I just saw 48 hours' report on Everquest Addiction. It was pretty
much about that mother who's suing Sony because her son
commited suicide after something bad happened to his EQ character.
She thinks Sony should include a "Warning: May Be Addictive"
sticker on the package.
They also interviewed Ben Stein. Apparently his son was addicted
to the game, too. He [Ben Stein] thinks Sony should discontinue
Everquest...
I don't play the game, but I still think this is stupid. Govtcheez
posted the original article a few months ago -- and I'll say exactly
what I said in that thread. There should be no warning sticker;
there should be no discontinuation of the game; this shouldn't
even be an issue.
Even if it did cause addiction in some people -- that's a psychological
addiction. Everything has the potential to cause a psychological
addictioin. People's minds differ too much; there's no way to tell
what they may or may not be addicted to. It isn't reasonable to
say that we should put a warning label on things that have had
people psychologically addicted to them; People can be addicted
to anything. Pretty soon everything will have a warning sticker
on it.
There should only be warnings on things that are chemically
addictive; like cigarettes. I'm even willing to go as far as caffeine,
but not video games. That's just crazy.
Edit: Oh yeah. Apparently Ben Stein sent his son to boarding
school to get him away from Everquest (or so I remember)...
