Dangerous Liaisons with MMOGs
This weekend I called my twin sister, who lives in Houston, to
catch up on life, the universe and everything. At one point in the
conversation she whined into the phone that her “toon had been
hacked.”
What does that mean in English?
She explained that her character for the online game “EverQuest”
had been stolen by a hacker, robbed of thousands of dollars worth
of equipment, and then deleted. EverQuest is a Massively
Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) that requires purchase of the
initial software in addition to a $10 monthly access fee. MMOGs are
games that can be played only through the Internet and where you
are surrounded by hundreds of other on-line players in
real-time.
Let me clarify. When she said ‘thousands of dollars” worth of
equipment had been stolen, my sister was not talking about the
virtual gold used in the game. She was talking about cold, hard
American mullah.
I found it hard to believe that something that didn’t actually
exist in the “real” world could be worth so much. But a search on
eBay reveals there is indeed a selection of EverQuest virtual
property being sold for real cash – the most expensive on a recent
search being a “level 65 Wizard” character with an asking price of
$1,500. That’s a semester of tuition for in-state CSU
undergrads.
What is truly mind-boggling for me is how passionately my sister
felt about the loss and all the hours and energy she has put in to
try to recover what was stolen. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,
since I have often called her to find her completely distracted by
the game, unwilling to leave it for even five minutes for a phone
call.
The addiction levels of MMOGs, particularly EverQuest, is not a
unique thing to my sister. All over the Internet there are stories
of people who lose themselves in the game, some logging in as much
as 40 hours a week or more.
EverQuest has even garnered the nickname “Evercrack,” which is
used to describe the addiction that grips players who “play like
they can’t quit,” according to the definition on
urbandictionary.com.
One Web log at koziarski.net describes why the writer refrains
from getting involved in the world of online multiplayer games. “A
few of my co-workers became hooked on Evercrack. I saw them stay up
’til all hours, miss shifts and generally have a (expletive) life,
all to play this game.”
Another post on a different site reveals the writer’s love/hate
relationship with EverQuest, which consumes 12 hours of her life
almost every day of the week. “Each day, just like my smoking
habit, I say I will cut down a little bit. But there is no cutting
down. I love EverQuest, it helps me forget all the other things in
life that bother me, my parents, my job, etc. It is my escape route
for life.”
Jay Parker, a chemical dependency counselor and co-founder of
Internet/ Computer Addiction Services said in an interview with the
Journal Sentinel of Milwaukee that the thrilling graphics are part
of why people become drawn into EverQuest. “The other piece is that
it takes time to leave the game. You have to find a place to hide
to get out, and that makes people want to play longer,’ Parker
said.
Parker said online games as a whole are not inherently bad and
compared playing them to drinking alcohol. Both can be harmful if
abused.
“There’s no end to the game once you begin to play, unless you
turn off the computer,” stated a story that CBS’s The Early Show
did on the addiction of MMOG’s like EverQuest.
Kent T, who posted a response to the plea of an addict wanting
advice on how to get out, would agree that unplugging is the best
route in rehabilitation. Simply put, “Quit cold turkey; delete your
characters; never look back. It’s better out here.”
Free your mind, NEO.
Shannon is a senior majoring in technical journalism. Her column
runs every other Thursday.
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