I know a hikikomori, I think.
He wasn't always that way, so I was able to see his descent. At first, he was a regular, lazy student. He would often sleep during class and not take things very seriously. He was a gamer and attended LANs from time to time. In any case, he was a smart kid, even though he was lazy, and went to university.
However, he had started playing an MMORPG. Due to the game, and his already high level of laziness, he started attending less and less of his university, until eventually he flunked out. He went back to his parent's house and played the MMORPG all day and night. They wanted him to get a job, but he did not.
He is still a hikikomori, and my friend. I don't think he gets out much (if even at all). This is perhaps one of the closest things to hikikomori that might exist in the western nations. I assume he still moves out of his room to get food and such, as unlike Japanese parents, his will not totally subordinate themselves to him and bring food to his room.
He's a good guy and we still talk on instant messengers. I have quit said MMORPG, so my future is looking bright, but it is not hard to understand how someone could become hikikomori because of them. Since he's on the MMORPG, it's not like he is devoid of contact, as those games are full of social contact. But he is a hikikomori in the sense that he meets no people in reality.
Maybe his problem is (and my problem was) a case of addiction. I have escaped the addiction by realizing the pointlessness of MMORPG, and moved onto playing WoW. It's not as involving, so I can play casually and not worry about being 1337. I made a resolution to myself to only play casually, and that I would never visit a gaming site. This is because many gaming sites have forums that optimize the best way in order to become 1337. This ends up with the result of having to buy the same item everyone else is buying, usually that item costs a shitload. So, I can be a gimp in ignorance and not be addicted (hopefully, this is just a plan).
So, those were my accounts on the subject of hikikomori and MMO games. Can they still be classified as hikikomori in the classical sense, or are they not hikikomori because they talk to the outside world via internet?
The fact that someone can become addicted to an MMORPG is frightening. I suppose we can become addicted to anything, even 4-ch. Like >>7 I frequently reload anonymous BBS and such. Maybe it's from not having too many other things to do, I'm not sure. I do have a lot of unfinished 1-player games to play, so maybe it's an issue of wanting social contact.
Bye-nara~