An Australian snooker professional and former world champion has a gaming problem. He is addicted to online games like LoL or WoW. This has harmed his career. He refers to himself as a “cold turkey addict.”
Eurosport reports on Neil Robertson. He is a billiards professional, considered the strongest snooker player from Australia. He was even world champion in 2010.
He is 35 and explains that he is currently going through a “cold turkey” after being addicted to video games like League of Legends or WoW for years. Playing these online games negatively impacted his billiards career.
WoW suddenly became more important than snooker – that is madness
Robertson was part of a WoW raid group. He raided several nights a week. When Robertson had to go to a snooker tournament in China, he couldn’t participate in the raids because the connection was so bad. He was upset about this for four or five days.
He couldn’t think of anything else but his raid spot in WoW. That suddenly became much more important than his actual profession, playing snooker. It was totally insane.
Robertson realized he had a problem when he preferred to play computer games all night instead of preparing for snooker training.
LoL is poison for a structured daily routine
Robertson reacted even worse to the MOBA League of Legends. It sucks you in, you play hour after hour – 4, 6, 8 hours long. Suddenly, it is 6 AM and you have to take the child to school and go to training.
Especially since he became a father, playing has conflicted with his fatherhood. LoL is the worst game of all, it literally consumes you. His wife hates it so much that she has banished LoL from the house. That is the right thing to do, it is simply terrible.
Robertson seems to have managed his problems by now. He has currently replaced the video game with “Warhammer 40k.” For the strategy tabletop game, he now paints models in his free time.
In an interview with Eurosport, Robertson says he wants to be a positive role model for his son now. The child comes home from school and talks about YouTubers. It is way too early for that. He has resolved to take his son outside. Now he takes him to the park and plays soccer.
The addiction potential of online games should not be underestimated
Mein-MMO says: Playing WoW or LoL with ambition seems to attract the same people who tend to be excessive about things and become fixated on something.
Only one is socially accepted and you can make money with it – the other is not.
An excessively focused life that revolves around a single thing – without regard to other obligations or one’s own health – is unhealthy in both cases.
However, it can affect not only those who are prone to such things. Online games undoubtedly entice with their reward and routine mechanisms to get lost in them. Especially when “social ties and obligations” come into play within a raid group.
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