I believe scientists can make educated guesses to the amount of people addicted to cocaine vs the amount of people who have used cocaine without becoming addicting. Of course it's not going to be 100% accurate, yet I believe it can be close
"Educated guesses" aren't statistics... they're guesses. Scientists wouldn't be scientists if all they made were claims such as these. This doesn't even follow half of the scientific procedure. There is no empirical data. If they don't have anything beyond a hypothesis, the conclusion is drawn on a guess, which makes the potential of inaccuracy hopelessly high.
I meant the other activity being put off contiuously, when it's not like the person to do that. Often times that activity is something that's fun. A lot of people don't eat regularly anymore, they don't bathe regularly anymore, and they don't shave regularly anymore. People who watch TV and put things off, are usually just lazy, and are trying to temporarily get out of work. WoW can change people's habbits. What I was giving was just an example happens when you're addicted to something.
Anyways, you're thinking phsyical addiction. There's also a thing called mental addiction.
The same thing happens with other activities that some people might consider fun. I'm sure it's happened with sex, TV, driver programming, star trek and karate. WoW simply gets this much negative attention because it's more widespread than any of the other things I've listed aside from sex and TV, which already get enough attention as it is... it blends into the world. WoW is something new. It is enjoyable... that's what's "addicting" about it. Anything that brings enough joy to someone can be considered 'addicting.'
There's 2 differences between crack and WoW. Crack enduces a physical addiction, while WoW enduces an emotional addiction. An addiction, is an addiction.
WoW doesn't directly induce any sort of addiction. It is enjoyable. Most people find enjoyable things attractive, which is why players consistently return to WoW instead of more important tasks.
The second difference, is that WoW doesn't have effects that are as negative as crack (please note that this has nothing to do with our discussion, it was just a study trying to make a point that WoW can be incredibly addictive, not that it's as harmful as crack).
I know...
Once again, nobody ever said WoW causes a physical addiction, yet a mental addiction. I know it exists, because I've experienced it.
You skip a step in thought when you say WoW is addictive. No one plays WoW because they mentally feel that they need to. They play it because they mentally feel that they need or strongly desire the entertainment it brings. This is true of so many activities, and since this study is attempting to compare a chemical substance that induces physical and mental changes that develop
dependencies on the people who use them to a
single activity that provides little more than
enjoyment, I would easily say that it's a
useless study, which is what I already said.