[npsimons]

And you like to cherry pick what you deem relevant to the discussion and demonize a harmless diversion that millions of people dally in daily with no repercussions to the rest of their life.

Look, I'm sorry you've had a bad time and got addicted to WoW. That doesn't make it an inherently addictive thing. Some people can play it in their spare time without issue; others can't. Not everybody is the same.

[kellishaver]

I think there are (intentionally) qualities to the game that can be addicting to some people, but that's common of a lot of video games and not unique to WoW - though they do seem to have the formula down to a T. It comes down to the person playing, though.

Me, I can play a video game for 20 minutes and stop and go on to something else and not care. My husband used to play WoW for hours and hours at a time at the expense of work and family, to the point that it was having a negative impact on his health, his relationship with our child, and putting a huge strain on our marriage.

But I think WoW was just feeding the problem, not causing it. I think it was a reaction to a deeper depression and WoW was just something to get sucked into and escape reality.

He stopped playing WoW, switched jobs, and is going back to school, has friends over on a regular basis for some real interaction and is happier than he's been in a long time.

Now he sits down some nights and games for an hour or two after the kid's in bed and that's that, unless we have something else planned, and then he doesn't. The tendency to get sucked in for hours at the expense of all else has disappeared.

I think, in the wrong circumstances, that escape that WoW offers can be addicting, dangerous and damaging, but I think it's less often the game that's the actual root cause of the problem.

[rhizome]

I think, in the wrong circumstances, that escape that WoW offers can be addicting, dangerous and damaging

Like anything, which is why it's not helpful in this context to cast the net so wide as to include cigarettes and all the other stuff that the above poster tried to shovel into his point.

[gfodor]

Some people can go to Vegas once every couple of years and forget about gambling when they fly home, too. Does this make gambling any less "inherently" addictive for those who are susceptible to it? Most people don't get addicted to pain killers, but some do. Addictive substances by their very nature are a game of probabilities dependent upon the person involved, their temperament, and the availability of what they're addicted to. (Some things obviously more addictive to more people than others.)

In 10 years time certain types of video games that leverage addictive elements to hook users will be widely understood to be just as addictive as your average slot machine. They will have comparable awareness groups, treatment programs, etc as those seen for gambling or prescription drug abuse.