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Inside the World of Warcraft
Brian Hungerford's eyes drooped as he stared at the computer screen. He could no longer keep the weighty lids from closing on his eyes. A sudden jolt woke him from his light slumber and plunged him back into a different world, only to find his character dead.
The less-forgiving of the two worlds is the World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft, called WoW by players, is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game with more than 8 million users worldwide and more than 2 million players in North America.
Since the game's debut in 2004, it has become the most popular MMORPG.
Players chose roles and interact with each other in the world of Azeroth and work together to complete quests and raids as well as gather tools and skills.
They can choose to be anyone from a noble draenei or an engineering gnome for the Alliance alignment to a monstrous orc or a zombie-esque undead for the Horde. Each class has a story and mission, strengths and weaknesses.
The character is rewarded with experience and higher levels when it kills monsters. A higher level means the player can use more tools, get more talent in their profession and do more damage.
"I was addicted," Hungerford said. "I woke up, played, went to work, played, went to sleep."
He only stopped to use the bathroom, and he ate once a day.
His already thin 5-foot-8-inch frame dwindled down to 115 pounds.
Hungerford, 23, is a senior psychology major at UCF and has played the online computer game for about four years. He was introduced to it by his roommate soon after it was released.
Hungerford named WoW as one of the reasons he didn't go back to college for a while during the first year and a half of playing. He would play 20 hours a day if he didn't have to go to work, and while at work he thought about playing.
"You know you have a problem when you can't wait to get home to play again," Hungerford said.
Hungerford would play every night until he fell asleep sitting at his computer.
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