Stupid News: WoW Therapy
Therapists Join World of Warcraft to Treat Addicted Players
First of all, this is hilarious. Secondly, leave it to Sweden, a country that doesn't even know what crack cocaine is, to make a retarded analogy in their study. Sweden is nothing but white people! [/inappropriatebell]
To be honest, this article really is of little substance. I really am tired of people attempting to turn everything, video games included, into a social disorder. Do you know what kids want to do? Things that entertain them. They are not adults; they have little to no concept of responsibility or metering. When I was a kid, I would sit and literally read for TEN HOURS. Did I have a literary disorder? NO!
This is something that comes up now and again and it's always from a therapist/psychologist/lawyer who wants attention. This is not the way legitimate issues come up. Here's how you can tell - Yahoo News knows about this before Activision/Blizzard does. Do you know who communicates to people through news organizations rather than directly?
I don't want to be specific, so I will just say terrorists.
This bugs me simply because it gives a bad name to the field of psychology in general, although honestly that's the field's biggest problem - it's got just as many idiots as brilliant minds. Do I think some kids who play WoW have a social disorder? Absolutely, but with 12 million subscribers, they probably have some serial killers, rapists, and pedophiles too. I also buy that these kids use WoW to act out their disorders - just as everyone with a disorder needs something to show for it. But there are a few notable things I don't believe, and this is as someone who has been playing World of Warcraft for about four and a half years now. I do not believe that WoW is CREATING this problem, nor do I believe that WoW is a magnet for people WITH this problem. WoW is a name and a brand that is easily identifiable even to people who have no real knowledge of it. It also has, as I stated, A LOT of subscribers. Of COURSE there will be people who have issues putting aside the keyboard, but I wouldn't say a single one of them who is a kid has a disorder, unless that disorder is called childhood. Believe it or not, it actually takes a long time to get things done in this game. You could work towards a single goal for WEEKS and only be half done. And don't get it wrong, it is work. Call me crazy but I don't think anyone actually enjoys picking herbs to level their Alchemy skill for hours on end. And when you actually accomplish something, hey! It's a reward for your work! This isn't a game that sucks you into playing it for fifty hours in a row by just having you kill bad guys over and over again. And here's another thing - WoW is a very social place. Very few people get by in the game without being a member of a guild, having friends, and meeting new people. This is not to say that WoW is a replacement for being outside and interacting with society normally. Certainly not. My point is simply that it is not just sitting in your room alone like some lunatic in a straitjacket, mainlining some pretty flashing lights into your eyeballs. You do occasionally get rare mounts, too.
I could make a joke about how the gist of this article is that a lot of therapists just want a free WoW sub, but the truth is that the real joke of this article is the proposed approach: take a bunch of therapists (who presumably are busy) to level up characters (on Alliance and Horde, mind you) and give therapy sessions to kids who are in the middle of playing a game. Let's just assume for a second that a therapist has the time to be a therapist and get a shaman to end-game content (for someone who doesn't know this game, this would be months of work). Where are you going to have these therapy sessions? In Ulduar, when your troubled young ward is main tanking a boss? I suppose you expect to have some breakthrough as he's running a flag back in Warsong Gulch. Maybe you'll both mount up on your netherdrakes and talk about your feelings as he's mining for Saronite in Icecrown. See, that's a little joke there because it would take a therapist another ten fucking years to get the money for Artisan flying AND a netherdrake. Do you see why this is absurd? You're not talking to a kid face to face. He's in his room, playing a game. If someone had a baseball obsession, would you try to reason with him on the pitcher's mound? Even better, imagine the likelihood of him picking up his phone to talk with you about it, because in this scenario you aren't even sharing a building together.
The reason why this article annoys me is because this is the attitude held about gamers in general. We're all irresponsible children with some kind of crazy light show addiction. That's simply not the case. Maybe it's the terminology that's to blame. We're gamers. People read that and cannot imagine how we take a game seriously. But games really aren't games anymore, for the most part. They've become more akin to interactive films. There are characters, stories, plot twists in games that could not have been done more effectively in another form of media. Take Silent Hill 2, for example. Would you call walking inside the psychology of a troubled man's mind a game? Does it sound like fun?
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying games aren't fun, nor am I saying that we don't play them because they are. What I'm saying is that they are not the simplistic light show they were when a lot of people became familiar with them. And those people do not realize that games have evolved to please people on more levels than simple animal entertainment. Many games are also intellectually stimulating. I will say this time and time again: Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 has some of the best character writing that I've seen. Same goes with Max Payne 2, despite the cliche of the name. Now, are there games that are only fun and have no depth? Of course there are. Games like Left 4 Dead or Street Fighter IV have little to no plot whatsoever. But the same can be said of every form of media. Who hasn't read a throwaway novel, or watched a stupid televion show, or a ridiculous movie? Or for that matter, read a stupid news article? Not one person.
Furthermore, 90% of games nowadays DO have a plot structure, and are not just "kill the asteroids" or "run away from the ghosts" over and over. Halo 3, another game that is a smash with the teenage idiot demographic, absolutely is a plot-driven game, and even has a series of novels that add to the backstory of the franchise. Granted, multiplayer is not plot driven, but of everyone who plays that game, very few if any have not been through the campaign mode of the game. Call of Duty 4 is another example. Yes, the game is largely soldier on soldier combat, but there is a script, and some major characters die in a surprisingly depressing way.
This is all sort of tangential to my main point, but as long as I have to make it, be it in writing or discussion, I will on the basis of what I've presented here. I am TIRED of adults, attempting either in ignorance or through manipulation of the ignorance of others, to make these retarded social Alamos for the sake of name recognition. A good therapist is not good because he's a businessman first, and a great therapist doesn't have a pathological need to be a household name, because they know that it's not about them. Your remuneration for your service comes in the form of physical currency, not social recognition. Which is why anytime I see one trying to "make a stand" on a social issue, video game addiction or not, I roll my eyes. But unlike with others, I feel that I am a part of the gamer crowd, and when you're taking a shot at the whole (even granted that a lot of gamers are kids or stupid, there's just no avoiding that) that you're also questioning my sensibilities as a person as well. Stop trying to draw attention to yourselves...it's just annoying and needless. Blizzard is not going to give you free accounts. You're not going to do the work involved to actually associate with the kids that you're "so concerned over". And when you try to group with them or send them a tell in game, you're going to find out how easy it is for them to write "/ignore" followed by your character name.
If you want to impress the world with your problem, SHOW US RESULTS FIRST. There's not some kind of elaborate hoop system you have to go through to play World of Warcraft. You install it, and you give Blizzard your credit card info. Or is $15 a month too much for a therapist? Join a realm, repair some young child of his insane disorder (Phat Lewt > Math Homework [sidebar: great guild name if you could use symbols]), and then show the world that your great big heart is the cure we've all been looking for.
Of course, being as how this is on Yahoo News, a news source I wouldn't take over The Onion, maybe this really is a nonissue. But I saw it and it annoyed me, so deal with it!!!
If Dr. Richard Graham has his way, massively popular online game World of Warcraft will soon get an unofficial new character class: the therapist.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the London psychiatrist is spearheading a movement that would let mental health workers join online game worlds as avatars in order to better treat players suffering from game addiction.
Dr. Graham believes the key is reaching at-risk players on their own turf.
"Those affected don't exhibit the same outward warning signs as most teenage anti-social behaviour issues do because they're in their bedrooms most of the time, seemingly out of trouble," he told the Telegraph. "Because of this we can't get through to them in the traditional educational environment or intrude on their actual bedrooms -- we need to turn to the Internet itself to tackle these problems."
The issue of game addiction itself is still quite thorny. The American Medical Association still doesn't consider game addiction to be a legitimate disorder, while other reports -- including a Swedish study claiming that Warcraft is "more addictive than crack cocaine" -- say otherwise.
Graham hopes to launch the project "by the end of the year," and has called on Warcraft maker Blizzard to possibly give therapists free access to the game. He also notes that since most therapists probably aren't Warcraft experts, the project could potentially recruit gamers to act as "peer mentors" and help identify troubled players.
First of all, this is hilarious. Secondly, leave it to Sweden, a country that doesn't even know what crack cocaine is, to make a retarded analogy in their study. Sweden is nothing but white people! [/inappropriatebell]
To be honest, this article really is of little substance. I really am tired of people attempting to turn everything, video games included, into a social disorder. Do you know what kids want to do? Things that entertain them. They are not adults; they have little to no concept of responsibility or metering. When I was a kid, I would sit and literally read for TEN HOURS. Did I have a literary disorder? NO!
This is something that comes up now and again and it's always from a therapist/psychologist/lawyer who wants attention. This is not the way legitimate issues come up. Here's how you can tell - Yahoo News knows about this before Activision/Blizzard does. Do you know who communicates to people through news organizations rather than directly?
I don't want to be specific, so I will just say terrorists.
This bugs me simply because it gives a bad name to the field of psychology in general, although honestly that's the field's biggest problem - it's got just as many idiots as brilliant minds. Do I think some kids who play WoW have a social disorder? Absolutely, but with 12 million subscribers, they probably have some serial killers, rapists, and pedophiles too. I also buy that these kids use WoW to act out their disorders - just as everyone with a disorder needs something to show for it. But there are a few notable things I don't believe, and this is as someone who has been playing World of Warcraft for about four and a half years now. I do not believe that WoW is CREATING this problem, nor do I believe that WoW is a magnet for people WITH this problem. WoW is a name and a brand that is easily identifiable even to people who have no real knowledge of it. It also has, as I stated, A LOT of subscribers. Of COURSE there will be people who have issues putting aside the keyboard, but I wouldn't say a single one of them who is a kid has a disorder, unless that disorder is called childhood. Believe it or not, it actually takes a long time to get things done in this game. You could work towards a single goal for WEEKS and only be half done. And don't get it wrong, it is work. Call me crazy but I don't think anyone actually enjoys picking herbs to level their Alchemy skill for hours on end. And when you actually accomplish something, hey! It's a reward for your work! This isn't a game that sucks you into playing it for fifty hours in a row by just having you kill bad guys over and over again. And here's another thing - WoW is a very social place. Very few people get by in the game without being a member of a guild, having friends, and meeting new people. This is not to say that WoW is a replacement for being outside and interacting with society normally. Certainly not. My point is simply that it is not just sitting in your room alone like some lunatic in a straitjacket, mainlining some pretty flashing lights into your eyeballs. You do occasionally get rare mounts, too.
I could make a joke about how the gist of this article is that a lot of therapists just want a free WoW sub, but the truth is that the real joke of this article is the proposed approach: take a bunch of therapists (who presumably are busy) to level up characters (on Alliance and Horde, mind you) and give therapy sessions to kids who are in the middle of playing a game. Let's just assume for a second that a therapist has the time to be a therapist and get a shaman to end-game content (for someone who doesn't know this game, this would be months of work). Where are you going to have these therapy sessions? In Ulduar, when your troubled young ward is main tanking a boss? I suppose you expect to have some breakthrough as he's running a flag back in Warsong Gulch. Maybe you'll both mount up on your netherdrakes and talk about your feelings as he's mining for Saronite in Icecrown. See, that's a little joke there because it would take a therapist another ten fucking years to get the money for Artisan flying AND a netherdrake. Do you see why this is absurd? You're not talking to a kid face to face. He's in his room, playing a game. If someone had a baseball obsession, would you try to reason with him on the pitcher's mound? Even better, imagine the likelihood of him picking up his phone to talk with you about it, because in this scenario you aren't even sharing a building together.
The reason why this article annoys me is because this is the attitude held about gamers in general. We're all irresponsible children with some kind of crazy light show addiction. That's simply not the case. Maybe it's the terminology that's to blame. We're gamers. People read that and cannot imagine how we take a game seriously. But games really aren't games anymore, for the most part. They've become more akin to interactive films. There are characters, stories, plot twists in games that could not have been done more effectively in another form of media. Take Silent Hill 2, for example. Would you call walking inside the psychology of a troubled man's mind a game? Does it sound like fun?
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying games aren't fun, nor am I saying that we don't play them because they are. What I'm saying is that they are not the simplistic light show they were when a lot of people became familiar with them. And those people do not realize that games have evolved to please people on more levels than simple animal entertainment. Many games are also intellectually stimulating. I will say this time and time again: Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 has some of the best character writing that I've seen. Same goes with Max Payne 2, despite the cliche of the name. Now, are there games that are only fun and have no depth? Of course there are. Games like Left 4 Dead or Street Fighter IV have little to no plot whatsoever. But the same can be said of every form of media. Who hasn't read a throwaway novel, or watched a stupid televion show, or a ridiculous movie? Or for that matter, read a stupid news article? Not one person.
Furthermore, 90% of games nowadays DO have a plot structure, and are not just "kill the asteroids" or "run away from the ghosts" over and over. Halo 3, another game that is a smash with the teenage idiot demographic, absolutely is a plot-driven game, and even has a series of novels that add to the backstory of the franchise. Granted, multiplayer is not plot driven, but of everyone who plays that game, very few if any have not been through the campaign mode of the game. Call of Duty 4 is another example. Yes, the game is largely soldier on soldier combat, but there is a script, and some major characters die in a surprisingly depressing way.
This is all sort of tangential to my main point, but as long as I have to make it, be it in writing or discussion, I will on the basis of what I've presented here. I am TIRED of adults, attempting either in ignorance or through manipulation of the ignorance of others, to make these retarded social Alamos for the sake of name recognition. A good therapist is not good because he's a businessman first, and a great therapist doesn't have a pathological need to be a household name, because they know that it's not about them. Your remuneration for your service comes in the form of physical currency, not social recognition. Which is why anytime I see one trying to "make a stand" on a social issue, video game addiction or not, I roll my eyes. But unlike with others, I feel that I am a part of the gamer crowd, and when you're taking a shot at the whole (even granted that a lot of gamers are kids or stupid, there's just no avoiding that) that you're also questioning my sensibilities as a person as well. Stop trying to draw attention to yourselves...it's just annoying and needless. Blizzard is not going to give you free accounts. You're not going to do the work involved to actually associate with the kids that you're "so concerned over". And when you try to group with them or send them a tell in game, you're going to find out how easy it is for them to write "/ignore" followed by your character name.
If you want to impress the world with your problem, SHOW US RESULTS FIRST. There's not some kind of elaborate hoop system you have to go through to play World of Warcraft. You install it, and you give Blizzard your credit card info. Or is $15 a month too much for a therapist? Join a realm, repair some young child of his insane disorder (Phat Lewt > Math Homework [sidebar: great guild name if you could use symbols]), and then show the world that your great big heart is the cure we've all been looking for.
Of course, being as how this is on Yahoo News, a news source I wouldn't take over The Onion, maybe this really is a nonissue. But I saw it and it annoyed me, so deal with it!!!
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