4 ms·

Asperger's Syndrome vs. World of Warcraft: How My Roommate Failed Out Of UCLA

22 points by jeffmorrisjr 13y ago

mathattack 13y ago
I'm waiting for an "And then what...." Was this truth or fiction?
- centizen 13y ago
  Though I don't know either way in this specific case, this is a very common thing with postsecondary education. Lots of kids are getting too used to highly curated, manually disciplined classroom settings. They are used to the teacher reminding them that they haven't turned in that assignment. The reason they don't skip is because the school will call their parents. They aren't allowed anything other than limited access to technology, because it's "distracting". When they get to college, they just aren't ready for independence. Without the nannie-teachers and the parents, they don't have a support system that can point them in the right direction. Aspergers would have no doubt exacerbated the situation, but I am not on the spectrum and have very similar addictive tendencies that caused me to nearly fail my course as well.
  - mathattack 13y ago
    There are also complaints of incoming freshman being too fragile, again from overparenting. http://southfloridafamilycounseling.com/blog/?p=60 http://southfloridafamilycounseling.com/blog/?p=60
losethos 13y ago
Fucken retard nigger. God says... ttle. 22:31 But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. 22:32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. 22:33 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that the ---- God says... hers trustees vomited reserved Still visions experiments produce vicissitudes omitted drink sufferedst mortality bath easeful hell Are Senators 91 Free citizens sooner justify INDEMNITY females help cud respect everythings_a_okay evening groanings grievous curious labourers may watch_it_buddy fields truly Kenya self carried abase You_fix_it anything follies precede or re-collected satiate fared yada_yada_yada direct review Governor moreover ostentation assent greeted nursery preaching hasting Victorinus digested habitation Continency sacrificed up Plain leadeth judgment vehement inchoate greatest ensnaring DON'T dissentings definitely well-drunk rmunday men one I'm_feeling_nice_today
dubfan 13y ago
One of my dorm-mates in my first year of university was addicted to computer games. My friends and I tried to take him out drinking on his 19th birthday (the legal age in that location) but he insisted on playing Counterstrike all night. Later that year he got into World of Warcraft. When he leveled his character to the cap, he sold that account and started playing on his brother's account. In the end he skipped his finals to play World of Warcraft and failed out. I'm not sure if he was on the autism spectrum, and I don't think he was.
saturdaysaint 13y ago
http://www.wowaholics.org http://www.wowaholics.org is full of stories like these. Thankfully, things like this dissuaded me from ever dabbling too deeply in WOW. I actually remember hearing similar tales about Ultima Online and Everquest back in the late 90's/early 00's.
- cheald 13y ago
  If you're prone to addictions, avoiding addictive systems is probably a good thing. I played WoW for something like 7 years, doing the high-end stuff like the high-difficulty PVE content and high-end PVP, got married, had kids, and launched a startup while doing it. I quit because I got bored with the game, and my interests moved on to other things. It's not inherently evil and guaranteed to destroy your life. The danger is that it offers a relatively quick and easy work-and-reward cycle, and can give you the illusion of accomplishment. If you let that illusion substitute for actual accomplishment in the real world, that's when you get into trouble. Having and keeping goals is a great inoculation against that sort of thing.

22 points by jeffmorrisjr 13y ago

mathattack 13y ago

I'm waiting for an "And then what...." Was this truth or fiction?

centizen 13y ago
Though I don't know either way in this specific case, this is a very common thing with postsecondary education. Lots of kids are getting too used to highly curated, manually disciplined classroom settings. They are used to the teacher reminding them that they haven't turned in that assignment. The reason they don't skip is because the school will call their parents. They aren't allowed anything other than limited access to technology, because it's "distracting". When they get to college, they just aren't ready for independence. Without the nannie-teachers and the parents, they don't have a support system that can point them in the right direction. Aspergers would have no doubt exacerbated the situation, but I am not on the spectrum and have very similar addictive tendencies that caused me to nearly fail my course as well.
- mathattack 13y ago
  There are also complaints of incoming freshman being too fragile, again from overparenting. http://southfloridafamilycounseling.com/blog/?p=60 http://southfloridafamilycounseling.com/blog/?p=60

losethos 13y ago

Fucken retard nigger. God says... ttle. 22:31 But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. 22:32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. 22:33 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that the ---- God says... hers trustees vomited reserved Still visions experiments produce vicissitudes omitted drink sufferedst mortality bath easeful hell Are Senators 91 Free citizens sooner justify INDEMNITY females help cud respect everythings_a_okay evening groanings grievous curious labourers may watch_it_buddy fields truly Kenya self carried abase You_fix_it anything follies precede or re-collected satiate fared yada_yada_yada direct review Governor moreover ostentation assent greeted nursery preaching hasting Victorinus digested habitation Continency sacrificed up Plain leadeth judgment vehement inchoate greatest ensnaring DON'T dissentings definitely well-drunk rmunday men one I'm_feeling_nice_today

dubfan 13y ago

One of my dorm-mates in my first year of university was addicted to computer games. My friends and I tried to take him out drinking on his 19th birthday (the legal age in that location) but he insisted on playing Counterstrike all night. Later that year he got into World of Warcraft. When he leveled his character to the cap, he sold that account and started playing on his brother's account. In the end he skipped his finals to play World of Warcraft and failed out. I'm not sure if he was on the autism spectrum, and I don't think he was.

saturdaysaint 13y ago

http://www.wowaholics.org http://www.wowaholics.org is full of stories like these. Thankfully, things like this dissuaded me from ever dabbling too deeply in WOW. I actually remember hearing similar tales about Ultima Online and Everquest back in the late 90's/early 00's.

cheald 13y ago
If you're prone to addictions, avoiding addictive systems is probably a good thing. I played WoW for something like 7 years, doing the high-end stuff like the high-difficulty PVE content and high-end PVP, got married, had kids, and launched a startup while doing it. I quit because I got bored with the game, and my interests moved on to other things. It's not inherently evil and guaranteed to destroy your life. The danger is that it offers a relatively quick and easy work-and-reward cycle, and can give you the illusion of accomplishment. If you let that illusion substitute for actual accomplishment in the real world, that's when you get into trouble. Having and keeping goals is a great inoculation against that sort of thing.