As somebody who is in school for game design and has many professors that are still working in the industry, I feel like I should comment. Though, here's a quirk for you, I have not ever played WoW but my boyfriend used to be glued to it 24/7.
Games are designed to sell and to be played. WoW is an immense success for Blizzard (albeit, not the first. Starcraft, anyone?). The continued expansion of the world, the community, and the immense amount of time that is poured into this game is what keeps people playing. Endless achievements are rewarding. Blizzard, nor any other game company that is successful, is at fault for making a game fun to play. Also, the amount of money that some people have invested into the game is a deterrent to dropping it. (Though you can make some big bucks selling your leveled, awesome character to some n00b)
I know a TON of people that play WoW. Some play casually, many play hard core. This isn't something that is unique to WoW as you can find this gradient in most popular games.
I'm going to reiterate what has already been said in this thread. The game is not what ruins somebody's life. IF the individual in question is so attached to their online persona/life and is loathe to be torn away from it then they have much deeper issues. It is not fair to say "OMG WoW is EVIL and ruins lives!!!1" because that is simply not the case. The large majority of the population playing WoW regularly are stable people and it's the small percentage that ends up on the news.
Violent video games do not make murderers, either.
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