MMORPG blues, yo.

[Ajil6]

Alrighty, whitey.

Like many of the net-bound nerds in the world, I have a group of friends who have fallen into the MMORPG crowd. Myself is included in this, but only sparringly so!

:/ Lately I've become concerned with some of my friends, two or three of my closer friends have gotten so totally enamoured with our good friend Final Fantasy XI. Now, there isn't really any problems that I see with having fun playing MMORPGs, but it looks like it's bordering/crossing the border with addiction. Some friends will be on the game for 12 hours a day, and get... snippity when messaged more than once or twice every two hours, because I or someone else is distracting them with our low level antics. Others get angry when it's suggested that they take a half hour break from their multi-hour sessions, or even go outside for a short skip around the block ( The best response I've gotten to that is "I don't need to go outside!" The hell you don't, whitefish.)

Now. I'm sure I'm probably wrong (I'm assuming so because it makes me feel good when people say I'm not. :D ) But... that seems a little extreme to me.

See. The doozy of it is, is that there is nothing I can do directly as the final choice of this matter lies with them. But... What can I do to sort of sway them to take a breather every once in awhile? >.> I don't want another Evercrack angstfest on my hands (Oh noes, I'm level 12 instead of 13! Damn you exp penalty!).

So is there anything I can do, or am I having monkeys shit into the wind?

[WillBaseton]

Well, Ajil. I've seen this problem happen many, many times. Basically once with each major MMORPG in existence besides Everquest. Sadly, it's really not something you can do anything about. Just wait for them to get bored with it and come to their senses. If they refuse to even go OUTSIDE, then you're not getting them off of it for a nuclear blast. Just wait it out and they'll eventually stop.

All things will pass and all that stuff, ya know? <p>

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The closer you get to light, the larger your shadow becomes.

"Sheesh! Everybody's just going and growing wings! So much for being unique!" - Will</p>

[Celeste of Elvenhame]

I've never been that extreme even over EQ, gotta wonder about people who are that obsessed. Ought to be interesting to see what happens in when I join up CoH (my computer comes back home on monday with a copy of it, yay!!!!) I'll have toa gree with Will and say you probably are going to have to wait for them to get it out of their system on their own or see if you can have them committed ;D <p>---------------Celeste of Elvenhame ---------------

Aaron Lewise of Guildportal: On the up side though, most of the remaining bugs are genuinely evil, sentient beings that actively dodge attempts to thwart them.</p>

[Wolfbelly]

Friends don't let friends get addicted. Thus, the solution is simple. Stop having them as friends.

[Justice Augustus]

If it gets really bad, you may need an intervention. This is only in the most extreme of cases, such as when their health noticiblely declines (and yes, this does happen). Usually this will be seen by parents first (if living at home, if not then by roomates/significant others/friends) and if enough people voice concern about it (nothing attacking, just something like "do you think you might be spending a little too much time on the computer?") they'll start to think about it, and hopefully make the right decision.
<p>

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"British, oh so British.
Look at us, we're so well dressed.
British, oh so British.
Too bad we're all sexually repressed."
- The Goodness Gracious Me team</p>

[Lord McBastard]

I once had Video Game delierium after playing Team Fortress Classic for something like ten hours straight, I think I ate in that period I honestly can't recall.

Afterwards I felt like I had lost all touch with reality, it felt similar to being high. Textures were like alien to me, natural light was painfully bright, and I was amazed how much more realistic the graphics looked.

To be perfectly honest, it was scary. Even when wasted I've never felt so out of touch with reality and I was definatly out of touch with reality then.

Now if this is happening to them I would definatly say something to them, because it is not healthy. I can understand the idea of getting your money's worth from a game you have to pay for constantly, but there are limits. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div>
<div style="text-align:center">"Go tell your alien brothers, that Ronnie Cordova says they're gay!"-Ronnie Cordova</div></p>

[SuperRube]

My suggestion is to wait until World of Warcraft comes out and get them hooked on that. From what I've been reading about the beta thus far, they have a system in place that penilizes exp if you stay logged in for more then eight hours in a row with the same character.

That'll get 'em to stop for a bit. Or it'll make them switch characters. I dunno.

[Ajil6]

WoW is my friend in this way. >.> Now if only FFXI would do that.

But thanks a lot. :O Now I have a direction to go.

[Rion Kerikinia]

Delete their character. Worked for me.

[enzeru sky]

After a fateful 4 months playing Lineage 2, a month playing Evercrack, a week playing Ultima Online, and 6 months playing Dark Ages, I can officially say...

MMORPG's are a waste of money

Total Money wasted: $262.84 (w/o tax)
Yearly Income: $400 dollars yearly (my birthday money )

[Shiranai]

FFXI DOES have a system like that. It's called dying a ludicrous number of times with painful exp losses and nothing to motivate you to get that far.

Or at least for me. Give me Dark Age any day. Everything else (Except maybe UO) sucks.

[Endesu]

Don't post to dead topics, plzkthx.