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Night Elves Anonymous: MMORPG addicts seek psychotherapy

Posted by Cole Stryker

"...a typical sufferer seems to be a middle-aged guy who spends 40 hours a week on a quest to find magic elf pants."

The Boston Globe ran a story this weekend about a psychotherapist specializing in gaming addiction. Most interestingly, Block's clients view compulsive gaming as more shameful than porn addiction, because more people have been exposed to the concept of an addiction to pornography, whereas marathon gaming session are viewed as something only little kids do. How crazy is it that adult gaming still has such a negative stigma attached to it? Take Steve Carrell's character from 40 Year Old Virgin. Sure, he was obsessed with action figures and other geekery, but still, how much more lovable was he than some creepy porn fiend? 

The best part of this article is the photo featuring Jerald kicking it on one of those token "And how does that make you feel" therapy couches. I didn't know real therapists actually used those things.

Jerald Block is remarkably sympathetic towards gamers, and tries his best to downplay the link between compulsive gaming and violence. Incidentally, the New York Times just ran a blurb about the recent Akihabara stabbing, ending the article with the obligatory, "the killer also happened to like video games" clause. One of his favorite games was apparently Gran Turismo, "in which racing cars can crash". Why even bring this up? Big Ups to Dr. Block, who recognizes the realistic pitfalls gamers fall into, and brush off the fabricated ones created by media hysteria.


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Comments

Rob said:

There is a proven link between video games and violence.

I just played Burger Time and murdered Rachel Ray.  I'm not sure what will happen once I finally beat Battletoads, but I'm excited to find out.

June 10, 2008 3:12 PM

baskinrobbinz said:

L-O-L

June 10, 2008 11:03 PM

in

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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