This One is for Chris (WoW Addiction)

I came across this one at Curmudgeon Gamer.

Basically some quack claims that 40% of WoW gamers are addicted. I will never know if this is true because I do not currently spend any free time with crack, or WoW, but you would never know it by searches that after produces hits on this site, often with references to “crack.” Hmmm.

Back on topic … the quack basically states that Wow is gaming crack:

“She points out that MMORPGs typically use what is known in psychological circles as variable ratio reinforcement. Variable ratio reinforcement is the idea that the best way to optimize the desired behavior in the subject is to hand out rewards for correct behavior, and then adjust the number of times the subject is required to exhibit that behavior before a reward is handed out. For instance, if a rat must press a bar to receive food, then it will press faster and more often if it doesn’t know how many times it needs to press the bar. An equivalent in World of Warcraft would be purple (epic) loot drops: you never know when they are going to happen, but that just increases the anticipation of getting them.”

I never thought that Chris was a rat, but there is a reason I stay away from this crack. Of course I have not seen Chris post recently on WoW, so maybe it is rather pass�, or maybe the rat is tired of the cheese.