Anyone ever been obsessed with World of Warcraft?

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I have a teenager with AS who has always been obsessed with online computer games. For years he played Runescape, as did several kids from his school. For the past 6 months I've been paying for WOW. He seems totally obsessed with it, to the point where it may be an addiction, and he works hard to achieve stufff on it. I have mixed feelings about it. I know that endless computer time is not good, but its his obsession. He seems happy with it. But in 2 days school will be out and I will have to limit his time. But how? How to avoid a meltdown? Anyone have any suggestions?

My ex was hooked on a computer game he played online. He never stopped unless he ate or went to bed or went to the bathroom. It was always a hassle to get him off the computer and he complain about not having anything to do and he be so anxious to get back on so I always used the internet at my parents house. He claimed he was on it just to pass time but obviously it was part of his life and he was addicted or else he wouldn't be so anxious and being away from home was hard for him.

Covertly install an ip blocker that prevents your son's computer from connecting with blizzards servers.

Nope. Just not my thing. I need things that apeal to my special intrests to be obsessed or addicted to.

Interesting. It sounds like my son is becoming addicted to this game. It involves a very elaborate fantasy world, like Lord of the Rings, and there are multiple "realms" so I can see how there would always be something to do. Sometimes he refuses to eat dinner until he is finshed doing "whatever."

I can't even get my husband off the computer quick enough just to be in bed with me. He also has the same reason as my ex, "to pass time or I have nothing to do" and when we were in Montana, he was bored because he couldn't play his game because my parents internet wasn't working all the time. But he still did other things.

But when he gets in the middle of a quest or helping his friends, it's impossible to get him off. I would have to shut off the computer to make it quicker but I haven't done that yet. But he gets off after he is through with the mission.

Not WoW but similar RPGs. Kal, RF, 2Moons, etc.

I would never let it get in the way of my life though. Unfortunately when I didn't have a life it took up my every waking moment but at least I met friends that way and got respect.

The only way I can think to limit time without leaving your son in a constant state of restlessness (as I have been since my last game closed) is to give him other things to do that are exciting. Physical activity is probably limited to early morning and evening on account of summer temperatures. How about arts and crafts maybe?

I've been playing online games for over 10 years now. I have close to 365 days played on my main character in WoW. Mind you thats all logged in face time playing WoW. Do I think I'm obsessed? Maybe a little. Addicted? No. I manage to hold a job and play WoW.

My son is focused on "raids" and "quests." Sounds similar. I can impose time limits on him from inside the game, but am afraid he will have a meltdown when he sees his time has been limited.

How old is your son?

He's 14, just out of 8th grade.

I'm a WoW player. It's varied between special interest to near-obsession and back again over the past few years.

I have some theories about why this is so attractive. You can solo it, or go and spend time with your guild-mates, while you all focus on a task (i.e. a raid encounter or group quest) without having to interact a lot. The game presents you with a series of achievable goals, each time rewarding you (with gold, or an armour upgrade).

In addition, you can end up collecting lots of things and spending lots of time organising them. Which make it a little self reinforcing.

And it doesn't really require good fine-motor co-ordination, unlike first-person shooters or racing games. Those type of games end up sending my anxiety through the roof because I can't quite co-ordinate everything properly to achieve the goals.

Whereas, even in a raid encounter in WoW, once I know my skill-rotation (which buttons I need to mash in which order), it becomes a matter of me just doing my bit to achieve a common goal.

Try to get him into a situation where he is paying for his own WoW time. Paper Route, Mowing Lawns or, just household chores. $15.00 a month shouldn't be too hard for a 14 yr old to come up with.

There is also a WoW collectable card game he might be interested in. That could get him out of the house and socializing with people at your local game store.

I was previously a very obsessed WoW player (probably still am, but I spend more time on the Internet now). My thoughts are, however, that a meltdown seems unavoidable. Imagine your own obsessions/interests - and what you would do if, for whatever reason, every component of one of them would be taken away from you. You would, obviously, fight back for it. This would relate similar in this case. If it were me, I would limit his time via the WoW website and then tell him, specifically, that you want him to spend less time on it to revise. If he argues, then try to calm him down. If he nods along and agrees, tell him you've limited his time because of this. This is where, nine times out of ten, an Argument seems inevitable - but you should wait for his anger to pass, explain that it's for the best and stick by your word.