Happy Holidays from Wired Magazine

Oh look another article that shows the attempt to prove that Everquest was written by Lucifer himself.
Oh and the new most over used saying by the people who are on the new millenium witchhunt:

Quote:EverQuest -- or EverCrack as some people call it

I really wish the person who game up with that cleaver name would have just kept their cyber mouth shut because it has now been written in the stone journal of anti-questers everwhere.

Quit the book burning people, its getting old.

Yeah, but that means players have to stop calling it 'Evercrack' also. I mean, let's face it. The whole idea of EQ being addictive came from us players. Everyone joked about it in game and we didn't give it a second thought back then. Now I think we are giving it a second thought.
www.angelfire.com/anime3/...crack.html

Ron Jaffe AKA Diggo McDiggity
eMail: eqaddict@cfl.rr.com
Discussion Board Administrator
Everquest player from July, 1999 to April, 2002
Over 4,900 Hours Played

Edited by: Diggo McDiggity at: 12/23/02 6:36:54 pm

Please remember that even though Soprena is a moderator, the official position of OLGA is that excessive game playing is only a symptom of other problems.

There are still many in denial that any of their unacceptable behaviors are their own responsibility. The have a need to establish an external locus of control, and will vehemently deny that they had any problems until that ol' debil EQ came along.

Its nothing but a defense mechanism to avoid taking responsibility. Their egos are to fragile to withstand an objective evaluation of their own faults.

Quote:Its nothing but a defense mechanism to avoid taking responsibility. As long as they can get away with play, play, play, they will!

Who is holding them accountable for their real life? If they are single and by themselves, they don't have to be held accountable to anyone except going to work so they can pay their ISP bill and their monthly eq bill.

If they have a family, and the family tries to make them responsible and contribute in real life, there will be hell to pay for them.

Quote:1. I'm not a spokesperson for OLGA. I am a moderator so that I can delete the posts with links to porn sites and the expletive-filled rants.Wuss...

[bold] I can edit too. [/bold]

Ron Jaffe AKA Diggo McDiggity
eMail: eqaddict@cfl.rr.com
Discussion Board Administrator
Everquest player from July, 1999 to April, 2002
Over 4,900 Hours Played

Edited by: Soprena at: 12/24/02 11:44:13 am

I just finished reading that article, and it makes me horribly sad. I really pity all these people who refuse to be accountable for their lives. Dr. Phil would have a lot to say to them. I'd pay anything to see these EQ addicts hauled off to his show for a dose of responsibility. A quote from that article which bears repeating: "Compulsive playing tends to mask underlying problems such as depression, anger and low self-esteem, said Orzack [director of the Computer Addiction Studies Center], who said she was once hooked on computer solitaire."

For every statement about how EverQuest caused something (EQ ruined my schooling, EQ ruined my relationship, etc), replace "EQ" with "my irresponsibility." If you can accept THAT, you are on the road to recovery. Realize that, while the outside world influences you, YOU ALONE make the choices. Once someone has realized that they have a problem (depression, fear, etc), they can take the steps to get away from EQ. Unless they conquer the root, they'll find a new plaything. Next time, it might be worse than a computer game.

And this has been bothering me for some time, I need to ask. Soprena, if you are "clean" from EverQuest and are proud of it, why are you still using a signature graphic of your characters?

Lisa

Thanks for the reply. My husband had theorized that, as this is an EZboard, you must post as an EQ player with this name and simply don't remove your signature when you post here. /shrug

Lisa

"A significant body of current players freely admit that the game is "addictive. I have read and continue to read 'the boards.' I see this there all the time.

When people post that they are retiring, you can count on getting some "Ive thought about retiring but I'm addicted" posts.

When people post, asking who is going to be playing SWG (Star Wars Galaxies), you see posts stating "I got over my Everquest addiction and hope that if I try that game I don't get sucked in again."

Say what you will, but you know what the players know. This jargon is VERY common in the community, and the people are being serious when they post it.

If this was only coming from here, it would be one thing. But it's not."

Having the players make jokes about addictiveness is akin to gay men calling each other fags, queens, ladies, or whatever. It is akin to black people referring to each other in terms that would be offensive if they came out of my lily-white mouth. You have to take it with a grain of salt instead of taking it literally.

Personally, I think almost anyone can become obsessed with something, especially something that falls into the hobby category. I've obsessed over certain things at times in my life, from a woman to a book to a game to a concept. When I was a kid, you couldn't keep me off a baseball diamond. To this day, I watch "It's a Wonderful Life" every time I see it's on TV. I know countless people who watch soap operas religiously. My girlfriend's mom talks about the people on QVC like she knows them. Every week you can see sports fans wearing body paint and sitting topless in the stands when it's 30 below. All obsessions, and all of them have certain aspects to them that foster that obsession. The thing is that we have to draw a line somewhere between being a fan and being a fanatic, and you, Soprena, appear unwilling to draw the line anywhere beyond simple participation. Personally, I believe you *include* simple participation in your definition of "addict," but I'm granting you the benefit of the doubt at the moment.

Tino, but some call me Chris