My brother has become another warcraft addict.  
He has lost all control over himself.  
He is 16 years old and his studies and social life are already down the drain.

What is the best way to help him out of it?
No theories alone please.

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 22 Jan 2006 04:52 PST

Hi,

You can either reason with him or force him out of it.

Explain your concerns and try and negotiate a deal. Say you can play
for 1 hour a day after you do your homework.

Or just take the cd away and tell him you'll destroy it unless he does
his homework.

Or if you have better technical knowledge, you can restrict his access
with router settings or modifying settings on his computer.

Thanks.
endo

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Clarification of Question by malteser-ga on 22 Jan 2006 07:50 PST

Thank you. however we have already tried many types of negotiation
such as trying to limit the game to say 4 - 5 hours  a day.  Which is
already too much but less than is being made.

Have also tried taking it away and decided not to go to school.

Sorry.  Difficult case, not an easy solution it seems.

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 22 Jan 2006 08:13 PST

He didn't go to school when you took the game away and you gave it back?
I'm no expert in psychology but the kid thinks he can do anything to
you if you gave in to that.

You could just say you can't afford to pay for the Internet access
anymore and get it cut off.

endo

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 24 Jan 2006 09:52 PST

Good for you for watching out for your brother.

But I have to ask, are his parents aware of the situation?  How have they reacted?

pafalafa-ga

I play a lot of online games myself but have never been addicted. My
younger brother was also exactly like yours and he is 16 too. I got
him to stop playing the game by making him realize how unstable it was
and how people are taking advantage of it.
The simple fact is that he believes in the reality of WOW and it's
stability. If you make him understand how bendable the rules are he
will not be as reliant on it.
Show him how level 60 accounts are being bought and sold on ebay and
that his hard work is basically equivilant to nothing for someone
else.
Basically bring world of warcraft down in his eyes and he will grow out of it.
Hope this works.

Hello!

Have you tried the parental control thats built-in?
All you need to do i go to WoW's website and log in, then you can
decide when he is to log in and not, also you will set a password for
the parrental controll so only you can change it. However you will
need his account name+passowrd. I hope this will help you.

Best regards SmoiZ

My friends used to be addicted.  They stayed up all night (im serious)
for about a month and eventually got tired of it.  There is no real
way to stop it unless you let it burn out.  Other options include
moving to china and going to an addiction clinic. 
http://www.interfax.cn/showfeature.asp?aid=4913

How long has he been playing?  WoW can only last so long before it
looses his interest.

My sixteen year old son is in a similar position but I think worse. 
If I threaten to remove the game he threatens to harm himself as it is
the only thing "keeping him sane" right now.  He comes home from
school, gets in his pyjamas and plays for at least 9 to 10 hours
straight.  Unless I take food to him he will not eat.  I cannot sleep
at night as I know that unless I go to the computer and shut it down
at 1:00 he will be up all night and won't be able to go to school.  He
is still holding a part time job and his marks are OK- not as good as
they used to be.  He had two panic attacks on Friday and he doesn't
know what brought it on but he could not take his hands off the
keyboard. He was convinced that the only thing that would help him (
as he was breathing into a paper bag) was to keep playing. He has
alientated all his friend. I am going to see his family doctor today
and am trying to get a psychiatrist to come to the house.  I am
concerned given his state that he will harm himself if I take the game
away.  Does anyone else have any suggestions.

Often a hot girlfriend and a supply of alchohol can solve the problem
of a world of warcraft addiction, at least temporarily.

NOTE Supplying alchohol to minors may be illegal in your country.

WARNING This may also lead to bigger problems in life than a game addiction.

Most people underestimate the power of this game or any mmorph for
that matter. I use to be a World of Warcraft addict and managed to
escape twice. And let me tell you, it was not easy. Those who are
addicted to World of WARCRACK can not just quit like any other game.
From my experience you can not quit WoW immediately, you can only
divert it. The only cure to they widespread syndrome is to allow the
individual to get addicted to something else. Something less
addicting, and slowly they will forget it. They can play some other
games on xbox, playstation, or like me counterstrike. My friends who
manage to quit with me go back to playing starcraft or warcraft the
frozen throne. It helps them keep they mind of world of warcraft and
those games arent time consuming. I normally play 15 mins of
counterstrike a day before i get bored and sick of video games in
general and go watch some tv. Once you do - your only half done.
The other half is the toughest part. Try to eliminate any discussion
of World of Warcraft between him and anyone else. If his friends are
always talking about it , its going to be hard for him to quit. They
are basically refreshing his memory of the game, pushing him back to
the game. Its like quiting smoking yet ur hanging around smokers, its
going to be tough. But once you get that done, he's free from his
addiction. I hope that help.

i disagree. i'm 15 myself and for 2-3 months was another WoW addict..
i gave up not because of money or boredom; i could have played for a
year or 2 more ^^.It was an immediate thing i just got me mate to
change my password. I gave up because i realised as was earlier stated
that it was so un-rewarding and i also simply saw it was taking over
my life. Fair enough such a decision may not be so simple but if he
realises:
1.)That he ultimately achieves nothing in the game.
2.)That at his age there are much more important things to be getting
on with and that WoW could take a larger role later on in life (By
when hopefuly he will have seen his error of his ways :D)
3.)That WoW can be seriously dangerous and has (google it) caused deaths/suicides.

...Honestly i was pretty bliddy addicted but just those few things
pointed out to me how much of my life i was wasting. Hope it helps...

The best way to help him out of it is probably to just keep giving him
better alternatives.  The old way of thinking about "social life" is
different than these kids with their new fangled "video game" lives. 
I can bet you that he plays those multiplayer online video games every
day because thats where his friends all are.  No, they may not be his
friends from school, and he is definitely not getting enough exercise,
but they can still sort of be considered as interpersonal
communication.  If it really becomes a problem where you think he is
losing control of his world (like has hallucinations or panic attacks)
I would recommend that you go seek out a mental health professional. 
Otherwise, I mean you could see a psychotherapist or an addiction
specialist but that's going to cost you more than the freakin' video
game subscription.  Plus, Any mental health person is going to know
the first step of addiction councelling as convincing the patient that
the addictive behavior (in this case video games) is not something
from which the patient is deriving happiness.  However, if he's truly
happier online that anything you can think of him doing elsewhere, and
it's not affecting his health, why would you try and force unhappiness
on him?   (Also, I agree with the other person who said that a
girlfriend will probably get his mind off of video games.)

Like it has already been said it is hard to quit the game when it's
all your friends talk about when you spend time together.  I used to
play the game myself, then eventually it began affecting my
performance in school: I played it all the time, I got little sleep,
it was all I was thinking about. So I decided to quit and I did but
without deleting my character which was a mistake. So my life became
normal again, I was getting enough sleep, better grades in school,
etc. But then over the christmas break I was persuaded by my friends
to start playing again because WoW was all they talked about. The same
thing started happening after a while and I quit for the second time
and deleted my character too.  So now I haven't played for probably 4
or 5 months and I feel great.  But two of my friends though have
become serious addicts. I haven't seen one of them for 3 months, he
doesn't do anything except WoW, doesn't go anywhere, rarely answers
his phone, doesn't sleep, doesn't shower, nothing.  All he eats is
junk food and drinks soda. He declines offers to go to see movies or
to go to an amusement park. I'm really worried about him but there's
really nothing I can do about it; there's no way to convince him to
stop playing cause he just wouldn't listen.  The other friend would be
like that too if not for his parents. His parents wouldn't let him
play 24/7 and make him do stuff so at least he gets out once in a
while and does other things. I don't think there's a real way to stop
the addiction without cutting off the internet or taking away the
computer. Parental controls could work but the addict could get
another account and have his friends pay for it or something.  Oh, and
serious health problems resulting from WoW lifestyle could also stop
the addiction.

i Am a 16yr old i was addicted to wow the reason it just made me not
bored and was better than what my other friends where doing so i
pushed them all away and just thought i would be fine with this game
it was go to school come home play wow raid  with the guild and they
became my friends that i have no idea who they are outside of the game
and we would talk in vent it was just fun doing things working on
things togeather this went on for about 6 months or so.. I burnt out
quit for a month went out with my friends came back for about 3 weeks
said F-this its so worthless all the people are 20+ i am 16 i should
be out partying living my life not hung up on some game so i quit just
sold my account for 200+ the other day which sucks for 60+ days of
gameplay... but partying> to fix it he needs to burn out which wont
happen if his guild is downing bosses and he is getting :LOOT:/ Dkp }
or you just delete his stuff dont pay for it.. or try to get him to do
something else thats way more fun

Hey,
    I am a WoW addict, although I dont play the game anymore, i still
feel a constant erge to log in and start griding another alt to 60.
Any how, some good tips to get your bro outa azeroth (the WoW world)
are as follows:

1. Go on a vacation where he cant play - I went to london for 3 weeks
where i was introducted all these new things and tottaly forgot about
my characters, and even when i got back to my computer i had
difficulty getting back into the game (because to be honest WoW isnt
like the most fasted paced game... just addicting)

2. Take away the funding for his account - If he is 16 i doubt he has
his own credit card to pay the subscription, cut the game away at the
source

3. One day when he is at school take his computer away from him - a
bit of shock treatment, a slap-in-the-face if you will, make him
realise that there is more to life than getting tier 3 (he will know
what that means)

I hope the advice helped

Hi, I am too a wow addict. I don't have the game anymore but
frequently I still feel the urge of going back to it. I tried to quit
two times. What really made the difference is that the last time I
deleted my characters. And also I made a pact with my girlfriend, that
she would keep the game during my school semester and that she'd give
it back to me during vacations (christmass and summer). I haven't been
playing the game for a while and now that I think back about this I
don't think I'll be playing it again. It would be too much trouble
starting over a new character. And I realised I have other goals in my
life that will require my time and effort. So my advice to anyone who
wanna quit is to delete his/her chars... it helps, and also try to get
someone to back you up with your decision (shouldnt  be hard to find).

About getting your brother un-addicted, you might try inviting him to
come with you to more fun activitys like, a movie at someones house,
dinner at a fun resturant, even just a board game with close
friends....i am a wow addict myself, i have well over 100 days played
time on ONE character, i find i am highly intrigued to stop playing
and go do something more fun when i get the chance

I have also been addicted to many online games, it is not only mmorpgs
that are addicting since I have skiped school for games such as
starcraft/CS/W3
currently 17 and partially addicted to WoW, the way i quit is by
having my parents
promise me that I can play again after a preiod of time(use an excuse
such as midterms or finals or SATs), watch him while he does what he
needs to prepare for a 2-3 month break(bank items, mail items, log out
all characters at an in...etc.) and keep saying encouriging things and
keep promising that he can play all he wants in 2-3 month. then Watch
as he unsubscribes his account. Turst me on this, by the end of
2-3month of no WoW, he will not even want to touch it never mind
readdict himself to it. This is, In my opinion, the best way to go.
(also as others have said, freinds who play the same game is a huge
catalyst to addiction, try to seperate him from his Wow playing
freinds.)

A couple sites that may help:

http://www.olganon.org/
http://www.wowdetox.com/

Here's some perspective from a supposed World of Warcraft(WOW)
'addict'.  I have played WOW since its release 2 years ago and have
quit about 2-3 times during this time. Why didn't I fully quit? Why
did I come back to a game that seemingly has no end?  Well I can list
a few reasons

1) My friends play it. When all my friends play it WOW becomes
incresingly difficult to stop playing because you are not just playing
by yourself your playing with people you go out with all the time.
It's actually alot of fun to play games with your friends online. Ask
all the XBox Live subscribers and any other online game today (Which
is an increasing market now).  These games are highly popular for a
reason, you're not just playing a game by yourself, you are playing a
game with hundreds, probably thousands of people on a server (The game
world is divided into HUNDREDS of servers, each with thousands of
players on each. FYI) who are just as into the game as you and when
your friends all play it WOW becomes a really hard game to get away
from even if you try.

2) It is CHEAP entertainment.  If you look at the cost to play this
game and the cost to do anything else it makes sense.  $20 a month
gets you all you can play action. Which apparently is a bad thing
these days.  Now I don't have all the money in the world, and to be
quite honest I don't have 2 cents to rub togeather.  Now if I could go
to the movies, a bar, bowling, a club, anything really how much would
that cost to do? A movie is bare minimum $10, a bar.. if you dont
spend at least $50 your not having a good time. Now to me it just
makes sense to stay in for most of the week and play World of Warcraft
instead of going out and spending money I don't have.

3) In all honesty this game IS addicting. Which is good and bad. The
duration you can play this game for and not be sick of it is enormous.
 Which is kind of nice because I used to pay about $60-80 for a game
that i would play for about 12 hours then be sick of because I either
beat it or it just wasn't worth playing. (Allthough the only game in a
few YEARS to make me sit there and play it is Guitar Hero)  Having a
game that you like to play, I think, is a good thing.  People have
watched TV religiously for about the past 10-15 years and I am not
seeing a TV detox site yet. Why? Because so many people watch TV it is
socially acceptable. It is the 'normal' thing to do.  In the same
essence if 2 billion Americans went home from work and played WOW but
only 7 million watched tv at night, the tv watchers would be bashed on
all of these sites.

Now I'm kind of getting a little out of context but this all really
does have a point.  We all have to agree that there are many things
that kids could be doing than playing World of Warcraft.  But of
course there are more constructive things.  Missing work/school to
play World of Warcraft is a bit overboard. And I've been there. I've
screwed up at school, I've missed work and it was all to get in those
extra few hours of WOW.  But if you play this game you would
understand it. The problem for most people is realizing what they
throw away to play this game. It is 100% ok to play as long as  you
are not putting off prior engaugements.  Sure if there isn't anything
that needs to be done go play it for a few hours but when work/school
is being missed there is a problem.  Now to combat the addiction there
is several paths to go down. My whole comment here so far has been to
inform you as to some reasoning behind the madness that is world of
warcraft.

1) First things first. You have to make whoever is addicted to the
game realize what it is they are messing up in their life just to play
a game. For younger kids (14-16) it might be a bit hard to reason with
them because they may just think your the man trying to take away
their freedom.  Either way let them know what is at stake.

2) Set out guidelines. Threats, nagging and shock therapy will NOT
cure the WOW addiction. Express that it is ok to play WOW but in
moderation. 2-4 hours may seem excessive but from a WOW players
perspective it isn't. Just make sure they have things in order. WOW
comes last but when there isn't anything to do, let them just burn it
out of their system.  Eventually this bug will wear out of their
system as it eventually does with all games, but it won't happen
overnight.

3) Find out if their friends play WOW. Because if they do it may be a
good idea to talk to their friends parents to find out how they are
dealing and see what's up with them. Maybe they're having the same
problems and possiably you can get them all to quit togeather.  Like I
said the friend factor is HUGE in this game (or any game for that
matter) and if their friends aren't playing WOW then they will have an
easier time getting over the whole thing. (This probably is stupid if
they are older but if they're still young go for it)

Not sure what else I can really tell you. Just try to understand and
if you really really want to try it go the shock therapy method. It
normally isn't a good idea but it sometimes works, just not my
prefered method I guess.