By Jason LaMotte, Northeastern News

More than 9.5 million people subscribe to "World of Warcraft," a computer game by Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

On a cold December night, Dmitriy Dunin sits within the light green walls of his small bedroom in his Beacon Street apartment, accompanied by his cat, Little Bit.

While Little Bit perches on the windowsill, looking beyond the curtains to the world outside, Dunin looks into a completely different world - the "World of Warcraft" (WoW), brought to life by the flat screen of his computer.

The CTX monitor, connected to a computer Dunin built three years ago, stands on a desk next to a picture of his girlfriend of four years and a textbook for his Japanese language class.

The junior computer science major sits with his legs crossed, sporting a pair of Plantronics headphones around his neck, while his WoW character, a rogue named Benth, participates in one of three weekly raids with his guild.

The voices of Dunin's guild members, coming from places as far away as Spain, sound from the speakers as the members unite to fight "trash mobs" in the land of Zuli-Aman, a troll city, in Azeroth. The guild, called "Abstract," has already killed two bosses, Walorakk and Akil'zon, and has seven minutes to reach the last boss, Halazzi, before it fails the raid

Paying $15 a month to play on the game's first expansion set, "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," Dunin is one of more than 9.5 million people who subscribe to play WoW. Yet, as the number of players grows so, too, does concern for the game's effects on them.

In June 2005, EuroGamer.net reported that a child had died due to neglect by her parents, who were playing WoW at a local internet café in Korea. Also, in August of that year, GameSpot.com said the People's Republic of China proposed new rules to limit the playtime of the country's estimated 20 million computer game players in order to curb social and financial costs they perceived to be brought on by the popularity of games like WoW.

Maressa Hecht Orzack, Ph.D., director of the Computer Addictions Study Center at McLean Hospital and assistant clinical medical professor at Harvard University, has worked for more than 15 years treating addictive behaviors. She said side effects of game addiction include loss of sleep, not eating, violent behavior and seizures.

Orzack said the age range of addicted gamers starts in middle school and continues to college students.

"Sometimes these games get people that are older, [but] that's a minority," Orzack said. "The perfect profile [of an addicted online gamer] is a young male who is very bright and very much involved in the game…suddenly their grades start to fall, they neglect people and their relationships. The more they lose, the worse it is."

Dickie Field, a sophomore computer science major who skipped his senior prom because he was playing WoW, said he was probably addicted. Fields, who quit the game his freshman year when he came close to failing two classes, said the hardest part of quitting was leaving his fellow players.

"It's definitely the people you meet [that you miss]. If you get in a guild and play with them [other guild members] for a while, you get to know them," Field said.

Released in November 2004, WoW is Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.'s fourth game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, beginning with "Warcraft: Orcs and Humans" in 1994. Unlike a real-time strategy game, WoW is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). MMORPG is a genre of online computer role-playing games (CRPGs), in which a large number of players interact with each other in a virtual world.

To accommodate all players, the game is divided into servers that players can choose from.

In addition to playing the game, players often participate in the WoW virtual community by conversing in chat rooms and creating fan artwork. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., offers out-of-game prizes and awards to players, while also noting upcoming events within the community.

"It's really addicting to be able to remake yourself online," said Paul Chong, a sophomore political science major. Chong, whose character is a priest, says he plays WoW once or twice a week, but realizes the effects it can have on people.

"My cousin is divorcing because her husband plays it too much," he said.

Significant others of gamers may find comfort in sites like GamerWidow.com. The site has forums for those who feel they've taken a backburner position in their relationship to a game, to discuss their experiences, learn about other "widows" and learn about the games their loved ones are obsessed with.

Offering help to the players themselves, On-Line Gamers Anonymous (OLGA) was started by Liz Woolley in May 2002, after her son committed suicide in front of the computer while EverQuest, an MMORPG similar to WoW, was running.

Woolley said she had little success in looking for help for her son prior to his death, and started OLGA to help addicted gamers and their families.

She said the companies who make these games know the effects they can have on players.

"They know that [players can become addicted]," she said. "[They're] not any better than drug pushers."

Despite the controversy that surrounds WoW, many gamers continue to play. Dunin continues to tell the tale of his rogue, Benth, from his bedroom.

"I'm a pretty hardcore gamer," said Dunin, citing that he's constantly playing games, whether on his computer, Playstation, Xbox or Xbox 360. Yet Dunin says it's hard to find time to play games outside WoW, having been introduced to it as a beta tester in June 2005.

"The problem with this game is that there's so much stuff to do that I don't have time to play other games," he said.

Although he once took his computer on a vacation, Dunin said he isn't addicted, but can see how easily someone could become addicted.

While the game doesn't affect his schoolwork, he said, it does affect his sleep. However, he said he isn't worried.

"I have stopped playing and I can stop playing," Dunin said.

© Copyright 2008 Northeastern News 1/7/08