Topic : 06/03 Virtual Chaos

I dont know whats wrong with her. If my husband didnt have a job to pay for internet services he wouldnt play games because i would not pay for it. Its just that simple have the service cut off. If you dont have internet they cant play games. If my kids were playing to much i would cut it off. Just a little common since people.

 Im posting for the parents who think there teens/kids are obsessed/spending to much time/money on video games etc. This is my view..I am 15 by the way.

 

Amount of time: I play video games about 2 hours a day at the most I dont have alot of time now because of school and other things. Play in moderation if your spending all your money and time on it..thats wrong and you need to get help I understand that but you made it sound like video games are bad.

 

Content:I did not watch the whole show but I thought I would say something about my views on most things in gameing..well the content first of all. Lets talk about Halo 3,Call of duty 4 and gears of war. Halo 3 is not really bad there is hardly any blood and language. Call of duty 4..there are blood splaters on the wall when you shoot an enemy in the head and there is language. And gears of war has the most blood language and guts out of those..I think if your mature enough for it go ahead and play it. But the online language and racial slurs..hey parents..guess what these games are RATED M FOR MATURE FOR MATURE AUDENICES. The media targets games like these and talks about the twelve year olds and kids below that age curseing and all that crap. ITS THERE PARENTS RESONSIBLITY to decide what there kids can play those games or not. Thats pretty much all I have to say about this..if you want to depbate on this with me my email is Truman_whitaker@live.com if you do please be mature in your email.

Thank you for that completely enlightening response.  Should I say that I am fully aware of your obvious statement already?  Oh, I just did. I was just responding with my opinion.  Hellllooooo....everyone has one.

World of Warcraft has millions of players all over the world. It has more players than some countries have people. It's actually a marvelous bit of computer engineering. For those who don't know how these online games work, I'll give a quick (trust me, it's quick) summary.

Players pay a monthly fee to access an account, which contains their various characters. Since there are too many players to put into one world, each character logs into one of several servers, which are copies of the same world (just with different people in them). One of the reasons WoW can be played for so long is that these servers are incredibly stable. The designers of the game specifically made the servers to run for twenty-four-hours a day, seven days a week, without stopping, and there's no limit to how long you can play as long as you pay your fee.

It is perfectly possible to limit the time people spend on an online game. While they're playing, people are monitored to make sure they aren't hacking (cheating) and to keep track of server loads. It would be a simple matter to insert a timer limiting gameplay to, say, eight hours a day. However, many of the ingame activities take hours to complete. If the game developers were to include such a timer, they would have to alter their content, and they would lose many of their players- people like playing for twelve hours at a time. Like it or not, video games are a thriving industry, and they'll do what they can to keep business booming.

If a loved one becomes addicted to drugs, who do you blame: the person who introduced the drugs, the person who sells them, the addict, or the drug itself? There's no one party that can be blamed for this. I think it's ridiculous that gaming addiction is not recognized by the AMA. It fires up the same pleasure centers in the brain as any addiction: alcohol, drugs, gambling, or sex. For a healthy, cautious person, though, games are a great way to have fun and unwind for a few hours. Like most other things, in moderation, it's fine to play games.

As a side note, the ESRB (http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jsp) rates games for a reason (although sometimes they're a little nuts). Small children, like the 5 year old from the show, have no business playing anything on a computer that's more violent than Wii Tennis. Get them to go read a good book. While most online games have automatic censors to hide "dirty words," the censors are easily fooled, and kids can learn all kinds of interesting new words from games like these. Also, remember that while a game might seem like a great babysitter, you're probably leaving your kids with Icyfoot22, unholy crusader for the Undead Legions, and his friend Burrbeard the foul-mouthed drunken dwarf. Keep that in mind.

Aw, thanks, but I fought a real life addiction to drugs for five years and beat it about two years ago.  But, maybe you are right, I don't understand addiction at all.  Thanks for the comprehensive link, I'm sure it will teach me everything. You people need to learn that opinions or e-pinions are just that - opinion.  Everyone has em and they won't change em.  Get over it.

I loved this show!  I laughed so hard and felt TERRIBLE for Fred.  This is a message for all of you but especially Fred and his wife. 

 

I'm married and I play World of Warcraft.  I created my account on Jan. 20th, 2006 and am still playing to this day with my husband, his EX WIFE, and their two young sons.  My advice for Fred (you non-wow-players will not understand this lingo).  Sweetie...when you're getting wife aggro take a break from the game.  Go grind wife rep.  The game will still be there when you return from work, playing with the kids, etc.  Talk with your wife and have a SERIOUS talk.  You need to balance gaming time and family time.  Make sure you set your game nights when you do raids.  If it's Kara night, ZA night, whatever raid night it is.  Make sure she knows those nights are specifically spent on your computer.  (THAT IS OK!)  The rest of the week only take 2 hours...set an alarm in the game or on your desk.  Play only a bit but spend time with that family.  You can have WoW and family too.  I do!  My husband plays 10x more than I do...and I play often.  We balance everything and you can too.  Good Luck and know that a handful of us who watched understood your side, and laughed with you not at you.  (Elemental Shaman...hehehe you're a Draenei I'm sure of it) 

 

As for the rest of you readers out there.

 

Games don't control people...I am sorry if some people cannot handle the addiction or the gaming.  It's not Blizzard's fault, or Xbox, or Everquest.  Everyone should take things in moderation. 

 

I can personally say that World of Warcraft changed my life.  Yes, sounds cheesy.  I've always loved video games and I am a female.  :~P  My husband and I had huge issues with his ex-wife.  Our relationship with her was difficult and it caused many problems for us and the children.  She was into World of Warcraft so we bought the game.  I admit our main reason was to see how often she played.  It was addictive but not too hard to control. 

This game brought us closer together.  She started calling ME - the new wife - on the phone and would talk about the game, or we would talk about the children!  The kids would get online and we would all play as a large family...and the outcome was AMAZING!  We went from having this very difficult relationship to now having the most amazing love for one another.  All because of a darn video game.  Here we are, 3 yrs later, still playing on weekends and some week nights.  Visiting each other when in the same city, calling each other on the phone, and 3 yrs ago this woman couldn't stand to see us during child exchanges. 

 

Pretty amazing for those "silly little pixels."  It brought this family together....it didn't tear us apart. 

 

Learn to get your addictions under control and don't blame video games.  They just fill the void in your life.  Get to the real root of your problems.

 

<3 Xaria (lvl 70 Mage and proud step-mom)

Terenas

 

  After watching a measly 20 minutes of todays show, I had to change the channel. When was that line crossed from men actually being men, holding down jobs, taking out the trash, spending time with their children, and sleeping in the bed with their wives to being addicted to a ridiculous game instead? I can just imagine how my husband would take it if I became addicted to playing with Barbie dolls as a grown woman and excluded everything else from my tiny little world. Yes, these games may be more modern than Barbie dolls but, they are still just a game.

  What in the heck are these women still doing with men who are addicted to playing a game? I would feel like I had another child to take care of. What a turnoff! It may be an addiction but, I still just couldn't handle any man that had to play a "game" rather than live in the real world with real adults. What is their conversation like over the dinner table? Oh, I forgot, they never make it to the dinner table!