Thanks, Mark!

I often find people who worry about what I call "wowcaholism," that is, folks whose lives are ruined or productivity shot to hell because they can't help but play wow (or some other game) all the time. MMOs seem to get the worst press for this, perhaps because of the old days when people had to pay by the hour and ran up irresponsibly large phone or AOL bills (thinking here of Neverwinter Nights Online in particular). I still run into people who think that WoW or MMOs in general are extremely expensive, when in reality they are quite cheap (assuming you already have an internet connection).

From what I've seen, "wow addiction" is usually a case of someone not doing things they really didn't like doing in the first place, such as hanging out with the family, doing chores, or "spending quality time" with a loved one. If those things aren't fun or important to someone, then something like WoW is a handy excuse. Oh, I don't spend more time studying because of WoW. That feels better to think than "I don't study because I'm too lazy," or "I don't study because I don't really don't care about school" or even "I don't study because I'm not really worried or concerned about my future career." It's really about not wanting to accept responsibility for your own decisions.