This stuff ain’t new, either.
I dropped out of a semester in high school back in… 1994 due to an addiction to a MUD, a text-based online multi-player role playing game.
I got tired of being a MUD junkie after about 9 months.
That MUD is still around. I’m not bitter, and have no one to blame but myself.
My drug of choice was Sneezymud .
World of Warcraft is no different than this message board really. You join because something interests you and you get hooked because of the people. I’m sure the depression was the main reason for your friends grades deteriorating, if WoW hadn’t been avialable something else would have provided an “out”.
Well, I think it’s more typical of “family” type guilds, and less typical of uber power-gamer type guilds, but that’s exactly what I mean. I’ve personally never understood why some of my offline friends and family have problems with me being friends with people I’ve met online.
Why on earth would people think that’s a less valid place to meet a person and grow a friendship than anywhere else?