FCC commission terms WoW a leading cause of college dropouts

We all know how addicting World of Warcraft and other mmorpgs can be but to the point where kids are dropping out of college is insane. Some of the kids are really bright but due to their competitiveness in the game their career and education can been ruined. Deborah Taylor Tate, Federal Communications Commissioner commented on WoW during a speech on telecom policy and regulation delivered to the Practicing Law Institute:

With the explosion of educational resources available online, one might think parents would be 100% pleased with the internet’s role in their children’s lives. But surveys show just the opposite: a late 2006 survey that showed 59% of parents think the internet has been a totally positive influence in their children’s lives– down from 67% in 2004.

You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction – such as World of Warcraft – which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide.

In addition, an article from Duluth News-Tribune cites comments from Vince Rapesh, an academic adviser from University of Minnesota:

“I accused one of them of coming in loaded from smoking dope, he looked so bad,” Repesh said. But the student had been up all night playing a computer game.

During freshman orientation this year, three of the 70 students Repesh talked to in groups about computer use had been to counseling for problematic gaming, one because he was too competitive to stop.

“I tell parents during talks, I believe it’s one of the hidden causes for kids to fail that nobody knows about it,” he said.

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I’m sure not only are kids facing this dilemma but adults are as well too. Jobs may have been lost along with their homes and real life relationships. I, myself have suffered on several occasions from playing Starcraft during my high school years (10 years ago). I opt to graduate with a GED in the end but still made it out.

Once that addiction begins and your real life goes upside down, you end up going into depression and avoid facing the problems. As long as you’re on the game banging in those keys life is passing by just fine. That may be how some of those college kids feel. I can’t say World of Warcraft addiction is much better than marijuana or any other addicting drug. Once you’re hooked its difficult to get off.

I recall a few years ago reading some articles on Chinas intentions of regulating the game time for MMOs. As we all know, the Chinese government can easily set up these types of enforcements similar to their Great Firewall of China. Their intentions was to create a 3 hour daily game limit. In order to access their accounts they would be require to enter their official ID number. I do not believe this act deemed to be successful.

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