A disturbing look at WoW and other MMORPGs

[VGsatomi]

It appears that at least China has come to realize just how big the MMORPG addiction problem is among its populace. So far, to my knowledge (so correct me if I'm wrong), China is the only country where people have been MURDERED over the theft of online game items, swords, ect. That was probably the eye opener, but now the Chinese government is actually taking action against this issue.

You can real all about it here: (thanks to DDNGW for the link)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4183340.stm

Although murder may not be the case, the problem of overall deaths is much worse in Korea then in any other country, where people have been known to straight up die in internet cafes due to lach of food and sleep.


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Will Darky be next...?

 

[VGsatomi]

I know I had my share MMORPG addiction with ROSE online...but them deleting everyones carachters during a server reset just because they couldnt stop a few hackers fixed that right up for me. Never went back


But after seeing this: http://wowseriousbusiness.ytmnd.com/
...It looks like murder is not far off here in the US, too... :roll:
-VGsatomi

 

[Leopard]

Wanna know my opinion about them? they are pathetic! Yes, that's truly pathetic to everyone that very addicted to MMORPG. Even, i hate people that addicted to something regardless what it is. Why the hell they depends their live on something, meanwhile live it self offers you more happiness and joyful, rather than such a pathetic little tiny unreal dumbface RPG character!

God! They wanna kill people just because he stole your little tiny pic of ugly sword? Why don't you wreck your computer because it steals your VALUEABLE life?

Oh, man tell to them, eats will make your stomach full and you can become stronger like your warrior! Sleep will make you dreams about being a knight or a wizard! Life will make you more respected by everyone arrounds you, like you have level 99!

Hope Darky not become one of them.........

 

[SeaGull1723]

I think I have gotten pissed off at someone for stealing, but I don't remember pulling a knife or gun and eating their remains. =P

Scary really. With an internet cafe not far behind, I'm already scared. =/

 

[Tr!KzZ]

But not only on MMORPG's people die, also at the "normal" games like starcraft... here look at my link, its a report about an 28-year old korean who died at 50 hours on constant playing this game (bad englsih, i know ^_^) http://www.giga.de/redirect/related...://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4137782.stm

I also read a report about an small family: the parents of an (dont know) 1-3 years-old were on a ineternet cáfe to play WoW for only 2 hours and want to go back, the child was in bed and dont know think he sleeps, and the grandma are living above them after 6hours the parents come back and the child was dead, they could ask grandma and nothing happens but WoW was important.... i cant find the link sry, but these are already incredibly the people so addicted after play are that they from rage their friends kill or even their small child leave behind...

 

[Norinrad]

Well, it only proves that MMORPGs are for clever people only.

 

[Tiki]

I wonder where my post has gone to? zomg mod powers

 

[DarkShadow]

Kinda mixed feelings. Although that's definitive a step into the right direction, China is simply generalizing the problem a little bit. For example, I don't have much time to play. So, sometimes at the weekends, if none of my friends have time to spare, it could happen that I play up to six hours (what would result into punishment following that law). Hmm, perhaps it's simply our past that makes me a little bit sceptic if a government tries to control their people. At least, the punishment is simply affecting the online character what's really a good idea. Anyway, freaks that need to play that much will always find a way around.

 

[Cyberatog]

The first known murders and death in asia was in Thailand 5 years or so, but I can be wrong.

Playing counterstrike, a player killed another player in the game with a knife, minutes later he did the same thing with the player in real life. Next week another death was reported after a player had starved to death at an internet café.

Asia is unfortunatly the area of the world with most deaths due to psychotic players or extreme addicts. Of course, we've heard of EverQuest breaking up families in the US, Final Fantasy death cults in Russia, DukeNukem murders in Brazil and Soccer manager games ruining lives. I believe all these are because of people that has little to do, and probably have no friends or all friends are geeks.

My tip? Numerous hobbies, work and food save lives!

 

[InStars]

OMG those chinese are MAD...
Murder real people only for game...

 

[abriko]

Yep it's real.. i'm in China now and they are crazy about wow. There is wow advertising everyhere in the street, there is WOW coca cola, TV advertising...
But it's not a problem about Mmorpg.. here there is a lot of mini-game on internet, and there is QQ ! QQ is the worth. QQ is just a msn-like.. but they are crazy about that ! Youngs people waste their time on it and i can't understand why. All the day, half of the night... after seen that i'm afraid by the wow-like game !! My girlfriend's cousin went to hospital because he stayed on QQ and didn't eat since 6 days and had a hole in his stomach, exactly a gastric ulcer !!!

 

[VGsatomi]

@ Cyber:

Yeah, I've personally known some people here who quitheir jobs just so they could have more time to play EQ. And an old roomate in the army went AWOL....taking only his his laptop and EQ with him. (he,for a while, put 17 hours a day into that game)
....disturbing....
-VGsatomi

 

[Daminon]

I thought Korea was crazy when I heard that the send Starcraft competitions on TV but I would never believe anything like this before I heard that story about the child and the gradma some weeks ago.
I play computer games a lot and have always done but I don't play any MMORPGs and I hate all those CS-freaks. Computer games are not the only thing in your life. It's not the best thing either. I don't even like that some mulitplayer games are played as sports where the players train 3 hours a day. That's just so dorky. I can't understand how people can be like this. To let their computer games control their lives. To actually kill each other just becouse of a computer game.
To mention somethin simialr but in smaller size, two (as much I know) persons at my school stayed home 2 days when their wow games had arrived. I thought that was wired.

 

[Fubb_The_Man]

come on!

So what if the whole chinise comunity is addicted!! let them die or let them live as they choose! and come on! Murde someone just becuse they took your god damn sword!! the one they murdered will never come back to life! but of course the one that murdered thinks that there are Spirit healer's 2 in real life? so he can just res him and he will come back with ress sickness?! that is bloody crazy! and i dont think Darky will become one of them! come on he has a website and he has lived so far hasent he?

 

[Pyrodactyl]

I think it's a stupid thing when people forget about their lives to play a computer game. I can't actually imagine anyone playing for so long that they forget to eat or die because they're so tired, so these things are quite wierd for me... Not that i do not play hours in a row, but when i get hungry, i stand up and stop playing to go and eat.

However i don't think that regulations and punishment is a good solution to stop computer addiction. It would be better to somehow show them how to live without playing 10 hours a day.

 

[Kimbo]

I'm gettin scared. I play the comp for about 10 hrs a day (if school day i play 5) Im GETTIN SCARED!! HELP ME!!!

 

[VampireKB]

Heh

And somebody say that Russians are crazy

P.S. i know only 3 murders at Moscow city (little child kill his grandmother for playing a little more CS . 1 man die while playing UO . and 1 guy didn't kill anyone but he is now at (damn my english becomes really bad every year :\ ) psychology center ....

Darky will be next...

:lol:

 

[stuffkikker]

as bizarre these things may sound,
murder happens over the most ridiculous stuff anyway. some people just snap for all the wrong reasons. There have been murders over parking spots!
and people dying from exhaustion like the korean playing 50 hours straigt; there are plenty of deaths in sports due to exhaustion. As a matter of fact, Im pretty certain there have been deaths due to excessive tv-watching; some people just neglect their body emergency systems, which is enforced by the flow a game can bring you in.. but pretty much every hobby can create flow.
Just saying that although such reports may portray aledged deadly sides of gaming, in my opinion this is just gaming filling the slot so many things can. Its just the catalyst for already psychotic/selfneglecting idiots looking for something to trigger their (self)destructive behavior.

just my 2 cents on this shit.

 

[Kimbo]

Well i get tired,and sore legs and stuff, but I dont care. Hey if I dont respond within a week at this site at all, u know what has happened too me....

 

[LoRDMoRVaN]

Well, in the USA people died because other people killed them because the dead ones had stolen their virtual money. So not only China is the evil country...

 

[VGsatomi]

Who said anyone was "evil"?

Of course people died in the US over gaming. I remember when someone got shot and killed just because they beat somone at a game of streetfighter 2. This just regarding MMORPGs.

I made this post because so far, only China is passing laws against it.
-VGsatomi

 

[King_Nothin]

Hard to imagine that someone could be killed for such an insignificant as an imaginary item. But I know from experience that if someone is just trying to annoy you (say if the victim was gloating about it), I'd want to hurt them too... Guess some people just have less restraint than others.

Also, about the people playing so much that they die. I'm pretty sure most people here have at some point or another lost track of time or haven't paid attention to their body when they've been hungry or tired.. It's just that some people seem to take it further than others.

 

[mr_coolies]

Farrrrr out. This stuff'd better not bring up issues about gaming. The last thing my barely-there sanity and psycopathic homicidal alter egos need now is potential serious action taken over the "hardcore" gamers' actions.[/i]

 

[VampireKB]

Computer gamers are same addicted as those you are smoking or using drugs.........

Young ppl haven't enough will power and that's why they die.

If LAW lol makes a rule that only children AFTER 13 years old could play computer games NOT MORE than 4 hours a day. Only then the situation will be normal.

 

[SeaGull1723]

Farrrrr out. This stuff'd better not bring up issues about gaming. The last thing my barely-there sanity and psycopathic homicidal alter egos need now is potential serious action taken over the "hardcore" gamers' actions.[/i]

Oh noes! Hillary Clinton is now going to use this as antoher way to banned M rated games and possibly T rated games. America will surely kill the video game industry now.

/sarcasm off

 

[Eusira]

If they use that evidence of murder over video games to ban them, then that will cause some problems. Kinda like the prohibition (heh).
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=158

Anyway, I think people are "uber-nerds" to say, to be so immersed into a game. Obviously people find hundreds of ways to bypass the law. Prohibition yet again. What I find disturbing is how a couple of parents can kill their child because of a WoW addiction. And even stranger, you don't hear any lawsuits being filed against Bliz or something

 

[VGsatomi]

Well, they succesfully banned vidio games from greece when they couldnt ditinquish between them and gambling machines (which was illegal prior). Still not sure if their politicians pulle dtheir head out of their ass and lifted that ban yet. Never bothered checking up.

What the ban would do here, since so many games are made here, would prevent game makers from MAKING T/M rated games....underground resistance cant do anything about that except import japanese T/M rated games instead.
-VGsatomi

 

[Daminon]

Gues what I heard on radio today here in Sweden, about the korean who played 50 hours and died.

 

[aarkshark]

Whoa...

and i think I play alot...


And concerning the murder thing...

If people piss you off, just dont group with them or ignore them, no need to go to extreme measures :?

 

[ACDS2]

Wanna know my opinion about them? they are pathetic! Yes, that's truly pathetic to everyone that very addicted to MMORPG. Even, i hate people that addicted to something regardless what it is. Why the hell they depends their live on something, meanwhile live it self offers you more happiness and joyful, rather than such a pathetic little tiny unreal dumbface RPG character!

well,imagine what you are gonna do if the simplest happiness/joy is not achieveable in RL?you would definately seek for the achievements in a virtual world-that's also what MMORPGs are for.
which one you will choose from:
1.the 'awarding' MMORPG(you take what you give)
2.the frustrating RL(you give without take,not everyone is a saint themselves heh)

Yep it's real.. i'm in China now and they are crazy about wow. There is wow advertising everyhere in the street, there is WOW coca cola, TV advertising...
But it's not a problem about Mmorpg.. here there is a lot of mini-game on internet, and there is QQ ! QQ is the worth. QQ is just a msn-like.. but they are crazy about that ! Youngs people waste their time on it and i can't understand why. All the day, half of the night... after seen that i'm afraid by the wow-like game !! My girlfriend's cousin went to hospital because he stayed on QQ and didn't eat since 6 days and had a hole in his stomach, exactly a gastric ulcer !!!

there are several social probs that the China government thought could never happen in a 'socialism' constitution:
unemployment,crime(mostly due to the lack of religion and the lack of the restriction of basic morality imo),dspression etc

The MMORPG was 'marked' as' digital drug' when it was firstly introduced to China,but soon China government realised that MMORPG greatly reduced the government's stress on unemployment,crime,depression etc,(so do the other internet related stuff such as the QQ you metioned)whilst increasing the tax generated by 'IT' industry.

Even though there was no 'official' statement 'unbanning' the MMORPG,but the current status of MMORPG in China is 'so be it'.

However,being capable to resolve many social probs of other fields doesnt mean the MMORPG itself is not a social prob,actually MMORPG itself is a social prob/causes tons of other social probs,e.g:
the protection of 'virtual' properties.
new forms of crime including hacking,cheating in MMORPG games,as well as the RL ones which is concerned in the topic of this thread.

The addiction of the MMORPG,internet chat seems to be inevitable,there are varies reasons that can cause the addiction,the most common one is the one I stated in the reply to Leopard's post:the frustrations in RL,which is directly caused by the depression/indirectly caused by the defects of the socialist system.

P.S:I will be much appreciated if someone can post an alternative url of the news in the topic,b/c the bbc one was 'censored' by my ISP.

Thanks for your time.
Peace out.

 

[vicky2004]

If ppl are going to play like +10hours well then they atleast have to play not in a cafe,but at home and take atleast 15mins break per 1h(not to mention that they have to eat -.-)!But there is nothing we can do,most ppl playing MMO's like that are stupid(I bet that Darky is not one of them)...I have a friend in wow who's aways online,I don't know if he takes breaks,but when i say aways i mean 20-24hours...

(Europe,Warsong Server)