Here's another one of those "Welcome to the Internet" type of articles. The University of Florida's Independent Florida Alligator has an article up about how Blizzard's World of Warcraft - surprise, surprise! - "kills time" and "offers gamers an escape."

Of course, every article like this has their own expert/s on hand to discuss the inner workings of the game. One of the article's resource people is Joe DiPietro, an educational technology graduate student, who according to the Alligator "researches various aspects of gaming, including the fine line between playing as a healthy hobby versus a dangerous addiction."

DiPietro said that "a small percentage of World of Warcraft players are actually addicted." The Alligator also notes that as the game's popularity grows along with the popularity of MMORPGs in general,  "symptoms of excessive play - the sacrifice of relationships, school, work and other responsibilities - will get worse."

It's nothing new, really, but it's a slow news day. Something that's noteworthy though is a comment from one of the people interviewed in the article. Michael Bobek, who plays the game almost every night, says "It's just what I do for fun. I played video games the whole time I was in high school, and I was valedictorian."

See? People can play World of Warcraft and still lead a pretty balanced life - academic-wise and otherwise. All it takes is a bit of time management.