As others have mentioned, Mike, you don't have a clear grasp on how Google Voice works or even what it is. Please at least read wikipedia next time before posting. Here's something else you should know. According to the FCC reports filed by Apple, Google, and AT&T, Apple is the one blocking Google Voice. As an otherwise happy iPhone user, I'd love to blame this on AT&T rather than the innovators who made this phone possible, but it's just not true. Also, AT&T just moved to allow Skype and other VoIP services to call over 3G on the iPhone. Their policies are becoming more reasonable day by day and I think that they are starting to realize that if they go along with this dumb pipe idea, at least to an extent, they'll be able to retain some of their customers.
Oh yeah and after a year of quitting Everquest, he got accepted back to our school. And he graduated a couple years ago. So unless there was some magical factor that corresponded exactly to him playing Everquest a lot and then quitting, there's no way it was anything else.
Kevin, dude, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. My roommate had plenty of ambition when his Everquest playing was limited. When he was in high school, his parents wouldn't allow him to play for more than a couple hours a day.
He was the first in his family to go to college. He was quite popular in high school. He worked his ass off to get where he was. And for the first year of college, he worked hard there too. Then he started playing Everquest a lot, and I watched him gradually withdraw from everything he had worked so hard for. He ended up having to go back home to his crappy town and work a crappy job while going to community college and living with his parents again. Of course, they made him cancel his account. He sold off his characters, and with a few clicks, his other life in Everquest that he'd invested years into was gone forever. His friends, his obligations to the guild, his items and stats all gone on top of his REAL life going to crap. Can you even imagine what that would be like? You obviously don't know anyone who has gone through this. So don't try to act like an expert.
Is there a reason why this is really that bad of an idea? I had a roommate in college who was addicted to Everquest (and yes, it can be an addiction). I would go to bed and wake up and he'd still be playing. He missed all his classes for two straight quarters and finally was kicked out of school. We all tried to talk to him but after a few weeks of trying to convince him to pull the plug it became clear that there was nothing we could do for him, because he didn't want to listen to us and he could just tune out into Everquest. If there had been a psychiatrist operating at reasonable rates that could have signed on and talked to him for a few hours, you can be damn sure we'd have pooled together our money to try and help the guy. And it's obviously not the entire treatment that would happen online, it's a first step that leads to more. People who say there is no such thing as MMO addiction need to step back and be sure that they know what they're talking about. Just because YOU were never addicted doesn't mean others aren't. Imagine a drunk who can spend all his time in a bar where there is no "last call" and then you'll see why going to the bar to treat him might be reasonable.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Drew.
Please do more research before posting.
As others have mentioned, Mike, you don't have a clear grasp on how Google Voice works or even what it is. Please at least read wikipedia next time before posting. Here's something else you should know. According to the FCC reports filed by Apple, Google, and AT&T, Apple is the one blocking Google Voice. As an otherwise happy iPhone user, I'd love to blame this on AT&T rather than the innovators who made this phone possible, but it's just not true. Also, AT&T just moved to allow Skype and other VoIP services to call over 3G on the iPhone. Their policies are becoming more reasonable day by day and I think that they are starting to realize that if they go along with this dumb pipe idea, at least to an extent, they'll be able to retain some of their customers.
Oh yeah and after a year of quitting Everquest, he got accepted back to our school. And he graduated a couple years ago. So unless there was some magical factor that corresponded exactly to him playing Everquest a lot and then quitting, there's no way it was anything else.
Kevin, dude, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. My roommate had plenty of ambition when his Everquest playing was limited. When he was in high school, his parents wouldn't allow him to play for more than a couple hours a day.
He was the first in his family to go to college. He was quite popular in high school. He worked his ass off to get where he was. And for the first year of college, he worked hard there too. Then he started playing Everquest a lot, and I watched him gradually withdraw from everything he had worked so hard for. He ended up having to go back home to his crappy town and work a crappy job while going to community college and living with his parents again. Of course, they made him cancel his account. He sold off his characters, and with a few clicks, his other life in Everquest that he'd invested years into was gone forever. His friends, his obligations to the guild, his items and stats all gone on top of his REAL life going to crap. Can you even imagine what that would be like? You obviously don't know anyone who has gone through this. So don't try to act like an expert.
Is there a reason why this is really that bad of an idea? I had a roommate in college who was addicted to Everquest (and yes, it can be an addiction). I would go to bed and wake up and he'd still be playing. He missed all his classes for two straight quarters and finally was kicked out of school. We all tried to talk to him but after a few weeks of trying to convince him to pull the plug it became clear that there was nothing we could do for him, because he didn't want to listen to us and he could just tune out into Everquest. If there had been a psychiatrist operating at reasonable rates that could have signed on and talked to him for a few hours, you can be damn sure we'd have pooled together our money to try and help the guy. And it's obviously not the entire treatment that would happen online, it's a first step that leads to more. People who say there is no such thing as MMO addiction need to step back and be sure that they know what they're talking about. Just because YOU were never addicted doesn't mean others aren't. Imagine a drunk who can spend all his time in a bar where there is no "last call" and then you'll see why going to the bar to treat him might be reasonable.