A psychiatrist specialising in treating those who worry about spending too time playing videogames has said pornography is more accepted than World of Warcraft.
"People feel a lot of shame around computer games," Dr. Jerald Block told The Boston Globe. "Whereas, it's socially acceptable to have a porn problem.
"As a society we understand that porn is something people do, and you can see a psychiatrist and get treated for it.
"But gaming is hard to describe to anyone else. So these people can't explain their situation to friends."
Block also says that studies incorrectly target youths and adolescents when investigating videogames.
"It's much more acceptable for kids to talk about game use, whereas adults keep it a secret. Rather than having sex, or arguing with their wife or husband, or feeding their children, these adults are playing games."
Brock claims that the question adults have to ask yourself is "How do you deal when your hard drive fails?"
According to the psychiatrist, Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho decided against killing additional victims in favour of systematically wiping his hard drive.
"With these shooters," he says, "their last act was to turn against their own computers."
Jun 9, 2008
As Ultima Online approaches its 28th birthday, former creative lead reveals what it takes for an MMO to last for decades, and why they sometimes fail: "Content does not last forever"
Former Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies dev says MMOs have "been in a rut for a long time" after World of Warcraft's popularity narrowed down "a much more diverse genre"
