Rehabilitation
Well lads, it was bound to happen sooner or later because it is a DISEASE:
A DUTCH clinic that has begun offering the world's first treatment for computer game addicts has been overwhelmed with pleas for help from parents and children all over the world.
"It's amazing, I've never seen anything like it," said Keith Bakker, the American director of the Smith & Jones clinic in Amsterdam. "The phone has been ringing constantly. Computer game addiction is obviously an even greater problem than we imagined."
"These are perfectly decent kids whose lives have been taken over by an addiction," said Mr Bakker, a former drug addict. "Some have given up school so they can play games. They have no friends. They don't speak to their parents."
After seeing WOW (that's World of Warcraft for those not in the know) can do to people, I understand the need for these clinics. Luckily, I don't have a gaming problem - they won't let me install games on my uni machine :( Now if they only had a clinic for ice coffee milk addicts. Oh wait. That's right, I don't have a problem. I could stop if I wanted to.
Update: The Dutchman must be laughing:
Treatment for excessive game playing is not covered by health care insurance, so patients have to cover the cost themselves -- 500 euros ($640) a day.
The hell. That's more expensive than prostitution in any country. And the sad reality of this all is that apparently:
After the treatment, patients must come to terms with an uncomfortable truth: Their addiction will always be there.
A DUTCH clinic that has begun offering the world's first treatment for computer game addicts has been overwhelmed with pleas for help from parents and children all over the world.
"It's amazing, I've never seen anything like it," said Keith Bakker, the American director of the Smith & Jones clinic in Amsterdam. "The phone has been ringing constantly. Computer game addiction is obviously an even greater problem than we imagined."
"These are perfectly decent kids whose lives have been taken over by an addiction," said Mr Bakker, a former drug addict. "Some have given up school so they can play games. They have no friends. They don't speak to their parents."
After seeing WOW (that's World of Warcraft for those not in the know) can do to people, I understand the need for these clinics. Luckily, I don't have a gaming problem - they won't let me install games on my uni machine :( Now if they only had a clinic for ice coffee milk addicts. Oh wait. That's right, I don't have a problem. I could stop if I wanted to.
Update: The Dutchman must be laughing:
Treatment for excessive game playing is not covered by health care insurance, so patients have to cover the cost themselves -- 500 euros ($640) a day.
The hell. That's more expensive than prostitution in any country. And the sad reality of this all is that apparently:
After the treatment, patients must come to terms with an uncomfortable truth: Their addiction will always be there.
posted by Engels at 10:35 am
10 Comments:
As a WoW player, I can totally understand how people get addicted.
I have a life, and don't let playing a game take over it, but I'm not one who gets addicted to anything to easily (expect beer, wonderful, glorious beer). But only recently, I only managed to get my character on WoW to max level, after playing it for over a year. Then that is only half the game, you've got to keep plugging through all these areas in groups to pick up better gear, which required a few hours at a time at least to do. I don't want to play a game for that long, but I could see how someone could very easily get addicted.
You are addicted to something Engels!
Haha, you're so cool martini. So cool.
Some of those kids, as Dalai and I discussed, are just spoilt brats. If they had to work for their food, they'd be getting of their arses. Though Ryan's brother has lost a lot of weight in the last year or so.
Means more eligible girls though, unless they start getting addicted...?
Firstly: Martini, you play WoW? Are you fucking serious? _YOU_ PLAY WOW? Extended penis-pulling, i expect... snorting cocaine from strippers tits, i wouldnt be surprised, but WoW? And i thought i knew you....
Secondly: You play fucking WoW to the point where your character is MAX LEVELED? WTF? Arend and Laura played it for weeks/months on end, and were only levels 40 or so...
Thirdly: You have two part time jobs and study... assuming you DO occasionally whack off as well, when do you find time to play these games?
Fourthly: Can i follow that link at work, or is it going to get me fired/arrested?
Fifthly, as i said to engels, the chinese and maybe even Koreans have had these clinics for a couple years now i believe... or at least since the start of this year.. i read about the chinese administering electric shock therapy to fix the little spoilt gaming fucks, when all they really need is a parent with half a brain, a pair of testicles and a steel-cap shoe to kick them fair up their lazy arses.
there... thats my vent.
I used to play WoW, until the infamous OMG!!LOLZ NIGHT ELF PORN!!! incident, then switched to DDO. Unfortunately, they just introduced Drow elves, which has the potential to cause the same incident....
But, martini, my friend, I'm sure you'll have a laugh at this:
http://fellowcraft.ytmnd.com/
And Mr Holborow....you're not giving lectures in being cool now, or something?
Fuck! It's like I've switched into some bizarro world where TC has a beard and your Winamp has no dials...
Freaky!
And they say PhD students have too much time on their hands.
yes Dale, I play WoW, have been since I think Feb or March last year. But that was my point Dale, I don't play it enough to let it affect any other part of my life. It took me from whenever I signed up until about May this year, thats 1 1/4 years to get to level 60. The total amount of time played (they record it for you in game) was about 13 days I think to get from 1-60. But to get any further from 60, you need to spend 3/4 hours at a time, which I don't want to do really, so I just started some new characters, as I find levelling up process a bit more entertaining, and it only requires from 1min - a couple of hours to get anything accomplished. Used to play with Keld too, when he was in Melbourne, good way to just catch up and shit.
Yeah, 2 casual jobs and uni, plus whacking it and spending time with ur mother does take up alot of my time, but hell, if I'm bored and got nothing else to do, I can log in and muck around.
The most annoying part I find about the game is the freaks we're talking about, addicted to it... man they're just weird.
Oh and here's one for you Dale. Its safe for work, no nudity or anything, just a bit silly really.
lol @ you nerds in denial
I haven't played any computer games in so long! During the world cup my flatmate - who suffers similar withdrawal symptoms - and I actually went to a local video store to hopefully hire out a PS2 and fifa2006 or something. I should have guessed the bastards didn't hire them out due to theft.
Oh yeah, Luke. You can judge...I haven't played Quake in so long. My office mate was inivted around to a friend's to play Quake for a psychology experiment. And they didn't invite me. Bastards.
I like it! Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing this wonderful site with us.
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