Re:
I'll 2nd MV's post, as he's got a longer track record than I...and I know Jvesti would bytch slap me for playing as (he has tried in the past), however, the SUPER hardcores are about 5, maybe 10% of the total subscriber base which is 8,000,000 people+. The extreme cases, LIKE the news on TV, are all you hear about.
It can very easily drain your life away, as in my opinion, so can anything else you do.
Wasn't "The Game" all about Neil Straus widdling everything down into a practical video game, or virtual game, where every person was tagged as an object and placed a level where guys could interact nearly the same everytime, like robots?
The appeal of WoW and why guys get addicted, is very much like why guys get addicted in PUA or sarging games...they boil it down to objective, repeatable learnable systems, that are eventually emotionless, whereby they can automate their procedures and thereby their results. Guys who found the early PUA stuff weren't the super studly, as Strauss pointed out about himself, or about Tyler Durden. That said, what's to differentiate the game they were playing and video games? Nothing. It really comes down to the habit and why you're doing.
The addiction of the stock market and gambling is much the same, as well as the rush. In the case of THE GAME, the rush is getting more women and laying more girls, making tougher pickups. In WOW, it's being the best, having the best gear, winning the best dungeons. I believe it comes down to the FEELINGS we have about what we do and our MOTIVATIONS for it.
What about a scrawny guy who bulks up, uses steroids and loses everything? How many EXTREME true life stories are there of that on TV? I can remember a handful right now, not to mention one's seen years ago.
So what is it about WoW or other experiences?
I believe it brings out the EXTREME positive/negative side, which, if applied to the RIGHT area in life, Men would reach unbounded potential. However, when applied to the WRONG area in life, men face a huge fall. I believe with WOW, you're addressing the symptons, not the disease, not the source of what IS TRULY going, which is evident in other areas.
Yes, guys do occasionally turn introverted, drop their friends, and do whatever else it takes to play...is it Wow's fault, or has this problem always been brewing, and now this just was the catalyst for it? It's kind of the same mentality people have surrounding teenagers and all the dumb things they do, such as underage drinking. They say "See, if X didn't exist, it never would have happened," as if we can wipe society SO clean, NOTHING bad would ever happen. Hardly, it's there, unconsciously waiting to creep out with the right trigger, the question is, IS THIS PERSON strong enough to overcome the setback they will face??
I'm not saying TO get it, or NOT to get it...I'm saying examine your behavior. Many guys are looking for an escape, MUCH like SECOND life is becoming, which is even whacker IMO (since I've seen it once, and people have virtual sex, etc, and the title just freaks me out), and so if you're that TYPE of person, who's crap isn't somewhat together, this only exacerbates that. Any game will, WoW just has that capability to an infinite level I believe.
You can generalize and say video games are a waste of time, and yes, there's not much of an element of productivity to it, but there's a DOWN side to this angle as well. Much like it was stated in the Game so eloquently by Neil Strauss, this over productivity mindset, diminishes people only into WHAT they're doing, not who they are. The common American Phrase is:
"What do you do?"
Me: Well lot's of things...I do sex, I do drink, I do lift, I do be a bf, I do be a son, and a brother, I do flag football, and eat, and sleep, and read, and make money. I do be a human being. What do you do?
Of course the DESIRED or EXPECTED response is YOUR OCCUPATION, which is more of an identity than ANYTHING I know, and doesn't account for WHERE A PERSON is going, but rather WHERE they are at, and where THEY have been.
We're missing the forest for the trees.
A-Unit