Double O podcast Episode 2 is up!

Check out the second episode of the Double O podcast!

I’m really, really excited about it. Ok, I know I’m always excited about our podcasts. But our topic, gaming addiction, is one that’s very close to the field I’m trying to specialize in in real life (substance abuse and dependence pharmacy) so I was particularly enthusiastic and I think it shows. I didn’t have to chop as many silences out of my speech as usual.

We also had a special guest, as close to an expert on the topic that exists right now, our blogosphere’s own Lady Erinia. She’s a wonderful, knowledgeable speaker and I hope you all enjoy her presence on the podcast as much as I did.

I know the intro music fades out a bit too fast. I’m using Audacity now, instead of that nasty Traverso that bailed on me last time. Audacity is fantastic in a lot of aspects (like not crashing after my every action), but effects are bit more annoying to work with. By the time I was finished snipping and ready to add the music, I was too fed up to figure out how to get the perfect sound. Next time will be better!

A Point on Addiction and Insight

On the podcast, I made a mistake that I want to clarify. If you’ve heard the podcast, you’ll be scratching your head because I cleverly chopped out that part along with any references to it. But I did originally say that to meet the criteria for addiction, you need to have tried to quit (or wanted to quit) and failed.

While this is part of the criteria, how the diagnosis of addiction works is that there are 7 criteria (including wanting/trying unsuccessfully to quit), but you only need to meet 3 out of the 7.

That said, I think that with gaming addiction, in order for it to be an addiction, there has to be some level of insight (meaning you’re aware) – addiction is a very extreme condition – but given the stigma associated with both gaming and addiction, it is very possible to know there’s problem, but not want to admit it.

Anyway, I hope we came across as non-judgmental and easy to understand on the show, and still managed to be somewhat entertaining despite the serious and sciency topic.

Want to be a guest on the show?

We’ve been getting a lot of requests from people wanting to be guests on the show. That’s awesome! We love having guests!

I haven’t run this through Oestrus yet and will do that before I make any official statements on the podcast webpage, but my answer for now to anyone who’d like to be a guest is to suggest an area of expertise you have and that you think would make a good theme for an episode. We like to have specific topics (and we especially like controversial) for each of our shows, so let us know what you want to talk about.

Note too that our podcast is bi-weekly so, while we’ll probably love to have you on the show, it might take a few months before we can accommodate everyone.

I’m Not Addicted to WoW, I Can Stop Anytime I Want!

Oh my, I went almost a whole week without playing WoW!

And you know what? I’m happy to say that I didn’t miss it at all! Oh, I missed updating my blog and I’ll admit that I scribbled WoW blog ideas on every piece of paper I came across. Also stressed quite a bit about how my last entry was on a touchy topic, poorly written in haste as I was nodding off at the airport. Word of advice, don’t do something like that if you’re planning to not have internet access for a week. Um, so yeah, to everyone who received shitty replies to comments, um, sorry?

Ok ok, so back on topic, not playing for a week was surprisingly easy. I guess it helped that I had IRL guild meetings all day and huge 800 player IRL raids (in plain English – social events/parties) every night. And let me tell you, when it comes to IRL raids, I’m totally one of those casual hardcore types. I don’t IRL raid often, but when I do, I do it right. Never mind the durability damage: burned hair, lack of voice, blisters on feet and suspicious bruises around eyes. It’ll be a big repair bill, but it was so worth it.

So it’s easy to get out of the gaming routine when the rest of your daily routine is turned upside down and inside out. Not so much when gaming is the only change of routine. I remember a time, about a year and a half ago, when I had to get my computer fixed. For three weeks, there was no email at home, no randomly reading websites, no instant messaging, and, and, worst of all, no WoW. Oh, the horror!

How did that work out for me?

Well, had I written a diary of the experience (note: I didn’t), it would have gone like this.

TITLE: Semi-Fictionish Journal Documenting 3 Weeks with No Computer.

Day 1

This isn’t so bad. Annoyed at having to go all the way to school to check my email, but otherwise it’s all good. Kind of bored though. Maybe I should do homework.

Have to say, though, there’s a bit of an itch to play. I wonder what my guildies are doing right now. Hmm. Might as well do some more homework.

Day 2

Why am I sort of having trouble breathing? And why am I biting my nails? Clearly I need to do more homework.

I wonder what my guildies are doing. I should call one of them. Let me see if I have someone’s number. I don’t. I’ll have to dig out some number from my emails at school tomorrow. Damn my stomach’s upset. I usually play WoW at this hour… How about some more of that homework.

Day 3

AAAAAHHH!!! MY HEART IS RACING AND I CANT BREATHE!!! And my nails are gone. My feet hurt from pacing. Skipped class to refresh my email at the library. I WANNA PLAY WOW I WANNA PLAY WOW I WANNA PLAY WOW. So anxious, anxious, anxious. On the bright side, I’m way ahead in all my courses.

Kind of getting sick of doing homework, good thing I wrote down a guildy’s phone number while I was refreshing my phone number. I might as well call him. I may have a phone phobia, but apparently I have a lack of repetitive behaviour phobia too.

Hope he doesn’t get too shocked hearing from me.

End of Week 1

Anxiety’s getting better. Still pacing a lot but can sleep again. Speaking of sleeping, I’ve been doing more and more of that. Never realized how many hours there are in a day. Days sure are long. Doing a lot of homework. Also cooking a lot. I love cooking.

Spent record time on the phone over the past few days. Spoke to my family for the first time in months. Also happy that I have a guildy who likes to talk on the phone. I wonder what the rest of the guild is doing. I should call my guildy again and ask.

Week 2

Worried that male guildy is getting the wrong idea from my frequent phone calls. Need to find other ways to occupy my time. Getting pretty sick of studying. Also seem to be putting on weight from all this food I’m cooking. I wonder whats on TV.

End of week 3

Computer should be back soon. Not sure I want it back. Sure, I spend the last 5 days doing nothing but watching TV and eating. But, you know, I’ve kind of forgotten about WoW. I’ll be really far behind too. Don’t want to have to catch up on dailies, rep grinds, gear, qq. It’s probably not worth getting back into the game. I should just find a new hobby.

How it all turned out

Until I had to get my computer repaired, I hadn’t realized how much of a nervous wreck I was. Pretty pathetic how lost I was without doing repetitive things all the time. On the bright side, those were pretty much the best weeks of my life in term of grades. Yet, I don’t think that WoW really gets in the way of shiny grades for me – as soon as the initial shock had passed, I replaced WoW with TV. And food. I must have put on 20 pounds during those three weeks. Then, once I found a new routine of time wasting, I didn’t want to go back to playing WoW.

Looks like I’m just destined to dorkness.

But anyway, this time I was just gone a week which, by most people’s standards, isn’t much. Can’t wait to do dailies! Or, um, whatever it is I do in game when I’m not raiding.