neils clark

Most of the people who know me well know that I love the Weekly World News, harbingers of pivotal cultural phrases, like “Experts say.” E.g., “Experts discover radioactive alleycats inhabiting Martian dumpsters.”

It’s a cool magazine and I just had to get that out of the way.

While I’ll assault those around me with the latest and greatest from the WWN, I’ve kind of been out of sight this last month while I pre-tested and collected data for a long exploratory study. Many of the factors tested were based off of literature review conducted after the M.A. thesis, in the process of writing a book on gaming addictions. The survey covered videogame immersion, socialization, game structures and factors which could influence addiction. Or so-called addiction. In some ways that remains to be seen. The respondents were either current or former World of Warcraft players.

Though most players know that gaming can be a major problem with some people, the link between their problems and addiction is still, in many ways, tenuous. My website has always used the word addiction, but my reasons for that are probably as complicated as the word itself. I overthink things to a degree that would probably give most people the illusion of being trapped in the ball pit.

So the factors being analyzed dealt less with the way we’ve been looking at excess gaming and more about factors like going “between worlds” or encouragement to play gotten by other players. Some of these were potentially pathologic, though most were not.

But before I talk more about it, the free open-source survey app I used: limesurvey, must be hailed as easy to use, dependable and, of course, amazing. I would recommend it without hesitation and nobody’s paying me to say it.

Back on topic, there is a lot of data. Enough to warrant writing “there is a lot of data” rather than using the contraction “there’s a lot of data.” You’d still have the italics, but it would be a completely different feel.

I is drowning in data.

So far it’s been relatively easy to eyeball the statistics. Key factors appear to be (for starters, anyway) the meaning that players attach to in-game relationships, raiding and raid-related communication and the applicability of Internet Addiction Disorder criteria. The most fulfilling and vexing, so far, have been the relationships that seemingly came out of nowhere. So right now I’m working on regressions for some blog bullet-points, the first set of those will be what this data says about our current way of measuring addiction. The plan is to fully analyze those before moving on to a game’s structure and culture, then finally “addiction factors.”

Finally, one last time I’d like to say that no online survey can diagnose addiction. The person who built mine (that would be me) isn’t qualified to diagnose addiction either. Addiction is complicated. The people who diagnose it in individuals pull that insight from more than just quick and quippy questions. If you took the survey and have questions, then emailing through this blog is a great way to get a hold of me. That said, my sincere thanks to any and all who participated. And anyone whose been interested enough to keep reading.

Neils Clark :: Jun.30.2008 :: Game Addiction, Games, General, Media Experience, Neils' Gaming Journal, Real Men Write Poetry. True Story., Research :: No Comments »

Here’s my latest “Gaming Journal” entry:

So just now, I woke up out of a dead sleep so that I could listen to “Earthquake and Fire,” by Hepcat. For those of you in the dark, Hepcat is only one of the greatest ska/reggae bands in the history of the world.

And despite the fact that I haven’t touched WoW in about a couple of weeks, I’ve had a couple of consecutive nights of WoW-themed dreams. They have not yet forced a similar midnight media indulgence/account reactivation.

Let’s hear it for dreams.

It’s strange to be having them, because WoW hasn’t been on my mind, really. I stop in now and again to talk with some of the communities still on (via Ventrilo I jumped around while I took a little writing break earlier today), but I don’t see why that should call forth an abundance of imagery and gameplay mechanics during sleepy time. It’s interesting to keep coming back to the dream thing, though, since due to the airy origins and role of dreams they are often touted as a criteria for being in the “throes of addiction.”

More than anything, I think it highlights the insufficiency of how we’re looking at gaming problems. There are people out there who would say, “Hepcat! Hell yeah, I’d get out of bed to listen to some of their tunes!” There are also people in the real world who wouldn’t think twice about staying up until midnight so that they can buy the latest and last Harry Potter book, fresh off the stands. Then they’ll probably be up until at least 2am reading. Gaming isn’t exactly like these things, but just imagine: these are entire worlds - with financial markets that run 24-7, powerful items that could be won at any time, and real people with real lives. Sometimes there’s story and entertainment value, too. Very few non-gamer professionals can see it, but these worlds give many different reasons to wake up in the dead of the night.

And actually, as I recall (in the way that dreams sneak up on you) I did have one dream tonight which involved the actual people who I was playing with most recently, and not game imagery or mechanics. At least one of the scenes that I remember involve being in a college campus type area, and letting one of my online friends into their dorm. Bear in mind that this is a person whom I have never seen before in the real world, and yet my dream brain had actually conjured a fully-developed face and body for this person, who smiled and thanked me before I had to run off in order to keep my chimichanga from burning down the Student Union Building. This mental image had no resemblance whatsoever to this character’s in-game avatar or mine. I honestly don’t know the Jungian archetypal rundown indicative of meaning there, but it’s kind of interesting.

Google Images: Helping me to find disturbing Jungian-ish images since 1974.

Still, Hepcat’s ‘Out of Nowhere’ CD comes highly recommended for those of you looking to spark a wholesome reggae addiction. The kind that wakes you up in the dead of night.

Neils Clark :: Jul.28.2007 :: Neils' Gaming Journal :: 6 Comments »

And not always all three at the same time. This entry is going to return to a common theme on this blog: that what we call “game addiction” is complicated. While there are elements that we can take from things like alcoholism and gambling/behavioral problems, these online (especially MMO) games are their own unique beasts. Some of the things which keep players coming back cannot must be understood in their own right.

Magic Swords

Of all the things that keep people playing World of Warcraft (WoW), currently the world’s most popular MMO game (8.5+ million players strong), magical swords might just be the most potent. More specifically, something called “character progression,” is built into the game. As has been brought up on this blog more than once, there’s undoubtedly this sense of a need to “keep up with the Joneses.” We need to keep up with our neighbors in this game, to the best of our abilities. That means putting in the time, money, and effort required to obtain comparable stuff. Not all players are raging pack-rats, but in order to enjoy many of WoW’s key features, you do need to make a certain level of commitment.

A red-haired elf with a katana. Why does that sound so familiar?

Lately, for me, this has meant building a new character. If you try to enter into Warcraft with established players, so that you can play with maximum-level characters, then you’re probably looking at two or three months of playing — before you can join them in dungeons, player vs. player (PvP) battlegrounds, or raids. As leveling starts to become more difficult, and for Warcraft I would pin this at about level 25 for new players – level 45 for experienced players – you’re going to need to invest more time in order to get your character “up to snuff.” For a lot of people, that’s not addiction so much as a structural characteristic of the game that promotes them to play a lot. Some of these people are going to be able to jump right off, have no withdrawal, and wouldn’t neccessarily qualify for the designation of “addict.” Should we give them heavy pharmaceutical reigmens? No way.

But back to the story, sometimes magical swords come out of nowhere. Something that kept me inside of Warcraft’s dungeons this weekend was a magical sword. One of my good friends inside of WoW (I’ve played games online with him for over 5 years now), came to a low-level dungeon so that he could help me get some experience – and so that I could complete a few quests. After tackling the hardest boss inside this dungeon, I got a magical sword. I don’t usually use swords, so I wasn’t too excited. My friend, however, was a mixture of livid and thrilled.

“I can’t believe that sword dropped for you on the first run. Oh my God you have no idea how lucky you are. People do this dungeon dozens of times and never get that sword.”

I had never heard of this sword before.

But hell, my friend seemed to think that it was worth it. Apparently this was the hard sword to get, and that it combined with another sword that could be found in this dungeon in order to create one “all-powerful weapon of destiny.” Neat. So I spent the next couple of days trying to get the “easy to get” sword. In all honesty, it really only took a couple, maybe three hours, and it’s a nice-looking sword. Since I’m holding onto a lot of swords and outfits for this character, it was a nifty find. Still, it was interesting to see how magical swords can pull people in. I wasn’t one of the people who was going to spend days trying to get a sword – until I found out that other people were doing it. And there are much harder swords to make, swords which can take months of dedication.

Or one lucky night.

Drinking with Friends

And it was all more fun, because I was doing it with cool people. For four nights in a row, at least four of the people in my guild (including me) got drunk “together” over a voice chat program called Ventrilo. One of them is a longtime friend of mine (the one who was quoted in the sword story) who lives about 700 miles away, and the others are new friends who live at similar distances. We crack jokes, crack open beers, talk about what’s happening in the game, and sometimes we’d talk about specialty cheeses. I think one of the main draws back has been that I’ve met interesting people. While the experience is different from hanging out face to face, Ventrilo and Warcraft, taken together work a little bit differently than just a telephone conversation. First of all, you can have a number of people talking – making it a bit like a conference call. People connect to a server, can come and go as they please, and sometimes they’ll organize themselves into different rooms. These rooms, or entire servers, can be password protected. Meanwhile, you’re having a visual experience of these people inside of the game. At times you can engage in extreme combat situations, where you heavily rely at them to “have your back.” Other times you might be dorking around, trying to find super duper magic swords. So you see and hear these people, and sometimes you drink beers with ‘em.

And sometimes you raid Dwarven strongholds with them.

Philosophical Conversations

And sometimes you have deep, involved, philosophical conversations with them! This can really fall under the last heading – drinking with friends. I just wanted to note that I had one of my first really stimulating philosophical conversations in months, maybe years – with someone who I had never really talked to prior. It was all in Ventrilo, the online voice chat, while me and him went to PvP battlegrounds, did random things in the game, or played with kittens in real life.

Hamburglar

I just wanted to also note – last night I suffered from what the book is calling the stomach confusion effect. The game stole my hunger. I hadn’t eaten a rounded meal in probably 9 hours, but after playing – I just wasn’t hungry at all. And since it’s such hard work, defining my 300 abs, I decided to have some Gatorade and conk out.

And just this morning I realized that I had used up my pre-paid time for this month. Now taking bets on how long it’ll take me to reactivate.

Neils Clark :: Jul.16.2007 :: Neils' Gaming Journal :: 2 Comments »

Ok, ok, well I haven’t much been blogging about my time in WoW. But I have been dreaming about it.

Thrilling caption.

I’m not even joking. For the last three nights in a row, I’ve had dreams (or the memory of having a dream) that had, at the very least, Warcraft-like elements. The first night I was dual-wielding (a skill I had trained that evening in WoW), the second night it was just some muddled imagery. From last night, I don’t really remember anything about the dream – just that it happened. And these started only after my second day of coming back to the game (after a break which lasted over 3 months), and it makes me wonder about something. Sometimes people say that dreaming about WoW, or any other videogame, was something that happened at the height of their problems, and was a key reason for their quitting that game, or gaming in general. Dreaming is also one of Kim Young’s suggested criteria for addiction, whether to the internet or videogaming. I’ve gotta wonder if this is warranted.

Neils Clark :: Jun.22.2007 :: Neils' Gaming Journal :: 1 Comment »

Think Before You Twink
It’s pretty easy to get on gamers for not stopping to exercise, or stopping long enough to make non-toxic meals. I mean, why not be incredulous when they can play for 6 hours, but not spend 10 minutes making a salad and/or 30 minutes walking or running around the block? Its easy to think that a gamer is neglectful (and I’m not saying that they aren’t), but the nature of addiction, and even immersion into gaming, can often preclude being able to do these things during a play session.

Don’t jump! There’s so much to live for, and you’re only a young man… And you’ll only take a non-lethal percentage-based fall damage!

So hardcore gamers: take advantage of the excited feeling that often pops up before you play. If you think that you have the time to play for a few hours, or you’re excited enough by a game that you’re going to play whether or not you’ve got the time, then it may serve your stomach well to prepare something beforehand. That way, whether or not you feel like making something during worth eating after your session is over, you’ll still have something to eat before crashing into a bed. Or to eat while you stop chain healing and wait for the raid to wipe. Basically, you don’t want to starve yourself, and your mom wasn’t lying when she said 2 straight weeks of hot pockets could kill you.

Exercise is important too (sitting can kill you, after all), but let’s not get our hopes up.

That Loving Feeling
I’ll admit, today I played enough to surprise myself. What’s interesting is that after only first starting to play yesterday, I noticed throughout the day that there was almost this underlying murmur, tempting me. It was a very, very subtle nudge which seemed to communicate: “Sure, doing this real world work is good, and benefits your long-term goals… but gaming would be just a little bit more yummy in your tummy.” Dun dun duuuuuuuun. That feeling is back after only one day.

I feel a little bit like Darth Vader just revealed himself as my true father. I’m searchin’ those feelings, and I know that getting into WoW again isn’t giving me exactly what I envisioned 2 days ago. I know it to be true.

But is there still some good in him? I mean, it’s been so long since the whole Youngling incident…

Whoa, nevermind. With a face like that you’d probably better jump, orcy mcsuave.

I also got a bit sick.
Let’s talk about that, shall we? This was actually really fascinating for obscure pseudoscience reasons. While pumping mad iron at the gym today, I was suddenly struck silly by this overwhelming urge to vomit. I’ve gotten a little bit light-headed at the gym before. You know, a lot of midgets stealing my oxygen. (Inside joke follows: “So you hit the midget with the manhole cover because he was stealing your oxygen?”). Still, this was different. I actually walked to the bathroom, feeling utterly and completely motion sicknessed, and I just had to wonder. Was something about going back and forth between WoW and real life tripping out my physiological systems? I went from getting excited over SS crits, to getting the same chemical level of excitement from benching 300 pounds on the reverse rowing machine (rofl). Fascinating, I do say! Hip hip!

Time Played Today: 4 hours 42 minutes, plus about a half an hour of playing with character creation. Sweet Jesus!

Time Breakdown: It’s interesting how the time adds up. About a half an hour while making a dinner-sized lunch for me and my girlfriend (better to eat bigger meals earlier on in the day). About an hour and a half of mindless playing while my gf and I listened to some Harry Potter books on tape. Then, after she’d gone to sleep, I turned on some ethnic Turkish music and wound up playing for another two and a half hours. I’m not surprised, but I am not happy about it. I wouldn’t say that I’m disappointed, since the gaming has (at least in the short term!) put me into a far better mood than I’d been this week. The random gym sickness was also still running strong at 10pm, and the playing helped (or at least distracted me until it was gone/long enough for me to quit focusing on it).

Conclusion: I’m enjoying the writing portion of this experiment way more than is healthy.

Neils Clark :: Jun.19.2007 :: Neils' Gaming Journal :: 9 Comments »

Maybe I’m kidding myself, but I feel like getting back into World of Warcraft (WoW) might not be such a bad thing. For the last few days I downloaded the clients, figured out where I’d get a game account, and generally anticipated being able to go back in-world; and what I’m planning on doing is journaling out some of my thoughts, feelings, in and out-of-game experiences, and how much time I wind up playing.

Today I played for about an hour. I finally explored the Blood Elf starting area, appreciated the architecture, read all of the quests, listened to the music, died once, and really only made it to level 4. Even most “noobs” (new/inexperienced players), in contrast, would likely be able to “ding 4” (get to level four) in 15 or 20 minutes. Mostly, I really just enjoyed having my senses transported into this kind of secondary world. It was a really nice thing to do after three months of just writing about it. Towards the last ten minutes I realized that my friend Cam might be online on this server. He was, I said hi, and almost instantly he had transported his level 70 paladin to my location. We danced, he invited me into a raid guild (just starting Karazhan), and we both giggled in our high-pitched female Blood Elf voices. Portent of destruction? Time will tell.

Too lazy to produce my own screenshots, I stole this picture from the Internets. I’ll be better next time.

What I’m really interested in is whether I can keep my play at a level where it only really benefits aspects of my life. Can I use it as a kind of place to go and unwind, or will I just flip out and lose control? Either way, writing about it might just make for an interesting read down the line.

Research-wise I’m also primarily interested in seeing firsthand whether ‘heroic rep grinds’ and 25-man raids, two elements of the Burning Crusade, are structurally just as bad, or even worse than 40-man raiding. From what I’ve heard, at least some people are putting in more effort than is healthy.

More later.

Neils Clark :: Jun.17.2007 :: Neils' Gaming Journal :: 1 Comment »