Recent Comments:
The Daily Grind: How should we fight addiction?
Massively
Oct 3rd 2008 3:01PM Wow, two articles on this in as many days?
I left a comment on the other one, but to expand upon it: people who get addicted to video games have addictive personalities and will get addicted to something else until they deal with the root cause of the propensity.
It's not video games' faults, as there's no physical change being wrought to your body as in the demonstrative case of drugs. It's a psychological and habitual thing, and if it's not over video games it will be television or driving fast or eating cookies.
If we break things down like this we're failing to acknowledge personal responsibility and personal involvement and are instead actively saying "these things" are the reason for the addiction when they aren't.
So no, I wouldn't deny that people can get addicted to MMOGs any more than someone can get addicted to arguing online, but the root cause is not a chemical dependency and shouldn't be stigmatized any more than we'd go after people who play paintball or laser tag too much.
And though I have sympathies for people who couldn't draw the line and let things get destructive, they're in the minority and that should be highlighted in any mention of a "problem."
Recovering MMO addict chronicles his struggle
Massively
Oct 3rd 2008 11:15AM While I think it's brave to admit you have an issue and speak out about that in hopes of helping others, a perusal of the site in question (and the repeated comments by its author even here) really makes me doubt the sincerity unfortunately.
What started out as accepting personal responsibility for an addictive personality that has clearly bridged across several mediums quickly seems to suggest the author really does feel it's these things that have suckered him in and not his own willpower issues. Repeatedly describing WoW as having a compulsive draw, etc, it's difficult to see if he means to him or overall.
I've played many hundreds of games in my life, from MMOGs to offline RTSes and FPSes and any other acronyms. Never have I needed to make a choice between paying for a video game or eating, or the consequences therein. While the blog initially struck me as an appropriate commentary on how someone can get addicted to anything and realizing the consequences of it, it really seems to be more about subtle fingerpointing as if Blizzard is peddling drugs and we all have no ability to resist.
Unfortunately if someone has a propensity for addiction, they're going to get addicted to anything, be it television or collecting stamps. The issue that needs illumination is that one, and not borderline implications that the video game itself is at fault. I hope for the author's sake he realizes that, and realizes that it's only going to be his willpower that kicks his addiction to all of his issues.
The Daily Grind: Sick of high fantasy yet?
Massively
Sep 26th 2008 4:07PM I'd love a sci-fi MMOG; when I heard one was coming based on the Warhammer series I immediately hoped it was the 40k end of the spectrum. There's such a wide variety of content available there that it was a little disappointing to see they went with the fantasy line instead.
The editor-in-chief giveaway: Win Ryan Block's gadgets
Engadget
Aug 24th 2008 4:28AM I would like things.
Things would be quite nice.
Tools of the trade: Scratch for SL
Massively
Jul 17th 2008 4:14AM I don't know if it's a great idea to pimp this out when the scripts it generates are ridiculously unoptimized. A simple script that causes an object to say something on touch, which is under 10 lines, comes out to over 400 lines with this program.
It's a great idea but I'm utterly terrified of the performance hit sims will take if people start running around wearing these scripts.
New non-Linden grid opening [updated]
Massively
Feb 15th 2008 3:02PM Since this article is still kindof off I wanted to let everyone know that there has been an official press release made available about realXtend, OpenSim and the viewer.
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/other-grids-virtual-worlds/7027-now-here-real-shiny-realxtend-joins-opensim.html
OpenLifeGrid is a commercial application of OpenSim code and OpenSim has been around since 2007. The rex viewer is an extension of that and developed for OpenSim and has nothing to do with OpenLifeGrid aside from the fact that OpenLifeGrid is operating on code developed and made available for free by the OpenSim team. While undoubtedly OpenLifeGrid will make use of the rex viewer and server code, the realXtend team developed it for OpenSim and not specifically OpenLifeGrid.
One Shots: Valentines cute overload!
Massively
Feb 14th 2008 4:50PM I came back to say in my first comment I was kidding, but it turns out I was actually correct, so that's the surest sign of any that I need to leave the internet and never come back. :O
Win an LCD HDTV, Xbox 360, and plenty of Old Spice
Engadget HD
Feb 5th 2008 1:06AM Oh god I really need the TV.
Enter to win a $5k Dell WoW Edition notebook
WOW Insider
Dec 18th 2007 10:28AM Another entry. :D Horde please.
