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Shawn Woolley (died 22 November, 2001) 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."
However, Sony Online Entertainment CEO John Smedley — one of the creators of EverQuest — disagrees, saying that the game did not cause Woolley's death: "When I spoke with Ms Woolley I expressed my condolences. And it's really one of those terrible things that happens. And there's just nothing to suggest that EverQuest had any role in his death. EverQuest is a game. And I don't see any connection between a form of entertainment and somebody's tragic suicide. It's entertainment. Is a book dangerous? Is a TV show dangerous? I think the answer is no. People need to take responsibility and say, 'Hey, you know, this is too much. Enough's enough.' It's a game."
The Everquest Connection page at VisionAndPsychosis.Net (http://VisionAndPsychosis.Net) explains the simple psychology of what happened to Woolley to cause the suicide. The phenomenon of physiology is explained in first semester psychology, Physiology of Sight, Subliminal Sight, and Peripheral Vision Reflexes. It argues that Woolley actually had a dissociative mental break caused by this known conflict of physiology related to the Vision Startle Reflex. In an email Elizabeth Woolley stated that she cannot remember how his computer was set up in the room but another email from Ben Stien confirms that Tommy Stien, also featured in the 48 Hours Episode, had a large fish in the tank beside his computer. As strange as it sounds movement in Subliminal Peripheral Vision while concentrating engages the phenomenon.
The Demonstration Page (http://VisionAndPsychosis.Net) allows you to experience the fading to extinction of stimulus in Subliminal Peripheral Vision.
There were several serious mental events attributed to Everquest but other games were involved, not just Everquest. There were two lawsuits involving N64 games, one of those cases was a death.
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