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RobertLumley comments on Should I play World of Warcraft? - Less Wrong Discussion

12 Post author: PhilGoetz 07 October 2011 04:25AM

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Comment author: RobertLumley 07 October 2011 05:20:19AM *  3 points [-]

Sorry, I guess this is illusion of transparency. I thought I was being obvious.

Tobacco, alcohol, fast cars, hamburgers etc. all have direct medical damages. The addiction is a contributing factor, not the cause. WoW is addictive enough in and of itself that it has the potential to make you keep pressing the lever until you die. That is not true, to my knowledge, of chess.

Comment author: Prismattic 08 October 2011 03:19:33AM 3 points [-]

That is not true, to my knowledge, of chess.

Not so fast...

But chess, precisely because the abstract challenges on the board can be so absorbing, can also derail a kid. Listen to Shawn, who's ranked third on the Murrow team and constantly skips school to play blitz games in the park. In an interview with the New York Times before the high-school championships, the foundering student lashed out at his mentors. "I became addicted to chess. They think they did something for me, but they didn't. Chess didn't save my life. They want to make it like I'm a kid from the ghetto and I can play chess and that's special. Why does it have to be like that? It's embarrassing."

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