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Death of a game addict
Ill Hudson man took own life after long hours on Web
By STANLEY A. MILLER II
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: March 30, 2002
Shawn Woolley loved an online computer game so much that he played it just minutes before his suicide.

EverQuest


EverQuest is played by more than 400,000 people worldwide.



The 21-year-old Hudson man was addicted to EverQuest, says his mother, Elizabeth Woolley of Osceola. He sacrificed everything so he could play for hours, ignoring his family, quitting his job and losing himself in a 3-D virtual world where more than 400,000 people worldwide adventure in a never-ending fantasy.

On Thanksgiving morning last year, Shawn Woolley shot himself to death at his apartment in Hudson. His mother blames the game for her son's suicide. She is angry that Sony Online Entertainment, which owns EverQuest, won't give her the answers she desires. She has hired an attorney who plans to sue the company in an effort to get warning labels put on the games.

"It's like any other addiction," Elizabeth Woolley said last week. "Either you die, go insane or you quit. My son died."

In the virtual world of EverQuest, players control their characters through treasure-gathering, monster-slaying missions called quests. Success makes the characters stronger as they interact with other players from all over the real world.

Woolley has tried tracing her son's EverQuest identity to discover what might have pushed him over the edge. Sony Online cites its privacy policy in refusing to unlock the secrets held in her son's account.

She has a list of names her son scrawled while playing the game: "Phargun." "Occuler." "Cybernine." But Woolley is not sure if they are names of online friends, places he explored in the game or treasures his character may have captured in quests.

"Shawn was playing 12 hours a day, and he wasn't supposed to because he was epileptic, and the game would cause seizures," she said. "Probably the last eight times he had seizures were because of stints on the computer."

Woolley knows her son had problems beyond EverQuest, and she tried to get him help by contacting a mental health program and trying to get him to live in a group home. A psychologist diagnosed him with depression and schizoid personality disorder, symptoms of which include a lack of desire for social relationships, little or no sex drive and a limited range of emotions in social settings.

"This fed right into the EverQuest playing," Woolley said. "It was the perfect escape."

Vulnerable to addiction
Jay Parker, a chemical dependency counselor and co-founder of Internet/Computer Addiction Services in Redmond, Wash., said Woolley's mental health problems put him in a category of people more likely to be at risk of getting addicted to online games.

Parker said people who are isolated, prone to boredom, lonely or sexually anorexic are much more susceptible to becoming addicted to online games. Having low self-esteem or poor body image are also important factors, he said.

"The manufacturer of EverQuest purposely made it in such a way that it is more intriguing to the addict," Parker said. "It could be created in a less addictive way, but (that) would be the difference between powdered cocaine and crack cocaine."

Parker doesn't make the narcotics analogy lightly. One client - a 21-year-old college student - stopped going to class within eight weeks after he started playing EverQuest his senior year.

After playing the game for 36 hours straight, he had a psychotic break because of sleep deprivation, Parker said.

"He thought the characters had come out of the game and were chasing him," Parker said. "He was running through his neighborhood having hallucinations. I can't think of a drug he could have taken where he would have disintegrated in 15 weeks."

Common warning signs
There are several questions people who think they are addicted to computers and the Internet can ask themselves to see whether they might have a problem, Parker said, including whether they can predict the amount of time they spend on the computer or have failed trying to control their computer use for an extended period of time.

Parker said that any traumatic setback to Shawn Woolley's character in EverQuest could have traumatized an already vulnerable young man.

It may be that the character was slain in combat and Woolley had trouble recovering him. Or, he could have lost a treasured artifact or massive wealth, or been cast out of one of the game's social clubs, called guilds.

"The social component is big because it gives players a false sense of relationships and identity," Parker said. "They say they have friends, but they don't know their names."

Elizabeth Woolley remembers when her son was betrayed by an EverQuest associate he had been adventuring with for six months. Shawn's online brother-in-arms stole all the money from his character and refused to give it back.

"He was so upset, he was in tears," she said. "He was so depressed, and I was trying to say, 'Shawn, it's only a game.' I said he couldn't trust those people."

Sony Online Entertainment declined to comment for this story, but EverQuest fans say the game is a fun diversion that is much better than watching television.

'It's like an adult playground'
Donna Cox of Schaumburg, Ill., has played for about two years and enjoys the adventuring and socializing. Cox and her husband, Bob, play together and team up against the game's challenges.

"It's like an adult playground," said Donna Cox, a professional who manages a team of computer programmers. "You can become anything you want. People only see the side of you that you want them to see."

Cox played about 40 hours a week at the height of her gaming but now plays only a couple of times a week. "Once you get into the high-end game, it takes a a lot of time," she said.

Dody Gonzales of Milwaukee has played the game for about three years and has more than a dozen characters spread across the EverQuest realm. Gonzales, who plays about four hours a night, knows EverQuest has been blamed for people's problems because it's a topic discussed in the online community.

Said player Vincent Frederico of Rochester, N.Y.: "It's almost like a drug. If you are not happy with your real life, you can always go in. . . . Someone who lacks social skills, they could find it much easier just to play the game instead of going out to a bar."

A game without end
How does it pull people in?

One key component is that the game can be played indefinitely, and there are always people populating the online world. EverQuest and other online games also have a social structure.

"The graphics are absolutely thrilling. They just haul you in," said Parker, who has treated several people for EverQuest addiction. "The other piece is that it takes time to leave the game. You have to find a place to hide to get out, and that makes people want to play longer."

For people who are unhappy, socially awkward or feel unattractive, online games provide a way to reinvent themselves.

Shawn Woolley - who was overweight, worked in a pizza restaurant and lived alone in an apartment the last months of his life - may have depended on EverQuest to provide the life he really wanted to live.

"People like to create new personas," Parker said. "You see a lot of gender-bending."

Hooked on 'EverCrack'
Interest in online games grew in 1997 with Origin Systems' Ultima Online, now with about 225,000 players. Microsoft's Asheron's Call, with around 100,000 subscribers, provides a virtual world similar to EverQuest's. Most online games require an initial software purchase plus monthly fees of about $10.

The games have roots in Dungeons & Dragons, the role-playing game created in 1974 by TSR Games in Lake Geneva. But D&D requires human contact to play; its digital counterparts do not.

David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family in Minneapolis, said many EverQuest players refer to it as "EverCrack."

Walsh, who didn't know the details of Woolley's suicide, thinks mental health problems linked to playing online games, especially EverQuest, are growing.

"Could a person get so engrossed that they become so distressed and distraught that it could put them over the edge?" Walsh said. "It probably has something to do with the game. But your average person or average gamer won't do this. It's a coming together of a number of circumstances."

Walsh and Parker both said online games as a whole are not inherently bad, and Walsh compared playing online games to drinking alcohol. Both can be harmful if abused.

A call for warning labels
"I've seen a lot of wreckage because of EverQuest," Parker said. "But they are all the same. It's like cigarettes. They need to come with a warning label. 'Warning, extensive playing could be hazardous to your health.' "

Warning labels are exactly what Jack Thompson, a Miami attorney and vocal critic of the entertainment industry, wants to result from a lawsuit he plans to file against Sony Online Entertainment for Elizabeth Woolley.

"We're trying to whack them with a verdict significantly large so that they, out of fiscal self-interest, will put warning labels on," he said. "We're trying to get them to act responsibly. They know this is an addictive game."

"I am sure we are going to find things akin to the tobacco industry memos where they say nicotine is addictive," he said. "There is a possibility of a class-action lawsuit."

John Kircher, a professor at Marquette University Law School and expert in personal injury law, said a negligence action might be won if plaintiffs could successfully argue EverQuest's publishers "should have foreseen an unreasonable risk of harm, that people could potentially hurt themselves.

"Then there is the issue of First Amendment rights," Kircher said. "Does the First Amendment right trump the rights of the plaintiff? If the Internet is a form of publication . . . there is a balance the courts try to strike, and it's not an easy question."

Journal Sentinel correspondent Joe Winter contributed to this story.

EverQuest's Web site is everquest.station.sony.com. The Web site for the National Institute on Media and the Family is www.mediaandthefamily.org. Internet/Computer Addiction Services is at www.icaservices.com.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 31, 2002.

:eek

Two words: Holey fuck

The_Dude

bull shit, it was completely his fault.

the game was voluntary and you had to pay to play.

if you were that much into it, it was your problem, and if you needed help, it was up to you (or your mom) to get it for you, not sony.

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gonadman

And cars should come with a warning label-

"get out of the way or I'll run you the fuck over!!!"

I'm sure a little white warning label would have stopped him from playing...

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steveincolumbus

evercrack sucks anyways......

see artical here

FDA Approves EverQuest for Birth Control Use
WASHINGTON, DC - Officials at the Food and Drug Administration announced early Tuesday that they have recently approved the computer game EverQuest as a viable form of contraception. Sony later revealed plans to donate computers and copies of the game to members of the white trash segment of America.

It has long been known by experts that TSR's Dungeons & Dragons was one of the most effective methods of birth control ever devised, but it's limitations were soon discovered in the mid-'80s when it was found to have little effect on females. Recent evidence, however, has suggested that EverQuest might be the bridge between fantasy-based birth control and gender.

"We have conclusive evidence that shows that the more someone plays EverQuest, the less likely it is that they are having sex," said Kurt Otterson, a statistical analyst with Sony. "Sony recognizes the problems caused by the inconvenience of an undesired child, and the life that a child born into such conditions will have to suffer through. Wouldn't it be better to avoid bringign that child into this world to begin with?"

Birth control usage among persons who classify as white trash is the lowest in the country, say experts, which is why the FDA approval comes as welcome news.

"Traditional birth control methods, such as condoms or the pill, do not have the advantage of offering complete protection," explained Otterson. "The most tried and true method of complete birth control is abstinence, but with dead-end jobs, a complete lack of personal hygiene and an addiction to fast food, members of the white trash population have nothing better to do than get it on."

EverQuest, commonly refered to as "Evercrack" by its fans, is a real-time massively-multiplayer online RPG that sets the player in a virtual world that never sleeps. Several gamers have reportedly set up portable toilets in front of their computers and played for hours sans pants. The amount of virtual currency that changes hands in the game in one day surpasses the GDP of most Third World nations. With many quests that are specific to a certain time, hundreds of gamers have camped out for days for a chance to get powerful items such as that "really cool sword that glows," and the "robe you can wear to become invisible."

EverQuest is unique as far as contraceptives go in that there is never any choice involved; the opportunity to have sex never arises among avid players. "People already spend so much time online, and since the game never ends, the potential for the gamer to stay online indefinitely is tremendous," Otterson said.

He cited the example of Odessa Twiford, a 19-year old single mother of two young epileptic children from Arkansas. "Odessa's life was spiralling into a state where she would have been chronically pregnant for the next 30 years," he said. "It is quite obvious by looking at her ramshackle house, her state of constant unemployment and her inability to prepare a meal more complex than uncooked Kraft Dinner, that she is completely unfit to be the mother of any children, nevermind children with a disability caused by her crack addiction."

"Once we introduced EverQuest into her life, she was immediately hooked and stopped having sex with all 14 of her partners," Otterson told reporters, "and we expect that as long as she's given state-funded Internet access until she hits menopause, it's quite likely that she'll never reproduce again."

Plans to release a game patch adding a mating feature into EverQuest, where two or more characters could bump into each other for a few minutes and spawn a new, computer-controlled character, were scrapped by Sony after the FDA announcement.

"We felt that if there was sex in the game, it would defeat the purpose of keeping our players' minds off sex in the real world," said Otterson.

The_Dude

that's funny.

eq as birth contro.

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JStrider

lol
i have a friend who plays it a lot... he uses it to make money... selling items and money on ebay...

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viveleroi0

what a stupid mom. One of my biggest growing pet peeves are family members who blame what's wrong with them or their kid on outside sources, even thoug it could NEVER BE THEIR FAULT.

Of course not, their perfect.

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CY@Workshop

Damn, if he couldn't control himself from being so addicted to the game, nobody could help me. I don't get why his mother is blaming on Sony? People are just so used to blaming others. And this sucks!

juanvaldes

These three or so people over hte last year who have killed themselves by lazyness is entirely their own damn fault. If your to stupid to take a break and eat/sleep/shit/life then I doubt many will miss you, might as well jump off a bridge and get it over with sooner.

Uuudar

I find it amazing that no one has the ability to take blame these days. It's always "the games fault," "the Marilyn Manson music," etc. For god's sake, just realize you're a horrible parent and the results finally became crystal clear when a tragedy like this happens.

I played EQ, I did it way too much, lost a gf in the process, and now I realize how it fucked me up. *Hopefully* I won't ever let a game do that to me again.

Nappa

I like how the mother goes on and on about her son's problems and what sort of help he needed, but never took one step to actually help him in any way.

TerresqueÜ

I've heard this story before. (I didn't read the whole article) But I talked to my friend, an avid EQ player, and he told me that the kid was some sort of depressed maniac anyways. So it's not really the games fault.

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Sparhawk

bahahahaha....

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NeverBorn

oh man..I know people that play evercrack.. I really don't see the point

Reese

Am I the only one who thought the phrase "sexually anorexic" was halarious?

If this kid didn't have everquest he would have "shot himself to death" long before now.

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pkeigs

I used to play alot of everquest and heard alot about this guy, he was depressed and the mom was just looking for an excuse. The game is quite addictive but i got most my money back out of it by selling my guy for 400 hehe all spent on snowboard stuff so its good

pkeigs

GakFace

Now I don't like the game or anything... i'm not a MMO gamer... BUT It isn't the game's fault. "Oh its the games fault there's no warning label!" BULLSHIT! People who smoke? I've heard some friends say, "Time to go smoke another cancer stick" so fuck the warning label, I don't give a shit. I don't need a warning label on a knife to warn me that it just might cut me.. I don't need a warning label on my truck saying that driving with my eyes shut could cause a wreck.. I don't need warning label for a game because I might waste my life away on it. What does she want on it? "Warning: Playing too much and then someone pissing you off in the game might cause you to kill yourself." BULLSHIT!!!

Also, its the games fault and not hers? Fuck that... Lets think about this again, he's 21 and lives at home... at least I got that from her knowing all about how much time he plays.. that and well, without a job he HAS to be living at home... So he lives at home.. hmmm. WHY THE HELL DOESN'T SHE DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!??!?!? He quit his job, yet she never punished him for that. He has no life, yet she lets him play the game. Fuck if I ever did this, you can rest assured someone would steal my computer and say, "If you wanna use the computer, you have to go to the main room, where everyone is." Shit, if he had no job.. who was paying for his EQ account?

She had complete control of the situation, it is HER fault. He got addicted, that sucks, he couldn't pull away, that sucks... but his mom had all the power to fix it... Turn off the power to his room... Remove his computer.... tell him if he doesn't get a job soon, she'll kick him out....turn off internet acess in his room... So many things she could of done, but no.. and since she didn't it must be the game's fault. I'm sick and tired of people not looking at themselves as a reason... So many parents are the real issue, but since they're too pansy to realize it, the games are the ones to take the hits.

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marcus

I have a friend that I can't get to leave his house. All he does is plays EQ. He used to play D&D and M:TG(they require people to physically be there to play). He has no evidince of melanin in his skin. He still works, but if he could stop doing that I'm certain he would. I went over to his house to see why this game was so cool and thought it was a pretty stupid game. He would camp(wait for a monster to appear) for hours waiting for the right monster. stupid and time comsuming.

TenDeuChen

i AM soooo going to HAVE to play this game now...it's soooo addictive that someone quit everything to play it all the time...AND you can make LOTS of MONEY from it...What's not to like???

Phaenx

Yeah, that guy was a ticking time bomb. I'm glad he didn't decide to take anyone with him. Having played EverQuest, my ire towards Sony has been raised a notch anyways, so I wish his mother well in her legal battle, as unreasonable as she is.

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cjvasco

Its not suprising something like this happened. Everquest covers such a large demographic that obviously you will have people playing it that are sucidal, hell I'll go as far as to say that the game may even be attractive to these people. But saying that it is a vehicle for suicide is simply rediculous, the guy gained acceptence, however far from reality as it might have been, something he didnt gain in the real world, keeping him from committing suicide earlier.

Lasereth

I think it's rather interesting that this is the third EQ suicide article that I've seen. The first two were on the Internet for a very long time before proven COMPLETELY MADE UP. I believe TSG did a report on one of them and the other article became so popular that it appeared on national news. I saw it on News Channel 12 where I live in N.C. I won't believe this article, simply because the first two of it's kind were fake.

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