MMORPG players at greatest risk of addiction

Gaming addiction is currently the fastest growing addiction in the world with online role playing games (MMORPG) as the biggest risk.

Over the last decade, the concept of internet addiction has grown in terms of its acceptance as a legitimate clinical disorder.

More and more centres are being formed with a focus on gaming addictions and university campuses starting support groups to help students struggling with the online gaming habits.

A large part of MMORPG is the creation of a virtual world. Immersion into these worlds provides users with an escape, similar to that experienced while on a drug, which can be intoxicating and addictive.

Games have greatly evolved from the player versus computer games of the 1980s, such as Pacman and Donkey Kong.

By the early 1990s game ‘experiences’ were popular where a player is immersed into a fantasy world. These games too were mostly player versus computer but the player had the option of enriching and altering their virtual world by choosing different weapons and characters.

By the late 1990s online games evolved to be more than games but rather living, three-dimensional, self contained societies.

As pressures from the outside society become too strong, players spend more and more of their time living in the virtual world and less time living in the real world.

Treatment for gaming addiction is similar to that for any drug or gambling addiction. Addicts must learn to live without their games and they must have a strong support network in the real world.

If support is not available for them, it is common for addicts to seek support from their online friends, therefore slipping back into the virtual world where they may not be able to come out of again.

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