Robin Williams Confesses to Another Addiction - the Internet By Mike Szymanski Wed, Aug 21, 2002, 02:08 PM PT HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - Robin Williams has given up most of his addictions -- the drugs, the partying, the excesses -- but he admits to his new and maybe strongest addictions yet -- the Internet. In a one-on-one interview with Zap2it, Williams confesses to being a computer junkie, unlike many celebrity friends who are terrified of the Internet and chat rooms. "I'm not afraid of it, I'm actually kind of addicted to it," says Williams while seated at a Beverly Hills hotel while promoting his new film "One Hour Photo." In the Fox Searchlight film, interestingly enough, he plays a low-key stalker type of guy who obsesses over a family. He knows that such things could happen to him, so he's careful and he never reveals his true identity to other cyber-friends. Williams, while he was traveling on his recent comedy tour, which became a hit HBO special, says that his computer hook-up was important while on the road. "When I find out a hotel doesn't have a DSL, it's like 'What? There's no toilet?' Once you get used to high speed you ain’t going back," Williams smiles. "Once you've had DSL, you don't go back." The 50-year-old Oscar winner, who won Best Supporting Actor for "Good Will Hunting" confesses, "I play games, I'm not going to lie about it, and when you play online against someone else, it's the best. Especially when you're playing against a 12-year-old kid who's been playing the game for a year and knows all the secrets. I'm fascinated by military games." He says that a few of the people he's met playing the military games are just too involved and do scare him a bit. Some of his favorite sites include weird auction sites and game sites, but he never checks out fan sites about himself. "That's like bobbing for razors, that's really bad news because you'll find great things and horrible things. I did it once," Williams admits. "You'll find people who love what you're doing and people who despise what you're doing. That's the Web, that's the gamut of all personalities." His favorite games include First Person Shooter, and Half-Life, and War Craft 3. "There are a million games and there are mods with these games," Williams says, getting into the lingo. "The mods are taking these games and basically redesigning it and doing it on their own thing. There's a game called Half-Life and these guys made up a total different take on it using the engine to make a World War II engine called Day of Defeat with Germans and Americans doing kind of like a Normandy beach type thing. But these guys made it on their own and the company basically kind of gave them their blessing." "It's amazing. It's a world. It has it's own mythology, plus clans and groups," Williams says. Quite familiar with the most popular games, Williams adds, "They start off with a kind of primitive version where people were off wandering around conducting quests but now with Morrow Wind and Never Winter at Night and Dark Age of Camelot, people are in there creating characters and building up the characters to the point where if they build up a character with enough points they'll sell it on ebay. Then, Williams pauses, and recalls his addiction for addictions. "Just as long as it doesn't become like," he gulps, "Well,, because it's video cocaine, it can be as addictive as anything in this world with computer widows." Williams warns, "You have to limit it though because it's addictive because of this world. I guess the worst case scenario was some kid who killed himself because his character died. You have to go, 'Wait a minute. This has gone way beyond the limits of a game.' " And then, Williams dispells rumors that he poses as a 6-year-old girl on some chatrooms. "No, that's not true," he smiles coquettishly. "I was never Samantha." ===================================== rockHEAD: Addicted
red:addicted i probably beat the crap out of robin williams in age of empires and i didnt even know it...
I think video games are for suckers, but I do have another story about Robin becoming addicted to something. Not sure about the exact date, sometime between 1979 and 1981. I was born in 1980, but my Dad liked to party, and so did Robin Williams. My Dad was the caterer at the Park West, here in Chicago, which (before it turned into a generic rock theatre) was more or less the Studio 54 of Chi, though it had rock shows about four days a week. Needless to say, my Dad only worked the rock shows. Every so often, a touring comic would come through, and as Williams was as hot then as he is now, he played something like four dates at the PW in a row. My Dad fed and drank and did other things with Robin (snort, snort) each of the nights -- and every night, it was my Dad making Robin and a few other friends/hangers-on drinks behind the closed bar. After the fourth night, Robin asked my Dad, "what have we been drinking?" My Dad told me it was a Kamikaze, something like lime juice, vodka, and triple sec. Robin liked, my Dad liked, much was snorted, good times were to be had, and everyone went home as the sun was rising. Imagine my Dad's surprise when, about two years later, he opened a Rolling Stone to read a confession from Robin Williams (who was the cover story). Something about "just returning from Betty Ford because I grew too fond of Kamikazies and coke." Yikes.
A friend of mine and I once had our chat invaded by Wierd Al Yankovic. It took him a while to convince us he was really who he said he was, but it was fairly clear after a couple things and we had about a 3-hour chat about music, accordians and some of the songs he DIDN'T do on record because the artists were sour on them. The funny thing is I had his identity confirmed when I saw his VH1 Behind the Music and they revealed some things on there that hadn't been revealed before and I had already heard them during the chat. Ah, the net. What a great place!
Did you guys know that Robin Willams Mother is twice as crazy as he is? That's a fact. Robin Willams rules..
I'm really looking forward to his latest flick.. "One Hour Photo" this ain't no comedy... and will be a welcome character change for him...
Well nice to know he plays games, now if he can just get the names of the games he SUPPOSEDLY plays right. NeverWinter nights ROBIN....NANNNOOOO NANNNOOOO !! DD
Robin Williams is the man - we have the same Birthday July 21st!!! Did anyone else watch his HBO special? God that was funny. I will probably see One Hour Photo, looks creepy. I really don't like him as a bad guy though. I wish I had time to play more games online, I am not near as addicted as I used to be to the Net.
This is becoming a habit of his...I guess he enjoyed being the nutcase in "Insomnia".. btw, anyone see it? was it good?
