Rehab Center Help Kicks WoW Habit for $14,000
It's $14,000, but you get your life back.
Ben Alexander was addicted to World of Warcraft and spent nearly every waking minute playing the MMORPG.
"At first, it was a couple of hours a day," Alexander said in an AP story. "By midway through the first semester, I was playing 16 or 17 hours a day."
As a result of his time sunk into the game, Alexander dropped out of the University of Iowa in his second semester and went to seek help. He originally found – and completed – a 10-week outdoors-based program in Utah, but felt that he hadn't yet shaken his WoW addiction.
Alexander eventually discovered a special center in Fall City, WA that deals with pathological computer use. The center, called ReSTART, offers a 45-day program costing $14,000 to help those addicted to internet, video games, texting, social networks, online auctions and other technological time-killers quit "cold turkey."
ReSTART is now providing Alexander with counseling and psychotherapy sessions, along with opportunities to do household chores, exercising, baking cookies, among other things.
"I don't think I'll go back to 'World of Warcraft' anytime soon," Alexander said.

While these institutions are a joke relative to their cost I believe they are a good idea. Some people do not have the will power to just quit cold turkey without help and this gives them a place they can get away from it all and get past the withdraws.
Of course what helped me curve my addiction is WoW just got plain boring and now I refuse to play more than 2 hours at a time. Hell most of the time I just log in twice a week for Raids and even those are boring now. Now if only I could put down Hello Kitty Online Adventure!
If you have had to get rid of addictions to all of these then maybe you have not actually taken control of your video game addiction. It kind of sounds more like you hop from one to another.
12 hours... and now only 2...? Sorry, but you are addicted to the bones but you don't know it. The maximum I played Counter-Strike was 6 hours a day... 12 hours is insane...
Lately, I am playing a lot of Street Fighter 4 online, like 1 to 2 hours a day and I find it disturbing. For me online gaming is nothing more than useless competition. The fun became an habit before you know it.
I didn't played online for around 3 to 4 years after my Counter-Strike habit... and I tend to do the same with my Street Fighter 4 habit.
While these institutions are a joke relative to their cost I believe they are a good idea. Some people do not have the will power to just quit cold turkey without help and this gives them a place they can get away from it all and get past the withdraws.
Of course what helped me curve my addiction is WoW just got plain boring and now I refuse to play more than 2 hours at a time. Hell most of the time I just log in twice a week for Raids and even those are boring now. Now if only I could put down Hello Kitty Online Adventure!