Subscription-based MMOs breeding addicts?

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In late July, a news story surfaced about Dr. Richard Graham, a psychiatrist who is seeking to open in-game counseling services in World of Warcraft. The claim was that World of Warcraft is more addictive than crack – and there's certainly some evidence that players have, at times, taken their virtual world experiences too far. There's the real world cases of stabbing upon selling a sword loaned in-game, the suffocation death of a 4-month-old child due to parents neglect while playing World of Warcraft in an Internet Cafe, and a player committing suicide because he couldn't beat his addiction to EverQuest. There are dozens more cases, and at least half a dozen studies, about the addictive nature of virtual worlds.

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