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I could go on for many more paragraphs than I am here about my addiction to World of Warcraft. Instead I'll give a somewhat brief summary and leave it up to all of you to ask any questions you're curious about.
I played WoW for just over a year. At the end I had three level 80s who were well geared (T10 and better from raids), and two characters between level 60 and 70. I also had a few deleted characters between levels 40 and 60. Overall I had somewhere around 60 days of playtime, or 1440 hours in the year.
I don't consider it an addiction simply because of the reward system in the game itself for putting in so many hours (although it is addicting in that sense). For me it was an addiction mostly because I knew it was heavily interfering with higher priorities in my life yet I still continued to play it. I was ashamed to tell people I played the game and tried to distance myself by saying "I know of people" who played it rather than admitting I played it. I also would even talk about examples of people being addicted to the game, without ever saying I also played the game and was still addicted. I would willingly turn in assignments late (that or half ass them or not do them at all), miss classes, and lose sleep before important days - just to spend more time playing WoW.
After putting in as much time playing WoW as I did, it became even more difficult to fully quit the game. I felt like after spending so much time grinding for better gear and learning the ins and outs of my specs it would be a "waste" to throw it all away now. I had to shrug it off and dump it knowing quitting was for the better in the long run. Now all my characters are deleted, every bookmark and file related to it are off my computer, and of course I am unsubscribed from it.
I feel like a lost a big portion of myself the past year with all the time I wasted playing the game. Now I again can concentrate on what's important for me physically and mentally. It's a relieving feeling being back here again. Though I must admit I still have occasional thoughts run through my mind of starting it up again or contacting Blizzard to have my characters undeleted. I really hope I never do.
 
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Nice one dude. Always a tough thing to put down. You highlighted the reason it's potentially even more psychologically harder to quit than things such as smoking- because you don't build up ANYTHING from smoking other than damage, whereas you do have items which you have gained on which you basically base your entire self-worth and in which you invest your pride. It takes a lot of guts and determination to get out of the loop. Good man.
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If you think that's a lot, I had like 140 days of playtime :s
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I don't understand the whole WoW addiction thing. I guess it's just self control issues.
I've been playing for 5 years now and it's never conflicted with my life. I always read about posts like these and I simply don't understand how it can consume people. It's sad to see players leave especially if they are involved in the community.
If you feel it's best to move on, so be it, but I urge people to try and manage their time a little bit better before leaving a great game altogether.
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Good for you man, I'm glad you got over it. I started up WoW a couple of years ago, luckily I didn't find the game appealing; otherwise I would've never quit. I'm one of those guys that needs to get the best rewards and be the best at what I do in game, much like you did in WoW.
I frown on Blizzard making the game so addictive; they should have incentives to continue playing of course, but nothing that encourages you to play more than a few hours a day max.
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but-but-but-but Cataclysm?
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Heh, I had a stint while in high school where I played a lot of Wow. That was an unfortunate time. However, I am playing now, 3 years later, and I just play to screw around with friends and such. I play probably once or twice a week, and manage to do relatively well for myself. I suppose that just goes to show how much somebody can change in 3 years. 
Perhaps deleting your characters was a wrong move. You could have given it away to a friend or just kept it as is. Often times, WoW isn't the issue at all. I've got friends that thought that quitting WoW would stop their "addiction" and time wasting, but they mostly just got into other games afterwards. The best thing for you to try to do, in my opinion, is to change your outlook on such things, and by quitting WoW, I believe that you have already started doing just that.
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Nice dude!
Now I want to hear if you can stay off it. I have tried many times but it keeps bringing me back I know even after taking all summer off I will be missing class on Tuesday to play the expansion.
I congratulate you on announcing your addiction though and good luck trying not to relapse.
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Just be glad you didnt stay stuck from release to last year. Life is good when you don't play WoW xD
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On December 03 2010 12:00 EtherealDeath wrote:
If you think that's a lot, I had like 140 days of playtime :s
you think 140 is alot? :| that does not bode well for my 315 rofl
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It definitely was a self-control issue more than anything. I just could not stop it. A few times I took days off or a week off playing it, but I always came back to my old ways.
Oh and I know the expansion Cataclysm was coming up soon. The realization that everything I worked for to get to level 80 was going to be obsolete, and that all that time spent really wasn't rewarding in the long run, helped influence my decision to stop the game entirely. The main reason still was how much it interfered with my concentration on my long-term career, as well my personal health. Thankfully I at least have a dog I take good care of that forced me to exercise multiple times everyday, if only just to give him the exercise he needs. But I notice overall I am in the worst physical shape of my life.
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Congrats man. I remember I got the WoW 14 day trial, played for like 20 hours in 2 days, then realized that this would destroy me and deleted it.
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Taking your power supply cord and monitor cable and giving it to a friend is a fantastic way not to play a game for a long period of time! If it feels mighty tempting it would probably be better off removing the computer until you start a new routine.
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MrHoon
10183 Posts
Started playing WoW from release, went to SSC in BC then stopped because my guild stopped and ended my subscription at Wrath because it looked boring
You did well my friend, quitting WoW is a silent accomplishment
But looking at cataclysm these days, I have this sudden urge to play again D:
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The problem with wow is that because it's such a great game, it demands a ton of self-control.
Many people lack that (including me back when I used to play). =/
However you should try to make a serious effort towards better time management and self-control. It'll make you an overall better person and you'll be able to enjoy magnificent games like wow without it negatively affecting your real life.
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On December 03 2010 12:16 JodoYodo wrote:
Congrats man. I remember I got the WoW 14 day trial, played for like 20 hours in 2 days, then realized that this would destroy me and deleted it.
I played the whole trial. Thank god it costs $15/month.
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You'll probably be back but the good news is you probably will see during the coming back month that everything sucks and you're quitting again. I've quit the game several times and came back twice for a longer time and several times for just 1-2 days to realize this game turned into shit.
You described exactly what an addiction looks like, lying to others about it and even making negative points against it while doing it anyway. Good job you quit =)
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I feel you, man. I picked up WoW when I was 15, and played it pretty hardcore for a couple of years. I was never really at the forefront of content, excluding the first few beginning raids of an expansion, but even when I wasn't raiding, I was on the game all the damn time. Though I was dealing with depression and some other issues at the time, I know WoW was certainly a factor in my dropping out of high school. Really regret it now, but I'm moving on.
Obviously you have to have will power to do shit, as some people have mentioned. I can accept that I have terrible self control, but it was difficult. When I was in school, I would log in as soon as I got home, play until bed, then do homework at school in the morning. From morning to bed when I wasn't in school. I managed to take breaks every couple months, but I'd always make my way back sooner or later.
It was pretty much the same when WotLK hit; I managed to get server first rogue/human (but I played on a really scrubby server.) I raided again until right before Ulduar hit, when I was able to quit. I was determined to make it for good thing time. And I was doing really well; I had stopped browsing the forums (I spent as much time on the forums as I did in game... I was often posting on the forums during dungeons and such >_>) and other WoW related sites.
I recently had the desire to play again, and with the TL guild, Cataclysm, cheap copies of the game, and all the other factors, I decided to pick it up again. I'm playing a good deal now, but something has clicked in my mind. I'm wrapping up the semester now, and I'll have about a month of break before the spring semester; I know that during the month, I'll play the absolute hell out of WoW. But I think that when it comes down to it, I'll be able to control myself, and put aside the game to do what I need to do. I'm fine with spending my leisure on the game, as much of it as I have, as long as I don't neglect my school work and other responsibilities. And as long as I continue to enjoy the game.
When I was playing for the second half of BC, I didn't raid, despite that being my favorite thing (I was decked in Kara/Gruul gear, but I quit for a few months, and by the time I came back, the terrible guilds were 1/4 3/6 or whatever the easy bosses in TK/SSC were and the good guilds were in BT... so I couldn't get into guilds that had my raiding friends as the gear difference was huge, or I had to raid with people I didn't like who happened to be bad.) So I basically sat and chatted for months without enjoying the game. Yet I'd still log in every day, for nothing. If I ever reach that point again, I'm confident I'll be able to convince myself to drop the game. But for now, I'm having fun.
I hope that you can reach a similar point somewhere down the line. As long as you play to enjoy the game, and don't neglect responsibilities, WoW isn't all that bad. However, if you don't feel you can do that, I hope you manage to stay away from it. Good luck, man. :D
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I never truly believed how addicting this game was until I started playing it about a year and a half ago.
Some people say you can play this game casually for fun. I just don't believe it. I mean, how can you play a game that literally requires 2+ hours to clean out an instance, or do a flight pattern of 10+ minutes just to get somewhere you want to go, or do quest chains that can last a day or two? You'll never get anywhere if you play this game "casually" for a few hours a week.
A friend got me into it. Got to level 60 in about 3 weeks, started to roll a DK, leveled him up to 70, and realized what a massive amount of time I had wasted in the last month of my life. I had to put it down.
To be honest, the only time I ever had fun playing the game was PKing people @ Stranglethorn, which wasn't very often since doing that often got you PKed pretty fast in return. The rest was like a blur. I remember even specifically never reading the quests, but just using the Addons to get where I needed as fast as I could, so I could level as fast as I could. I didn't know what was going on half the time, except I knew I was following little dots on a map, so I could kill 10/10 Bears, 10/10 Boars, etc. so I could follow the next set of dots to the person I had to give these items too, so I could keep following the next set of dots. During that month, I probably put in about 6-8 hours a day, doing this same routine. I can't believe I found that enjoyable.
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EPT
