As someone who's played MMO's for 7 or 8 years now, I definitely think they can be addictive for certain personality types. But, for the average Joe, I believe they are more akin to a habit than an addiction. There is a true withdrawal period--mentally, emotionally, even physically--when you suddenly, unexpectedly can't play. When my computer dies or my monitor dies, I find myself dropping all other responsibilities and frantically counting pennies while in line at BestBuy to fix the situation ASAP. A slight exaggeration, but not really.

Now, is the addiction to the game itself or to the social environment? Several years back, when my computer situation left me unable to play Everquest for an extended period of time, I went through an actual mourning period. This was primarily for the characters that I had invested so many hours of time in and developed a true affection for. While playing City of Heroes, a conflict with my roommate caused him to delete all the characters on my account, which were never recovered. Even now, four years later, I still think of them occasionally with nostalgia.

World of Warcraft has been an enduring "habit" for over four years now. Many, many times, I've been bored with the actual game and been tempted by greener pastures. However, my love for my characters, my need to maintain the social network I've become a part of, and the hundreds of hours already invested kept me coming back. It's just like forming any other group of friends--in real life, in a chat room or on a message board. You get to know real people, learn about their lives, become familiar with their personalities... The thought of abruptly cutting ties is sometimes out of the question or extremely difficult.

To cut this essay short :P, Merriam-Webster defines an addiction as:
"2: compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance...characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal ; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful"
It seems clear to me that MMO addiction, or even just video game addiction, fits this definition. We've all heard the stories of marriages ending, children left to starve, people playing until they had seizures or heart attacks. If that's not "compulsive use of a substance known to be harmful," I don't know what is. (Check out some of the links I added)
Source(s):
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addiction, http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171359, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article553840.ece, http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2002/04/51490, http://gamerush.zoomshare.com/files/my_images/GameRush_Entertainment_Parent...


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