10/3/08 9:38 AMWhen games stop being fun | CNET News.comPage 1 of 5file:///Users/jimmiller/Desktop/My%20Stuff/Teaching/CSC309/Addiction.html CNET tech sites: Product reviews Shop Tech news Downloads Site mapE-mail alerts | News.com ExtraTop personal tech videos:Business phone flips its lid Doing the iPod shuffle Mac Mini takes the stage atMacworld Expo Watch more videos This week's headlinesLatest headlinesRegulators tell Microsoft there's plenty in anameVerizon wants its Microsoft TVReport: Major Windows security update foiledCongress proposes tax on all Net, dataconnectionsTeen gets 18 months in prison for wormMySQL worm haltedTrackBackPrintE-mailTalkBackeverquestWhen games stop being funPublished: April 12, 2002, 8:00 AM PDTBy David Becker Staff WriterDennis Bennett was failing his college classes, his marriage wasin trouble, and he wasn't being much of a father to his 1-year-old son. But he had progressed to Level 58 as Madrid, the GreatShaman of the North, his character in the online role-playinggame "EverQuest," and that was all that mattered at the time.Bennett, whose family life and grades in school have recovered nicelysince he stopped playing the game about a year ago, considershimself a recovered "EverQuest" addict, now able to control his desireto immerse himself in the game's rich fantasy world."The game almost ruined my life," said the network engineer insouthern Indiana. "It was my life. I ceased being me; I becameMadrid, the Great Shaman of the North. Thinking of it now, I almostcringe; it's so sad."Long a subject of half-serious jokes among devotees of computer andvideo games, game addiction is receiving serious attention lately asfantasy games such as "EverQuest"--nicknamed "EverCrack" bymany players--proliferate.A Wisconsin woman has blamed "EverQuest" in the suicide late lastmonth of her 21-year-old son, who had a history of mental healthproblems and was an obsessive "EverQuest" player. The game wasalso implicated in the death last year of a Tampa, Fla., infant, whosefather allegedly was so devoted to the game he fatally neglected thechild.While such cases are rare, mental-health professionals say thefantasy worlds offered by computer and video games can become thestuff of very real addictions that destroy marriages and careers."It's a huge and growing problem with older teenage males and youngadult males," said Dr. Timothy Miller, a Stockton, Calif., clinicalpsychologist. "I've seen a number of cases with 17- or 18-year-oldmales where they have a broadband (Internet) connection and theybasically haven't left the house for years."I had one young manwho was trying to get onSocial Security disabilityfor agoraphobia," hesaid. "He didn't have amental disorder; he justdidn't want to leave'EverQuest' or instantmessaging."Personal TechnologyThe web filtered by humans, not bots: www.news.com/extra.10/3/08 9:38 AMWhen games stop being fun | CNET News.comPage 2 of 5file:///Users/jimmiller/Desktop/My%20Stuff/Teaching/CSC309/Addiction.htmlMySQL worm haltedMicrosoft's sleeping giantEU: We could fine Microsoft into submissionPlay vs. pay in games arenaCritics: Microsoft server license snubs opensourceNintendo steps up to the plateIDC: Phone shipments surged in '04RadioShack to sell Jamdat ring tones, gamesRetailers try a new pitch--free TiVoGoogle's AdWords gets API betaMost popular headlinesWill Mac Mini spur petite-PC revolution?No-cost Skype strikes chord with businessesPhotos: Petite PCsGoogle blogger reappears, redactedThey're off to see Apple's wizardsNews.com Morning Dispatch sampleNews.com Afternoon Dispatch sampleNews.com Enterprise Hardware sampleAll News.com newslettersSurveysIT ProfessionalsIT ManagementSmall Business OwnersManage My NewslettersFun and games or seriousbusiness?Is your game playing a hobbyor a pathological behaviorpattern? Computer AddictionServices at HarvardUniversity-affiliated McLeanHospital says psychologicaland physical symptoms ofaddiction include thefollowing:• Inability to stop the activity• Neglect of family and friends• Lying to employers andfamily about activities• Problems with school or job• Carpal tunnel syndrome• Dry eyes• Failure to attend to personalhygiene• Sleep disturbances orchanges in sleep patternsSome have suggestedthat warning labels be placed on "EverQuest," which has more than400,000 paying subscribers. Scott McDaniel, vice president ofmarketing for "EverQuest" publisher Sony Online Entertainment, saidthe company relies on players to employ good judgment."I guess our standpoint is the same as all kinds of products--youhave to be responsible in using it," he said. "You don't seedisclaimers when you get in a car saying 'Don't run over people.'People have to exhibit their own good sense, and if they have kids,they need to pay attention to what they're doing."Video games played on consoles such as Sony's PlayStation 2 canbecome the object of compulsive behavior, especially amongchildren. But such problems are usually easily solved through modestparental intervention and the self-limiting nature of such games,which become repetitive and boring at some point.The lure of "heroinware"Online PC games such "EverQuest," the new "Dark Age of Camelot,"or "Diablo II"--dubbed "heroinware" by some players--can pose muchmore complex problems. Extensive chat features give such games asocial aspect missing from offline activities, and thecollaborative/competitive nature of working with or against otherplayers can make it hard to take a break.Online titles account for a smallportion of the overall gamesbusiness, but research firm IDCexpects online games toaccount for $1.8 billion inannual revenue by 2005, asMicrosoft, Sony and otherscompete to push gamersonline.Miller cites two definingcharacteristics of addiction: Theperson regularly engages inactivity for much longer thanoriginally planned and"(continues) doing it in spite ofadverse consequences."By those standards, most ofthe players described in onlinesupport groups such asYahoo's "EverQuest Widows"qualify as addicts."I have a friend who's in theprocess of getting a divorcebecause of 'EverQuest,'" saidLea, a regular player of thegame. "A guy I talk to has beenthrough three girlfriends andeven more jobs because of thegame." Like other players, Lea declined to provide a last name.Although Lea said she's been able to find a workable balancebetween "EverQuest" and real-world obligations, she often questionsher devotion to the game."I think of quitting all the time,"