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Listed below are comments made by fross_ between Thursday, 13th November 2008 and Thursday, 13th November 2008.

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'Addicted' to Warcraft? 12:17pm on 13 Nov 2008 This is simply an issue of bad parenting.

World of Warcraft is very immersive and incredibly fun to play, which can lead to people wanting to spend a lot of time in it. The emphasis here is on "want" not "need", the difference between a passtime and an addiction. It does not punish people for not playing it, it does not compel people to play it, in fact it does give rewards, as already stated, for taking a break then returning (by logging off, you gain points later, twice as fast).

Certainly, there are some people who may form an addiction around it, but they are no more likely to have such a problem around World of Warcraft than they are any other passtime, be it football, poker, drinking, other video games, whatever. For adults, we expect them to be able to handle themselves, and for children, we expect their parents to handle them.

World of Warcraft includes several features of parental control. It allows a maximum amount of time per day of play. It also constrains play to particular hours, so for instance a child could not play after 10pm.

If these features are not used, it's the parents who are to blame. If they do not know what their children are doing, and their kids' studies and social lives are suffering because they have a hobby that is taking over their life unchecked, it's the parents' negligence that is causing it. They should be able to handle what their children are doing to ensure it doesn't get out of hand. The fact the company provides tools to automate this makes it even easier.

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