Are A Lot of People Really Addicted To World of Warcraft?
I play World of Warcraft a lot but I don’t consider myself addicted. I only play a few hours a day and I don’t neglect real life. I really just have a hard time believing that there are people who are really addicted to this game. Come on, it’s just a game! Anyway, are there a lot of people who are truly addicted to WoW?
I know when I first looked around and read story after story from players I was shocked as well. There are tons of people who are truly addicted to World of Warcraft. Some might think it is funny being addicted to a game but isn’t Blackjack a game as well?
Here is one story that I have read on the internet from someone who is addicted to the game so much it really is interfering with his work, family life, and many other things. I was absolutely shocked seeing how this person was able to become so addicted but the stories kept coming with more people chiming in. Anyway, here is the story:
My Husband started playing WOW almost 2 years ago and our marriage has slowly deteriorated since. A �friend� of his gave him a free 10 day trial and he actually asked if I cared if he tried it out�and I said �sure it�s a free try why not� I can�t tell you how much I regret that statement.
First he played a couple of hours ata time then he announced friday nights were now his �Raid night� and I could not make plans that included him on fridays from then on. I asked for him to talk to the other 50 raid people to see if they could switch it and he said no, he said that was the night that worked for everyone else�(regardless of whether it worked for his family). I was told to expect this indefinitly. Every �date night� essentially gone.
In addition to �Raid night� He started playing every night after dinner, the routine was, he�d come home, have dinner watch an hour of TV with me, then go play until midnight or so. Later he told me that OTHER players� were having a hard time with the friday thing so they changed it to Wednesday AND Thursdays instead. OTHER people had a hard time so they moved it, it didn�t seem to matter that I had a hard time with it but, at least other players cared what their wives or family thought or needed. He also has a raid o sunday afternoons now which don�t seem as urgent so, he does miss them every now and then.His MD started him on this drug for his ADD and he now plays until 3 or 4am almost every single night of the week. He gets up at the last possible second, has a shower and barely makes it to work on time. He does not eat breakfast or make coffee anymore and of course buys his lunch IF he remembers to eat during the day at all.
He gets home and is so hungry he�ll have a huge dinner and then after I go to bed, he�ll binge on something else (Like a whole bag of Nachos or A tub of frozen Yogurt). I don�t keep a lot of junk in the house but even a whole tub of frozen yogurt right before bed can make you fatter. His weight has shot up and he weighs close to 100 pounds more then when we met. I don�t know what to do anymore, i�ve tried so many times to talk to him and he just doesn�t listen. He�s cut off friends who aren�t gamers and doesn�t talk to his family much anymore.
If plans are to be made, I make them and its often a battle to get him to go. We don�t have kids although I want at least one. I just see how neglectful he is of me and our dog (yells at him if he noses him to get some attention, doesn�t remember to feed or water him in the AM �cause he�s so rushed) and I don�t want to put a child through that. I don�t want to get divorced but it�s starting to look like the only solution. I miss the man I married, the guy who was fun, who loved to hike and take our dog for runs together. I feel like a failure because I wasn�t enough to keep him interested and that really hurts.
Also remember it isn’t just the guys who can be addicted to this game. There are tons of women addicted to WoW as well. Here is one example story:
I find all of this a bit strange. My wife is addicted to WOW. I dont know what to do. she plays with every free moment she has. Ever since BC came out she has been playing nonstop. My problem with it is all the time dedicated to playing. She spends more time with her online friends, which are all guys, than she does with me. I have also found that she has one of her online friends phone number and they are conversing out of the game.
I am at my wits end. I feel i should call this guy and let him know she is married and not on Wow to hook up but i am afraid of what the consequences of doing that will be. I am this close to filing for divorce. And when i do i will send blizzard and dell a thank you for ruining my marriage. without them (blizzard and dell) i think i would still have my wife.
I want to put another story I’ve read into here as well. The other stories listed were from married couples (not sure the age) but this one comes straight from a 16 year old student and is probably yet another example of many stories like this as well.
My names Josh, im a 16 year old High School student, and im a Wow addict. And by addict, i mean the real deal. Its humorous to hear people say how hard it is when there husband plays like 40 hours a week, Look at myself, and see that i play anywhere from 70-90 hours a week. Its rough, but i enjoy it. I realise, a lot of people just see the bad sides of WoW, and in no way am i here to justify it, more of just to give another perspective.
For a while, i had family problems, and WoW was a shelter. It was my anti-depresant. Ive been playing WoW since the release, and ive been playing with the same group of friends for that amount of time. Ovbiously theres been some variations, but the majority of my close friends have been for 2+ years. So WoW was my source of fun. It kept me in a good mood and what not, but� theres a few problems that came with this oh so amazing bliss.
Im a smart kid, im mature, im not bragging, but growing up in a school system where you get kids form down town, you can realise it. Ive been in a program called TAG – talented and gifted, basicly honors / ap for elementary school. Droped out. Why you ask? Too much work, not that i couldnt do it, but i didnt care. I have no drive outside of what i care about, and honestly, what i care about is my girlfriend (which the relationship has gone to ****), and WoW. Now in highschool, my GPA is 1.7. Yet i want to get into college? Its really a reality check, but i cant stop. Ive had� lets start with before TBC. 60 tauren warrior, Deleted 3 times and restored each due to addiction, 60 priest, quit, 51 mage, alt that i quit when trying to quit, 60 human rogue, traded for horde rogue, who upon level 70 and nicely geared, was hacked. Now im playing another character who ive level to 30 in aprox 4 days.
WoW isnt just addicting for the never ending repetive system, more so for the social enviorment. When you get so close, and you see them making comitment to �spend time� it feels like a freaking relationship, but you enojoy it, and its blinding (as some relationships are). There really isnt a easy balance when your hardcore. Between farming consumables, making sure your arena team is 2200+, and being a raid leader? Where does real life come in? Especially when your parents pay for it all. What should i feel like i need to work for? Paarents also bought me a new car. I dont blame The companies, i blame my parents. And for my friends, i blame there parents, as most have the same story as me. Kids today, my peers, have no work drive.. we arnt given a reason to work for anything, and yes, knowing that this is the problem, i should be mature enough to correct it, but i dont have the -drive-. I want it, but i dont have it. Slowly, im getting back into school, focusing more, doing my work, but its only because I want it, and changing myself, which im proud of.
Basicly, the point of this, is so you all can see that WoW has good and bad sides, more bad then good. If you are a parent, and dont want this to happen to your child, MAKE them work for something, make them do chores, make them have a drive, because if i could go back, i would tell my mom to make me work for everything i have, my 30,000$ car, my 1.3k computer, all the crap i never use in my room, and more importantly, the 300+$ my parents pay in MMORPG/FPS monthly funds.
I love my mother, im so apprecitave of everything, but parents, money isnt everything, toys arnt everything, and if you dont do something, they may end up like i did, and honestly, its not worth it.
Now what am i gonna do when i get home? Ill tell you, im going to forget this article, double click ventrillo, connect, scream in joy at all of my friends, ask how there day went, log onto wow, and level my butt off untill its time to go to bed.
These are just a few stories of people addicted to the game from the many, many more out there. World of Warcraft can be as addicting as anything else out there. It can be addicting just like poker, alcohol, drugs, etc. While it’s impossible to tell exactly how many people are addicted to WoW I believe it has some huge numbers. Luckily, some addicts are starting to realize their addiction and are working on getting out of it. Here’s yet another story:
(Quick thin bio: I�m a 30+ married father of 2, I work full-time, my wife is a stay @ home mother, both kids are young, not in school yet.)
I finally rid myself of my WoW account. This will be the 3rd�yes 3rd, time I�ve walked away from the game. The 1st time I deleted the character, but then created a new one a few months later. The 2nd time, I deleted the character and walked away. I came back a 3rd time, and what do you know, but Blizzard can un-delete your character if you ask them. At the time, I was THRILLED of course. I started playing this 3rd time and actually seemed to be keeping it in check, it wasn�t becoming a problem.
Slowly my play time ramped up slightly, still it was a problem. Fast forward a few months and I was playing a lot and was already becoming addicted, the last 2 months were downright shameful at how addicted I�d become. While the time playing and neglect of life was a major problem, one of the more interesting aspects was how it affected me when I wasn�t playing. My wife could tell, it was all I thought about.
I remember going to meetings at work and just zoning out and thinking about WoW. I�d take the kids to the park and sit on the bench while they played, I�d just sit there thinking about WoW. I must�ve looked like some drugged out loser, I�m sure I had a 10-mile stare. But let�s not forget the time played. While I was leveling from 60-70, I would actually set my alarm to wake me up @ 3am so I could get in a few hours before work.
Of course I was exhausted at work, hardly did anything productive, and spent most of my day surfing about WoW. On nights when my wife worked, (she works a part time evening job to help out) it meant maximum WoW time without me feeling like I actually needed to spend time with her (sad on my part, I know.)
I would hurry to get my kids in bed so I could start my WoW session for the night. Of course, I always had WoW running while I was getting them ready for bed, whether it be scanning the auction house, getting that enchant that I just HAD to have, or moving my character to the next fly point so I could hit the ground running once they were down. I started to actually regret weekends that we had social activities planned. I didn�t want to give up my Fri/Sat nights, those were my maximum WoW nights. Sure, I�d still play after we got home, but that meant I�d lose out on a few hours.
No matter how you look at that, I was sick and pathetic and hate that I actually behaved in this manner for any stretch of time, and for a game?!
Anyway, to avoid me re-installing and asking Blizzard to un-delete my account, I sold the account. Yes, some may frown and say that I�m actually contributing to the problem with WoW addiction. But, this was the one way that I could be sure that I couldn�t get this account back. While I was addicted to the game, I just don�t have it in me to level a character from 1-70 all over again, so no chance of me doing that. I�m just thankful that my wife put up with me through it. She couldn�t have been more thrilled once I made the decision to end WoW for good. She was sweet, she actually left me a card the other night, thanking me and letting me know she could already see a difference in me, for the better. On nights when she works, I actually spend time with my kids and I�m not in such a rush to get them off to bed so daddy can be glued to the keyboard and try to grind out �just a little more rep with�.� Wish me luck, I�m just glad it�s done and I walked away.
So, while WoW addiction might seem like something that couldn’t be real, it really is. If you are someone that is worried about becoming addicted just limit yourself from playing the game so much and treat it seriously. Anyway, hopefully this will put some light into the subject of WoW addiction.
It was a very bad relationship with a lot of lies of both sides. Now I dont want nothing from life, no friends, no girlfriends, no job, no money, no life.. I want just to play this game
. Every time I stoped wow, I went back to real drugs and hard too. Every time I started wow, I stoped real drugs. I think I just need a good relationship to build my life again, but in my stade its too hard. I think i\’m almost finished :/
Let me tell you something about WoW, from, a 14 year old boy. I started March 07, last person to join WoW in my group of friends. I got addicted, parents made me quit at a mere level 45. The thing about WOW is that it offers to much to do, if you dont want to quest, go to a dungeon, if u dont want to go to a dungoen, go fuck around in stormwind! Let me tell you something about WoW. I manageed to quit the addiction, but hey, I still think about WoW. I recently uninstalled WoW, but hey, I still think about WoW. I recently got told I couldn’t play WoW again in my life in my house, but hey, I still think about WoW! The message is, don’t play. Now, if you are an ” addict ”, Life aint how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep on moving forward – are you, an addict?
Think Twice. Quit WoW NoW!
Hi, I just wanted those of you who read my story, to know that things have gotten better we have worked out our issues and we just recently bought a house together, he is still playing but only one day a week for four hours, since he cut back we have been bonding more. Things have been great it was like falling in love all over again, I had a second miscarriage and he really stepped up for me and took care of me when I fell apart, I knew that there was an amazing man in there somewhere and I thank god that I found him again, I really just wanted to thank you all for your kind words they really meant a lot to me. The funny thing is that he read this post and realized what he had done to me, and was very apologetic and quit for a while he seemed kinda miserable so I said to him if he could handle only playing one day a week for four hours I could handle that too it has been a couple of months and it is still working! Guys and Girls if you are reading this and have a wow addiction please go up and read my previous post that is what you are doing to your loved ones maybe our story can help you too!
My friend’s kid is in his early 20s. He doesn’t go to school and he doesn’t work. He does not have a social life. He gets up at 5 in the after noon and plays WOW until he falls asleep. If I was his mom, I would be very concerned when he realizes the state his life is in. I wouldn’t be surprise to find out suicide and WOW are positively correlated.
I also know a half dozen relationship that have been ruined because of WOW. Mine might be on the road to it. My boyfriend has failed out of grad school and only works 8 hrs a week. We talk on the phone because he lives so far away and talking with him is a struggle. Talking on the phone with him is impossible when he’s playing (which is 75% of his awake time). I can tell if he is playing or not by the way he says hello. If he is, I automatically hang up. We are suppose to be getting married soon, but I don’t know if I should be with someone who is so irresponsible. Because I know so many relationship that have been ruined, and the fact that my boyfriend has a very addicting personality (he was addicted to porn) I told him it’s me or the game.
This is to everyone that says they are not addicted to World of Warcraft, or WOW for those like me that have a pet name for it. After reading many of these stories, I too asked myself the burning question, “Am I addicted to WOW?” I spent some time thinking about it and thought do I really associate with my character more than I know? Like others I disagreed with the fact that i had an addiction. I mean I could take it or I could leave it. I could play when I wanted to and didn’t play when I didn’t want to, so no addiction right?
I have been a video game junkie my whole life. As a child when the family couldn’t find me I was either over a friends playing Nintendo, Playstation, or the popular console game of that time, or I was in the local game room playing my heart out. I played video games all of my my life and still do today currently on Playstation & XBox 360.
World of Warcraft was my first MMORPG. An introduction to the big leagues if you will. The problem with MMORPG games vs normal video games is the length of time it takes to get bored with it. In Mortal Kombat you can only do a finishing move so many times before it is boring. In MMORPG games there is no end the game is programmed to be different as long as you want it to be, hence the addiction.
Another addicting thing about this game is the escape from reality. It affords everyone the ability to be something they are not. I.E. An ugly man, can be a night elf, a fat man, can be a skinny human, a fragile woman, can play a geared out warrior. Everytime someone thinks I wonder how it would be if I, they can live this dream out in the game to some extent.
I thought to myself do I really relate to my character that much. This question was answered by another one of my what if I scenerios. I flew to Netherstorm to jump off a flying island. Why because I couldn’t imagine doing this in real life yet I had the power to do so in the game so why not. So I did it, it was a slap of reality as the butterflies in my stomach turned. I knew that it was not real and there was no real fall or jump occuring. My mind associated so much with my toon that the same mental and physical changes occured to me as if I was jumping off that ledge in real life. Why is it when I fell playing Pit Fall, Qubert, or Donkey Kong in the old days my stomach didn’t get butterflies and now with this game it does?
Because I’m Addicted.
Bingo. Your last line sums it up. You probably can manage your life, but many can’t, and you shouldn’t encourage their habit.
I don’t even know. $34.50 that guy say who give me the game at the store. I buy game and the calculus homework I do all the day. I don’t have the time to do the addiction but the calculus AP is coming and I the work to do. I don’t understand the how the people can do the addiction. I only am do the calculus because it the important one.
I have played World of Warcraft since it was released and have found it to be a generally pleasant and non-invasive experience.
WOW addiction is true. My husband cant take himself away. He has no addictive nature, there are no problems in his life. We were a very happy couple.. planning on having a family. He knows he has a problem and that slowly he is making a rift in our marriage but with all that known he still can’t see his life without the game- these are his words. It’s not a hobby… if it were one you wouldn’t spend every spare moment doing it, you wouldn’t neglect your wife, your bills or your responsibilities. It is completely demoralizing to say it but some of us are losing our loved ones to a game.. not to serious things such as drug abuse, alcahol, gambling, jobs or even to someone else. We have simply lost them to some intangible object. My advice to anyone single – don’t date/marry an online game player… you will eventually be phased out of their life and sadly they see it happen but dont do anything about it.
Alright so I have been playing World of Warcraft for about eight months now. I have a level 70 Hunter that’s in full epics. I am in High School and have a 4.3 G.P.A. I am Valedictorian of my class and I have several scholarships under my belt. I maintain two jobs on top of that as a hostess and an artist. By artist I mean I work at an art studio as an assistant. During the summers I also am a lifeguard and pick up some babysitting for more money. I get up at 6 A.M. every morning for school, feed the dogs, cats, and hamsters. I then go out and feed the horses, clean out their stalls, and mix their grain. I get in my JEEP that I payed for, and drive to school. After class, I usually stay after and work on the Theater sets because I am often referred for that sort of thing since I’m into art. Once I get home, I usually cook dinner for my family and then I go back to my room and log into Ventrilo, and then World of Warcraft.
I don’t know what you n00bs are talking about because I maintain a shitload and play WoW. This is all you addicts need to understand:
LEARN TO PWN!
Cause you suck @ multi-tasking.
Jessica – Although your story sounds too good to be true (or perhaps at the least embellished a bit), I’ll believe you. Anyways, what point are you trying to make? Where do you get the time to study and do your homework, by the way?
I have been with a wow addict for 6 years it started slowly he would play at work we had a cyber den where people could play online role playing games he would play for a few hours.Then about a few weeks later it turned into 8 to 10 hours next thing you know he lost his job because of it.We have two young children together which he spends absolutely no time with at all.I have spent my birthday,valentines and our anniversery for the last 5 years by myself while he played wow.And just last year I found out he was writing love letters to a female charecter in his guild and to three other girls in different guilds.I was so mad I had a sledge hammer and was getting ready to smash the computer when my kids came home so I did not finish my mission.He spends no time with me or my children anymore.And I am not sure if I should stay with him anymore .
I quit WoW about a month ago.
I started playing on release. My 1 month long Xmax break took off in early December, so I was able to chug down a lot of play time within the first few weeks. But even though I spent a lot of time in the game, I didn’t really feel hooked to it. Most of my real life friends played the game as well, so I wasn’t neglecting them or anything.
So the first few months were quite enjoyable. I didn’t know many people in-game, and spent most of my time playing with my real life friends. It was fun. But, all good things come to an end, as they say. Most friends decided to quit the game. They had enough. Me, I didn’t quite had enough of this game. I decided to reroll(by myself), on another server. I rolled a Priest. That’s when things started to go downhill.
Months went by, and I really started to neglect my college studies(Although I still had enough self-discipline to finish assignments and pass all my classes), as well as real life friends. I would come up with excuses upon excuses to raid on friday nights instead of going out with them. For me, that felt like an ok thing to do. I enjoyed playing, and afterall, staying home was much easier than getting ready to go out. I developed a lot of good links with other players at that point. That got me to play even more. Now, the game that used seemed to innocent back then, was really starting to take over my life, and started to be THE place to socialize and spend most of my time doing.
I realized that the time I spent in the game wasn’t balanced at all with my real life, but like any other addiction, you still can’t stop. You need some sort of motivation to quit. It’s extremely hard to just get up one day, and say “That’s enough”. I tried. I tried on different occasions. I tried to quit, but I would only last a few weeks before rushing game to the game. I knew selling/deleting would help, but I ad developed such a bond with my character, that I could not get myself to to do either of those.
So I kept playing. I bought BC. Formed a new guild with some old friends, and kept raiding. Until one day, I had enough. I had been playing for about 2 years at that point, and I could not keep playing that way. It just didn’t make sense to spend all my time on the computer, at my age(early 20’s). I couldn’t get myself to quit completely, as I still knew WAY too many good friends that still play, but I called it quits on all PvE events. That brought down my play time by several hours, but most importantly, I could log on when I wanted to, and log off when I wanted to. PvP didn’t require nearly as much dedication as PvE did.
I kept playing the PvP game for about a year. As the months went by, most good friends left. Either they quit, or they joined other guilds to push their PvE game further. As the links got broken, I lost my motivation to play.
We all have our own “little addiction” I suppose. For me(and for many others Im sure), it’s the social aspect of the game. I loved playing with those guys I met over the years. I craved that attention to “be the best”. I would really really push my game as far as I could, and people loved that. Once the motivation was lost, then the game meant nothing to me anymore.
I really hold my hat up for those that are able to just quit over night. For me, it was a year long process and slowly diminishing my game play, and slowly breaking links with in-game friends, until the game represented nothing anymore for me.
I quit about 2 months ago now, and feel great about it. Even though I have barely logged on during the last few months of my subscription, I still feel good about not having WoW in my life anymore. It’s crazy how blind you become when you are addicted. It really hits you when you finally get rid of your addiction though. You realize how dumb you were. How many people you let down over the months. But, quitting feels good. I don’t think I’ll play an MMO ever again.
For all the wow addicts, the best way you can quite, is a way to quite ,that will ensure no matter how much you wnat to play again, you can,t there is two ways, first, when you have the courge, try to get banned by using a online hack, which can be easily downloaded, and when you get caught, you wont be able to ever play wow again, but if your to addicted, try a private server , it will show you how it feels to have the good gear, and all that you spent 100s of hours for, also, the reason this game is addicting, because you get trapped in the responsibility the others puts on you, the competition, but you gota wake up one day and say.. so what if i have all this gear, what does it really mean… is it worth it..
I call bullsh!t on all of these stories
If you want to Quite! :
Get banned
Or
Play Private Server
Or
Make your PC Weak, so it will be annoying to play
I have an intresting Addict story. I live with my grandparents. But I get to see my mom a lot. And i get to go to her house. It Used to be fun… Until my mom and stepdad discovered, World of Warcraft. Now when ever i go over there its an hour at diner and TV, then thats all i see of them. They have two accounts, and are constantly on! They forget diner and stay up till god knows when, Blasting the battle sounds, even on school nights. Also if I act pouty, my mom gets mad and says ” Im not here to entertain you” or ” I will be on for only 10 more minutes” Which ends up being like three hours, before she says that again, and does the same thing. I NEED HELP!
Listen, I don’t want to be insensitive to those living through a very difficult issue here, but…I think you’re all throwing around the word “addiction” too much. If you talked to the family of a crack or meth addict, and told them “I know what you’re going through. My husband plays video games!” You’d get a slap in the face.
My point is, yes, your problems must be difficult. But there are far, far greater tragedies in the world than your loved ones playing video games.
WoW hasn’t been out for 6 years. n00b
Directed at april by the way.
yeah april you couldnt have been married to a wow addict for 6 years it came out in november of 2004
have you kicked wow???
My roomie is so addicted she spends 12-16 hours everyday on it, she wont get a job, she wont eat or shower or anything. I am at my wits end what do i do?? Can you help? She is getting a divorce and doesnt even care at all….. She even has shown me wow weddings and the 1 or 2 hors a day that she is not on wow she talks about some guy she met on wow they even text on the phone and talk on the phone when thye are not on wow ….. HELP!!!!!
I think your final statement is really stupid.I play WoW and believe me I do have a life.I go out with my freinds every 2-3 days in the summerbreak,in school time I go out every weekend,my social life is fine.WoW is just something that keeps me occupied when i have nothing to do like from when i get up (3-4 pm) to when i go out
(10-11 pm) in the summerbreak.I enjoy playing it i never farmed for more then 20 minutes when i get bored off it I do something else,If i really get bored of it i quit for several weeks.Usually nerds get addicted to WoW who have nothing to do anyway so they at least communicate with people through games,but of course there are other people too and that’s really sad.
I have never played WoW before but I played a similar game called “RuneScape”. It’s basically the same concept and addiction factor as WoW. I began to play when I was about 11. I still remember the the very first night I played. One of my school friends told me about the game and I was bored on the computer and decided to try it. Big mistake. At that very moment years of my life were wasted. I gained an unhealthy amount of weight because I have always loved food but never sat down for such long periods of time.
The amount of time I spent on Runescape increased gradually. Soon enough, i played for about 6 hours per day. My parents set restrictions, though. They only allowed me to play for 2 hours per day. Whenever they left the house I would sneak on some play time. Runescape was all I thought about. It made me happy. On saturdays or sundays my parents had work so id play for about 12 or 13 hours.
The game made me feel so powerful. I was considered a very powerful player in the game and that made me keep on playing. There came a point in my playing career where I simply had all a player could desire. At that point I stopped playing. I was able to stop for 2 years. I am 14 now. I am a Fullback for my football team and Goalie for my lacrosse team. I have a ton of friends. I love life. My family owns 3 large resteraunts. I couldn’t ask for anything more in life now.
My main advice for addicts of any video MMORPG:
#1. Think about your future. Think about owning a really nice house with a huge backyard and barbequing on summer days. Think about owning a nice car that you love washing because of how nice it looks after. You won’t be able to have any nice things if you persist with your addiction.
#2. Think about the opposite sex. I know it may seem a strange suggestion. But do you think a girl will like an extremly overweight man with no muscle whatsoever? Probably not.
#3. For the younger people, join a sport. You may suck at first but sports will consume your time and you’ll gradually get better and better. Instead of admiring level 70’s you’ll be admiring people who’ve truly suceeded in life such as Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods.
#4. Remove your internet service. If you have a school project or something to do just go to your public library.
I hope my tips help some of you guys. It’s so great to be living life to it’s fullest.
Thanks for reading,
Mikey
How did I start WoW? We used to do weekends of LAN parties at a friend’s house. This faded away as few of them bought WoW (not TBC yet). I made a new characters using their accounts and found it really fun. Pretty soon, there was community of us 8-10 real life friends playing.
Did I get addicted? Yes i got addicted. I would sleep over and just live on a meal a day. I would go without showering/brushing for a week. I would sit all day to the point where my feet got swollen. I lost 20 pounds or more. I smoked more in front of the computer. Why was it appealing? I felt powerful ingame with the equipment and weapons. What do you feel when people respect/salute you because of the epics you have or treat you differently because of you’re in a the top few raid guilds? Sense of achievement in the virtual world. Friendship ingame differs from one player to another – some find satisfaction in raiding with friends and progressing together. I found satisfaction in being a significant role in the guild, even switching specs to suit raid encounters. Felt needed. Felt good.
What else contributed to this addiction? WoW was an escape for me from the frustrations/boredom in real life. I have no idea what to do as a girl who likes girls. Real life for me wasn’t interesting – I’m not into the drinking and pub scenes. So much to do in WoW, you can level another class and learn its mechanics, pimp it up with boe enchanted blues/epics, research for next best armor upgrade, find what’s the current best ingame armor piece, any better mod for raidframes/professions/cooldown displays. Studies went downhill. How bad? Many ppl say I am intelligent and if I would just put in the effort things would go very well academically. So from the usual 70-80%, I fell to failing subjects and barely passing the others or repeating them. Not sure if I’ll get my degree now.
Quoting Josh’s story 3rd from the top: “Kids today, my peers, have no work drive.. we aren’t given a reason to work for anything”. I honestly have no work drive, i.e. if I were given the money to survive I would play WoW (forever).
Been four years of WoW for me. So now TBC is near its end with WotLK Beta testing going on. Guilds are pushing to clear Sunwell to make some record before WotLK releases. Another expansion to keep the grind going, so what are you going to do?
Quoting the first reply comment above: “People play for a lot of reasons, but it boils down to gear. By getting the gear you want you’re beating the game. You have the best gear. You’ve won. You’ve seen all the shit so you quit.”
I am sick of the gear and grinds already. Are you ready to get gear IRL and start grinding IRL?
I played WoW for 3 years until I recently quit last month. I played with 5-6 RL friends, and tons of other online friends. There are probably a few thousand seriously addicted players on every wow server, and probably a million or more addicted players in the US alone. The only reason I quit was because my all my RL friends got banned, and they did not want to start over at level 1(level to 70, make new perfect 19/29 twinks). So, I ended up quitting myself. The addicted part of the game is the community aspect. (guilds, ventrilo, wow forums) Once you lose that, you realize the game is worthless, and unbeatable.
I realized my addiction right off the bat. After about 2 months of playing back when I was in 8th grade, I was addicted. (I am going to be a HS senior now). Before wow my grades were 100% A’s, and it pretty much stayed that way. My HS GPA is 3.9, my SAT score is 2050. I will be going to a really good college somewhere in the northeast in the next year, but it still doesn’t stop me. I still think about wow daily, and what it is like to play WSG with friends. It’s a great feeling, and it is easy to get addicted if your only close RL friends also play with you. Not to mention when you do something IRL with them; all the while talking about Wow, and what’s on the schedule for the upcoming afternoon/evening/near all nighter.
Although some people apparently find WoW addicting, I find it completely and utterly BORING. The endless grinding, the stupid quests. I just get 0 percent satisfaction from this game. I’m a 14 year old male, so I don’t know if age has to do with it. I bought WoW 2 months ago and have logged a total of 15 hours on it. The highest level I have achieved is level 16, when I finally got bored. Now I only play it when my friend comes over to humor his liking of the game, and also because he can only play it on my computer. I do have an addictive personality, every month I find something new to be addicted to, but I still find nothing addicting about WoW.
I read your post while looking for help from other parents on how to help my sons addiction to WOW. I just had to write you. It broke my heart to read what you dealing with. Parents can sometimes let us down. I’m sure it is their addiction. Please try to get back in school. I don’t even really know what to say but I just had to write you so that you would know that someone is thinking about you and praying for you. Stay strong.
I wrote this while thinking about my husband, who I feel I lost over the past year gradually to WoW. I hope maybe it can help some people who are addicted see the perspective from the ones who love you and are watching you disappear.
“Living in a Box”
The colors reflect off your eyes
For a moment they dazzle me
almost as much as they dazzle you.
But the spell doesn’t last
The reality is too tangible for me,
To painful to watch.
My gaze breaks as I focus on the real…,
…the true…reality
Here there is some joy but it doesn’t last,
not like in your world.
Pleasure is just a passing emotion to experience,
Along with the others flittering, outside the box.
You’re happy but numb and don’t even know it
I pinch you from my side but you don’t even flinch
You just sit there, grinning inside your world. Your Matrix.
I try screaming but you don’t hear.
We’re dying but you can’t see. Or won’t.
Somehow you glimpse this way and there’s hope.
You aren’t fully gone.
Staring at me I can see traces of who you were through your red & glossy eyes.
I hold my breath
We’re paused in the moment
I’m afraid to move or speak
Will you choose to come back to us again?
Lisa – our son admits he was addicted to the game; practically failed 9th grade. we deleted the game, stopped paying the account and took away his laptop. It is the only way to stop the immediate problem, and now we are working on the longer term issues. I encourage you to take this very seriously.
jesus the article above this sounds just like my situation but it hasnt been deleted but im failing geometry and loose laptop privlages on weekdays quit for 7 months (xbox live and friend who quit also) but near june i was craving it was thinking of secret ways to get it back now its august and paly pretty much enitre weekends. only reason i was back on wow cuz my school is a clique and they are all losers. got back in july and lvled beastly plz hlp me
secretstryk
shadowmoon
meathook
Well I don’t play WOW and never plan to start. In high school I met this boy who was really cute, but a little shy. When you first meet him you think of a typical Ambercrombi model, but he is anything but. We started dating and have been together for 6 years married for 2. When we first started dating we didn’t really discuss our interest I always asumed his was baseball since that is what he played and mine was socializing. I never imagined that his entire family was into D&D and online role playing games. I didn’t even know all of this existed until about 6 months into the relationship he starts to explain his family and their interests. I thought it was strange but who am I to judge people for what they do for fun. My husband never played those games when we first started dating he was too busy with school and sports, but he started to talk how he missed it. I tried to be the supportive g/f who tried to play with him while of course laughing about it with my friends. It didn’t work. I hate those games. To this day I don’t understand the point of a game that never truly ends. After trying the game I told him it wasn’t for me, and I questioned him and myself if we were just too different to work out. Again he become busy with life and couldn’t play anymore. While in college we both worked basically full time and took on 19+ credit hours at school. Again he had no time for the game. We have both since graduated college me this past December him this past May. Since then he has had trouble finding a job. He has a part time job where he works as many hours as he can a week, but often that leaves him with lots of free time. He has started playing WOW when he is not working and I am not at home. I guess I should be thankful he doesn’t play when I am home since most of these stories are even worse than mine, but it is only because I will not let it into our house. You see I believe my husband is becoming addicted the moment he wakes up until the moment I get home he is at his parents house playing the game. No house work is done no job searching is being done unless I nag and nag and nag….I am not someones mom and this is not what i signed up for. My biggest fear is that he is turning into his father. Since I have been with my husband his father has been unemployed. There is no reason for it other than he can’t keep a job. At first he pretended to look for a job, but for the past 4 1/2 years he has just stop making excuses. This man sits at home all day playing WOW. He doesn’t help his wife with the house since he is living off her earnings, he doesn’t better him self physically since he is well past fat…he just plays WOW. When he isn’t playing WOW he is talking about WOW. At family functions he likes to bring up WOW and compare life stories to WOW. I am afraid if my husband doesn’t stop playing WOW or doesn’t find a job soon he is going to become his father. My husband is a great guy who would do anything I ask and has proved to be driven so far, but I have asked him to stop playing because of what I am afraid of and he refuses!!! Should I give up now or hold off only to be proven right with my fears later on?
Hey there. I’m your average…well, not so average 16 year old gamer. I sit on my ass all day in front of the computer, or the Xbox 360 and play games all day. Lately, though, I’ve been spending WAY too much time on a certain game: World of Warcraft. This game is like crack for me…not that I’ve ever done crack…stop staring at me like that. But it is extremely addicting. I don’t hang out with my family anymore, and the time I spend with my only 3 friends is in the damn game. But if you hear why I picked up the game, you might understand why I got so easily addicted: There’s nothing to do around where I live. I live in Western New York. In a small nameless, non important town. Nothing ever happens around here. All the good places to go are gone. We had an arcade, but it closed cause parents were complaining that it was addicting their kids. We had a bookstore, but it closed down when the mall got closed. The only place I ever go anymore is a game shop. I’ve done everything in my town, and so have my friends. So we started playing World of Warcraft. We all got addicted, and we just keep playing, cause there’s nothing to do. I don’t see it as bad, not from my perspective, that of a 16 year old gamer. I’m not going to say anything like “I’m addicted to WoW, but I can stop whenever I want to” because I am addicted to World of Warcraft, and there’s nothing wrong with it! You shouldn’t be ashamed if you are addicted to it! It’s a fun game, and those who are in a relationship with someone who is addicted, just deal with it. Eventually, they will see all there is to see in Warcraft, and they’ll move on. So that’s my story, one of a person who isn’t ashamed or sad to be addicted to WoW, because I have nothing better to do. The End.
well these stories are amazing.
but for me i have a vacation for three days from work which i spend playing WoW 18/24 a day.
but at the end of the third day (today 3AM) i just pressed (shift + delete).
i know that i can get addicted easily but i also now that i can stop it whenever i want.
I am sorry so many people lose control. Moderation is so so important in every aspect of our lives…
if you let yourself get addicted to the game thats your own fault i play the game and always have time for friends/girlfriend IRL always comes first if your stupied to realize this , thats your problam not blizzards.
My husband and i played the game together for almost 2 years. We enjoyed playing it together, and were in a serious raiding guild. Our friend got us into it and wanted us to play with him so bad that he bought our computers, the game and the subscription. We were hooked. We were newlyweds with little responsibility, so we were able to get away with playing a lot. I am now pregnant and as soon as we found that out, we quit. Im so grateful that we were able to do that, because we were very addicted to that game. As for our friend, he had lost his job as an electrician for 12 years, been evicted from 2 apartments and about to be evicted from his third. His electric went out, and so he got an extension cord to connect his computer to an outside outlet (instead of the fridge which had $200 worth of food he’s just bought). He ended up moving back in with his parents, at the age of 28, got another job, which he lost, and has now been jobless for 3 months which is why he’s gonna be evicted again. All he does is play. He’s ruined his life, and burned a lot of bridges with friends and family. I can understand his addiction, cause we were there, but he’s taken it to a whole new level. We and his family want to do something about it, but what can we do if he doesnt want to change anything. It’s crazy.
I was addicted.
I was playing from the moment i was getting home from work in the evening (eating on the keyboard) to 2-4am.
On weekends it was a full day of playing.
I was no more answering at my friends calling me on the phone.
The game was everywhere in my mind, i was planning equip upgrades (doing the math on each piece of purple) for the raids we where in; reading boss tactics; searching for patch notes to look at upgrades, talents changes, new stuffs to grind.
1 year ago i got some not serious but annoying healt problem that forced me to stay away from the game for 1 month (the problem was related to being always on the pc and eating crap every day).
After i restarted to play as always.
6 months later, the same healt problem return and i’m another month at home, not being able to play and move out from home.
Thanks god this time something moved in my brain, and also being forced to not play, i realized my mind was getting light, no more stress to search or think at the game stuffs.
After i restarted going out with friends, eating decent food, hugging real girls and i got a great summer.
I started doing something i’ve never done: i’m planning and working to improve the quality of my real life.
You can have dreams and use fantasy in real life too, do you know?
Pick your dreams and work for them, you may carry some of them for your entire life, but every step you make to get close is more rewarding than a couple of levels or an epic drop.
ok casey that fat 13 year old girl, thats a bunch of BS and second of all, all these stories kinda have a problem from the very start. Y R THERE SO MANY ADULTS PLAYING THIS MOTHER******* GAME!?!?!? you guys should have jobs and not even start playing games, go have sex with your wife/girlfriend at night, not raid kara for badges. you guys SHOULD be mature enough to not even want to play a stupid game. and for all the kids who drop out of school for WoW, wat the hell is wrong with you, wat the hell r u guys thinkin when you guys r 18 and ur parents kick you out!?!? r u fuks gonna go get minimun wadge jobs that barely for the monthly wow fee!?!? you guys r pathetic! Your only young and you addicted kids want to do is lock yourselves in a room with wow!? I play wow but with moderation and i have a g/f and tons of friends and play football. and another thing ive noticed is that most people that play, their lives r usually fuked up from childhood. Like this person in my guild, his name is heterac and he said his parents are divorced and he lives with his mom who is usually drunk and goes in his room at night and picks fights with him. But on wow he is a T6 badass balance druid that everyone loves, so i do get y people play but c’mon?! another friend of WoW, she is 23. She dropped out of school in 8th grade! she got married to her husband who also plays, but she doesn’t have a job and he owns a car dealership in toranto canada. She plays non-stop and he only plays on weekends or like 1 hour a week. So he is goin through wat the many men that r goin through the “girl addicted and neglecting him” But basically adults need to do something other than play, like get a job. and kids need to “live” there childhood, not be in a dark room with wow. GO GET LAID!!!
Bendovver, Relm: Cenarius
56 Gnome Rouge
MY GOSH,i never knew that i’m addicted to wow until i read your comments..I never knew how much time i’ve wasted just to be online and drift away in the realm..Never knew that i’m going to lose out on better things that can be done in this world.Thank God that i’ve read about this while searching for wow articles and know how life threatening this could be.
‘m in serious trouble, i can play wow from morning till night =\ and never even touch my text books for weeks…Btw,i’m a 18 year old second year university student and i’ve failed in one of my subjects because of WOW.I play because i’m not happy with certain things and playing games gives me happiness and because i’m quite good at it.The thrill of battle grounds, raiding, getting purple gears for ur characters.Those virtual activites totally suck up my time that i woulnd’t even care to answer phonecalls from friends and family…I would even stay up late until 5 am and sleep till the next afternoon, skipping lunch, breakfast and the whole day of class..i’ve not studied since the day i played the game..i’m gaining weight although i eat a meal a day..Now after reading this article, i realise how stupid i am and this whole crap is not worth my time,energy and worry. it’s a stupid game, u can’t even finish it.and even worst, it’ll ruin my life…NOw i’m going to quit wow..delete my character..delete wow from my pc… i choose to be wise and not repeat the mistakes that the others did or experience the same consequences as them.i want to be free from this addiction..pls pray for me.
WoW, lol WoW, I play from 7:30-12 every sunday-thursday, a 4-day raid schedule. You may call me addicted, but the opposite is probably more true. Here’s the low-down on my life: My junior year in high school, I had 3 AP classes, 4 other normal classes(that’s right, 7 hours), a girlfriend, sports from 3-6:30 and WoW. Come my senior year my girlfriend moved to another state and we decided we couldn’t work that way. So you know what I did? I got 2 additional AP classes. So I was sitting on 5 AP’s, that 7th hour, a blank 6th hour because there is literally nothing left to do at school so I just got stuck in a random class that doesn’t even pertain to my education, sports from 3-6:30, and WoW. That same year I became valedictorian in which I made a stunningly short speech about how school was all work-ethic/memerization and that it was no big deal(this made many people, especially administrators, rage). My theory behind “addiction”, is that people that actually do get addicted, were essentially addicted by destiny(nto a believer, just the best way to describe it) in order to be removed from the gene pool. Those that CAN become addicted, get their just rewards. Another part of my theory is that most people that get addicted probably have about average IQ, and therefore don’t have the mental capacity to not suck at life and still play WoW. This reminds me, I hate the world due to the lack of intelligent people that I should be surrounded by; It sucks being dulled down by our “education system”. Lastly, this is why I write a letter to my congressman every month to tell him to somehow make known the problem of exceptionally smart children that can’t meet their potential in normal public schools, and how I hate the wording of the “No Child Left Behind Act” with its’ deceptive ambiguities that don’t provide for the advancement of said exceptionally fmart children. RAAAAGGEEEE.
Digressing rant is digressing.
Take my 5 hours+ a day of WoW and let me know what you think.
Man I am so glad that I’m not addicted to WoW, i’m actually relieved that playing wow for more than an hour gets me bored. Who’d have thunk it.
I also think that Blizzard should take action about this, I think they’re not the least bit ignorant about the fact that lives are being ruined by their apparently successful game. Something like a petition system, such as a system where if Blizzard gets a certain number of signatures/endorsements from family/friends of a player to remove a WoW player’s account, Blizzard would go right ahead and do it. I’m sure they can afford to lose that $15 bucks a month, what with the 10 million+ subscriptions they already have. I just wish they could acknowledge the fact that World of Warcraft is joining the ranks of narcotics as an addiction that can ruin a person’s entire life. Sure they put a subtle warning in the loading screen about health risks due to prolonged gameplay (which doesn’t even appear all that often), but that honestly doesn’t really convince anyone. DO SOMETHING ALREADY, BLIZZARD!
I am me, a 27 year old guy, not the char I used to play on WoW.
People should start saying they “have” a “insert char class + lvl here”,
instead of they “are” that. Anyways…
“My girlfriend started jogging, she loves the thrill and rush she’s getting from it.
She also loves the fresh air and sunshine. I think she’s addicted. Every time I try to play WoW and ask her to stay home, maybe watch me play or just touch me now and then, she goes “oh not now honey, gotta go out…”. What should I do ?
I tried to delete her running shoes, but there are so many evil companies that keep making them for her, like Nike, Adidas and Puma…
should I sue them for ruining my life ?”
Okay I think you all got the joke.
Anything can get anyone to engage in some activity so much,
that it may be concidered as an addiction. Everyone enjoys something, in my opinion there are no addictions, there are only problems,ie:
-I don’t care how much you gamble. If you loose all your money, your life quality suffers, then you got a problem.
-I don’t care how much you drink. If your liver fails, or you kill someone while being totally shitfaced and in rage, then you got a problem.
-I don’t care how much time you use on WoW. If your life quality, relationships, career, education or whatnot suffers too much due to it, then you got a problem.
You get the point.
Here’s my personal story and opinion about WoW.
I started 9 months ago the very first time.
Took a human paladin.
The beginning was amazing,
I loved it; the medieval theme, lots of people, the environment, everything.
Especially stuff like abandoned caves with spiders etc. Epic classic roleplaying stuff…
Well, then I started to see some lvl 70’s with some crazy ass colorful shining bling bling armor and other ridiculous looking comic bullshit. I tried to avoid them. Lvl 1-25 was what I enjoyed the most. Elwynn forest, lakeshire, westfall, the snowy dwarf lands… I thought the whole game is going to be like that, only with better items the further you get.
After 30 I couldn’t keep up with my BS skills, my gear was bad, all my gold used on BS, items that sucked. The only useful stuff was in the AH, which I could never afford. That’s when I started to see how gear based the whole game was. And not just by stats, but by looks. AH sold useless non combat pets for xxx gold. Just for the looks…?
Holy fucking shit. You do know what that means, don’t you? If the cosmetic aspects of items are greater than the properties themselves, the actual game has some huge gaps they are trying to fill out with this kinda compensating action.
If it wasn’t so, every shop would sell dye or shiny glitter to make your char/gear look exactly how you want, in a pure cosmetic mean. But instead, these things are the most rare, most expensive things in WoW.
So I say, with the voice of Lewis Black:
“…so this is… erbble erbble… fucking BULLSHIT!”
To make the rest short:
Around 30 I visited gnomeregan the first time. Almost wanted to quit WoW right away: Comic style laser mechanic hybrid tech laser neon light robot- what the fucking hell is this shit??? This is supposed to be a epic fantasy medieval realm… get these machines the fuck out of here! They are killing the atmosphere!
I quit and started again every 2 months, during which I had tried pretty much every class and char a bit, best being a dwarf hunter 57.
I started again 1 month ago. Rushed a night elf hunter to lvl 60 in these 3 weeks, bought TBC, visited shattrah for the first time in my life, and fucking hated it. I hate the trippy spirit light beings, draeneis with their russian accent, blood elves and TBC in total with it’s overload on pop cultur references.
Haris Pilton being the worst, THE WORST.
Who fucked up at Blizzard and why ?
Or was it all ment to go like this ?
WoW, in a way which I thought it existed when I started it, was actually nothing more than a moist, delicious, chocolate cake with icing.
WoW is dead, and the cake is a fucking lie.
Long live TBC, the Lich King, and never ending no life meaningless raids and grinds for better purpl epiczzzzzzz……………!!!!!!!11111111
The sun is shining, no clouds. I think I’m going out for a walk
I think addiction is something that is diffrent with each person.
Some people are more sensitive to addiction then others. I play wow, surf and skateboard alot with my friends, and my marks are good. I experience wow as a remedie for boreness.
I played RuneScape for about two years, I was addicted to it. Playing as soon as I got home from school until about 2am each day. I eventually died, lost all of my precious items and got myself permanently muted. From there it was easy to quit. I then discovered World of Warcraft, and I’m addicted to it more than I was addicted to RuneScape. During my first month I hit level 41 warrior. If I didn’t have to go to school, I’d play around 18 hours per day. I’m starting to fail in school and I’m only 13. Yes, I am currently still playing WoW.
It’s not just WoW that’s addictive… I’d say that all MMORPG’s are, and that in general they are the most addictive types of games.
YES THEY ARE DUDE, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOUR GETTING INTO BY PLAYING THIS GAME DO NOT PLAY! In case you have for more than a week straight without stopping day and night OR A MONTH OR A YEAR if you are you ARE an ADDICT FOREVER if you have not stopped to even get a snack…
I’ve never played WoW but I just spent all night reading these sob stories. That’s right, I’m addicted to reading about WoW addicts! I also learned to NEVER EVER pull the plug whilst a WoW addict is raiding (whatever that is) because he/she will respond with real life violence. Good to know!
After reading this I realise I am quite addicted.
I am quite like a few people on here and I am only 13.
I rush my tea as fast as I can to quickly start playing again.
I Never go outside just get home from school and play till bed.
Ive tried to quit WoW. But Everytime I just start again.
LOL My name is Damien and i have a problem lol Im addicted to wow ahahaha Sry its ur choice to be addicted, its called will power. If you cant get off ur ass and say no to a video game over real life and ur gf well ur fucked and u need special help. Like i mean i played prolly 75 hours of wow in past 7 days but i have the power to say no when my gf is around and such. So get ur priorities straight and learn control lol As for u teenage kids who cares enjoy ur teenage years get all the gaming in while u can and if ur 70 come run me through Kara or Strat lol And for all the wives and gf out there, if u wanna get ur sig others attention believe me through on a skirt or nothing at all and if that dont get them well there either gay or fucked up and dont deserve u, i know it works for me
. Anyways im out take care and see u in azeroth 