I think the point you are missing is that there is no Admin involvement in the whole deal. You freeze yourself, you determine the time you want to freeze for, you are not baby-sitted if you go on a temper mode.

It is just an option given to players to self control their on-line time, and it is very clear in the rules that Imms will not undo your own decision (unless its a typo which you can report right away anyway).

It is NOT telling anything to the players if the freeze for a bit longer than they should have, basically because it is just a piece of code and no Imm or Admin is going to deal with it so it cannot technically tell , well, anything.

Yeah, I sort of understand, I've just never quite understood the whole concept of decaying equipment.  I've seen quite a few games in which things disappear after a while, you know?  Things you wouldn't think should decay.

I mean, I understand food and such, but steel greaves?  Those things shouldn't rot.  I've always envisioned one of those systems where armor and clothing and such doesn't just decay and disappear, but instead become less and less effective with use.

I think an adult should be able to maintain their willpower when it comes to gaming, and a child, it's up to their parents. I don't believe it's the adminstrator's responsiblity to add a lock, because when it comes down to it, you control what you do.

An unhealthy "addiction" to MUDs seems pretty mild when you've known a few drunks, pill poppers, and cokeheads. Maybe the word addiction gets used too much today, but it's still possible I suppose. I think there's more World of Warcraft "addicts" than anything, by design of course.

It's nice that some MUDs provide the lockout tool, but ultimately you should control when you seperate yourself from play and get some work done.

Muds are generally considered more addicting than most forms of drugs, like drinking. It's psychologically addicting, which is not easy to break if you fall into that pit. I've been able to quit drinking after realizing I had a problem, but never could manage to quit mudding even though it effected me more than the drinking... now I'm on the good side of the mud world, heh.

Most physical addictions also become psychological addictions in part, and I've never heard that "addiction" to a MU* is any worse than a chemical addiction. Are there specific studies to which you can point us?

While it's true that you can use other chemicals to combat a chemical/physical addiction (which I guess you could consider an easier method), a lot of those methods involve a lot of physical pain as well as mental anguish. Personally, even if considered myself addicted to a game and played too much, breaking out of the "addiction" would probably not involve a whole lot of physical pain other than the carpal tunnel I might have gotten from being on the computer too much.

Ultimately, though, I guess that "fun" could be considered "addicting". The games that I tend to play a lot are usually fun for me, and those can keep me online hours at a time. Who exactly gets to determine, though, if I'm just having fun or if I'm addicted? I definitely hope that it's not the people running the game. Their only job is to make the game more fun for me!

The "rush" you get from a game can involve the release of natural endorphins. Endorphins are chemical, and presumably can be addictive.


Angela Christine

We have no things like "freeze character" over at wot. If someone has exams and wants a break, they just come to an imm who changes their password until some pre-arranged date in the future.

Do you mean freeze character like an admin forcibly freezing a player's character, or a player deciding he doesn't want to play as his character for a while so he hits a freeze command?

Generally considered by whom? Non-gambling games aren't even universally classified as addictive by the medical community as far as I know.

--matt