A Simulated Life
by Ellen Mauro
March 26, 2010
Kramer Solinsky wakes up to a pretty cool world every morning.
One of the first things he does when he hops out of bed is pick out his weapon.
His favorite is the traditional sword and shield. Sometimes, when he’s feeling a little unconventional, he’ll go for a giant spear instead.
His attire is a tad medieval. He often opts for head-to-toe body armour because it offers the most protection – just in case.
A quick thrust of his sword and another one bites the dust.
“It’s a good feeling when you kill one,” he says.
But all Solinsky is killing is time.
According to Dr. David Greenfield, author of Virtual Addiction and director of the Centre for Internet and Technology Addiction at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Solinsky has a classic case of web addiction.
He lives for hours a day as a sword-wielding, dungeon-roaming, monster-vanquishing rock star, taking time away from family, skipping out on friends and losing marks on school work to live in his world of monsters and villains, dungeons and heroes – the fake, online world that he wakes up in and goes to sleep with.
“I would rather be playing online than anything else,” he says. “I’m not addicted or anything though.”
This article was previously posted at Centeretown News; now archived
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