Faux News investigates WoW addiction

Dude, if they want to see someone get pissed off over a videogame, they should record people trying to a 3-Star Rank on Mario Kart.

Ive swore more over that game, than all others combined.

Thank you for brightening my day. Thta was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..........HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.........O GOD this video is great!!!!...HAHAHA

OMG! The "chat room" the story shows on the screen is my website! They were showing this post:
http://daveschalkboard.wordpress.com/2005/11/18/parents-suing-blizzard-for-world-of-warcraft-addiction/#comment-553
Showing comments 3 and 4.

That post has been getting a lot of traffic lately, but I would have never suspected that an annoying television show would show it.

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't get the Joystiq page from the post since that post links back to the Joystiq article that were showing.

All I have to say to the woman in that story is cancel the account or get in there and put some parental controls on his account.

Forget AIDS, Cancer and gastro, computer games are the "Illness" we need to worry about.

I really can't believe they reffered to it as an illness.

But for context, this story followed a piece on how one of the Australian Idol judges called a contestent a 'big mong'. Which is apparently the most offensive insult anyone could ever utter.

lol, how could you play that much and have such shitty gear, the game wouldnt evn be fun if i wasnt in a high end raiding guild

Oh come on this is just funny. I was addicted to DaoC when I was thirteen. My mother simply limited my playing time by saying that I can only play on weekends. That mother in the video is just stupid and she is probably just crying because of her own stupidity.

I think I stopped playing DaoC when I was fifteen. It was actually very, very easy. Just as this guy says. You can stop whenever you want. And I did play way long, too. Just as this guy does. I remember playing for hours longer than I should, thinking that I can't leave everyone now (because I was the cleric of the group). Yet quitting is very easy.

Paladin, Lol.

Dude plays 16 hours a day and he's still in Lightforge? That IS a newb.

As an Australian I am ashamed that people have seen this. The is a show called "A Current Affair" and the stories that are on this show are primarily designed to keep bigots happy. People who will be happy with the life they have got and don't need to better themselves in any way because this type of psuedo journalism shows them there are people out there a whole lot stupider than they are.

My kid isn't playing WoW 12 hours straight so I'm doing good as a parent.

12-hoursw stright? What a loser. Tell me when he hits 30 hours straight. That's when you know you have skillz.

Ben (re: addicted to joystiq): Don't worry, as you level up, eventually you can read all the new posts and comments in only a couple minutes and you'll be spending less time here every day. Of course if you go hardcore and start reading 20 different blogs, I can't help you. I've manage to keep it down to joystiq, engadget, a couple fanboys, and slashdot (pro tip: browse at +3)

To others: Gaming IS chemical - you mean, ya know, living? Because that's what that is. Being interested in something. I know people you could claim are addicted to driving, addicted to exercising, addicted to working. It has nothing to do with games or cars, it's a part of that person's personality. If it wasn't that it'd be something else.

Crack addiction isn't physical, just like gaming: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocain#Addiction
I'd call artifically induced changes in brain chemistry due to psychoactive drugs 'physical'.

BTW, excercise can be a chemical addiction, often known as 'runners high'. Extended physical exertion produces endorphins. It's an addiction. Is it bad? I sure wish I had motivation to exercise more.

ACA is on five nghts a week. It's where retarded aussies go to be manipulated and misinformed by cnts pretending to be journalists.

I'm a total internet and computer addict, i've gone years since highschool with nothing to show for it. Just been gaming, watching tv shows, talking with friends etc.

The problem here isnt that i couldnt stop if i wanted to, its that i dont want to :)

Also for the record, WoW is a shitty mmo and i could never get addicted to it if i tried (and i did try, coz all my real-life mates started playing it).

Still, I dont get whats with that little shit in this show. Its not like theres anything to get angry about in wow, as far as i know its not possible to ever lose the progress you've made. Maybe he lost his internet girlfriend, haha.

OMG I don't even play game and I felt offended by the reports...ITS BUNCH of lies and STUPIDNESS...rurr dumbass MAIN STREAM media that want HIGHER RATING...Umm I go to a game school (majority students) and I don't think NORMAL PEOPLE ACt like that kid...Umm I BELEIVED all my friends know its a game and they don't have that kinna addiction like that, blame his parents not the game...lol just like alcohol blame the user not the WINEMAKER

This has to be a mick take?! lol
But still if it was its still annoying. Why do all these morons have to find something to say is the next bad thing, just like the movies sending kids round the bend now its games, give it a rest lol. I play wow... oops sorry best call it by its correct name don't want to be accused of addiction... World of Warcraft and it is more than just the game. Its not addictive in the slightest, I think what is great about it is the community within it. The way they say "and you have your "friends" in the game" makes me laugh, what the hell is wrong with calling peeps you have met online friends? We have loads of peeps in our ("evil" lol) guild and a lot of them I would call friends (some noobs but thats a different story (Boed):P) and we meet up from all over the place. At least playing wow (which does taking up a lot of time) My wifey knows where I am and I'm not peeing all our money away down the pub.
As for the mother in this so called news clip ... christ women get a bloody grip lol, be thankful he's not out stealing cars or robbing old ladies, and there plenty more things to be worried about him getting addicted to, like smack which the other sense of the word is something you clearly need if thats all you have to worry about. (at this point I would like to point out I am a parent)If you are that worried and as he is only 16 turn the dam pc off stop paying his sub or buying him game cards.
But in all honesty there are a lot more pressing things in this world to waste your time worrying about than some dam kid who just wants to play a bloody game.

What's with all the zoomed in shots of his eyes? Geeze, shots like that of anyone when they're concentrating will make them look crazy. They should have played the psycho music in the background while talking to him too.

You're totally wrong on one part: A Current Affair is in no way a "news" program. It's an awful, awful program that airs things like this every single day.

Funny stuff indeed! I play WoW, does that make me a criminal and an addict?

I always love how the reporters make it sound like videogame addiction is a road to apocalypse :)

ALL these "out of control" kids are NOT out of control because of the games, or TV or movies or even music. The one problem they all share is the lack of parents, lack of parental skills or (in the vast majority of cases) plain awful incompetent and moronic parent(sorta like bush in iraq). I laugh everytime I see these dumb F*ck$ whine about their kid's 'outrageous' behaviour... had I put a hole on my wall(for any reason) my mom would have kicked my ass and my dad would have made me fix it. I think awful thoughts sometimes, and sometimes I act out on them (like cursing someone out on the road) but I learned respect and MAJOR social skills from my parents...
I think they did a pretty good job.
(hey, they could have done a much, much worse job)

Seems like kids nowadays would kill you in your sleep if you deleted their account. I don't know if the solution is as simple as we think...

Blarg. I play maybe 7 hrs a week. I'd consider myself addicted because I don't wanna leave.

See, I'm careful about starting games. Logical. Rational. I don't start FF-whichever until I know I can tackle it. MMOs even more. I STRONGLY suggest that one is safe, no more than two. I juggle a bunch of old ROMs, but that's safe because I can quit in the middle anytime (and often do) and pick up later, at least if there isn't deep plot.

Not WoW. MMOs aren't the kind where you can quit a month or two, then pick up as if nothing happened. WoW in particular is a bit annoying because I can't play unless I know I have at least an hour or two of a block open. I played RuneScape, and that was instant in and out. Very convinient for a casual-hardcore style, where you love to game, but put life first (which inevitably cuts a whole lotta gamin')

I hope that blizzard kick that mums ass. i mean come on its not there fault his got a crap mum who doesn’t care what here son does. and if she did stop him maybe that wouldn’t happen, Ok maybe he will get board of something but there’s tones of things for him to do GOD if the boredom’s that bad do something, get a job of if not play a sport. If it's still bad get a girl friend or god if you have to masturbate. Just don’t blame Blizzard for your dumb ass son.

this was so staged that lad was told wat to say. fake fake fake. the addiction thing isnt fake though ive got friends who are addicted but it isnt the games fault its the persons fault for being weak willed.

Playing games and having fun is much better than hanging out and doing something stupid like doing drugs such as crystal meth.

I stopped playing WoW for 3 months, and have only just logged back on. I go to work, pay rent, cook (albiet poorly)and everything else. WoW is something I spend a lot of my spare time on, as long as it stays in your spare time there is no issue.

As for her, lady; gow a spine, if I'd have done that with my mother I'd have been living on the streets.

World of warcraft is addictive I suppose I'm a hardcore wow player. I clock in over 40hrs a week probably way more than 40. But when you say Im addicted to it. Addicted means something harmful in most cases. World of warcraft is addictive but in a sense of "this is fun im meeting people im socialing im exploring im making progess I'm leveling up" (etc) it isn't so much of a systematic downfall into addiction as much as it is that most people go home watch tv and then watch tv some more. its nothing worse than that. INfact one could argue that wow helps todays youth by providing something to keep them out of trouble for example that boy could be out smkoing weed gettin drunk taking pills you get the idea. So i don't see it as a bad thing not the game itself anyway now as with everything in life w ehumans can make anything it seems a bad thing. More serious perhaps than his mothers concern for her sons freetime maybe she should check into getting a dentist to come look at those teeth. hell brushing once in a month would fix that right up. And i dont think taking away his computer or his game or cancelin the account on wow would fix anytrhing because then he will become an adult and play it anyways. and the boredom of livibng outside of wow would most likely crush the poor boy. I myself am 21 years old im a male from the USA midwest. I work fulltime and I play world of warcraft every second I possibly can. However I work and support myself so who can tell me not too? However with all respect to all wow gamers out there I often think "well you know if i wasn't playing wow i could be going back to school to better myself or finding a hobby that could profit me in some way" but when it gets down to it. I honestly would much rather just sit at my desk in my warm home and pplay wow. Im not interested in getting married being a dad or anything like that. And the way i see it even if your married have a wife and kids who says you can't play world of world of warcraft and still be a good father or mother or whatever it is you want to be. Playing a computer game doesn't make you fail at those things. But it feels werid to call it a game when so many people base their lives around it and focus on it. myself for example if a friend calls me up and wants to hang out unless it invovles some nice looking ladies. I tell them to kiss my ass and not to bother me while im "working" because when you get down to it thats what it is. to all of us wow players it more like work than it is a game because we are working towards the betterment of our characters.

LOL 16 hours a DAY. and he cant get better than freaking Tier 0 shoulders and a Draconean Deflector...
Hes not addicted, hes a bloody noob. 16 hours a Day would have u MCing a new mc Every day. and if urin a good guild 2 mcs lol. WTF is with his guild too "500 people" mmmm last guild i saw with 500 people didnt exist. Ahhh more bullshit from Propaganda Affair.