Recovering WoW Addict- give me that push!

[redarmy27]

My name is Jake and I\'m a recovering World of Warcraft addict.

WoW has well over 8 million players. While the idea of playing the game seems incredibly dumb, it\'s extremely addicting. At this moment, I\'m looking at dropping the game for good. While half of my mind yells at me to drop the game like it\'s a bowl of hot soup, the other half wants to jump back on and raid.

How am I addicted to sitting infront of a pc clicking a mouse for hours on end is odd enough to me.

I\'m looking at quitting so I can get back to my models and back to paintball! Anyone else recovering from this addicting game??Should I just drop the game or even get rid of my account?

Encouragement is greatly appreciated!

 

[wiccanpony]

I play WOW myself....but only a couple of hours a week, busy with real life.

My suggestion would be to shelf the game for 6 months and get back to other hobbies, paint ball is excellent, all that fresh air and running around, good for the body & soul.
After the cooling off period, rethink if you really want to go back to WOW.

 

[mrrocknroll]

My names Nicholas and I too was a Wow addict, like you and the 8 million other people I allowed the game to take over my time and because of it I lost someone I cared deeply for. So I shall tell you how I came to get out of a game that consumed 2 1/2 years of my life.
Simply say good bye to your friends, give them everything your character has on him(s) or her(s) (you can leave them in their armour with their weapons like I did if you choose) like pots / money etc. Then log out in an area of your choosing, I choose southshore on a sun set after noon. Log out, Cancel your account, uninstall the CD\'s then take the 4 install disks downstairs to a large open area. Grab the biggest badest hammer and smash them to the smallest tiniest pieces and say these exact lines \"You\'ve been totally pwned\".

I should say that I really truly miss a lot of the people I met in the game, I even traveled acorss Europe to met some these people and in turn had them come to visit me. But since I was seen as a \"end game gamer\" meaning I was on that game ever night for hours and hours I had to get out the only way I could see, i.e cancel the account and destroy the disks, you may prefer not to, I know others that have slowed down their game time from 100 hours a week to 2 hours a week and left that way. But its down to you really its kinda like smoking (I am not and never have been one them) where people choose to stop all together or slow down the amount they use.

I can\'t see my self getting back in to the game now and I\'ve been clean for over 8 months something my self and my friends are happy about. But I do miss the game a little, but it\'s now gone and dusted for me.

 

[THEKAPPTIN]

My reason for quitting (after playing about 1 month) was all the walking. If I\'m gonna be walking for a couple hours every day, I\'d damn well better be getting some exercise. WoW just can\'t offer me that.

I don\'t think any game deserves that much of your attention. If you want video games, buy a Wii. That is good old-fashioned fun, and it doesn\'t expect any \"commitment\".

Also, dude, paintball is way cooler than WarCraft. Imagine instead of playing a 40-man dungeon raid, you play a 40-man paintball match. Yeah. Awesome.

 

[Naukhel]

Just stop.
I used to play Everquest. I got sick of it.
I gave my account to a friend, so her kids could play.
And if that isn\'t enough, watch the South Park episode that features WoW.
If that isn\'t inspiration to quit, nothing is.

 

[mrrocknroll]

Originally posted by THEKAPPTIN
My reason for quitting (after playing about 1 month) was all the walking. If I\'m gonna be walking for a couple hours every day, I\'d damn well better be getting some exercise. WoW just can\'t offer me that.

It\'s funny you speak about that, I am totally sure that when I use to play I put on weight, was 11 stone 5 ounces at 20 when I started the game and when I left was 12 stone 3 ounces. I\'m 11.8 now and have taken up a lot of sporting activities.

 

[veggiemanuk]

My name is Rob and I have been addicted to gaming now for 26 years.

Counter Strike was my first real Addictive game with \'just one more go\' turning into another 4 hours or more of playing time. Two years of mostly plaing CS and then a 6 month break and then back into it again on and off for another 12 months. Then savage came along and another 18 months went by in a flash. Counter Strike Source came along and ate another 12 months on and off followed by 12 months solid play of City of Villains/Heroes and then 12 months of WoW. A short break followed over christmas and then 1 months gaming of both CoH/CoV & WoW. Not used the PC for much since then.

My biggest test will be to see if I can regulate my Warhammer Online gaming to an acceptable level

There is one thing to be said about subscription games that are so addictive, \'Cheap\'. before playing CoV/CoH my monthly expenditure for gaming would sometimes reach £90 or more but with CoV/CoH & WoW it was just £8.99.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

One addiction at a time is the way to go.

Try to choose the one that\'s least expensive. For me, that\'s miniatures. Since I have vast numbers of them, and only actually paid for a few (thanks to many generous friends), my main investment has been in paints and brushes.

 

[Queenoftheunifrogs]

i have always refused to start playing WoW, ive seen it destroy people.
theres a man in the town where i live who is so addicted to it that his wife left him and he lost his job. all he does is sit living off dole money and playing WoW, barely ever leaves his flat.
i didnt want to turn into that so im not even letting myself try a demo...i get far too addicted to games

 

[Shawn R. L.]

That addiction is one of the reasons I dont have a net hookup on my own PC. For me, it was Battlefield Vietnam and Battlefield 2142................\'hi, my name\'s Shawn\' - \'Hi Shawn\'!.............

 

[Thunderhawker]

I ditched WoW and COH cold turkey. The whole \"pay for play\" bothered me, though it went on for years. Most of my online buds moved onto other games and I tried to hang on. After awhile, I decided I needed some more \"real\" social interaction and tabletop gaming seemed the fix. It meets my artistic/creative needs, gaming needs, social needs, and is just a hoot (esp. if you are an ork player like me). This community of CMONers has been great a making me a better painter, and they are in general a great group of folks and I suggest if you insist on sitting in front of a computer screen all day, spend it here and other mini sites. Its a means to an end. Minis provide a tangible result of your work long after you stop playing. When WoW goes away, where will your character go?

 

[redarmy27]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

My buddy, who quite WoW last year to focus on minis and tabletop gaming, wants to get me into Warhammer since I paint the minis already. I think it\'d be a lot of fun because of the social aspect of the game and the competition.

I just need to find an army I like to play and to paint!

The account is ending tonight; wish me luck.

 

[ujio]

Hey I know how you feel, I always loved warhammer and the painting aspect of the hobby, then 2 years ago I was introduced to wow and everything else stopped.

I was an end-game hardcore raider and i spent every night on it. I tried to \"reduce\" my game time but it didnt work, u can\'t reduce it and try to play hardcore. The only thing that worked for me was to log off one night, not say a thing to my fellow guildmates and quickly uninstall the game followed by destroying the discs.

Its worked wonders so far, even if i want to play i cant, i dont have it to play. And its been great, back to training and back to painting. Theres so much more time in a day and i love it.

.........but as soon a WAR comes, I\'m screwed. I know it, my friends know it, my girlfriend knows it. Ah well, guess I\'ll just have to life my life to the full until then lol.

 

[Gilvan Blight]

I\'ve been playing MMOs since they existed, and never had a problem with addiction. I started with the first real MMO, Neverwinter Nights on AOL, but before that it was MUDs MUSHES and MOOS, and before that it was multiplayer doors on BBS\'s. I even played MMOs on a Commodore 64.

I\'ve never quite understood how some people get so sucked in. I currently have accounts in WoW, City of Villains, Tabula Rasa, Guild Wars and I just installed Lord of the Rings Online and got invited to the Conan Beta. I manage to find time for all of these games, and none of them consume me for so much time that the rest of my life suffers for it. I\'ll admit I don\'t have TV in my house (that\'s right no cable, no satellite, no UHF), in our place instead of watching stuff we play games, but I find that a better way to spend my evenings rather then watching American Survivor\'s Anatomy or whatever is hot now.

The best suggestion for anyone spending too much time doing anything is give it up for a Month, or even better 3. During that time try to find other things to do, embrace a new hobby, or pick up an old one (perfect for most people here). Then after 3 months if you still \'crave\' your game, then go back. It worked for me for TV, and it\'s worked for a friend who spent a bit too much time on Guild Wars.

Edit: oh and it\'s now over 10 Million people playing WoW, so you are not alone.

 

[redarmy27]

Well I just cancelled my account. I\'m feeling pretty good about it. I think I may pick up a model tonight and start painting it. I\'m also thinking about starting blog for people going through the same thing.

I\'m looking forward to more \"me\" time.

Well, here\'s to day 1!

 

[MPJ]

Just cancelled my WoW account for the second time... Err, third time. Take my advice, take a break. Cancel your account and don\'t worry, they save everything so if you want to go back to it at a later date all your stuff will be there (but make sure to empty your mail boxes cause that stuff won\'t be there). This time I\'ll likely stay away \'till the new expansion comes out then I\'ll go back for a bit.

It\'s that easy. :drunk:

 

[False Keraptis]

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

\"You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday\'s paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but in conversations with those he cares nothing about on subjects that bore him. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and out-going activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at least he may say, as one of my own patients said on his arrival down here, \'I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked\' The Christians describe the Enemy as one \'without whom Nothing is strong\' And Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man\'s best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them, in drumming of fingers and kicking of heels, in whistling tunes that he does not like, or in the long, dim labyrinth of reveries that have not even lust or ambition to give them a relish, but which, once chance association has started them, the creature is too weak and fuddled to shake off.\"

The context, if you\'re not familiar with the book, is one demon advising another in how to corrupt people\'s souls. Now I\'m not religious, and I don\'t play WOW, but sloth is my greatest weakness, and many of my closest friends are certifiable WOW addicts. I\'ve read this passage to them before, and they tell me it just about sums things up.

 

[False Keraptis]

I almost forgot, congrats to everyone who has quit; you\'ve made an excellent decision! I don\'t believe in the Devil, but it\'s a fact that he created WOW as a scourge and a trap for mankind.

 

[Einion]

Condolences dude.

Originally posted by redarmy27
Encouragement is greatly appreciated!

Drop that bitch like it\'s a hot potato!

Originally posted by redarmy27
How am I addicted to sitting infront of a pc clicking a mouse for hours on end is odd enough to me.

Depends on what you\'re doing doesn\'t it? After all, that\'s kinda what we do to access CMON.

But even in a gaming context there are many many things far less nefarious than WOW, even if they involve online play.

Einion

 

[veggiemanuk]

Originally posted by Gilvan Blight
I\'ve been playing MMOs since they existed, and never had a problem with addiction. I started with the first real MMO, Neverwinter Nights on AOL,

So Ultima Online, the Grandfather of MMORPG\'s slipped you mind then?