For Raven Hathcock, Trolls, Dwarves and mages are just another day of family bonding.

Students in the Gamers Association regularly meet to play all kinds of games — video, board and card. EVAN STICHLER/Staff

Hathcock plays World of Warcraft, the biggest massively multiplayer online role-playing game, in the world, with 11.1 million subscribers as of June 2011.

The sophomore telecommunications and film studies major from Jonesboro said WOW was a family tradition and bonded her family together as they helped one another with quests, leveling up and joining the right guilds.

“I know my Dad enjoyed it a lot,” Hathcock said. “It was his way of bonding with us. We didn’t really play sports and weren’t really a TV-watching family.”

The tradition started when Hathcock was young and her parents played different RPGs together. She learned from her mother that video games aren’t just for the boys — they can be feminine, too.

When her father began playing WOW, he wanted to get the whole family involved, first with Hathcock’s two older brothers and finally with the youngest girl in the family, helping her along the way.

“I kind of just went with it cause that’s what my cooler, older brothers were doing,” Hathcock said. “When I showed a little bit of interest, he really brought me under his wing and introduced me to WOW. He tried to get me into different guilds and to level up.”

Hathcock made retreating to the planet of Azeroth with her father, brothers or aunt a regular activity and by junior year of high school she was playing 35 hours a week.

Research into the addictiveness of video games such as Halo, World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons has been sparked by the recent death of Chris Staniforth, an extreme gamer from the U.K. who contracted a fatal blood clot in his leg after sitting too long in one position while playing games.

During May 2011, he died suddenly at 20 years-old as a result of playing games 12 hours a day.

“He lived for his Xbox,” David Staniforth, Chris’s father, told ABC news. “I never dreamed he was in any danger.”

Ray Barrett, a senior international affairs and history major from Valdosta, and also the president of the University Gamers’ Association, said when gamers prefer their lives of quests to their real lives, games become addicting.

“If you have an addictive personality, it can definitely do that to you,” Barrett said. “I’ve heard people who say, ‘I’ve lost my girlfriend, I’ve lost my life.’ It’s understandable that video games help you escape from the real world, if you’re stressed. You should never break that boundary where it is your real world.”

Ray Barrett, president of the Gamers Association, said his group might actually help students with addictive behaviors keep both feet in the realm of reality. EVAN STICHLER/Staff

Gamers compared the addictiveness of gaming to partying downtown and drinking — it can be addictive, but doesn’t need to be.

“It’s kind of the same as other stuff,” said Zach Freelance, a junior math and computer science major from Snellville. “I feel like gamers might be less likely to go downtown drinking or throw a huge party, so they do this instead. It’s all having fun.”

Barrett said organizations such as the University Gamers’ Association can act as safeguards against addictive behavior by connecting gamers to other people on campus who share similar interests.

The Association doesn’t just concentrate on video games. People bring their own games and play with one another, including video games, board games or trading card games.

The usual introductory questions, such as “What’s your name? What’s your major?” are replaced with “What’s your name and what do you play?” as students network with one another to find partners in a little-known hobby on campus.

For some members of the Association, gaming is a way of life; it’s how they bond with their friends, it’s the activity they retreat to when stressed, it’s a source of creative energy and for some, it’s directly related to their future careers.

A lot of gamers plan to go into game design or computer-science related fields, but Lucas Chizek, a junior from Lilburn, said as a social psychology major, he’s most interested in the gaming community and how it changes social interactions for gamers.

As the trading game coordinator for the club, he has a special hurdle to overcome — money.

In trading games such as Magic: The Gathering, a popular game played at the meeting, players have to buy cards to play, whether in packs or as single cards at game shops. It generally follows that the more you spend, the better you can buy.

For college students, this can be a problem because most don’t have a lot of money to spend and without dough, it becomes less likely to score a win over an opponent.

Chizek’s own “ideal” deck for Magic is valued anywhere from $3,191.59 to $2,002.85.

To correct this concern, Chizek is working on his own trading card game to take the best things from Magic, but eliminate the flaws and encourage community.

“People can’t come in and buy a deck,” Chizek said. “They have to trade and be a part of the community. Community is a big part for me. I’m a social psychology major so it’s interesting.”

Unlike Magic, where spending money on an expensive deck ensures victory, Chizek said with his own game “if you are smart enough to come up with a good plan, you can overcome anything.”

The connection aspect is also important for President Ray Barrett, who said without the association, there would be no way for gamers to connect on campus.

Hathcock said it’s hard for her to connect with other WOW players because she doesn’t fit the gamer stereotype.

When she would tell people within the video game world that she was both female and 19 she often got disbelief or creepiness from other male players. Her aunt and father even began escorting her within the game to make sure “no one weird talked to me.”

Now, she’s sure she has discovered the one foolproof method for attracting lots of men. It’s not sky-high pumps, short skirts or red lipstick — it’s gaming.

“If you’re a girl gamer, these guys will just flock to you,” Hathcock said. “Even if they haven’t seen you, you’re their ideal match. People get really excited to learn a 19-year-old girl plays WOW. They’re like  ‘I didn’t think that existed.’ Yeah, we do.”

Hathcock, who also likes to play The Sims, Call of Duty and other RPGs, said she wanted to remind University students that not every gamer is “a weird, socially awkward male” like the traditional stereotype suggests.

“I like dying my hair, doing my nails, shopping,” Hathcock said. “I’m a mixture between that gamer and a regular 19-year-old girl. I’m just a freak of nature, I guess.”

Overall, like other gamers, Hathcock said the community and bonding — especially with her family members — was the most important aspect of gaming.

Now at college and away from her World-of-Warcraft-savvy father, she doesn’t have WOW downloaded on her computer.

“It was a great bonding experience,” Hathcock said. “I really miss it.”