<p>
[quote]
These tend to sap up the most time, yet are inefficient in producing enjoyment.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>According to you.</p>
<p>Both our hs-age sons would play WOW 24/7 if we let them. I'm really concerned what it will be like when they're away at college. Our younger son is more addicted to WOW, but has the self-discipline to get his homework done before he goes online (helped by our supervision, I'm sure). Our older son, who's much more prone to procrastination and distraction, would easily blow off assignments he's not "into" to play WOW, I'm afraid.</p>
<p>I'm still looking for a better solution than hoping they take schoolwork seriously when there are college tuition bills involved. I'd hate to pay tens of thousands of $$ to aid and abet their game-playing, and find out they have scaled the mountain of WOW but flunked out of college.</p>
<p>Like I keep saying: Rip out their video cards. It's THAT simple.</p>
<p>Unless the computer uses an onboard video card like some low-mid range systems ;)</p>
<p>Didn't know the WoW expansion wasn't out yet - they announced it quite awhile ago so I'm surprised it's taken so long. I was never into instances or raiding as I liked to play mostly solo so once I hit 60 it lost a lot of of allure. That's a good thing as it was time to move on.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Like I keep saying: Rip out their video cards. It's THAT simple.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Maybe when they're still at home. But when they're in college, they can still buy and re-install a video card, so I don't see that as a great solution, either.</p>
<p>Ah, then we run into the fundamental problem of policing an adult.</p>
<p>Could always make them stay at home and go to the local college. Or, you can just hope for the best.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Unless the computer uses an onboard video card like some low-mid range systems
[/quote]
</p>
<p>With the exception of maybe some of the higher end boards from NVidia, most on-board video isn't good enough to run WoW. Besides, you can always set the shared video to the lowest setting, and bottleneck any sort of on-board video. There are plenty of things that a truly capable person can do to limit the video card. Lowering the voltage, and underclocking, is one of them.</p>
<p>Fishingmn - it definitely is an addiction! I tell my son that all the time - just like gambling, drugs and alcohol. My junior son returned home from college this fall and this was one of the reasons. He was out of control, skipping classes, etc. He enrolled in a local college and day one we insisted absolutely no WOW on school days - only Friday nights, Saturdays and Sunday afternoons. He fought it tooth and nail but we were firm and told him our house, our rules, he doesn't like it leave. I hated to do it but it was the absolute best thing we could have done and he absolutely knows we are right. He is now a straight A student. We still feel he's wasting his life on that stupid computer instead of going out and socializing on the weekends but I pick my battles. He claims he is at such a high level and plays with alot of guys in different time zones that a game can last for many, many hours into the wee hours of the morning. He realizes the addiction, isn't happy with it but realizes all he can do is go absolutely cold turkey and sell his character off. We quietly keep talking sense into him and hope that he will wake up and do it one of these days before he is too old and realizes that life passed him by.</p>
<p>Returning to my case. The 19 yr old S away at college. I am more afraid then when I made the original post about Warcraft . Replaying conversations. "Dad, do you think I have an addictive personality". "I have been having sleeping problems lately". " I have been very irritable". These conversations were not all at once, but over 5 days. Many before the Sunday early AM, when I decided there could be a problem.</p>
<p>What can I do? 1)I have decided to possibly downgrade to a dial up connection at home. DS was complaining about the internet connection at the GF's LAC dormitory. Not up to UT Austin's , so I guess it makes the game less attractive.</p>
<p>I looked at the history on our home desktop. He was seeking info from "guilds" or "mobs" and everyone seemed to have levels of 50 to 60.</p>
<p>1) I am debating cancelling the game. I assume I can do so as it was on my credit card. This will lead to great anger. Is it better to hope for the best till after finals or do this while there is 6 weeks left in the semester? What is less disruptive?</p>
<p>2) Contact roomate/best friend who is a serious kid, from our neighborhood, who is not an addicted game and whom I know fairly well to get his assessment?</p>
<p>Roomate would be approached in a relaxed "do you think he is playing too many computer games" hopefully sounding like your typical overprotective parent. I sure don't want to paint him as wacked out gamer.</p>
<p>I am not going to do anything rashly before at least a day or two of more thinking.</p>
<p>On the plus side, DS did drop Everquest voluntarily in the summer before Sr Yr of HighSchool. After a few hours of reading on a bulletin board for family members of addicted gamers, I realize that he was taking sensible steps by playing maybe an hr a day of simple non Multi User Role Playing Games.</p>
<p>How proactive to be? At the minimum I am going to take steps to make our home less attractive to this type of gaming over the summer.</p>
<p>PS, like others on this bbs, I may be addicted to online forums like this, which thankfully don't have the addictive qualities of these games. Who knows? There but for the grace of God go I.</p>
<p>Our youngest son wanted to cancel his WOW account and found out that because we had prepaid for 6 months (his money, my credit card) he could not. While talking to the service rep about my other son though, he did say that they can do some blocking from their end. Since we have the lock, I didn't think that was neccessary but you could find out about that option. We really did the lock as a last resort after nagging, pleading and threatning. We wanted our son to realize that he was in trouble and he just never did. The problem with the lock is that the problem is not solved, it's just controlled. Our hope is that with nicer weather and college friends home again he will see the other possibilities out there. </p>
<p>One uplifting moment came when the rep said that while looking at my older son's account he saw that the credit card would be expiring and I said I would not continue it anymore and handed the phone to my son. It was due to expire in Sept. and he said he didn't want to put it on his own card because he wasn't sure if he would want to continue playing then!!</p>
<p>I can't believe some of the things I read here about World of Warcraft. I've learned here that:
1. Quitting during a quest means blowing off other players and is analogous to walking off your job in real life.
2. High-level players are EXPECTED to devote many hours per week and can't just dabble a little bit here and there.
3. Not showing up to help your virtual guild is like not showing up for school or work.</p>
<p>I can't believe I'm saying this, but World of Warcraft makes the Academic Performance Cult seem sane in comparison. I've compared the Academic Performance Cult to the Pat Robertson brigade, the anti-evolution pro-Unintelligent-Design kooks of Kansas, and the anti-choice, pro-rapist kooks of Saudi Dakota. Well, the World of Warcraft makes the Academic Performance Cult look like the ACLU in comparison.</p>
<p>Texdad,
My freshman college S was what I would call a serious gamer in high school. We used to get into arguments about his gaming (we felt that it did negatively impact his grades and life outside of home, and there were times in the summer, when not away at camps w/out a computer, that he would spend days and nights mastering some new level or game). He played WoW and other strategy games. We set up parental controls that had the internet cut off at a certain time on school weeknights (I think 10:30), which was a problem when he needed to do research late into the night. We talked, argued, etc over limits... and gradually let him make more and more decisions about how long to play. </p>
<p>(This is one reason we never let him have a computer in his room. He is someone who can rush through work and easily forgo sleep to play the game. I'm glad we held the line on this.)</p>
<p>We worried about him going away to college and having no control. Thankfully, this hasn't happened. I emailed him today to ask why he thinks he's managed to control his gaming while getting good grades and being very involved in ECs at a challenging university. Here's his response:</p>
<p>"As for gaming, I think that college is too exciting to leave much time
for video games. It sort
of pales in comparison... though it can sometimes be a good way to
disconnect and relax after
a stressful week. I also think cost is a factor: there's no way I
could afford to keep up on all
the latest video games unless someone bought them for me. Similarly,
my computer isn't built for
gaming, and it probably wouldn't be able to handle most of the latest
and greatest titles."</p>
<p>Note, we do not give him an allowance (he earns his spending money from a paid internship) and we purposefully made sure the new computer his grandparents bought for graduation would not be capable of playing "the latest and greatest titles." It's a top-of-the-line, expensive laptop, but the video components are purposefully minimal. </p>
<p>To S's credit, he and his roommate decided ahead of time not to bring tvs or gaming systems for their dorm.</p>
<p>Texdad, I think your ideas about making your own home less attractive for gaming are good. I wouldn't go so far as to ask his roommate for info. though. I think that as an adult he needs to figure this stuff out for himself. I think your responsibility is to accurately and completely communicate to your S what the consequences of bad grades (however you define them) will be. For example, we told our S that if he gets bad grades -- less than 2.0 -- for whatever reason, he'll be either living at home for community college (which would be hell to him) or paying for college/room/board himself (which would be impossible). We also discussed what gpa (3.0) is required to get our (partial) support for grad school. Once you communicate the consequences, you've got to let him make his own decisions and mistakes. Gaming is addictive and for those of us who watch our loved ones get sucked out of real life into a virtual world that we aren't part of, it sucks, but it's not like it will permanently damage his physical or emotional health or harm anyone else. You overstepping at this point, however, might damage your relationship with him. If it were my son, I'd go out to lunch with him, ask "permission" to talk about an area of concern, honestly convey my observations and concerns, lay out the consequences in a clear, non-emotional way and then wish him well.</p>
<p>jhsu,</p>
<p>
[quote]
I can't believe some of the things I read here about World of Warcraft. I've learned here that:
1. Quitting during a quest means blowing off other players and is analogous to walking off your job in real life.
2. High-level players are EXPECTED to devote many hours per week and can't just dabble a little bit here and there.
3. Not showing up to help your virtual guild is like not showing up for school or work.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>One size DOES NOT fit all. I don't play on a regular schedule, I dabble, and I have left during instances only to be invited back later.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Maybe when they're still at home. But when they're in college, they can still buy and re-install a video card, so I don't see that as a great solution, either.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Just thought about this last night. This is an easy fix. Set a password in the BIOS. From there, disable the AGP slot. If you can't do that, set the aperature to the lowest possible setting. Either way, you render a video card essentially useless.</p>
<p>Unless it's a laptop. In that case, just make sure that the next time you buy your child a laptop, it's a bargain piece of crap. </p>
<p>Problem solved.</p>
<p>"There but for the grace of God go I."</p>
<p>Texdad - that's exactly what my husband told me when I discussed this with him. I think rather than incite his anger and remove the ability to play, I would impose restrictions on playtime. I would DEFINITELY not discuss this with his roomate! I think shutting off the computer at a certain time like 11 pm will not work too well since the later times are when the kids (men) in his guild are on and also you don't really know when a game will finish - this will lead to lots of anger and frustration. I would restrict it to a few days a week (Friday and Saturday nights) where he can play as long as he wants. He is the one that has to come to the conclusion that this is not good for him - keep talking to him, but until he realizes it himself, it's not going to make an impact on his addiction.<br>
My son is presently paying his own college tuition and therefore is having to work quite a bit. We told him we'd pay 4 years - not necessarily 4 consecutive years and since he blew off a semester he needs to establish his credibility again. So an additional option is to have your son get a job and give you a certain amount per week for savings. This will definitely get him away from the computer, meet other people and save for his future.</p>
<p>There are many stories in this thread which are similar: addictive gaming (video or role-playing), and lack of acknowledgment by the gamer. Have any studies been done discussing this phenomenon? Much has been written about alcohol or drug (or other addictions), but I have never seen any scientific studies specifically regarding gaming. Please post if you are aware of any. I'd like to send links to my s. ;-) He might listen (or at least read) data from outside sources!</p>
<p>Would you consider yourself addicted to EQ?</p>
<p>About two-thirds (62.1%, N=2328) of EQ players would consider themselves addicted to EQ. There are no significant age or gender differences.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/addiction.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/addiction.html</a></p>
<p>Just google "addicted" "Everquest" "WOw" "Warcraft" or any other terms!</p>
<p>On a related note, I think my 16-year-old D is addicted to MySpace.com. It sucks up just as much of her time as WoW did for S at that age.</p>
<p>I find this thread terrifying. I have a twelve yr old son who is a runescape junkie. He plays every free (post homework, sports, band practice, religious school) minute that he can. Does this mean that he will only get more into the computer games to the detriment of his social life and academics? Should I start restricting his Runescape time? Or, do you think it could just be a phase since he does have other interests? Any advice from those who know would be appreciated.</p>
<p>The Chinese Government has an interesting solution!</p>