Man committed suicide because of MMOPG EverQuest Online

EverQuest (EQ) is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on March 16, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost. It was developed by Verant Interactive (which had recently parted from 989 Studios) and published by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). SOE currently runs and distributes EverQuest. The game's sequel, EverQuest II, was released in 2004.

Shawn Woolley was an avid player of the computer game EverQuest, an MMORPG, who committed suicide at the age of 21 years old. He shot himself and was found dead at his computer, which was still running EverQuest.

Woolley had been diagnosed with epilepsy, depression and schizoid personality disorder. He started playing EverQuest in 2000, and by 2001, it had taken over his life. He was evicted from his apartment and had to move back in with his mother, Elizabeth Woolley. She believes that the last few epileptic fits he had were caused by the amount of time he spent playing EverQuest.

A week before the suicide he had quit his pizza parlour job in order to play upwards of 12 hours a day, and bought a gun. He was finally pushed over the edge by unknown events that had occurred within the game, which might have included the betrayal of a six-month associate who stole Woolley's character's money and refused to return it. Elizabeth Woolley said that he was in tears after this particular incident.

Elizabeth Woolley says that EverQuest is dangerous and addictive by design, which is what she claims led to her son's suicide, "I think the way the game is written is that when you first start playing it, it is fun, and you make great accomplishments. And then the further you get into it, the higher level you get, the longer you have to stay on it to move onward, and then it isn't fun anymore. But by then you're addicted, and you can't leave it."

In order to deal with her son's death and help other gamers avoid his fate, Woolley created On-Line Gamers Anonymous, a twelve-step program support web site devoted to helping online gamers quit gaming.