Defining WoW addiction

[tinyrick]

Hey guys,
I was recently curious about WoW addiction and what people in our community think of it. So, I asked a couple of questions on this forum and got an idea of what gamers had to say about addiction in WoW. The first thing that I discovered was that many people who spend a lot of time playing WoW don’t think it is an addiction. People play WoW for a variety of reasons, some for achievement and others for an escape of reality. Additionally, many players, like myself were addicted up until cata but after that many people including myself took a long break or quit forever. A bunch of people said that WoW had a variety of effects on their outside lives both positively and negatively. WoW addiction, like every other kind of addiction is a difficult concept to explain. Many users said that WoW addiction is the same as every other addiction- if you have to play WoW and cant stop you might be addicted. Additionally, if WoW is making you ignore your responsibilities and skip social events, you are likely addicted to WoW.
Tiny rick out.

[Gum]

But wow is a social event? :thinking:
Now go put your late teen/early twenty mentality up your ass, i hear thats what you kids enjoy today anyway.

[Lightbull]

This video sums up addiction in general pretty well. WoW isn't a separate case from drugs.

[TheWindWalker]

You're not really wrong about anything but your post is basically creating a new topic to blog out a thought block. That is to say, there's really nothing to discuss here.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Habits actually consist of three parts:

• Trigger
• Activity
• Reward

The triggers are all those moments in our day we come to associate with logging into WoW: waking up, morning coffee, getting home from work, raid time, an invasion is up, flipping table missions... The frequency varies with the player and time available for gaming, but anyone playing enough to be thought of as an addict has made these mental associations.

The activity is the game.

Rewards include social interaction, a sense of power and progression that may be lacking in real life ("I may not have even applied for a new job/promotion this week, but I topped the meters in my tryout for that raid team!"), and freedom from some of the concerns that haunt us in the outside world.

WoW is certainly habit forming, but is it an addiction? We can quit any time, right? Seriously, I would suggest drawing the line where the game significantly interferes with real life priorities like family, friends, and livelihood. My other biggest concern with WoW is the sedentary lifestyle. WoW players complain about making their cartoons run; how many of them get out for a run themselves?

[Heeresman]

there's really nothing to discuss here.

Like so many threads

[Detheavn]

Like so many threads

And so many comments...

Mine included.

[Vaelorian]

You're not really wrong about anything but your post is basically creating a new topic to blog out a thought block. That is to say, there's really nothing to discuss here.

Well the discussion you will get is people who say it is not an addiction vs people who claim it is.
You will encounter extremes such as: Wow isn't anything like a heroin addiction. And you have people who claim it is or close to a drug addiction.

And then you have me who will say that this was not an addiction perse but an obsession.
I have trouble sorting the two out. I thought about WoW every breath I took basically. When awake, I would think about the game and my guild or play. When I was asleep I dreamed about it.
When I went out of the cinema with some friends... (who at the time also played wow) I looked for my hearthstone to port home after the credits. Actually frantically checked my pockets as if I lost my phone, because I could not find it. Then realising ofcourse that I had to take the bus.

I played for about 400 days when WOTLK ended (on my main). After that I stopped checking how much I had played per expansion.

When I could not play WoW, I would think about it as said... but the longer I was away from it.. the more restless I got. This feeling subsided after killing The Lich King on normal 25 man mode. My goal was completed at the time. And from then on I felt less inclined to log on. Weird thing was.. while I wasn't that interested to log on... my "mode" became more hardcore. I played less during the day but managed my guild even more. I raided at a much higher level. Then after Firelands... I was done. Just done. And now I am on and off. Still think about WoW... but just far less. And restless... well rarely.

[Deleted]

[willemh]

Having played WoW a LOT myself I wouldn't call it an addiction. Here's why:
I've played wow very hardcore for about 8 years. Got about 700 days played. However as a grew up, got a job and my own house I simply 'grew out of it'. I just simply started feeling that the effort and time I was putting into the game wasn't worth it anymore. At the moment I play a few hours a week and sometimes have gaps of multiple weeks or even months where I dont even login.

When you can make a logic decision like that "Is the time you put in worth the rewards?" Then I really feel you arn't addicted. Being addicted means you can no longer make logic decisions like this.

So to me it felt like a way to spend the shittons of spare time you have as a student in a way that I believed was fun. And looking back I dont regret a single minute of it.

[Lochton]

Hey guys,
I was recently curious about WoW addiction and what people in our community think of it. So, I asked a couple of questions on this forum and got an idea of what gamers had to say about addiction in WoW. The first thing that I discovered was that many people who spend a lot of time playing WoW don’t think it is an addiction. People play WoW for a variety of reasons, some for achievement and others for an escape of reality. Additionally, many players, like myself were addicted up until cata but after that many people including myself took a long break or quit forever. A bunch of people said that WoW had a variety of effects on their outside lives both positively and negatively. WoW addiction, like every other kind of addiction is a difficult concept to explain. Many users said that WoW addiction is the same as every other addiction- if you have to play WoW and cant stop you might be addicted. Additionally, if WoW is making you ignore your responsibilities and skip social events, you are likely addicted to WoW.
Tiny rick out.

Never seen it as an addiction, been able to take a break when needed but it is my hobby after all, my chosen entertainment.

I consider people close to, or already addicted, when they believe that just because something is in the game, they HAVE to do that too. Good example is the legendary whining.

[DesMephisto]

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Habits actually consist of three parts:

• Trigger
• Activity
• Reward

The triggers are all those moments in our day we come to associate with logging into WoW: waking up, morning coffee, getting home from work, raid time, an invasion is up, flipping table missions... The frequency varies with the player and time available for gaming, but anyone playing enough to be thought of as an addict has made these mental associations.

The activity is the game.

Rewards include social interaction, a sense of power and progression that may be lacking in real life ("I may not have even applied for a new job/promotion this week, but I topped the meters in my tryout for that raid team!"), and freedom from some of the concerns that haunt us in the outside world.

WoW is certainly habit forming, but is it an addiction? We can quit any time, right? Seriously, I would suggest drawing the line where the game significantly interferes with real life priorities like family, friends, and livelihood. My other biggest concern with WoW is the sedentary lifestyle. WoW players complain about making their cartoons run; how many of them get out for a run themselves?

A lot of people use drugs to fill their time, I feel wow is the same.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

You're not really wrong about anything but your post is basically creating a new topic to blog out a thought block. That is to say, there's really nothing to discuss here.

Like so many threads

And so many comments...

Mine included.

Well in fairness, it is a fan site about a video game.
Is there ever anything being discussed that's really all that important?
It's a way to amuse ourselves talking about a way to amuse ourselves.
Never more to it than that.

[Farrarie]

thinks that wow is another life
it was on a time when there was not so many game similar to wow
but now its rare to find people addicted to wow or any other mmo like playing it more than a year or 2
even now people play single player or shooter game more because it cast less of your time
what most important of wow is that people who grown with it character from Warcraft 2 and 3 and get hint on other characters like Sargeras see them in an open 3d world mmo rpg like morrowind theme
like rexar arthas jaina sylvanas Kil'jaeden archimonde Kelthuzad thrall and illidan etc and specialy when we had free time to use it in wow to roleplay to do story to quest was really another life I even learnd my bad English language in the game XD
in that time had been thinking when we gonna see the big bad sargeras and fight him kill him in a raid in planet hell of wow and get his SWORD but before I must get frostmourn in one hand and azzinoth in the other
it was imagination game but now sargeras and titan are big as a planets I was like meh my dreams of fighting his pure form was crashed
but I cant complain when I didn't see the future of the game yet I'm not a dev I hope they do the game fight well
and don't forget wow is expensive I was worked in fucking farm and in the end used all the money on wow good old days no very big responsibility as adult life

[Deleted]

In TBC and WotLK it felt good to play the game because I engaged with my peers on an even playing field, working towards a common goal with raiding, and working hard to improve myself, eventually harvesting the fruits of that labour. It was something I missed from my life outside of WoW where you were a winner from just participating, and the general childhood of a "millennial".

It gave me the confidence and self-esteem needed to make a living for myself after I quit WoW in the beginning of Cata, moved out of my parents house, and began my life as an adult. I recently secured the last funding for my PhD working with a subject I love, and began playing WoW again with Legion, casually doing Mythic in a 2-nights a week raiding guild.