What happens when online-game passion becomes an addiction?

Online gamers are often seen playing for hours, depriving themselves of eating, sleeping and social obligations. However, when is it excessive? Yesterday was the day that BBC News, reacting to the awe-inspiring first and second-day sales for World of Warcraft Season of Discovery, pitted Elizabeth Woolley, founder of POE currency trade Online Gamers Anonymous, against avid gamer Lynn Hall to answer that exactly that question.

Woolley said that although online games "can give hours of fun and interaction with the world" for those who are shut-ins there's a tipping point at which players become addicted. "They don't have the option to play, but they are determined towards playing," she said.

If this happens, they turn into the same kind of addicts who is unable to take care of their family members work, friends, and the world outside, Woolley argued.

Hall and Hall, who are avid World of Warcraft Season of Discovery player, acknowledged that games can consume hours of players' time but said that players are still given the option of cheap POE currency choosing their games. "Online gaming is a constant obsession that gets in the way in the midst of work, nags your desires and takes every spare moment If you allow it."

She said the games are beneficial for the mind by allowing people to explore the possibility of taking different roles or genders. The degree of harm is dependent on "whether you're strong enough to let go of yourself," Hall said.

Woolley has created her online recovery program following the fact that her 21-year-old son Shawn took his own life. Shawn was a Milwaukee man took his own life on Thanksgiving Day 2001, while suffering from an EverQuest addiction according to Woolley. According to Wired the time she tried to find any clues in the game regarding Shawn's death, Sony Online tainment told the journalist that their data was private.