@ Jericho. I am not talking about hobbies (i threw in the miniature thing just as a joke

). But a person who paints a couple of hours a night a couple of times a week is quite different from someone who play WoW several hours a day every day of the week to the detriment of their family/personal life. By detriment i mean having your partner leave you. Not that you have sore eyes from looking at a computer screen all night.
Yes my wife will point out that most activities are fine in a measured ammount (Drugs of course are an exception as are many other things like that). The point is of hiding from reality by masking the problem with something else. Drug and alcohol abuse are difficult because of the physical withdrawal symptons but no treatment for these types of addiction is overly successful if it doesn\'t treat the underlying problem that led to the behaviour in the first place.
By all means, play WoW as much as you want, but be aware that your actions will have consequences. I don\'t know about America or England (or anywhere else), but currently in Australia we have a massive problem with problem gamblers and poker (slot/fruit/one armed bandits) machines. Governments are claiming that they are trying to solve these issues (which they aren\'t trying all that hard because they love the free money it generates for them) by installing clocks and windows in gaming areas to let people know how long they have been there. This addresses their concern that \"Gambling is fine, just be aware of how long you have been there\", but it doesn\'t go to the root of the problem \"Why are you here?\".
My wife works in a family relationship centre for couples who are divorcing and the one of first question they ask is \"What has made you come here?\" Sure the initial response might be \"Because we are divorcing\", but WHY are you divorcing?
I am not a psychologist and i have never studied psychology. I only pick up what i talk about it with my wife. Yes you are right having a hobby is great. I didn\'t say it wasn\'t. I was commenting on what happens when it becomes an obsession. Having a drink is good. Getting drunk is good. I don\'t really do either because my Grandfather was an alcoholic and it scared the shit out of me when we went there because he was an angry drunk. But if someone was going out and getting drunk every night because there was problems at home, then i would consider that to be a problem.
BTW what type of psychology are you majoring in?