NCsoft sued... again.

On Video Game Addiction I'm mixed on.

On one hand it does exist to some degree

On the other hand, its really just a subset of larger behavior and not unique to Video Games or MMO's.

Sad fact is, some people are just prone to Addictive Behavior, it could be gambling, it could be MMO's, or it could be something entirelly. In some ways its really not all that different from Obsessive Compulsive behavior. The only difference today, is that people have more venues to channel this behavior in than they did say 100 yrs ago, which is why you see more incidence of it. If you search, you'll find stories of people getting addicted to the old style Arcade Video Games back in the day playing Pac Man. The thing is, it could've easily been WoW, EQ, or something else with this guy,rather than Lineage. Is it NcSoft's fault not really. If he was spending this much time on the game, really his friends and family should've intervened. Should a better system be established of recognizing and dealing with obssessive behavior be established sure.

Lets assume for a momment, NcSoft had decided to be the white knight here, and added some sort of timer that had limited the amount of time he could spend online, the fact is he would've found some way to work around it. If they sent an alert to the local mental health authorities if their records indicated he had played x number of hrs over y number of weeks, then we would get into privacy issues. Are the games addictive to those of us w/o obsessive compulsive problems? Given how fickle the MMO market is, strong evidence exists against that (in particular NcSoft, if they were able to make a game addictive, I'm sure they would've done it on TR)

I'm very generally with ManOfManyCharacters. There is a self-perpetuating spiral with mental illnesses and meds. If someone has a problem, it's usually easier to get diagnosed with a mental illness and pop some pills than to admit you have a problem and walk it the **** off. Yes, there are valid mental illnesses, but not everything under the sun is a mental illness.

Also see: Borderline. They've actually changed the definition of the entire 'illness' at least once that I'm aware of, and they're actually not sure if it really exists. But some psychologists and psychiatrists are diagnosing it nonetheless. ****, I'm pretty sure I'd be diagnosed with it, I even fit the revised definition to some extent. Revised definition being that Borderline patients can't produce endorphins normally and therefore have to get their kicks by going to extreme lengths like wolfing down spicy foods (capsaicin triggers endorphin release), experiencing pain (hits the same trigger as capsaicin) and seeking other extreme and/or dangerous situations. Still don't know what's sick about getting that extra kick, but I digress.

The other thing people of the psychiatric persuasion overlook is that there's a chicken and egg story with brain chemistry. People say all mental illnesses are imbalances or faults in other people's brain chemistry. Caused by what? Yes, some injuries can cause malfunctions in the brain. But not everyone who's schizophrenic or bi-polar has been hit in the head with a shovel. Which would lead me to believe that the aberrant brain chemistry is a symptom, not the root cause.

So what IS the root cause then?

For schizophrenia it's often genetic. I'd be willing to bet on several of the 'big' disorders being easily inherited.

Family life, alcoholism in the family, stress, all have strong impact particularly on children, which may subsequently lead to abnormal behaviors. Heck, food allergies can cause personality shifts in children, if they're given the wrong foods.

The brain is a very delicate thing.

And I certainly hope that any given court throws this "lawsuit" out - addictive personalities will be compulsive about *anything* given the chance to be. ANY. Thing. Gambling, cleaning, video games, whatever.

I try to be respectful with people when discussing things, but as soon as a person tells me their beliefs outweigh knowledge hard-won by science, they go into the loony-bin. Case in point: an acquaintance is convicted by faith that mental illness and psychological and neural sciences simply don't exist and are outright wrong. This person is also incredibly mentally ill and can't understand why the government has taken away her children and her husband has divorced her. Humans are weak and frail creatures and ignoring the effects of mental illness sends us down a very dangerous path.

There is also certain "diseases" like autism that have people think in a different way compared to "regular" people. I don't know too much about it, but I assume that if almost everyone was autistic and there was a minority of people that thought normally, then the normal people would have a mental illness. Some mental illnesses are based on the cultural norms of the time while there are a few actual mental illnesses where there is something wrong with a person's brain. Schizophrenia could be all in a person's head or seeing beyond the barrier that exists between realities. One scenario is a result of some problem with their brain while the other is where there is nothing wrong with them, but both end up with the same treatment.

The distinction between chemicals we ingest or otherwise introduce to our bodies from external sources and the chemicals out own bodies produce in response to stimuli is largely artificial.

Certain behaviors trigger unique chemical responses. Gambling creates tension and a feeling of elation; this is a chemical response. Just as people can become dependent on nicotine, caffeine, heroin, or any other drug, people can become addicted to the chemicals released during gambling. Research is showing that MMORPGs create a very similar chemical response to gambling.

I'm not surprised by this suit, though I don't agree with it's merits, it was only a matter of time before someone stepped up to that plate.

Seems like the discussion has gotten off target from the impact of this players claim to a general discussion of the validity of addiction medicine and sciences.

However i think neither actually applies to this dude. I might be reading between the lines here, but frankly this sounds like a bitter RMT dude trying to make a buck off NC Soft.

The article claims 20k hours over 5 years and 3 accounts. Averaging 11 hours per day means this guy basicly couldnt have played this game, slept and held a job really for the most part. So I would be willing to bet that the guy spent his time earning things to sell in game to support himself. He had 3 accounts set up probably sold gold, power leveling and such. NC Soft bans him and then he basicly decides "Oh well i was addicted and that is their fault."

Well i dont think so. As has been mentioned already unfortunately these jack hole lawyers will prey on smaller companies rather then take on the big boys. I see no evidence of sickness in this guy, only his greed and a desire to take revenge on having what was likely his illegal (or atleast unethical) revenue stream halted.

I know they are a smaller company but if i was NC SOFT i would have some intern research those three accounts in the server logs for anyone he teamed with, or transfered gold to or loot and look for patterns of set amounts of money being transfered etc. I would contact those other account holders and offer like free play time or something to get a statement as to what transactions happened and how much they paid. Then i would turn around and sue the dude for all the money he made selling the ingame products that nc soft owns.

Yes it would cost some money, but better to set a strong example now that they wont be taken advantage of then to allow this case to win and have every old player come out of the woodwork looking for their payday.