Alt-itis?[]
The one who invented this word had no idea what -itis means. -itis means inflammation, so alt-itis means "inflammation of alt". Does not make any sense at all. Altphilia is a more appropriate term. -philia means "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something", so altphilia means "love or obssession with alts". --WakemanCK (talk) 04:24, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
Altitis vs Altphilia vs Altoholism[]
While it is true that -itis denotes diseases characterized by inflammation, it "is also used colloquially to denote any type of disease, including imagined disease", which is what was probably meant here.
However, you have my vote that -philia would be a better reference. Even more so than what I thought I was afflicted with, which was Altoholism.
-itis
The suffix is also used colloquially to denote any type of disease, including imagined disease
-phil-
Suffixes with the common part -phil- (-phile, -philia, -philic) are used to specify some kind of attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something. They are antonymic to suffixes -phob-.
-ism
The suffix -ism denotes a distinctive system of beliefs, myth, doctrine or theory that guides a social movement, institution, class or group.
Altoholism
A condition that affects MMORPG gamers in which they re-roll new characters whenever they reach the 40 to 50 level range.
GiftsForYouBiz (talk) 16:02, 12 September 2008 (UTC)