WoW, I'm A College Dropout!
Another week, another new academic sound bite released about gaming in the news. This time, however, it's not about videogame violence and children; it's about college students and World of Warcraft. It seems that in an article published in the Duluth News Tribune (free registration required) one of the academic advisors at the University of Minnesota Duluth relates about some of the trends he is seeing with why some college students are doing poorly. He cites one example in which "I accused one of them of coming in loaded from smoking dope, he looked so bad, but the student had been up all night playing a computer game". The article then goes on to give some numbers and statistics that University has about students and 'gaming addiction', World of Warcraft being one of the games specifically mentioned.
This article, however, was then cited earlier this week by Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate in a speech she gave about telecom policy and regulation in which she talks about many things, the internet's effect upon youth being part of it. She quotes some statistics about how more and more parents are no longer viewing the internet as a completely positive force on their children. She follows up this statement with the quote:
You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction - such as World of Warcraft - which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide.
Luckily for me, World of Warcraft didn't come out until my last year or college, so I never really saw it make a dent in my grades, and I see how it could for some. At the same time I have to wonder if WoW wasn't there, would something else non-game related just have easily filled the addiction/distraction niche. Whatever the case may be, it just goes to show that World of Warcrack may not be that bad of a punny comparison, luckily I cut ties to my dealer over a year ago.
FCC Commissioner Terms WoW a Leading Cause of College Dropouts [GamePolitics]
PixelPoet
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 12 December 2008
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: college, dropout, fcc, study, university, world of warcraft
This isn't about games so much as behaviors and habits imho. I don't think most college students are prepared for the work and focus needed. Hell, I know I wasn't and I came from a really decent International Baccalaureate high school program. That being said, though, you'll never find me playing WoW. Besides, Nursing school is rough enough without having another vice. :P Interesting bit, though.
I knew a few WOW addicts at uni, and yes they were doing poorly in their grades and attendance. But the truth is they used anything as an excuse to get out of actually working. One didn't get an assignment in on time because 'the batteries in his mouse were flat'.