I think there are (intentionally) qualities to the game that can be addicting to some people, but that's common of a lot of video games and not unique to WoW - though they do seem to have the formula down to a T. It comes down to the person playing, though.

Me, I can play a video game for 20 minutes and stop and go on to something else and not care. My husband used to play WoW for hours and hours at a time at the expense of work and family, to the point that it was having a negative impact on his health, his relationship with our child, and putting a huge strain on our marriage.

But I think WoW was just feeding the problem, not causing it. I think it was a reaction to a deeper depression and WoW was just something to get sucked into and escape reality.

He stopped playing WoW, switched jobs, and is going back to school, has friends over on a regular basis for some real interaction and is happier than he's been in a long time.

Now he sits down some nights and games for an hour or two after the kid's in bed and that's that, unless we have something else planned, and then he doesn't. The tendency to get sucked in for hours at the expense of all else has disappeared.

I think, in the wrong circumstances, that escape that WoW offers can be addicting, dangerous and damaging, but I think it's less often the game that's the actual root cause of the problem.