Who Gets Addicted?

               Role playing is done mostly in the forums that are MOO's and MUD's. These are virtual environments were participants
               exert some level of control over how the environment is viewed by others. A new form of these forums provides a graphical
               interface, where participants can create personal avatars (small cartoon like characters) that interact with other avatars in
               both a visual and text enhanced manner. Dr. John Suler has studied one such environment, Time-Warner's Palace . He
               discusses the process of why some people might become addicted to such an environment in terms of how this activity fulfills
               all of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At the bottom of the hierarchy are the basic needs, such as the need for procreation. Dr.
               Suler reports a high level of flirting in the Palace, with the added abilities of gender swapping and complete anonymity not
               found in real life. The second level of Maslow's hierarchy is about the need for interpersonal contact, social recognition, and
               a sense of belonging. Dr. Suler points to the common participation in an interesting virtual environment as a basic means by
               which people using the Place feel connected. Like any bar scene, some people will come and go rather quickly, but there
               usually exists a core of regulars that all know each other by name. It is this call to hang out with friends that can become, for
               some, so reinforcing that they start to ignore real life opportunities to fill this need. Continuing along the line of Dr. Suler's
               analysis of possible addiction to the Palace, the next level of Maslow's hierarchy is the need for learning, and the self-esteem
               that arises from one's achievements. Computer interactivity in role playing environments, once one has learned how to
               participate, are conducted in real time. They offer instant feedback and acknowledgment. One can get see the results of ones
               efforts to influence others and the environment very quickly. Building a personality, from scratch, and having it become
               known, and then being rewarded with the gain in status one has earned can be a very gratifying way to fulfill this level of
               need. Extra status can be earned by becoming a "wizard", one who has extra power over other participants. The highest level
               of Maslow's hierarchy is the need for self-actualization. This involves the effort one puts into evolving as a unique individual
               as well as an attempt to come to terms with one's mortality. It may seem difficult to imagine how possessing such a lofty goal
               could contribute to a pathology. As Dr. Suler explains in his account of this, the Internet offers users unique opportunities to
               work out questions of identity and "perhaps even realize inner interests, attitudes, and aspects of their personality that were
               previously hidden." (Suler, 96). The implication of this insightful analysis of how the Internet can satisfy basic and advanced
               human needs is that many people experience being thwarted in their attempts to gain satisfaction at a specific level of need in
               real life, and may find the Internet is the first interpersonal medium that satisfies these drives. This would be strongly
               reinforcing, to the point that such an individual might not look to real life interactions for need fulfillment for some time.
               Additionally, a close reading of Dr. Suler's essay leads one to conclude that an analysis of how modern culture and societal
               structures fail to provide adequate, comprehensive means of basic and advanced need fulfillment would be instrumental in
               defining more precisely what kind of personal deficits in this area are likely to be an antecedents to Internet addiction (Suler,
               96).

               Additional documentation of the intensity with which some people involve themselves in cyberspace role-playing is provided
               by this quote from James Sempsey;

               MU* Addiction.  Another related topic, also explored by Bruckman, is that of MUD addiction wherein people so prefer
               their on-line lives that they actually begin to abandon their "real" lives, spending up to 18 hours per day living in
               virtual reality (Kelly & Rheingold, 1993; Bruckman, 1994). There have even been reports of Internet related deaths,
               such as cardiac arrests resulting from sleep deprivation and lack of personal maintenance or suicides due to Net
               related stress lmer-Dewitt,1993; Rheingold, 1994). Such obsessive behavior has become quite a problem on some
               college campuses where computer facility administrators have had to literally "pull the plug" on some addicted students
               (Cassidy, 1995). Little is known about this new form of addiction, but as mentioned previously a preliminary draft of
               the DSM-V includes a section delineating some of these types of "Cyber Disorders" (Zenhausen, 1995). (Sempsey, 95)

               Immersion in a collaborative fantasy world, where ones role and character can be very flexible, self determined, and different
               from ones real life presentation has the potential to produce a pathological absorption, if someone is predisposed to that
               state. A recent study of college students found a statistically significant difference in the amount of past or present
               psychopathology between students that were most prone to fantasize and those who's levels of fantasy engagement was
               measured in the normal range. In particular, depression and symptoms of dissociation were highly correlated with the high
               fantasy group. The researchers concluded that "a history of fantasy proneness can place certain persons at risk for significant
               psychopathology." (Rauschenberger, 95). If a persons fantasy life is being generated by an unconscious perception of a lack
               of access to social status, relating to others on the Internet, where outward symbols of status have no meaning, could
               predispose one up for compulsive Internet use.

               The extent that frustrations in real life might contribute to a tendency for IAD is poorly understood. It is known that status
               and power in virtual communities is gained in a very different manner than real life. The lack of visual clues, and the relative
               anonymity of participants, fosters a sense of equality. One is judged on the strength of ones ideas, regardless of ones status in
               their real life community. This status equalization increases access to new people and provides access to information,
               relationships and communications that one could not expect to receive when operating in the confines of real life
               organizational and community structures (Garton, 95). If a person is motivated to participate in a social network, and be
               perceived as a respected member, the Internet offers a tremendous variety of "invite yourself in, open to anyone"
               communities. There is a very real sense of having achieved status when others in that form quote ones messages or
               acknowledge ones contribution. The degree that this serves as a reinforcement for continuing this behavior is dependent upon
               the degree with which someone is lacking other traditional sources social status. When students move away to go to collage,
               they can suffer a loss of social support. The easy and unlimited access to the Internet that universities supply their students
               may appear as a safe and fast way to form new relationships, and become an obsessional form of activity if the student is
               having problems facing adult pressures (Sanchez, 96).

               There is no one cause for addiction. Addiction is a process that has distinct stages and responds to treatment best when the
               individual factors of each case are taken into account. There are many theories as to the etiology of additive behaviors, and
               very little integration of theory and research into the clinical treatment of addictions (Thombs, 94). Some researchers operate
               under theories that depict an addiction as a primary disorder, not caused by other personality factors. Others view addiction
               as secondary, and look for factors pre-existing that might account for, or moderate the addiction. It has been suggested that
               IAD has similar features as gambling addiction (Young, 96; Goldberg, 96).

               One study of pathological gambling found a high correlation between this addiction and a history of trauma. As a
               sub-category of gambling addicts, the prevalence of those that had suffered trauma, leading to post traumatic stress
               symptomology, was found to be significantly higher than in the general population. The authors theorized that a form of
               learned helplessness lead to a negative affect as a general response to life, and that the immediate gratification of gambling
               offered a "temporary respite in the insatiable quest for self-affirmation." (Taber, 87). If someone is suffering from IAD, they
               may have the additional quality of being defensive about this, and exaggerate the positive aspects of their life to compensate.
               This was found to be the case with drug addicts (Gibson, 87).

               Dr. Nancy Wesson, a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of shyness and behavioral addictions, who's
               practice is in the Silicone Valley, sees a lot of patients with IAD. In a recent telephone interview, she stated that clients
               almost never present with this problem, they present with some other symptomology, and IAD is discovered to be a
               comorbid or primary condition. Approximately 30% of her case load has experienced serious disruption and loss due to
               excessive on-line interactivity. Her understanding of the extent of this problem, in consultations with peers, is that the rate of
               this is increasing, and it occurs in 25% to 35% of the clients seen by her fellow therapists. Dr. Wesson ascribes to the theory
               of behavioral addiction that postulates that "the addiction lies within the person, and they are engaging in some activity that
               has mood altering potential" for that person. In Dr. Wesson's treatment of clients with shyness, she is increasingly finding that
               some have obsessively developed on-line relations, and those relationships constitute the only relations these clients have.
               (Wesson, N. personal communication, Dec. 2, 1996).