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More and more information is coming our way about MMORPG addiction, which is taking the place of last decade’s claims of Internet addiction. No doubt this is in great part due to the success of World of Warcraft (WoW), which has shattered previous MMORPG sales records, and dwarfed the legendary Everquest in player base. Ars Technica reports on WoW addiction, and cites clinical psychologist Dr. Maressa Hecht Orzack, who claims that 40 percent of WoW gamers are addicted.

Forty percent sounds like a heavily-inflated number, and Orzack implied in an e-mail to Ars Technica that the number could be smaller, at least in line with the percentage of users addicted to other behaviors. As if Orzack couldn’t make herself look any less knowledgable, Orzack then made some interesting assertions.

Orzack feels that the games are at fault more than the players. “This isn’t about willpower or restraint,” she said in an interview. “These games are very elaborately designed to ease you in gently, entice you, and keep you there. And it’s a cycle: people begin to spend too much time playing and their careers and personal relationships begin to deteriorate.”

How is recognizing the draw of a game and consciously balancing one’s play-time with real life not a matter of willpower or restraint? Does Orzack not know the definition of these two words?

Orzack, no doubtedly siding with “victims” of the gaming industry, then proposes a solution for this era’s new adiction:

She believes that MMORPGs should come with warning labels on the box, much like cigarette boxes do today. In addition, she feels that computer-related addiction (not just gaming, but also excessive chat and Internet use) should be considered to be legitimate mental disorders, and thus be eligible for health insurance.

All we need is for insurance prices to go up because people can’t juggle their recreational lives with their real-world responsibilities. And really, that’s what this new fad of “addictions” really is: a lack of responsibility. People are able to control their actions, be it regarding gambling, sex, or online games. None of these should be considered clinical medical disorders. If anything, the only disorder is one’s inability unwillingness to address the real-world in lieu of another couple hours of game-time. That responsibility is something that needs to be taught to our children, and taught to today’s society in general. As I’ve said countless times before, personal responsibility is very lacking these days, and any “digital addiction” brought up in the news is nothing more than another scapegoat for this fact. Let’s not blame a new mental disorder here; let’s address the heart of the issue and tell people to man up and not neglect the world outside their computer screens.

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