'Cocaine of comp games' to get in-game counsellors

Psychiatrist is planning to send a team of shrinks into the addictive World of Warcraft game to treat players before they lose touch with the real world

Psychiatrist is planning to send a team of shrinks into the addictive World of Warcraft game to treat players before they lose touch with the real world

World of Warcraft is so addictive that a psychiatrist is planning to send a team of counsellors into the game to treat players before they lose touch with the real world.

It comes after a report published by Sweden's Youth Care Foundation this year found World of Warcraft was the most dangerous game on the market and "the cocaine of the computer games world".

Richard Graham, a psychiatrist who treats adolescents at the Tavistock Clinic in London, believes that, just as casinos contribute to the treatment of compulsive gamblers, Blizzard, the creator of the online role playing game, should fund help for World of Warcraft addicts.

War zone: People playing World of Warcraft online. Around 4.5 million players play the game globally.

He said in an interview that the catalyst for his new project was a "disturbing" case of a young man who told him that, in the 3u00bd years he had been playing the game, he had clocked up 450 days of playing time.

Graham said he tried individual and family therapy and even medication with the man, but these had limited success.

"After working with this young man I found I was hearing more and more about technology-related issues from patients, and especially Warcraft problems," said Graham.
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"However, though parents might have been extremely worried, the young person themselves did not feel they had a problem.

Consequently, to start the process of re-balancing their lives, we needed to think about how to reach the young people playing games, or on network sites, to an excessive degree."

Graham said he encountered patients who played the game for 16 hours a day and consequently neglected other aspects of their lives, such as education.

Most stories about video game addiction centre on World of Warcraft.

Because players must complete copious quests and continuously kill enemies in order to "level up", the game is seen as encouraging people to play for long hours at a time.

Rehab for addicts

The first US retreat for internet addicts opened its doors last month and one of the first patients is a 19-year-old World of Warcraft addict.

The retreat, which has six beds and is located in rural Washington, costs $14,500 (Rs 7 lakh) for a 45-day stay.

Treatment is similar to that of drug and alcohol addiction clinics and patients are denied access to all technology.

Dangerous Game

In December last year, a US teenager was charged with a misdemeanour after he told a World of Warcraft (WoW) representative he was suicidal and the game was all he had to live for. When police arrived he told them he was joking "to try to get what he wanted for the game".

In 2005, a South Korean couple were arrested after their four-month-old child died when they left the baby alone to go to play World of Warcraft at an internet cafu00e9.

Also in 2005, an in-game funeral was held for a young Chinese girl who died after playing World of Warcraft for several days continuously.

In November 2005, the parents of a teenager who jumped to his death while enacting a scene from 'World of Warcraft sued Blizzard Entertainment, alleging that their son jumped to his death while re-enacting a scene from WoW.

A 28-year-old man from Beijing, nicknamed Snowly, died after playing WoW for several continuous days during the national day holiday.

Several days before Snowly's death, the gamer was said to be preparing for a relatively difficult part of the game ( the final battle with the Black Dragon Prince) and had very little rest.

He told his friends that he felt very tired. A big online funeral was held for him one week after his death.