new development, China and WoW

[Lothandar]

The point is that if an MP started talking about banning an activity that you had never even heard of, you are unlikely to be upset.

Sad but true.

[Bugzy]

In a way i agree and in a way i don't.

A female friend i know is literally on the computer 24/7. I log onto MSN, she is there and when i have seen her in real life (coming home from school) she looks pale and unhealthy. Perhaps this doesn't worry the average guy that much but it does worry me as i know i use to be in the same state myself.

That said, three hours is really such a short time. Evening players, those that attend work, will usually come online about 6-7pm and reside online till about 11pm or perhaps midnight. This does not fuel addiction and it is idiotic to class it as addiction.

Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction.

Playing for 3-5 hours a evening is NOT compulsive behaviour.

[clearbrook]

Actually I could quite like to play on a game where the hours were limited. It would be interesting to group / compete against others that don't play for massive amounts of time online. I'd probably still take 3 times as long as everyone else to make max level tho

[Compton]

Lair, indeed, I must have expressed myself a bit wrong there: I don't want wealthfare removed due to some abusing it. What I mean is: every bit of abuse of the system adds up, whatever it may be. An economy has to run, and if there is too much abuse, it will hiccup. It will restore itself of course, but you have to compete too and at least keep the system up.

This is what I try to understand of some posts: Some are saying that if there is a larger problem, every minor problem doesn't have to be solved. I.e. there are more drug addicts than computer addicts, so we shouldn't look into computer addicts? You should let everything free and put a complicated problem solely with the parents/1 party? Am I understanding some people wrong? I do agree though that the parents play a rather big role, nowadays a lot of parents consider education to be done by school, what clearly isn't possible. Wich also points to the fact that the root of addiction problems is quite deeply structural in our society.

But solving part of a smaller problem may perhaps give lead to a minor solution for a larger problem?

The problem is, there aren't many studies into computer behaviour (as far as I know, correct me please) and there should be studies to see the extend of a possible problem. The Chinese give a nice lead to give more attention to it, and just ignoring it isn't really my view. Even if the conclusion would be that it's harmless.

[Adianna]

I know people spending every free hour in a garage repairing and modifying cars...
I know people spending every free hour in a small cellar room building tiny models of all kind of things...
I know people spending every free hour on a couch reading...
I know people spending every free hour ...

You could continue as long as there are Hobbies. ANY of them can turn into obsession. Some people spend all their money and all their life on such a thing. Now is this an addiction and does it do any harm?

I doubt that what the Chinese do is even near the right way. You don't cure an addiction by that, you merely hide the symptoms. If it really is an addiction, then you will need a therapy to cure it. Leaving them playing is at best unhealthy then... if it is not an addiction it is another way to cut into someones privacy. The state mustn't have anything to say about it then.

If it is as dangerous as alcohol or cigarettes, set an age limit of 16, 18 or 21 then. If it is more, why is it legal then? If it is less, why bother?

[Xest]

In a way i agree and in a way i don't.

A female friend i know is literally on the computer 24/7. I log onto MSN, she is there and when i have seen her in real life (coming home from school) she looks pale and unhealthy. Perhaps this doesn't worry the average guy that much but it does worry me as i know i use to be in the same state myself.

That said, three hours is really such a short time. Evening players, those that attend work, will usually come online about 6-7pm and reside online till about 11pm or perhaps midnight. This does not fuel addiction and it is idiotic to class it as addiction.

Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction.

Playing for 3-5 hours a evening is NOT compulsive behaviour.

The thing is though, she's clearly in a vulnerable state, so if the internet wasn't there she could just as easily be getting caught up in hard drugs or a severe alcohol problem so in some ways it's good that the internet is somewhat of a more safe addiction than many other things might be. The problem there isn't the internet being somewhat addictive, it's that she's latched onto it because she's vulnerable, and hence it's her core vulnerability problem that needs to be sorted out.

[OohhoO]

If addiction is the problem they're trying to avoid/solve then restricting the symptoms isn't going to help much. People who are addicted and whose source of addiction is banned/removed tend to just switch their addiction onto another source - speaking generally of course.

Getting to the roots of addiction itself & completely solving the problem simply isn't realistic. Even if you sort out all of the real & imagined childhood stuff, you end up back at the fact that human society is totally & irrevocably screwed up.

Let's face it - Homo Sapiens are an evil bunch of mofos. There will always be winners & losers in our societies, and the winners will generally take advantage of the losers. It's the way we're made.

[Lothandar]

This is a known fact though, take away addiction A, person will look for something else called addiction B.

[OohhoO]

and the chances are that addiction B will be at least if not more personally & socially damaging than playing MMORPGs IMO

[Lothandar]

The thing is though, she's clearly in a vulnerable state, so if the internet wasn't there she could just as easily be getting caught up in hard drugs or a severe alcohol problem so in some ways it's good that the internet is somewhat of a more safe addiction than many other things might be. The problem there isn't the internet being somewhat addictive, it's that she's latched onto it because she's vulnerable, and hence it's her core vulnerability problem that needs to be sorted out.

The same thing went down with my cousins. Their parents took the computer from them at about age 14 (mine didn't bother) and the results were the following:

-1 of them regularly does weed, gets drunk at parties with all random people he doesn't even know. Quite messed state it is. He's at least not doing drugs which can stop the heart for a lil xD (or so I heard)
-The younger cousin of mine looked for "special" friends to make his time pass. He recently had an overdose of some drug I can't recall, whatever the case was he almost died.

People who can't control themselves won't become better humans if you rip the computer right out of their ribs. As a parent I'd rather try to get my younglings interested in something ever vigorously instead of simply saying "forget computer, now go play basketball, tool." Terrible.


Only true friends (oh yeah both of my cousins have 20-30 "friends", look where they got), a normal activity apart from playing and an open mind can replace the computer. This is still, A CHOICE. If I want to spend the majority of my free time in front of the computer, I will.

Although I wouldn't turn to ecstasy'd disco music parties with people I can't even trust. Or weed.


Just trying to make an example of what can happen to the vulnerable people like Xest explained. Don't get me wrong I'm not badmouthing my cousins, I honestly pity them, but it is their own parents who got them in this state by "hmm yeah lets BAN the computer because they sit too much in front of it( and from our side that's it, now our children will become better because uh, just!")(my ass).
To prohibi, is not to help. IT just never works ><

Addon: A case of addiction B :p
Addon2: People who sit in front of the computer are pale because they aren't under the sun, doh. While this might not look too pretty, it also doesn't mean that 1 is not healty clinically and the sun also ages the skin. Just to say something bad about the sun. :D