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Australian snooker player and former world champion Neil Robertson has claimed that he is recovering from video game addiction.
Speaking to Eurosport, Robertson said that he’s been forced to go cold turkey after investing too much time in titles such as World of Warcraft, League of Legends and FIFA.
I was part of a (WoW) raid team, and we played a few nights a week. When we got out to China for a tournament, I was trying to make the raid slot. When I got out there, the connection was so bad that I couldn’t get access. I was furious for four or five days,” he said.
All I was thinking about was getting back home for a connection from China. I lost my spot on the team, and all of a sudden that became more important than the snooker which is absolutely crazy.
In the past, I’ve been staying up and playing it. Then all of a sudden, it is 6am, the birds are tweeting and I’m thinking: ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to get up in a couple of hours to take my son Alexander to school. Then I’ve got to practice.’”
The Aussie also cited examples of missing entire practise sessions after failing to haul himself away from the console.
As much as a passion for games has clearly had a negative impact on Robertson, he also makes what are some very generalised claims about the larger impact of so-called video games addiction.
Those kind of games are designed to take over your life really,” Robertson added. You find yourself sitting in front of the computer screen for six, seven or eight hours straight. Which is obviously not healthy.
In fact, my partner Mille was talking to one of the designers of the game. She met him in Cambridge, and he said they are trying to make more games that don’t ruin people’s lives. Mille absolutely hates it. League of Legends is banned in my house. And rightly so. It is just awful.”
Robertson also claims that fellow snooker pro Ding Junhui has also had to actively reduce the amount of time spent playing League of Legends.
