Controversy and criticism

Although widely popular (with 9 million players), World of Warcraft has received a moderate amount of criticism. Stories of game addiction to the popular video game are a common source of criticism. In June of 2005 it was reported that a child had died due to neglect by her World of Warcraft-addicted parents.[49] In August of that year, the government of the People's Republic of China proposed new rules to curb what they perceived to be social and financial costs brought on by the popularity of games such as World of Warcraft. The measure would enforce a time limit on China's estimated total of 20 million gamers.[50] The Chinese government and The9, the licensee for World of Warcraft in China, have likewise imposed a modification on Chinese versions of the game which places flesh on bare-boned skeletons and transforms dead character corpses into neat graves in an attempt to "promote a healthy and harmonious online game environment".[51]
Dr. Maressa Orzack, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, was interviewed August 8, 2006, stating that of the 6 million subscribers "I'd say that 40 percent of the players are addicted."[52] The 40 percent figure was not derived from a scientific study overseen by Dr. Orzack, but rather came from "a forum that Nick Yee runs". She added in an August 2006 interview that "even if the percentage is 5 to 10 percent which is standard for most addictive behaviors, it is a huge number of people who are out of control."[53] Also, according to Dr. John Grohol, a colleague of Orzack's, "Dr. Orzack is not claiming that up to 40% of World of Warcraft gamers are addicted based upon any actual evidence or surveys of players. This is just her opinion, based upon her own experience and observation of the problem."[54]
After Blizzard started offering free trial gameplay accounts, players started receiving increasing numbers of spam sent by bots in the virtual mailboxes of their characters, advertising virtual gold, honor, and experience selling services.[55] One study shows that this problem is particularly prevalent on the European realms.[56] In patch 2.1, Blizzard responded to this by adding additional anti-spam mechanics including whisper throttling, and the "Report spam" function.