WingColors

There are more WoW players in the United States than full-time farmers (source) so if Dr. Phil thinks that it's a "shocking trend" then he's an idiot.

If you're busy playing video games on your computer then you can't be busy stealing stuff from stores, doing drugs, drinking and driving, or any number of activities that are actually bad and/or illegal.

I don't listen to Dr. Phil or take to heart most of the things he tells/recommends to those who go to him for advice and counseling. However, it is definitely entertaining to watch some people who go on the show. The most recent one in my memory would be former child-star Danny Bonaduce. Those familiar with the former Patridge Family cast member know him to be a screw-loose cannon and all-around American badboy. I agree with the previous poster that if Mr. Bonaduce would spend some time playing video games he would have less time to devote to being a bad boy.

What do you all think?
-Are these trends really shocking or new to this generation?
-Is it fair at all to compare the two activities?
-Is the level of personal responsibility equal in those two situations?

1. For gaming: It's a new addiction, so yes, I think it's pretty unique to this generation of gamers (which spans many proper generations). Pimping out cars has been around as long as the car.
2. As somebody who drives at 120mph every so often (on a motorway, not a street), I don't think you can really compare the two. I drive like that because everybody else in the fast lane is. If they're not, I don't.
3. Well there's more risk to other people when you're driving fast. You can very easily destroy a lot of life by having a crash at that speed. So no, they probably don't balance out.

But something I can relate to is a proper MMO addiction. A couple of years back I was addicted to a crappy, flash-based MMO called Dofus. And I mean addicted. Every day for over a month I found myself pouring a good 18-20 hours into it, trying to level up my elite baking skills so I could sell bread to buy kit. I was part of a guild and we had fun meeting up and beating up sheep, amongst other things.

It took my two housemates a few interventions to really highlight how bad that was for me and I can't thank them enough for it. In my eyes, at the time, I was having the most fun anybody could have but in reality, it was pretty mundane stuff and an utter waste of time.

I'm not saying everybody is like me in this respect -- if they were, civilisation would have devolved already -- but there might be some people out there without the self control, like me but also without the people around them to say "enough is enough".

I wouldn't like to hypothesise where I would be today had I carried on playing so I think it's important that people are aware that you can get addicted to games when they have social cores like most MMOs. That way people like me still stuck in their poison-of-choice can get the help they need.