Play WoW, Quit College

I do my best to stay away from MMO’s. From some of their earliest conceptions (including Everquest), I have seen friends, family and acquaintances taken down by these silent killers. The couple of times I attempted to play were akin to time travel, my weekend having suddenly flown by in a blur. They are truly evil machinations.

Well, according to the FCC Commissioner, it’s worse than we thought. Apparently, they have found that World of Warcraft is one of the leading causes of college drop-outs in this day and age. Not sex, drugs, alcohol or anything of that ilk- but an MMO.

While some might call foul, I don’t find this that hard to believe. Having nobody to dictate your schedule and becoming addicted to a video game in college is a terrible snare to be trapped in, and I remember Counter-Strike sucking away most of my freshman year. These things can happen.

So what do you guys think? Ever had a gaming addiction problem? And how shocking is it that WoW is a leading cause for dropping out of college?

Source- GamePolitics

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

12 thoughts on “Play WoW, Quit College”

  1. Life is way more important than games… yes, but it’s very hard to go on without them… It’s almost like a drug, which freaks me out because one day maybe gaming will be illegal.

  2. Yeah, things like this really don’t help people to understand gaming. Unfortunately, though, MMOs really do have a bad way about them. Just hearing some of the things on youtube with kids being recorded over ventrilo servers arguing with their parents about playing more WOW is terribly sad.

  3. I don’t think its “shocking”, that WoW is the leading cause for college drop outs though. However it is sad.

    And I do have a gaming addiction. Big time.
    Luckily for me, I’m going to make games myself, so they’ll cut me some slack… right?

  4. I once read of a guy who dropped out trying to up his Gamerscore by getting Achievements on little kids games and stuff.

    Some people are just losers.

    When I got to college, I did everything I wanted and still made Deans List every time. Some people have it and some people don’t.

  5. For some reason I’m not surprised. People take gaming way to seriously. I can understand it’s fun, but when u get on a game and get off and realizes that it’s already 10 pm when u started just after lunch, u just wasted a lot of time on a game that isn’t going to get u any where in life.

    I did have an addiction to Halo 2 for a while and I’m kinda addicted to my 360 now that I got one, but I still do every thing else I want to and am suppose to do. It all comes down to personal responsibility.

  6. I religiously avoid MMO’s for this reason. They’re good … too good. I’d probably pick it up and never stop. I bet you could make a lot of money if you started a rehab clinic for this….maybe not.

  7. Let me guess who made that study on the leading reason for drop-outs: Jack Thompson, right? lol
    I’m actually not surprised. And that’s why I stay away from MMO’s life the plague. Or Solanum. MMO’s basically are second lives, and it seems that the “real world” isn’t as cool as WoW or any other MMO. Frankly, why is that so strange? If they don’t feel like living their “real” life, then it’s not important to them so why do we weep when we here people spending their lives in their room playing WoW? Obviously they don’t want to stop, so why FORCE them to live their “real” life. Maybe I sound like someone from a Fahrenheit 451-esque nation, but come on; there’s only so much you can do.

    As for myself, I’ve never been completely absorbed and obsessed by a video game that I’d forsake my life for it. Sure, I get really exciting for games and play them all the time, but that’s just plain, regular-old obsession. It comes after school, etc. Call it self-control, call it not attaching myself to this world because that’s religion – it’s all the same really.
    And that’s why I avoid MMO’s. I don’t want to be controlled by Blizzard, etc.

  8. Still in college. Still playing WoW. Still on the Dean’s List.

    People who lose sight of real life like that don’t deserve a college education anyway.

  9. I avoid MMOs because I’ve seen sooooo many people taken down because of them. Not just out of school, but out of other things too like social circles.

    I like RPGs because they end. Sure, I don’t want them to end, but they do. MMOs can be played arguably for ever, and as such you never really have a reason to stop playing. I’ll stop playing a game so I can enjoy it more, but games that keep going and going and going…
    CS:S is like that, but if you add a personal character and story, then you’ve got a recipe for addiction.

  10. WoW is a shining example of the ONE game that is setting stereotypes. This is the only game I can think of that has people associating gamers with itself. Oh gamers, like those WoW kids. Seriously though they have reasons too, you can watch YouTube vids of 16 year old kids addicted to the game. You hear all the stories of the 25 year old who DID drop out of college so he could play.

    But WoW seems to be a first if you ask me. No other game has done this, least not to my knowledge. It has so many players and yea, has those who have made it their life. I find it sad and sickening personally that family wont stop them. Its simple, take away their internet/computer. 16 hour days on a comp game….thats scary.

    I skipped school one day back in middle school to play UO (Ultima Online for you MMO n00bs) thats the worse I have ever done. I was addicted to that game though. Seriously fun as shit. MMOs are a different life for some. They offer things that some people dont get in real life. I think for most its probably acceptance and power. I liked UO because my friends played it, I could build houses like int he sims (best f’ing part) and it was new/huge. For most WoW addicts I think its the acceptance. Their friends are there, why would they stop playing? Where else would they go?

    Sad statistic that thats the leading cause. 🙁

  11. Not that hard to believe (as a WoW player). Knew someone who dropped out for this reason in fact, he’s at some WoW Players Anonymous meeting type club thing now. Yeah, they actually make thins SPECIFICALLY for that now not just MMOs but WoW, how much evidence do you need.

    But the gameplay is infinite, incredible, addictive and more rewarding the more you play, so yeah I’m screwed in 1 and 1/2 yrs. I f34r fo mah life, thx al0t BLiZzardd!!!
    Oh no, teh returdation iz spredin!!!!!!!

  12. [quote comment=”2936″]I once read of a guy who dropped out trying to up his Gamerscore by getting Achievements on little kids games and stuff.

    Some people are just losers.
    [/quote]

    Ya, those kind of people drop out anyway.

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