Project Lore

There's many ways to teach a dog, or even a child new tricks.  Most of the psychology behind teaching relies on positive reinforcement.  The idea is simple, whenever the subject does something correctly it is rewarded for its action.  Food, love or a pat on the head, the reward can be almost anything likeable.  It has also been shown that if the positive reinforcement comes somewhat randomly, rather than every time, the subject is more likely to seek perfection later on. 

Positive reinforcement has worked wonders on me.  My parents promoted good grades by granting me fancy dinners for each A.  My teacher gave out Jolly Ranchers for fixing a grammatical error in a paragraph (it's vs. its ftw).  Sports accomplishments lead to WWF/WCW (now WWE) pay-per-view events - I even like cheesy stories!  In college I rewarded my own achievements with video games or a night on the town.  It's a tactic I use on my pets, and will likely repeat when I have my own koopalings.

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Sure, I've made plenty of jokes in the past about being addicted to WoW. Heck, I've even written a couple of blog posts on the topic, and we've seen the issue poked fun at in "South Park" and "The Guild." But I still was taken a bit by surprise when I recently learned that addiction therapists are making their way into WoW - actually creating characters themselves in an attempt to reach out to those who believe WoW is more than just a game. According to an article in the Telegraph, internet experts say that MMORPGs such as WoW are "are as addictive as crack cocaine." Really? In the article, psychiatrist Dr. Richard Graham says that addicts play up to 16 hours a day, and in the process neglect their social lives and educational priorities. Something that I think many of us bloggers here at Project Lore promote is the fact that the real world always should have priority over WoW (even when we would rather be playing!). And I am certain that there are people, as there are in any sub-culture, who have trouble distinguishing between the real world and the game. And those people may need psychiatric help. Or they may just need to get off their asses. Regardless, the majority of players do not have this issue. So being a gamer, I am troubled by the report quoted in the article, by Sweden’s Youth Care Foundation, which describes World of Warcraft as “more addictive than crack cocaine.” The idea of helping those with addictions certainly is a noble one. I'm just not sure whether WoW should be a targeted demographic for this when the rate of those who actually are "addicted" has got to be incredibly low. The Telegraph followed up their first article with another published last month stating that a 19-year-old man is the first to sign up for a 12-step treatment at the reStart Internet Addiction Recovery Program, in Washington state. The cost for a typical 45-day residential stay? $14,500 (£8,800). The retreat consists of activities such as camping and "wilderness adventures" - basically anything sans-technology. A psychotherapist said the institute was for quitting "cold turkey." According to the article, "the retreat is also open to outpatients seeking respite from an overreliance on joysticks, internet pornography and spending days on end staring at a computer screen." Most clients are expected to be men between ages 18 and 28. Here's one of my beefs: by comparing WoW's addictiveness to that of illegal drugs, it sounds a lot like the game is somewhat of a scapegoat for those who lose themselves in the game. Next thing we know, the game could be blamed for any violent act by some crazed person who happens to play the game. This is nothing new. In the past, the "evils" of Grand Theft Auto, FPS games, Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons were blamed for society's issues. Before that, it was Rock 'n' Roll. Let's hope that WoW isn't the next up to bat. Blizzard was "unavailable for comment" in both articles. But I bet they're keeping a close eye on whatever publicity comes along from these initiatives. Sounds like a PR nightmare. As for me, I'll continue to post about those irresistible aspects of gameplay that make me "addicted." Not because I actually think I'm an addict. But instead, because I'll admit that WoW is a damn good game that makes people want to play - not need to play. It takes a certain disregard for society or RL socializing in the first place (not cyber-snorting lines) for it to go anywhere beyond that.

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Forms of entertainment have long been blamed for a myriad of predicaments.  Violence and sex in video games have been the talking point for the many Helen Lovejoys of the world, but even as we strive for realism the issues tend to bore me.  It isn't because I don't think they aren't issues, I just believe that they are blown way out of proportion with far too much misinformation being spouted by supposed "experts."  Heck, video games even deform our skeletons now!  By the way, so does carrying your bookbag on one shoulder and various forms of hard labor.  There is at least one issue I do get behind though, weight gain.

Weight gain from hobbies - either viewing TV and movies, sitting on the computer, playing video games or crocheting - is a bit more clear cut than how sex and violence may or may not affect us.  The calculation is a simple breakdown of time and how much energy we burn.  If we aren't exercising as much as we used to because of some life change, then we aren't burning the same amount of calories.  If we continue to eat the same amount, then poof, added blubber.  The issue is fairly personal to me because I was the freakishly skinny guy in high school.  I graduated at 5'8" weighing an amazing 125 lbs.  Yes, that skinny.  After WoW had been available to me for nearly a year, I managed to balloon to the 160 lb range. I am a realist.  It wasn't WoW's fault at all, but my own.  Not only did I exercise less during that time frame, but I ate poorly.  Shoveling whatever quick-to-cook food I had available into my pie-hole with reckless abandon became a favored activity.  It certainly had its consequences.  I did need about 15 of that 35 lbs to be at my correct weight, but the kind of weight I gained was the horrific trans-fat, saturated-fat, high sodium kind.  To combat this, I created a rather stupid, yet easy regiment for myself during WoW's common downtime.  Through the course of a raid I would try to bang out the following basic, Jack Lalanne approved, exercise regiment.

• 100 Sit-ups
• 30 Push-ups
• 20 Pull-ups
• Few minutes of jump rope

I know it isn't much, but the key is that everything is easily accessible and entirely plausible given the short intervals of downtime.  Not to mention the fact that every bit helps.  The jumping of rope doesn't happen often since the house shaking annoys those around me, but I do my best to make up for it with additional sit-ups.  It is certainly no substitute for a full session of cardio, but the additional exercise along with less snacking at the computer and eating better food allowed me to return to a slimmer, fitter me.  A pair of wireless headphones lend the freedom needed to perform these acts of self maintenance with little impact on my AFKness (yes, a made up "word"). This little blog into my personal life makes me come off as a Weight Watchers spokesmen, but I was afraid that I may fall back into bad habits when I returned to WoW in the middle of TBC.  It's been well over a year since I rejoined and I remain at a weight I am happy with.  Luckily, I remembered my personal history and made sure to stay away from the quick morsels and constant snacking upon my return to Azeroth.  Does anyone have their own regiment for a healthy WoW life style?  A few of you left comments on the Distracted Gaming post about exercise, do you still buff up during your downtime?  Has anyone gone through the growing pains that I did?  Any meatheads know any easy to perform maneuvers that I can add to my repertoire?  I don't have any weights to speak of - or the room to house them - so benching and such is out of the question. Oh, how could I almost forget to link the WoW treadmill that we have discussed in the past?  For a bit less impact on your knees, there is another cardiovascular experiment via a WoW cycling setup (pictured) known as Warbiking.  We humans are crazy, creative beasts.

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The Balancing Act column was created to highlight how we as a community can dedicate so much time to our beloved MMORPG, and still have times for the finer things in life.  The introductory piece focused one's ability to play other games.  The second installment forces us to take a much harder look at ourselves, our lives and how our hobby interferes with our personal connections. The past few weeks in the blogosphere have been, well, downright depressing.  First the WoW community lost one of the most prominent Druid healing blogs, Resto4Life.  In the past few days I have personally lost two blogs that I subscribe to on my RSS feeder (Yes, I read other stuff.  You should too!), my favorite WAR blog known as WAAAGH! and Project Lore's own, BigRedKitty.  Phaelia and BRK both mark personal and family duties as reasons for their departure.  Phaelia took her absence due to a pregnancy, one which Blizzard has honored.  For his part, BRK ends his reign as an enlightened and highly regarded Huntard to spend more time with his family.  Only Syp of WAAAGH! will remain on the blogging scene, shifting gears from WAR to an all-new multi MMO blog appropriately named Bio Break. The recent losses, and the reasons behind them, have led me to look at my life in much the same way.  I'm not going anywhere though, and that is due to one big difference - I do not have a family.  Pleasing my girlfriend and keeping friendships intact are all I have to worry about, but even that can become difficult sometimes!  Time management is not everyone's strong point, and the only way I manage is by laying things out in advance.  The most time consuming of my WoW habits is raiding.  I work around this all night affair by informing my girlfriend of my raiding nights days in advance.  Not only does this let her know it's coming, but she can try to schedule her owns things, like a girl's night, if given enough time.  For obvious reasons I don't inform my friends of such plans, but with my guild only raiding twice a week, it is easy to work raiding around face time with friends. This is mainly accomplished by keeping the weekends entirely unscheduled as far as Azeroth is concerned.  I have also been known to disappear from raiding entirely for a few weeks.  Going cold turkey from time to time allows me to reevaluate my habits.  I can discern if I am being neglectful or getting sucked in a little too much.  Not to mention the fact that a break here and there keeps the game fresh and fun. How do the hardcore raiders out there manage it?  I don't think I could ever be hardcore again.  In fact, the only reason I was able to pull it off in the first place was because my ex-girlfriend played more than I did.  I don't regret it, I had tons of fun, but my life has changed since then and it can no longer facilitate such a commitment.  As long as I get through all the raids, I am content at being hardcore casual.  The lesson to take away from all of this is to remember that age old adage, Life > WoW. Be sure to keep those friendships active, the grades up to snuff and to stay awake at work.  To Phaelia, BRK and Syp, all the best in your future endeavors.

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