’s expanding internet availability poising it to overtake Korea as the biggest gaming market in the world, and user-friendly MMORPGs like WoW attracting a wider demographic of players, our guess is that gaming addiction will only increase before awareness becomes widespread enough to put a halt to it.
References:
Korea reacts to increase in game addiction, GameSpot, 9/12/05.
On Strength of Online Gaming, Chinese Market Soars, Slashdot, 5/7/07
Online gaming in the People’s Republic of China, wikipedia
China opens game-addiction clinic, Gamespot, 7/6/05
The Death of a Young Online Game Player, Zonaeuropa, 3/4/06
Internet Café Ordered to Pay For Online Game-Related Death, Pacific Epoch, 5/31/07
When Games Stop Being Fun, CNET News, 4/12/02
When Escape Seems Just a Mouse-Click Away, washingtonpost.com, 5/27/06
Fighting Game Addiction the Subliminal Way, GamePolitics.com, 3/13/07
Report: Korean game market to surpass $2 billion in 2007, gamespot.com, 7/12/06
Tips for fighting Internet Addiction, usatoday.com, 3/11/02
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 9/06
Go Ahead, Climb a Rock, Seattle Weekly.com, 7/20/05