Will Coquillette, Lenexa junior, never wanted to play World of Warcraft. In fact, he was dead set against it. He had witnessed friends become addicted to the game and decided that wasn’t going to be him. In 2005, he decided to innocently try it out to see what all the fuss was about. But once he sat down, he didn’t want to get up.

The online computer game World of Warcraft, released in November 2004, has become nothing short of a phenomenon. With eight million players worldwide, two million of those in North America alone, it’s safe to say this is not “just a video game.” A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG for short), WoW allows its users to enter an alternate reality in which they can create their own characters, fight off enemies and live in a world completely separate from their own.

Vacation time

In fact, the opportunity to escape is one of the game’s most appealing qualities. “If you play the game enough, it allows you to lead someone else’s life,” Coquillette says. “It frees you from a lot of the emotional baggage of real life and, in a way, gives you a vacation.”

To enter WoW is to enter another dimension. In the game, players live in a world of fantasy and adventure. They can explore snow-covered mountains, sand dunes, forests and ice bridges, all with the beauty of 3-D animation. Gamers can also walk through logging companies and castles, intermittently fighting off beasts and demons along the way. WoW also gives gamers the opportunity to talk to each other out loud with microphones, using software such as TeamSpeak or Ventrilo. If players do not have this software, they can communicate with each other through text, a system similar to instant messaging. Through this system, gamers can make their characters flirt, tell jokes, dance, and even strip.

In the beginning, Coquillette played an average of 40 hours per week. Although he now plays 10 hours a week at the most, when he started playing, WoW turned into an alternate reality for him. WoW players can easily lose perspective of the real world while playing the game, causing them to view their own life as a “drag” in comparison, says Anne Owen, a licensed psychologist in Lawrence. “It can be a lot like a drug addiction,” she says. “People give up on aspects of their life that could be fulfilling because their focus is on playing the game.”

Real-world interaction

World of Warcraft also interacts with the real world, increasing its appeal. According to Coquillette, the economics surrounding the game account for much of the allure. While playing the game, players earn gold that propels their character further into each level. Sometimes, instead of keeping the gold for themselves, players put the gold up for sale on eBay and make a substantial profit. Although Coquillette hasn’t done this, he says it’s also possible for the player to sell their entire account on eBay.

Damon Smith, Houston junior, received $500 for his account when he sold it on eBay, but believes he could have had $1,500 if he had sold the account as soon as he stopped, instead of allowing the account to remain idle for three months.

The game also lets users interact socially, allowing them to work together to complete a goal. In WoW, the object of the game is to move to the next level. By joining a guild, you can agree to play with other people to further advance in the game and gain experience and gold. Gaining gold and items, or “loot,” better equips the player to face more difficult enemies further along in the game. While playing, users can talk to each other through messaging systems and audible dialogue, oftentimes forming new friendships that transfer to real life. Smith has only made a few friends through the game, although he has heard that some couples meet while playing WoW and get married, he says.

The game’s other large appeal is the rush of accomplishment and power users get from playing the game. Every level is designed to help the player gain experience. As a player moves up each level, he or she becomes more powerful by collecting gold, and it becomes increasingly more difficult to travel to the next part of the game. “People like to be powerful,” Coquillette says. “The game is full of rewards like that.”

Addiction factor

With all the appeal of WoW, Smith believes it has turned into an addiction. Since beginning the game, Smith has quit three times, most recently last August, due to the time commitment it demanded. He has yet to start up again.

“For people who play the game, it’s like a second life to them. You can’t just quit a life,” Smith says. Much like Coquillette, Smith found that the game distracted him from his real life, sometimes to an overwhelming degree. Smith became dedicated to playing every night when he joined with 39 other players in his guild to complete a challenge for bragging rights and new equipment for their characters. At the end of the challenge, the 40 players faced a boss, which is extremely hard to beat, Smith says.

During the summer, it was not unusual for Smith to play eight hours every day, reducing his playing to three hours when school started. “It seemed like a job. It stopped being fun, because I’d always have to prepare to play the game,” he says.

According to Smith, half of all WoW users are addicted. Addictions to video games can be destructive, Owen says. “People know when it’s getting out of balance because their time with friends and family suffers,” she says. “It’s a lot like drug addiction, in that their focus becomes when they’re going to play the game. They give up on aspects of their life that could be fulfilling because they don’t put their energy into real-life experiences.”

Fearing that he could become addicted, Smith decided to quit just nine months after he started. Attempting to go cold turkey did little to keep him away from the game. Shortly after he quit, he began playing again.

Video game addiction is like compulsive gambling, Owen says. “It’s just one more hand, one more roll,” she says. “The rest of the world fades away into this accomplishment, this level.” In order to stop video game addiction, Owen says, someone close to the person should monitor his or her time spent on the computer. The person will need a lot of support because of the emptiness they will feel if their game is taken away. They need to realize what they’ve given up for the game.

After March 2006, Smith decided to wean himself off the game slowly for a six-month period. He hasn’t played since.

Even though some people take it to the extreme, WoW can be a fun, interactive way to go on an adventure with thousands of other gamers.