There was a time in my life where I would have said that EverQuest caused me to fail out of college and lose a full scholarship.

~25 years later, I no longer believe that to be the case. Undiagnosed ADHD and depression caused those issues; EverQuest was merely the drug that I used to escape the pain at the time.

I can relate. Never played EQ, though. Here's a cheers and a smile for you and everybody else who knows what that feels like.

> Everquest was my first warning about game addiction.

I didn't play EQ, but got started on Dark Age of Camelot right when it was released. There was a confluence of life events that caused me to start playing. Three years later, multiple accounts, and who knows how much game time, it had ruined my health and a wonderful long term relationship.

The upside is that the loss caused me to quit by giving away my accounts. I literally never played again. I remember some fun times while playing, but do sometimes regret the time spent that I could have been doing something else. I also learned about myself that it's not the game that gave me issues, but the social pressure of other people relying on me.

Reflecting a bit, I really see not plausible justification why say one account should be let to be logged in for more than 3 hours/day (say specially during workweek). Even if you really have no job, at that point I don't think it's adding to your wellbeing.

I myself really enjoyed a game (Tibia, very popular here in Brazil) during my childhood, and, living in a large metropolis (and at the time quite violent too) and with limited opportunities for play, it was a saving grace in some ways. It really served as a playground analogue to the real world, where I could talk to people from other cultures all over the world, practice a foreign language (english), practice commerce, planning, and lots of really nice things I think it's fair to say. I think excesses of gaming were already in common consciousness at the time, and the occasional warning from my parents (in no way prohibitive) was a great reminder -- me and my older brother did check whether we were getting something good out of the experience. Specially as the dial-up internet cost was very large! (later replaced by broadband to the relief of my father). I'm also glad it didn't overwhelm my childhood.

That game has since added soft limits (already in 2006 according to the wiki), which I think are better than nothing, but probably there should be some hard limits as well (even if you're really conservative about limits... surely at least something like 8 hours a day could be universally agreed upon).

There are valid objections to those kinds of limits because there are all sorts of exceptions: bedridden people that need an activity, people that just use the game as a chatroom (quite common) to keep in touch with friends, etc.. I think those people can find other activities and other media to fill their time and chat.

It's also probably unlikely that those limits are going to be voluntarily enforced by all companies. I think regulation in this area is important -- in a way, those limits are actually good for the medium: they allow a minimally healthy baseline to exist and the market not be dominated by the worst, most damaging grindfests. But also probably just regulation has limits, and it's important for individual/collective conscience, education and cultural awareness to exist, so people pay attention that each activity is adding, to their lives, being meaningful (this includes social media usage, all sorts of games, etc. -- but could apply to doing anything too much like watching TV or talking to friends even). Boredom is the instinctive response that encourages taking other activities, but unfortunately adversarial design and dark patterns (and even just too captivating activities) have found ways to override this response simply to generate profit.

Moreover, as a game designer, we should be really be thinking about bringing worthwhile experiences into this world, things that teach (in all sorts of ways), move, challenge, captivate, inspire and connect us. Here's a heuristic I like: take your favorite memories and feelings and try to replicate, extend and generalize them in various ways for others.

> Reflecting a bit, I really see not plausible justification why say one account should be let to be logged in for more than 3 hours/day

Because I am the master of my time. If I wish to not play for three months, and then I decide I want to spend an entire Saturday playing, that is my choice, not yours.

> I don't think it's adding to your wellbeing.

I'm not interested in what you think is/is not good for my well being. That is a decision for me to make.

> I think those people can find other activities and other media to fill their time and chat.

Please see the above.

I don't know, I can't really justify spending say 8 hours sitting -- and much less more time. We need to go for a walk, drink water, stop staring at a screen to stay reasonably healthy. Maybe there could be an hour bank or something and you can do a 8 hour stint once in a while if you really wanted. When you're young that doesn't feel so painful, but as you get older you start noticing the health implications of this kind of habit, it's very destructive. For example it can affect your spine, insulin resistance (cause pre-diabetes/diabetes), and more. At least if I were designing an MMO, my conscience would demand I think seriously about this.

But really this (although I think it can be helpful and important) does not get to the heart of the matter which is good, non-dark-pattern-filled game design. Again I don't think this is just a matter or regulation, but requires both a game dev and gamer culture that favors the healthier and more full of wonder, communication and learning (opposed to just gambling addiction) kind of games.

> I don't know, I can't really justify spending say 8 hours sitting -- and much less more time.

You mentioned "sitting," but I never brought that up. Maybe for you, gaming equals sitting. I use a sit/stand desk. Even when I didn’t, I had a job where I was on my feet 8+ hours a day and so if I wanted to spend a weekend sitting for 8 hours, again, that’s my choice and I’d certainly not have been interested in passing that decision through some government department of "appropriate sitting time."

> Maybe there could be an hour bank or something and you can do a 8 hour stint once in a while if you really wanted.

Or hear me out, maybe it should just stay the way it is: a personal decision that is nobody elses business.

> When you're young that doesn't feel so painful, but as you get older you start noticing the health implications of this kind of habit...

I’m not looking for a lecture on the dangers of sitting. Occasionally spending a day deep in a game isn’t the same as living a sedentary lifestyle for decades. It’s a false equivalency. And any attempt to hard regulate leisure time would restrict both behaviors the rare indulgence and the chronic one. Neither of which are your business or the government’s.

> Again I don't think this is just a matter of regulation, but requires both a game dev and gamer culture that favors the healthier and more full of wonder, communication and learning (opposed to just gambling addiction) kind of games.

There is no monolithic “gamer culture.” People play for different reasons, with different tastes, in different ways. The kind of games you're advocating for already exist, no one is stopping you from playing them. That’s the beauty of a free market: choice. However you are free to choose only for yourself, not for the rest of us.

Fully human generated, but thanks.