Hey I have been reading for almost 14 hours and I couldn't find any solid concrete ways of overcoming MMORPG addiction and I wonder if there is any. Wouldn't it be helpful if there is one
Dilemma
Stop playing suffer great loss of self esteem
Continue suffer sever loss of life
In conclusion
The hell with all of it.

Explore the world, whether you want to or not. Meet new people, make enemies, make friends. Think of life as YOUR game that needs to be played. (without cheat codes of course..)

You could try switching to an MMO that is less addictive like WoW. In fact, the less you play the easier it is for you to level.

Manuel,

Not like you'll read this 3 months late, but...

You've got to stop playing man. You can try to come back to it later if you must, but at the point you're at now, just quit. Loss of self esteem comes from having your self worth tied to the game. Think of things you used to do that you enjoyed, and go do them. Also, it'll be tough at first since I'm guessing most of your social network is online, and your RL relationships aren't doing too well. That will change with time, and effort on your part.

Finally.... go to a doctor/psychiatrist/ psychologist. What you're describing sounds like compulsive gaming resulting from depression. There are lots of easy, cheap, or even free ways to see a psychologist even if you don't have health insurance. Going to see one doesn't mean you have to take their advice or any medication, but if you find a psychiatrist/psychologist you trust, why wouldn't you?

I've probably been where you are at... quit. Get medical help. Start living again.

PS: I think this site needs some information on gaming addiction problems, even it its just a link.

i hope mmorpg players read this
mmorpg addtiction is a very fucked up thing i was also once addticted . it really ruined my life for 2 years.. those are 2 years ill never get back. my 2 years went to SOE.. (who by the way ahve the ehtics of a drug dealer) all for what? for some lame pixiles and crap that does not exsist... worthless.. i use to get really drunk and play and than aleinate everyone on the server and my guild by talking shit to them i hated them and i hated my self for even playing that game.. but i could not stop. they offer the whole carrot on the stick and it never ends its a fucking chemeria. they will always give you something more to run after. a new uber item or a new level its garbage.. its all at the cost of time you cant get back agian.. you only live once.. why waste it trying to level your toon...jsut so the devs can "nerf" you eventully. so why put effort into nothing?....
i use to play ever quest 2 with some really sad people..NONE of them would admit they played mmorgs in "REAL LIFE" beacuse they were socialy inept people. i could tell by playing with them none of them had social skills. i remeber haveing conversations with some of them about how they hated real life and found the game world to be better.. a place where they could do things they could not in real life.... what a joke... you can do anything in real life if you want to..... it was sad..

MMORPG addiction should not be confused other types of addiction which are chemically based. Although many of the symptoms are the same, the methods of successful treatment are entirely different.

Like Rei pointed out, the addiction is one based self esteem, much like an addiction to a relationship. Although the addiction is caused by the effect of a continuous state of being, which is in turn caused by the presence of various chemicals in the brain (just an addiction to Cocaine, Coffee, Heroin or Alcohol). The important difference is that the presence of these chemicals is not the problem. The problem comes from the addicts inability to obtain this state of being without the object/activity. When you tell an addict of this kind that the object/activity is “bad”, you are essentially telling them that the state of being is wrong, which leads to further loss of self esteem, and a deeper addiction AND a increase in distance from whoever was trying to help the addict.

Now, as for treating the addiction. The addict needs to be able to trigger these feelings (normally self esteem) by other methods. What you use to do this is going to vary heavily from person to person. Physical activity of some kind would normally be the recommended by physicians, ironically because its highly chemically addictive itself, but has less social stigma attached to it and has massive health benefits as well. Of course, this may not be the best angle to take with your average MMORPG player, as many of us developed a deep seeded hatred of exercise during PE/Gym class! ^^ (learnt behaviour) And of course the way the Dr./Therapist will have phrased this will undoubtedly made this connection stronger.

As a former addict, I agree and sypathise with anyone suffering from it.

First, I don't think it's just a question getting self-esteem from the Game. It's also a question of escaping from RL to somewhere where your real problems don't exist. In that respect it is very very similar to alcoholism (which I also experienced) and other addictions. It's a way to blank out the pain of real life.

Recovery is probably both easier and harder than people think. Easier because, looking back on it, each individual step was way easier than I thought. When I finally stopped drinking, I just decided one day to tell me wife I was stopping, and that was it. I felt great and didn't go back.

When I decided to stop playing it was the same. I made a process out of it, and said goodbye to everyone online (partially as extra "insurance" in case I decided to come back). And once I went the first day without playing, I felt great too.

The harder part is sticking too it. I quit drinking at home, but still drink too much at parties and the pub sometimes. I still game obsessively with solo-gaming, once in a while. The difference is that now, neither booze nor gaming dominates my life at all. I feel I control it, rather than the other way around. I spend so much more time with my wife and children than before. I love to go walking and enjoy work a lot more too - and I haven't even had to become a puritan to do it!! ;)

Bottom line is: the first step is easier than you think, but it takes courage to take it. Courage you may not have right now (I didn't for ages). It really helps if you can talk to someone you love, you will probably be amazed at how understanding they are. In fact they will probably tell you they knew all along (or even tried to tell you).

Do something different. Remember you have probably lost a lot of perspective. You may feel there's no other way to live, but millions / billions of people get along fine without games or booze or whatever and are happy and healthy. You can fix it if you are willing to try.

I just woke up out of a mmorpg coma, just a few days to a week ago. From Everquest to World of Warcraft.

Lost girlfriend, friends, relatives, family and in the end my job. Endless arguments, verbal fights, aggitation.

I lost close to 4-5 years of my life to this addiction and so much of life I can't even imagine.

I want to stress that I in no way blame the game or anything else, even though it felt like I was under some wierd spell.

I beleive it had to do with self-Esteem, in conjunction with escape-ism. It was much better than real life.

I know I'm prone to getting addicted again if I start playing, but I just can't, god help me on this one, and I'm not even religious.

Working on becoming a work'a'holic instead, atleast to me that is one step better, being productive.

The hard thing will be facing people in the past, trying to salvage whatever relationship I can.

5 years... in a mmorpg coma, sigh, I feel pathetic, I could have done so much more with my life.

I wish anyone that has gone through the same the best of luck. Real life might suck compared to being in Azeroth, but maybe give it a try if you are in the same situation.

-= End of Rambling =-

Now it is time to make up for lost time, day and night, no rest...

Regards,
John, NJ

I feel like I used to have an mmo addiction. Nowadays the pull is similar, but I've gotten better at balancing what I feel is important (real life, relationships, friends, etc) with the online worlds. In my history, I've played EQ, FFXI, and WoW, among others... Currently I'm the most into WoW.

The summer after my senior year in high school was the time when I had the most problems with the addiction. Mostly because I had other RL concerns. I'd just moved houses, my dog of 7 or 8 years had recently passed away, I'd be starting college in the Fall, etc... all of these pressures led me to seek a sort of refuge in the online world. I would spend most of my free time, if not all of it, playing games.

When I started classes again, it became more and more of a problem. I remember I used to stay up past 2 or 3 AM playing games. Consequently, I'd usually end up falling asleep during my classes the next day. I had to learn to balance study time and game time. It wasn't an easy thing to learn, by any means... I still haven't completely perfected it. However, over time I've been able to limit the amount of time I spend in game to what I feel is more "casual" gameplay. One thing to remember is just how easy it is to forget how much time you spend online. It's very easy to get sucked in and then look at the clock and notice how an hour has already gone by. Try clocking the time you spend playing - you might be surprised!

Some tips for people suffering from a sort of mmo addiction. It IS possible to balance life and games, but it requires the ability to disconnect from the game at will. No matter what's going on in the game. Often times still I find myself worrying if I have to leave a group suddenly, or if I had promised someone I'd help them. However, for me, it's all about finding out what is MOST important. By my definition, that means things like family, friends, work, or school. Those are what I feel should be priorities. And those are what I prioritize.

The typical addict's mentality might be:
Don't let your friends, family, school, or work get in the way of your gaming.

What it should probably be:
Don't let your gaming get in the way of your friends, family, school, or work. :)

And above all, make sure that the experience is FUN. That's what it's for, after all. When mmo's become more like work, that's a sure sign that it's time to take a little break... Oh, and don't forget things like sleeping and eating. :)

Just my two cents.

I dont play mmo's i mostly play consoles - long games like oblivion, but i have suffered from gaming addiction too. Something im recovering from with the realization that i have a chronic fear of RL success - not failure, SUCCESS. This has been caused by an over-rewarding family relationship. I think when you succeed in VR you know its not real so it satisfies natural human needs for acheivement but does not engage you fully in that success. For me this problem has plagued my life to such an extent that the act of doing something useful like housework(a kind of success) fills me with angst and self-derision. Its a very slippery concept, but one ive found has helped me immensely in recognising it. Im learning to self-challenge myself in the smallest of ways seeing incremental victories everywhere. It has really helped my self-esteem. Fear No Victory! i hope this is useful

Just a heads up Nick, the 3 links above don't work, clicking them ends up getting one at random instead of a specific profile.

Fixed - Thanks for pointing that out Mage5625.

yeah, i'm also a former addict. =/ played WoW for two years, had a 60 NE druid before Burning Crusade launched, after that made a blood elf rogue and got her to 70.

i wasted two summers in front of the computer playing that game. i don't even know why i did it. i think it's because i used to be really quiet and shy at school, but it was easier to talk to people online. plus i felt like i was really getting good at the game, while in real life all i could say i could do was do well in school... blah. :[ when i made friends in real life who played WoW, i felt a little less guilty about playing it so much. when school started back up, i still played a lot. my parents ended up blocking WoW for certain hours of the day, and i would get really irritated when they didn't unblock it on time. once again, i don't even know why... well, i wanted to be in time for the guild raid so i could get new gear for my toons xD i knew it sounded ridiculous but it seemed like a good enough reason to play at the time. my parents thought that WoW was making me do worse in school, but i actually did the best i had ever done in school (first semester of junior year, the peak of my addiction, i got a 4.4 GPA). i don't know what to say about that but i was so eager to prove that my addiction wasn't harmful to me. too bad i didn't know that it was harmful in the long run, in lost relationships =/

but i didn't see that at the time, because i had made friends with my guildies. they were like a whole other family to me, weird as that sounds... >.> i still talk to them from time to time on AIM, but ever since i "woke up" i haven't been on much... it makes me sick to go on, really.

there were sone factors that led to my realization. my guild in WoW was becoming successful. we had a strict raiding schedule and everyone adhered to it - none of us wanted to let the guild down. honestly, the game felt more like a job than a GAME. jeez. (what the heck was i thinking? >

which led to me to start making alt chars... which i tired of... and then i just...

stopped playing!

when i told my friends that i was thinking of giving up WoW, they actually scoffed at me. they knew how it went down usually, they'd seen it before by the actions of other friends. usually a person quits but starts back up again a week later. but for me, a whole month went by, and i did not even want to play at all.

as a test, i went on my old toon and tried to do some quests. nothing. i was over the game. i only wished i had realized how much of a waste it was sooner =/ i gave up piano, guitar, and horsebackriding... all for a stupid game.

even though i don't play anymore, i still have the game on my computer. and i still have my trusty rogue, that i spent so much time getting gear for. i wanted to try to sell her or something, or give her away, or just delete her. but the truth is, i can't. i put too much work into that toon, and i feel deleting her would just solidify the fact that i wasted my time working to perfect something that doesn't even exist.

i haven't played in about 5 months now. i don't think i'm going back.

tips for those addicts out there - i know it seems that the game is greater than real life. IT'S NOT. trust me! there's so much out there to do! go outside! it's not as bad as it seems! trust me... :] just remember.

rl > WoW, guild wars, everquest, whatever you play.

:] gl guys. have fun. :D

9/6/2011
people are still playing mmo's.
mmo's are still the same.
many of us now experiment with modding and/or programming. social networking sites are starting to integrate into mmo's. soon you'll be able to swipe your barcode to log in.
I was DropThief, skankalicious, GoldSpammer and many others, in the last days of our glorious and mad civilization.