Considering there are varying spectrum’s of severity when it comes to mental health, do any of you think a person playing WoW but not actively going through therapy outside the game is doing more harm than good for their well being?
Case in point, I used to have a friend who I enjoyed playing with but was suffering from some personal set backs outside the game. Considering he/she was “Trans” (“He” wanted to be referred to as “she” and also his discord pictures portrayed him as dressed as a female) I noticed when she progressed in higher content she became arrogant and agitated. Upon me asking her what’s wrong, she stated “I told you I’m going through problems” and became very aggressive.
Since then I blocked her and stopped talking to her. I did however realize from the past discussions I’ve had with her she was self-described anti-social, lacked any real relationship with family and had very few friends but was always on the game. Although Wow gave her some semblance of temporary sanity and peace I felt it still never provided a therapeutic quality of life.
WoW use to be praised and a cornerstone for giving people with issues an outlet to make friends and be apart of a community.
Retail has kinda devolved into a Highschool clique mentality, where it’s mostly lackluster unless you go out of your way to join a guild or community, but it’s there still.
No I think WoW brings out the negative aspects of mental illness.
Now that internet is so widespread, the benefit of MMOs as socialising tools is basically dead. There’s limitless ways to communicate without people nowadays without the downsides of committing yourself to paying for and playing an MMO.
Take a look at moon guard or proudmoore for examples of how WoW can negatively impact vulnerable people who need actual help.
1st I think this is a loaded question. 90% of the population does not care for or does not believe in therapy outside WoW or else they would actively be participating since we are all pretty well screwed up. (subjective.) So asking if WoW is good without it is kinda…hard to get a clear beed on peoples minds on.
The number one complaint of classic players concerning retail? Psychological. Social, in relation to LFG to be exact. (Subjective.) That’s a lot of people crying about the psychological effects of the game for somebody unstable to be doing it. Even if they are wrong seems kind of folly to up and ignore them all at the risk of idk suicide or w/e. Ever see a kid watch a holy paladin snatch his benediction eye from under his nose? Me either but it can not be pretty lol.
Yes I insulted both versions of the game intentionally.
I highly recommend ‘Senua’s Sacrifice’. You play as a character suffering from psychosis. Pretty basic (but very cinematic) sword combat in a Norse setting (more or less), but that’s not really the point of the game. It’s obviously played up because video game, but they went out of their way to consult mental health experts to get things as accurate as possible, and it’s not just a quirk of the character, the entire game is built around it. Both the story and the gameplay. It’s really interesting, and I only bring it up because this topic reminded me of it. It’s probably my favorite one-and-done game of all time. ('cept I’ve played it more than once because I wanted to go through the final sequence again)
If you can’t get therapy, if that’s not an option, and WoW is all you have? It can be a distraction. It isn’t a cure. It won’t heal you. But it can keep you busy until you get to a point where you can get better.
It isn’t treatment. It’ll shift your focus until the pain goes away. It’ll help you in the way a tourniquet helps you- it’ll help you control the bleeding, but the wound itself still needs proper care. Doesn’t mean it’s ideal or the best option, but it’ll work for a while.
But, professional help will always be ideal, and should be the goal. Finding a good therapist can be difficult, but it’s worth it. So, I’d say “temporarily helpful.”
After reading it again I think we could have made this response session a lot shorter. She/he answered their own question.
The world of WoW does not unfortunately provide us nutrients water etc therefore it can not provide any quality of “life” whatsoever. (Yet.) Therapeutic or otherwise. Ultimately they must leave to eat/drink etc and if the op is implying the person was attempting to live out their life in a fake world it has to be assumed that failure is inevitable. When blizzard figures out how to feed us through our pc we can revisit this. Till then I suppose discussion of therapy is moot. I may be reading the last bit too literal but I missed it first time around so here is my correction. And I know people DO do this. It is futile.
There are a lot of mental disorders, OP. The only one I know for sure it would help with is to help someone with social anxiety get out of their shell.
Something like schizophrenia? No. Narcissism? Guild drama.
so as someone with their own mental issues yes it really can. Alot of people don’t understand that sometimes living with something and being yourself can be better then being doped up all the time to try to act someway.
of course thats not true for everyone but its true for me.