Game addictions are currently the fastest growing class of addictions , with MMORPG addictions being the most common. MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer On-line Role-Playing Game. They can have extremely harmful effects and should be treated just as seriously as other addictions. Here are some measures that you can take to overcome an addiction to an MMORPG.

Steps:

1. Determine if you are addicted to an MMORPG. If you can control the amount of hours that you play, then you are probably not addicted. Some typical symptoms include the following:
*
o Continuously thinking about an MMORPG
o Missing work, school, or a social activity to devote time to an MMORPG
o Playing an MMORPG for an excessive duration in one sitting (more than 5 hours)
o Spending real money on in-game items
o Psychological distress attributed to lack of game-play (feeling upset/angry if you can't play)
o Loss of sleep due to excessive gaming
o Putting more time into the game than important things like school work, friends, family etc
o Other major lifestyle change that results in playing the MMORPG more often
2. Recognize your addiction. Even if it is a video game, it is still an addiction that is affecting your lifestyle. In recognizing the problem, you become aware that it needs to be fixed.
3. Tell your MMORPG friends that you are quitting, whether for an certain time period, or permanently. They may give you the emotional support that you need to recover. If you can't bear parting from your e-friends, keep contact with them via e-mail or chat.
4. Start your long journey to recovery. Depending on how addicted you are, and how much time you have to beat your addiction, you have several methods of approach.
*
o Decrease your overall time playing. What seems to be the most common is to slowly lower your playing time until it is down to a reasonable amount. However, this may not work for people who are unable to control their addiction.
o Force yourself to quit playing. Quit playing the game for a few months, and then your addiction will soon dissipate, provided that you don't slip back to the game.
o Uninstall the MMORPG. If you cannot trust yourself to keep away from loading the game another time, then your best bet is to remove the program from your computer completely.
o Keep the installation CD out of reach. You might lock them away in a drawer, or give them to your parents, sibling, or trusted friend. If you are very determined, you might even destroy, or sell the CD.
o Find new hobbies. Look for another hobby like reading or riding a bicycle. It is best if you find something that will keep you away from the computer, in effort to keep your mind off of the MMORPG.
5. Avoid triggering your addiction again. After your addiction is beaten, keep it at bay. If you're sure that the addiction won't come back, you could try the MMORPG again, although that may be a bit risky. Also, try to avoid starting another MMORPG. You'll only end up funneling your addiction from the first MMORPG to the next.
 

Tips:

* If none of the above works for you, try some more extreme approaches. Deleting your account/character is one method that might help the transition process.
* Remember that this is a game, not the real world. Anything that happens in the game won't affect your real life.
* Try to help other addicted friends if you can, as it can have very serious consequences.
* Don't be afraid to seek help. Many people are embarrassed about being addicted to "just a game", and many others don't take MMORPG addiction seriously. It can have the same implications of drug addictions.
* Moderation: It is okay to play an MMO once in a while, but once you start thinking about it too often and choosing it over your friends, you know you have a problem.
* Remember: The countless hours you put into this game will simply go down the drain. All of your efforts merely result in a magnetic charge on a hard drive somewhere, and should you start a more viable hobby, when people ask you what you do in your free time, you will have novel material items to show them and be able to gain some credibility in this world.
* Be sure to recognize that the MMORPG was not the cause of the initial motivations or desires that brought about the addiction and without treatment these issues will only become increasingly unmanagable. Something was sought in your addiction, it was not forced upon you. Realize that your problems are your own and must be handled correctly and professionally because it is not the game that did this, a mentally and emotionally healthy adult would not become addicted to an MMORPG.
 

Warnings:

* If an MMORPG is seriously damaging your mental or physical health, seek professional help as soon as you can.
* There have been news stories about people dying from starvation and suicide due to extreme gaming. If you want to play for long periods of time take breaks for food, fresh air, and the restroom.
* Do not rebound your way into another MMORPG, several other MMOs can be just as or even more so addicting then the one you are currently playing. If you have a problem with one, they are all bad for you.
* Overcoming the addiction won't occur automatically. Don't be angry at yourself if you feel the urge to play again. Getting mad at the people around you will only make things worse.
* If it's too hard for you, try to do it gradually and be disclipined about it. For example, reduce your playing time by 20 minutes everytime and get a friend or family to help you keep track and pull you out if you play overtime.
* Just because you've cured your addiction, doesn't mean you can't get addicted. Don't go back to the MMORPG you were playing before or you will suffer a relapse.
* After you quit, If you start suffering major headaches, and are constantly depressed... get outside for some fresh air.
* Please pay very close attention to your symptoms and also understand that this is simply a video game and all symptoms that have occured while playing or from lack of playing are not a product of any game. They are serious emotional and mental health issues that need to be discussed and treated by professionals. *Lack of playing a game should not make anyone depressed unless for example you were motivated by reasons of curing your own existing depression through gameplay and once your self cure has been removed the symptoms have increased and you can be in even more danger than you were when playing.
* It is very important and this can not be stressed enough that any sign of depression or mood alteration based on MMORPGS or recreational activities more than likely stems from problems best treated by a medical professonal.
 

Have a normal healthy non mental handicap life. :)

I have a better one for you, it is titled "How To Post in the Correct Forums". Moving.

 I wonder if the DSM-IV will mention this new addiction...I know when I was school we didnt study this as an actual addiction...but its been two years so maybe more people are recognizing the issue

Pretty good post.  I've wanted to reach out and help others as well...because I consider myself one of the "rare survivors" of an mmo addiction.  I started with UO when I was younger and played every chance I got...but then EQ started my real addiction (as well as all my friends).  At that age, I was having so much fun that it seemed fine (I wasnt just bored or I didn't feel that I played cuz i "had to").  But then I realized fun or not, I HAD to....I wasn't going to leave a group to go and have a barbque with my family etc.  

  Want to know how I was able to drop my addiction and turn into a true casual gamer?  I had started to dorm in my third year at college and I found out that they would not allow the ports to be opened for popular games like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and most other games.  I went nuts.  I tried finding proxies and stuff...and while I was almost successful in doing so....It ended up fading off.  I was "sober" for one whole semester BY FORCE.  Then, when I went home for the middle of the year I installed Diablo 2 instead of like WoW or EQ2 etc.  I played that quite a bit, but I missed my family enough that I definitely was spending time with them.  I couldn't get into an MMO knowing that I paid for and had to go back to a non-MMO friendly school network.  Sure enough, I went back to school....continued dorming with my girlfriend, and came home in the summer.  After that, I never had that sick hardcore crazy gaming mind anymore.  I've played maybe 12 MMOs since then and I've never gotten any to end-game.  I've also never played for more than 3 hours or so at a time.  I ended up staying with my girlfriend for 5 years strong and I gained a career in programming (going on 2 years now).  I barely play during the weekdays....I usually mix in Counter Stirke, Warcraft 3, etc.  On the weekends I'll try to play an MMO ...but I find myself hopping around playing whatever is fun.  I never concern myself with the crazy ladders of online gaming as much.  I can play when I want to play, and I know how to quit anything at this point.  When it gets tough, and I get destroyed in a game by someone who is addicted....I just fall back and realize it's possible to be a success in life, and enjoy gaming at the same time.  

My friends haven't had that sucess, and it's not really possible to keep up with them.  If you notice a friend thats slipping away...you should try to help.  They may just bash you for trying to parent them...but at least you tried. 

That's my success story.

If you or someone you know is slipping away and you want to talk to someone who understands...PM me.  I can tell you some of what I've seen from real life friends, in-game friends, and myself.

Stop playing.  Simple as that... and it IS simple.  If it isn't, you lack maturity and willpower, and you'll make excuse after excuse not to quit.  No-one else can fix an addiction for you - any addiction.

good post OP but if someone can get addicted to a repetitive grindy WoW or any other clone then the only option here is sectioning...

Originally posted by Dibdabs

Stop playing.  Simple as that... and it IS simple.  If it isn't, you lack maturity and willpower, and you'll make excuse after excuse not to quit.  No-one else can fix an addiction for you - any addiction.

No, the idea is that this post is for people who CANT.  You are basically flaming people who cannot quit.  Of course it's easy for someone like you and me maybe.  But, that doesn't mean that it can't make people sick.  I've also heard people say the exact same thing you just said, who were addicted themselves and couldn't identify it yet ("thought" they could quit....but they could only quit for 1 month or 2 months tops). 

*EDIT* OH, and you want to know why people are embarassed to come and talk about it?  People like you and posts like yours.  It's degrading and makes you feel stupid if you are addicted.

  Should be titled, how people create problems from peoples actives so <insert company name> can have the solution and charnge you money to put it right.
 

If you are able to curtail your playing and ween yourself off of it, then it's not really an addiction. - It's a hobby.

The main thing is to get the person to realise how much of thier life they have wasted or continue to waste playing a game that gets them nowhere. - Unless you count growing old and a wasted life as a destination.

Get them to do a /played (time played) and that sometimes brings people around to their senses. I still remember the shame and anger I felt when I found out how much of my life I wasted on wow. Since then, I play mmos casually and have picked up some healthier, positive hobbies to fill my free time.

You don't see how screwed up it is until you step away from it and look at your creation.

Some good questions to ask are:

How long did it take you to get there? How many people did you step on or ignore along the way? Was it fun the entire time or did it feel like work?

What could you have done with the time it took you to reach your position? What have you lost in the real world in order to make your nonexistant video character all shiny?

Will you look back in 5 or 10 years and be perfectly happy with how you spent your time or what you have to show for it? - Even when they shut down the game and your char is deleted?

If the answers to any of those questions doesn't shake them out of it, then they should probably be locked in a dark room and left to die. They won't be contributing to society or making any difference in anyone's life.

There's no such thing as MMO addiction.

People who play MMOs excessively to the detriment of their health and other aspects of their life are suffering from a compulsion disorder and have fixated on MMOs as the focus of their mental illness. They could just as easily have focused on something else; it is a recognised psychological condition .. but it's not specific to MMOs and it's not accurate to say that MMOs are inherently addictive.

MMO addiction is something that is very easy to acquire, and I suspect it is far more widespread than we know.

Fortunately, it is also one of the easiest to solve.  I can share what I've learned through PMs, but not in an open forum.

Originally posted by MikeB

I have a better one for you, it is titled "How To Post in the Correct Forums". Moving.

Gee Mike, now I know where the users at MMORPG.com get their attitudes -- they learned them from the community managers. Had you worded your response in a slightly different way, you probably wouldn't have sounded like such a jerk. I'd like to think the CM would at least try to be a role model for behavior in these forums. 

Originally posted by Proleetness

o Spending real money on in-game items

That is too generic, you could fit the whole F2P crowd that spends more than a single cent in there, as they are all about charging real money for in-game items as the main revenue.

I get the impression that a lot of the more hardcore MMO players never really fitted into the real world either. So these people instead live in a virtual world, which has the advantage of being an at least vaguely social activity, but the disadvantage that it sucks up inordinate amounts of time.

However, for people who don't fit into the real world, for one reason or another, there are plenty of worse things they could be doing other than MMOing. Alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide - all exist to a large extent in the real world. I've known friends who have fallen victim to two out of the three. MMOs aren't so bad in comparison.

The easiest way to overcome MMORPG addiction is to find yourself another addiction. Works 100% of the time.

It's true.

I moved from illicit drugs, to drinking, to smoking heavily, to MMOs...my next step is overeating.

Luckily I transition..so I am still doing MMOs and overeating...awesome!!!

Where to go after overeating...overexercising..yeah..that's not going to happen.

Originally posted by krugve

The easiest way to overcome MMORPG addiction is to find yourself another addiction. Works 100% of the time.

I know that this post was probably made in jest, but you didn't just hit close to home, you blew up the friggin house. Substituting addictions is actually the ONLY known successful treatment for addiction of any type.

Whether the addiction is to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, food, games, or whatever else you can think of, the only way to overcome your current addiction is to replace it with another one. I don't know how many people here actually have personal experience w/ addiction, addicts, or the Alcohol/Narcotics Annonymous method, but the when you get right down to the root of it, the reason those meetings work  for people is b/c the addict is replacing their current addiction with another addiction...the meetings themselves and the underlying support system.

Playing MMOs is like gambling or being drugged: it costs you money and time, you cannot get out of it easily, and you get nothing positive from it.

- To loose MMO addiction, honestly tell your family what's going on, and ask them to control your activities on a computer. Ask for ACTIVE help. find something else to do to fill your free time, which is essential to keep yourself busy.

- To loose the addiction without outside help, you need to realize by yourself the damage done to your personnal/professionnal life. It takes a great deal of lucidity, and not everyone can do it.

Realizing how shallow and pointless MMO-related activies (like farming and grinding without end) are compared to real-life activities which bring you social ties, hobbies, everything that turns a hopeless looser into an interesting person with things to share.

Remember the moto: "happyness is only good when shared"; to be happy, going out of your home and having people recognize you as a person is mandatory. If your fame comes from taking damage, dealing damage, or healing others online, you got a problem.

Never trust someone who tells you that MMO are a very entertaining and cheap hobby. MMO companies have only one goal: keep you p(l)aying as long as they can; some people driving Ferraris are making sure you'll stay for as long as possible, whatever it takes, and whatever it costs YOU.

The current crop of MMO's has almost cured me of my MMORPG addiction.

Hmmm...?

I'd say get laid...XP

j/k

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

There's no such thing as MMO addiction.

People who play MMOs excessively to the detriment of their health and other aspects of their life are suffering from a compulsion disorder and have fixated on MMOs as the focus of their mental illness. They could just as easily have focused on something else; it is a recognised psychological condition .. but it's not specific to MMOs and it's not accurate to say that MMOs are inherently addictive.

I'd have to disagree here. I am one that was addicted at one point, and am no where near having a compulsion disorder.  I was fine before and I'm fine after my transition.

In regards to "fitting in", I actually did sort of "fit in".  In fact, during the time of UO, I was just becoming "popular" in school and was having a good time.  Earlier in my life I may not have fit in as much, but about a year after I was "fitting in" I started playing MMOs.  So, that worked the opposite with me.  My friends, however, openly admit to not fitting in. 

In regards to the comments about alternatives such as drugs, suicide, alcohol, etc....EVERY MMO addict that I know ALWAYS without fail says the same sentence to justify their play time -- "Well, at least I'm not on the street doing drugs instead.  I'm doing something that more safe than going out and getting into trouble." 

Originally posted by Excalaber2

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

There's no such thing as MMO addiction.

People who play MMOs excessively to the detriment of their health and other aspects of their life are suffering from a compulsion disorder and have fixated on MMOs as the focus of their mental illness. They could just as easily have focused on something else; it is a recognised psychological condition .. but it's not specific to MMOs and it's not accurate to say that MMOs are inherently addictive.

 

I'd have to disagree here. I am one that was addicted at one point, and am no where near having a compulsion disorder.  I was fine before and I'm fine after my transition.

In regards to "fitting in", I actually did sort of "fit in".  In fact, during the time of UO, I was just becoming "popular" in school and was having a good time.  Earlier in my life I may not have fit in as much, but about a year after I was "fitting in" I started playing MMOs.  So, that worked the opposite with me.  My friends, however, openly admit to not fitting in. 

In regards to the comments about alternatives such as drugs, suicide, alcohol, etc....EVERY MMO addict that I know ALWAYS without fail says the same sentence to justify their play time -- "Well, at least I'm not on the street doing drugs instead.  I'm doing something that more safe than going out and getting into trouble." 

You're missing what he is saying. He is saying the MMO doesn't cause the addictive behavior, the phsycological condition of the individual causes the addiction. Drugs directly cause addiction because of the chemicals they put into the body, and MMO doesn't put anything into the body.

Essentially some people have a very addictive phsycological state and they will can get focused on anything. People with this condition have been addicted to TV, Shopping, Eating, Video Games, really anything can do it. I think he was just trying to highlight this point that the MMO doesn't directly cause any of the addiction that happens. Different actions can lead different people with that type of brain to get addicted, so where you say you haven't had a compulsion with anything else yet in your case the constant achievements and the getting to the next skill point/level or getting the next item could of caused it. Just like the smell of certain foods can do it to people who get addicted to eating, and how window displays can cause people with the shopping addiction to buy new items.

For every item that exists in the world there's someone who is addicted to it, I think some of the defenders of the MMOs on this thread just do not want people thinking that MMOs cause anything. People have been wasting their time on video games since they came into existance, and kids tend to play even more. So parents worry about addiction and start thinking the games cause it.

Originally posted by cfurlin

Originally posted by MikeB

I have a better one for you, it is titled "How To Post in the Correct Forums". Moving.

 

Gee Mike, now I know where the users at MMORPG.com get their attitudes -- they learned them from the community managers. Had you worded your response in a slightly different way, you probably wouldn't have sounded like such a jerk. I'd like to think the CM would at least try to be a role model for behavior in these forums. 

 

 

I agree. Sometimes the MMORPG staff come out of left field with this type of thing.

In regards to gaming addiction. I believe it's real, I was addicted for about three years. It's easy to become an addict in my opinion, when real life is much more difficult to "level-up".

The best thing to do is just quit cold turkey. It's  hard to do - trust me; but just cancel your accounts, cut up your discs, and find something new to occupy your time. For me now I game a little, but I don't have the same connection to the game world than I previously did. It might be because I'm older now, but trying to advance in real life just seems more fulfilling.

Originally posted by SnarlingWolf 

You're missing what he is saying. He is saying...

Thank you for clarifying.  I was under the impression that he was implying long-term, and not just "behavior".  I think where anything in the world can be addictive, the problem with MMOs is that it is their intention.  The companies behind them are aware of this, and strive for the ultimate goal of getting you addicted.  This can be said for many other things as well...but the fact still remains that people do get addicted to this at a much higher rate than many other things in life.  These people, who are already addicted, might need someone to talk to or something to read about to know that they aren't alone.  So, this thread exists :)

MMO playing is like alcohol: You need some discipline or you will waste your life away.

Playing sometime is fun but when something gets more important than your friends an families you should stop and think things through.