I've been thinking. And I've also been observing World of Warcraft. All the events on each holiday, all the hours to days spent on getting the achievement, mount title. What irks me the most is that Blizzard is using real life past times, such as getting presents on Christmas Day, fireworks at 12AM on New years day, with stuff anyone could try in real life.
But that's not the only issue. The company wants players to spend hours a day, grinding and farming for gear to play end game. New players have to spend $140 + $15 monthly fee to reach the level 85 cap, and raid with everyone else. Casual players have complained for years, that they shouldn't fall behind in the best raiding dungeons because they don't have time to sit there and complete the steps needed to achieve end game. Although Blizzard claims they want to appeal to the casual audience, they know doing so, they lose money to players who prefer to work hard to achieve at the best raiding dungeons.
Blizzard has implements some systems, but it has appealed to stupid players that do nothing but complain on the forums over spilled milk rather than the casual players who desire to play the game but do not have to time to play end game.
You cannot play casually in World of Warcraft, because if you do miss a day playing the game, or even miss a minute, you will fall behind. By the time you "casually" have completed the steps, and finally got geared, a new patch a settled in, a new raid, a new challenging boss, and yay better gear, you fall behind, and you have to complete the steps all over again to catch up to everyone else.
I feel like Blizzard is doing this on purpose. I tried out cataclysm, but in the end, it's no better than the previous expansions. It's just chasing the carrot on the stick, and every other update, you do it again. It's farming and grinding. I feel like Blizzard is exploiting people's addictions, and that's not fair. A lawyer found this out and also is about to sue Blizzard and other gaming companies and try to make it so there are warning labels or game timers in their games.
If McDonald's is purposely making the Big Mac tastier and fattier, compelling people to come back and eat it again, and get fatter. If Mcdonalds is purposely making people fat, would a lawyer sue?
So what is your point?
Should Blizzard donate money to organizations like Olga to help provide resources for those who are trying to help people who get addicted to their product, they designed deliberately to addict?
That would be cool. If a lawyer could make a case to force that, awesome....
A bit o loot thrown toward Olga to help in the aftermath life mess those games were designed to create..... nice... that wouldn't kill anyone...
QUOTE -
If McDonald's is purposely making the Big Mac tastier and fattier, compelling people to come back and eat it again, and get fatter. If Mcdonalds is purposely making people fat, would a lawyer sue?
QUOTE
That is my point. Blizzard purposely getting people addicted and making a buck off it, Blizzard purposely finding ways to keep people staring at the screen. No one said anything about donations.
And that said lawyer wants to add warning labels to video game boxes, and required addiction warnings while the player is playing, and remind players how long they've been playing.
do you want to try to sue a billion dollar company?
do you know how much money they have in their legal force?
leveling in steps, serenity, sponcys, sponsors, exercise, and sleep, (sanity has been downsized) sober from all electronic games since 11/19/2010
I think this was discused before,but i forget the exact post.
I agree on the fact that those gaming cos. that do make these games which require alot of invested time to play,and get anywhere should at least be made accountable to put warning lables on there products,about the content of it being very time consuming,and can possibly become an addiction.Like the warning lables they put on tobbaco products already.
I mean we all know that these developers have a right to make there game/games,but a disclaimer/warning somewhere on the box would be nice info to give to new people,and parents buying games for there kids a heads up that might happen to be interested in trying it out.Hopefully there will be at least something like that in the near future.
"It's all in your mind...Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life.If you continue to believe as you have always believed,you will continue to act as you have always acted.If you continue to act as you have always acted,you will continue to get what you have always gotten.If you want different results in your life or your work,all you have to do is change your mind." Anonymous...
It's just a very good reason not to play thier games. I certainly won't be playing.
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. ~Maria Robinson
Blizzard, and Sony, etc. are very shrewd and know full well what they're doing.
Yes they make their MMOs addicting, especially for someone who has an addictive personality.
Truth be told, there are people who can and do play WoW, EQ, etc. casually. Our site and fellowship is not for them because they do not have a problem controlling the amount of time spent online.
I did. Days and days and hours upon hours farming gold, rep, mats, whatever was my life. This organization and fellowship helped me look inside myself and address the real problem - which was my addiction and my inability to limit the time spent gaming.
Online gaming is not an option for me, but that was a difficult choice I had to make.
I like the idea of a warning label, especially for parents buying these MMOs for their minor children. How many well-intended parents put Cataclysm under the Christmas Tree this year with little knowledge of what the game is, how it works, etc. When I first explained to my parents how games like WoW have no pause button, no end, they were confused.
Anyway - I'm reluctant and cautious to blame the gaming companies when it comes to my addiction and problem with MMOs. I started playing at 24 and stopped years later - all adult years. Sure I didn't create my first toon thinking "Well, I'm kissing my reality good-bye," but after seeking help through OLGA and counseling I realized that the problem was my addiction to the games.
-6 Years Free of Online Gaming-
And to just add quickly to what Solei mentioned, OLGA doesn't take positions on outside issues such as a possible lawsuit against gaming companies or warning labels, although I'm sure we'd follow something like that with great interest. Questions such as these are, however interesting, outside the scope of our mission.
Jane in CT
The fallacy is here: some people can play MMO's without getting addicted. And some of us DO get addicted.
I can drink in a bar and have one drink. Other people cannot have just one.
Should we sue bars and companies that produce alcholic beverages? Of course not.
As much as I dislike Blizzard, they are a company out to make $$$...not to improve human beings and the environment. And they do it well. Too well. They use excellent marketing techniques as well as psychological theories to "hook" people into being Blizzard's hamster on the never-ending wheel.
In my humble opinion, those of us who have addictive personalities need to be vary of where/what we focus. It is self-responsibility.
The question is....will you be able/courageous/adult enough to sacrifice that which merely pleases you...for that which will truly fulfill you? That is the question of personal growth.
~~~Dem518
~~~wow-free since 8/22/09
This
"There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative." --W. Clement Stone
It is a really complicated issue.
When Microsoft raises the price of the Office Suite and can get away with it because Word and Excel are defacto standards, is that cause for the government or courts to step in?
Even something so widely aknowledged to be potentially addictive like alcohol elicits a wide range of opinions and many people are misinformed. For example is it better to serve wine and beer to adolescents at home in moderate quantities or have a zero tolerance policy until the age of majority? There is no consensus on this and I have not heard much of suing alcohol companies.
I think public awareness of the dangers of some games for some people is building. But its going to take time.
I will continue to make an effort to warn friends of the dangers of letting their children play unrestricted.
And BTW I heard today of someone leaving Facebook because he felt it was deliberately programmed to make it more addictive so as to ensure more people spend more time on Facebook. So if even so-called 'benign' software developers prey on potential addicts what hope is there really?
- pete
Olga/non member since Dec. 2008 Check out my latest video on Gaming Addiction and public awareness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-6JZLnQ29o