Blogger discusses EverQuest addiction
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Oct 21st 2009 at 11:00AM
Filed under: EverQuest, Culture, Opinion
It's easy to talk about gaming addiction as an abstract concept, but whether or not you think the idea holds a lot of water there are an awful lot of studies and examinations of it that just won't go away. Still, the concept is easy to deny. The human element, however, makes it much more real and that much harder to ignore. Which is why, ultimately, it's probably a good thing for everyone that Kotaku's editor Mike Fahey has written up his story of his EverQuest addiction -- the origin, the escalation, and the recovery of sorts.
Mike describes how the death of his relationship led to him escaping into the video game that increasingly was preferrable to his normal life -- which, in turn, led to him winding up without his car, then without a job, and then ultimately to the point that we could probably see coming, where the game became preferrable to pursuing a romantic relationship. He chronicles the downward slide, followed by the slow crawl back out of being addicted -- but, at the end, he doesn't conclude that EverQuest itself is the problem.
As he himself puts it regarding his addiction: "I hid. I ran from my problems, hiding away in a virtual fantasy world instead of confronting the issues that might have been easily resolved if I had addressed them directly." His story focuses not upon the game, but on his own responses and how they were what was ultimately responsible for what happened and where he wound up. It's an interesting piece for the conclusion alone, and worth reading for anyone with even the slightest stake in the topic of game addiction -- which, for those of us who play MMOs, should really just include all of us.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
stabdriver said on 11:59AM 10-21-2009
Could be obsessive compulsive disorder too.
Reply
Elearin said on 3:07PM 10-21-2009
I've had my own experiences with game addiction (though not to as drastic a degree), and I agree completely with him. It was never about the game, it was about retreating from realtiy and the problems I was experiencing in my life. It could just as easily have been alcohol, drugs, sex, anything. My escape method just happened to be a video game.
Reply
Jack said on 2:12PM 10-21-2009
Sometimes its better to run from your problems, hiding away in a virtual fantasy world instead of of facing the issues and find out the cold hard true that there is no easy way to deal with them and that you will end up unhappy no matter what you do and hurting the person you try to make a life with.... its better to hide in a virtual world where you matter and people care about you them life in the real world where you life is in the middle of no where(San Juan, Argentina) Almost no money, A freelance job that not even pays the money to pay the bills that you are about to loss like some hacker just crash all the sites you did over the pass 5 years and it will take you months to get them all running again, no friends or any kind of life, 1000s of KMs away from your born place (Nijmegen, The Netherlands). No one to talk to but your wife that got most stuff end in one discussion... And she all the time remember you how much better her life will be when she not was with you...... No where to go at all! No way of turning to your family like they pretty much hate you all..... Please tell me how this can ever end well for me....
Reply
Andy G. said on 2:26PM 10-21-2009
Here is the TL;DR version for those who don't feel like dealing with the wall of text:
1. Guy had job, car, and GF
2. Guy loses GF and picks up EQ instead
3. Guy gets fired and loses car but HOLY CRAP ANCIENT CYCLOPS IS UP
4. GF comes back and is like "oh hei, you want sexy time?" and the guy is like "STFU LVL 40 HOOOOOOO"
5. GF dumps him again
6. Guy moves back in with his parents who are like "who the hell are you?"
7. Guy quits EQ and gets the girl back, BUT AT WHAT COST?
Reply
mysecretid said on 5:08PM 10-21-2009
@Andy G.
Your "short version" is the equivalent of saying the Star Wars trilogy was about "a farm kid who left home to fly a spaceship", or saying the Lord of the Rings was about "some short guys who needed to throw out some old jewelry".
You got the basic outline, but you entirely missed the point.
noamraz05 said on 4:51PM 10-21-2009
He is just a guy that doesnt have a self-control.
Yeah, there are "seasons" that I play non-stop, but after a week or to I'm saying to my self: "halt!", and I'm doing it.
Reply
eqjase said on 5:11PM 10-21-2009
Whine whine whine. Less QQ more PEW PEW both ingame and IRL. Nail your GF WHILE grinding in an mmo, women want a man that is confident AND pays attention to them.
I play hard and work hard. In game and out.
You sound like an emo brat, I'd dump you too.
Reply
Kaamos said on 8:39PM 10-21-2009
FAKE FAKE FAKE
Fake.
Reply
Sean said on 1:35AM 10-22-2009
As a supplement, check out this awesome read on the state of discourse and research about game addiction:
http://neilsclark.blogspot.com/2009/10/big-trouble-in-little-articles-ten-game.html
Reply