I've recently gone through some mild MMORPG addiction myself (good thing they decided to not raise level cap in the latest patch, so I had 4 whole months time to get bored enough to quit for good) and I can tell you that no, Skyrim is not nearly close to being addictive enough. Mainly because it seriously lacks in the RPG-elements that make RPGs addictive in the first place - ie leveling and gearing up. There is really no problem maxxing out everything of use to your character in just a few days, and it just takes a couple weeks to try out all the builds you can think of. After that it's just a very nice and enjoyable sandbox to pass your time and roleplay in, but it has nothing to really make you go "MUST-DO-ONE-MORE-DUNGEON/QUEST/LEVELUP!!!" after the novelty of the first couple months has worn off...

I wholeheartedly believe computer games are not, and never will be, addictive. People merely lack a "need" in their life in one way or another and games are a way of filling that need.

Here is the picture of the newspaper, if anyone is interested:
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=TN_CTFP&ref_pge=gal&b_pge=1

I'm addicted to Skooma it ruined my life

Same here. Plus all that "outside" fun keeps the fun of Skyrim fresh and new.

I'm 42 and my kid feels the same way. I hadn't really played any video games since Morrowind 10 years ago and I thought that my daughter might like this one. So really, I bought it for her along with that Asssassin's Creed game (what a snooze that is). Basically what's happened is that she can play either game but because I've so thoroughly dominated the time with Skyrim, she's left to play AC. But really, I don't want her playing Skyrim. If she played it as much as I do she'd never get any homework done.

I love how some people who don't even play videogames try to make them look evil. These articles always make me laugh though, I can't wait for them to start bashing GTA 5.

Heh, I do other stuff besides that. I love Skryim, but I need other things to do to break up the time spent on it.

I got my girlfriend hooked on skyrim and she plays it while im working --so now she doesn complain when i play it so much

While I think this game is not up to what it should be, it is still pretty good and I do find myself coming back to it more than I like.

It`s affecting work a little, so I might have to do what I did with BF3 and uninstall until I have completed my work.

At the end of the day I want to be known for my REAL LIFE achievements, not how many hours I managed to play a game.

There's a lot more to addiction than that. Nobody needs to play Skyrim, but if when they're not playing it their thoughts are still dominated by it, then it can be said to be an addiction. Not that it's a problem i'll ever have. The game's just not good enough.

Over the years i've had several game addictions, but the only one to ever achieve it in the fullest sense of the word was Travian. It presents itself as casual and cutesy. Something you can do on your lunchbreak, take it or leave it or whatever. Then you start to get into it and really start to enjoy it, fantasizing about the glorius triumph at the end of it (a single "game" typically lasts 12 months...). Then you start forming friendships with other people who do it, strengthening the bonds of the addiction. Then the ever increasing amount of effort required to stay afloat starts taking its toll and you start to dislike it, but you can't stop it because to do so means everything you've done so far would be to waste and it would mean turning your back on every friendship you've made along the way, subsequently making their own struggle significantly harder, so you twist and bend the rules of real life to suit the needs of the game, casting aside real life friendships and doing only enough work to support your Travian gold habit and keep your internet connection up for the paltry 3 more months it takes for the game to end. And then endgame starts! And the workload quadruples and the stress levels go through the roof as your name is dragged through the mud in the ugliest of political battles waged parallel to the actual battle taking place on the server and you start to hate yourself for ever getting into it and for not having the strength (or for being too strong) to walk away from it. And then you win! And you wake up and start to establish the real cost of the fantasy war you've been embroiled in for 12 months and you desperately try to justify it in any way possible while trying to earn back the real life friendships that you ignored and try to get back into a decent paying job and something resembling your usual state of health and fitness. And then, a few months down the track, your online comrades contact you and want you to lead their alliance on a new server.......

obviously another fusspot, i hate people like that, there was an article in my papar saying peppa pig makes kids naughty

This is not true. There are 2 types of addiction, physical and mental. Physical addiction leaves physical scars when withdrawing from the object of addiction, mental addiction is just as dangerous and doesn't necessarily cause physical scars upon withdrawal. Addiction is a serious disease that can effect people's lives on severe levels, you would do well to realise that.

There's a difference between being addicted, and having a problem with addiction. =)

Yes, I'm a Skyrim addict. There. I said it. Happy now?

They should use spoiler tags over at that newspaper..

Yeah, same here. I always think of these articles as veiled complaints that somebody is having fun doing something that doesn't involve others. I remember reading a letter in Model Railroader, probably an issue several decades old. It was written by the wife of an avid modeler. She was showing her house to a friend and showed her the train room. Her friend asked her if she didn't think hubby's "playing with trains" was a little, well, weird? Not at all, she replied. He comes straight home from work every day, unless he stops at the hobby shop first, and she always knows where he spends his free time and extra cash. What would be considered acceptably normal? Him hanging out at the tavern to all hours?

What version of the game are they playing?

To be fair, if I lived in Chattanooga, I'd probably relish escapism with the fervour of Mr Powell too

Whoever said any of us were sane in the first place. Sanity is boring and Insanity is hereditary!!!

There's really a place called Chattanooga? I thought it was just made up as part of the song!

You know, this may explain why my bedtime briefly increased to 6:00 AM the following weeks after getting Skyrim.

You are confusing addiction and compulsive/problematic gaming, like most of the media. You can have a problematic behavior towards games, that's a problem that concerns you and not other gamers. There are certainly some games that are better ground to let you escape your problems (24/7 availability, several chains of actions to follow at the same time, captivating storyline, etc) but that doesn't make them addictive. The moment there are people (90% of players when it comes to MMOs) who are able to manage their time and play reasonably, that means the problem isn't the game itself. The problem is in fact individual problems, specific to the very player having a problematic practice of the game.

The issue with talking about addiction when there is none is that it's often used by the players who are in difficulty as an excuse "I can't be helped, this game is addictive, it's not my fault" or by the family circle as the wrong cause of a deeper problem. For example, spouses will accusate the game to steal the attention of their husband. Unfortunately, that loss of attention, that escapism by playing too much is the consequence of another problem which has nothing to do with games themselves. Problems of communication, problems of self-esteem, depression, etc. So basically, any violent reaction against the player or the game will only worsen the problem. Typically, problems of couple are woven and un-woven in couple.

As a consequence, if your bedtime is increased and it's a problem to you, it's a signal and it's not explained by "the game is addictive". If it's temporary and doesn't cause any planning problem, that's just passion. For most of players, there isn't much to worry about. Some people get nervous when they realize they become obsessed with a game, thinking of it when walking in the street, when dinning, etc. That's passion. When you love music, that's the same : you're also thinking of what you'll play next, what arrangement would be better, etc when doing something else. Fortunately, nobody claimed that the Ibanez RG Prestige (a guitar) was addictive. So stop with your "Skyrim is addictive."

By that logic, there is no such thing as addiction, and the average junkie is just a "compulsive/problematic" heroin user...

Not at all. That's not the same logic at all. Read again, I wrote "The moment there are people (90% of players when it comes to MMOs) who are able to manage their time and play reasonably, that means the problem isn't the game itself."
It means that games don't have the so-called addictive effect on everyone. Heroin does and we know which elements create that effect. Heroin is clearly identified as addictive. It's very important to make the difference, because that's why drugs are dangerous. If your definition of addiction puts in the same bag the drug addict, the MMO player, the chessboard lover, the poker player, the internet crawler and the trainspotter, your definition is too large and useless. Passion isn't addiction, and again my point isn't that addiction doesn't exist, my point is that games aren't addictive. Drugs are.