Do you believe raiding (or even wow) affects you socially outside of wow?

[Teaklog]

First thread, if this belongs in off-topic please move it-
I've played wow on/off since BC, this tier quit raiding after 8/10M a little over a month ago, and after comparing my life when I'm raiding vs when I don't play made me want others opinions on it. I don't really mean raiding taking time that I can't afford to spend, but more of I just feel different socially when I'm actively playing wow. I play many other video games besides wow, but it seems to be wow specifically in that no other game do I spend that much time with random people I've never met. Its not like I don't enjoy playing, but every time I come back to the game within a few months I just find myself so much less outgoing and more tight with a few people. I'm wondering if anyone else feels this way or if its just me?

An interesting quote that I've later seen studies on is something along the lines of "You are the 3 people you hang around the most," and since this is my first post I don't think I can post links but its an interesting thing to read about (and at least personally I find this to be very true).

Edit: I feel like I have got MUCH better at associating with people (just all the time) from playing wow over the years, but I also feel like when I am actively playing wow I get so drawn in I care less about life outside of the game. This may be simply because I'm 19 and realistically believe I have at least a 1 1/2 years or even two years worth of hours put into all video games collectively.

[Deleted]

I have no actual friends I hang out with, and all the people I would hang out with that I met in wow are not from my country. So FML.

[Deleted]

I feel quite opposite, but that might be because I am a very introverted, awkward person. Raiding taught me how to deal with teamwork and leadership, I learned how to interact more naturally with people and the language barriers (metaphorically speaking) you need to overcome to "connect" with other people.
If I didn't raid now I'd probably try harder at being a "normal" person though.

[CrusaderNerò87]

I had many friends when I was younger. Years went on and I have lost most of them. Alot of them now have families and all that comes with it. I dont have a family and where I live(little town) it can be a bit frustrated. So in any case, wow has made me friends. Allthough online friends, but nevertheless.

[Teaklog]

Its odd because I understand what you mean in that this game helped me deal with other people and connect with people, but I'm not saying when I don't play wow I actively try to be "normal" or anything like that - it's more of I don't even think about it. Something that comes to mind is I remember Louis ck talking about his kids and video games, obviously he's a comedian so its hard to take him seriously, but it makes sense - Video games set the bar of stimulus in the brain so high its hard to appreciate everything else as much (I suggest youtubing that, its still a really good laugh even if you disagree "Louis ck video games and kids")

Edit: Some tell me how to respond to a specific post please

[aGit]

yes, i try to make time for the raiding schedule and so far i've succeeded.

[dixincide]

I've met people in WoW that are far outside of my usual social circle. Introverts, military people, strippers to list a few.

I've gotten much better at meeting people from all walks of life because of it. I can mesh with so many more personality types now. I have no regrets when it comes to playing WoW

[Deleted]

Not really.

My raid schedule is raiding once I'm home from work. If I wouldn't be raiding at that time I would just be watching a movie or simply playing another game or quickly falling asleep.

I don't go out during the "work" weeks outside of weekends/holidays.

[Deleted]

I'm 100% sure that I'm more social when I don't have subscription in WoW. After 8 years of playing with occasional breaks I can say for sure that WoW affects my irl social going. However I go out with my buddies (who play games too, but not WoW) once a week or so and have a blast. If people worry about knowing less friends the older you get it's pretty normal (no, not saying happens to everyone). I'm pretty satisfied with how things are now, but of course I could tune down the amount I play WoW and meet my old friends more and make new ones too.

[Styxxa]

I do think raiding can affect you socially outside of WoW. A Mythic raiding environment to me is a lot like workplace or classroom. You have your leaders and planners, the good cop/bad cop managers, the people who do fuck all to get ready and just get carried through projects by the people who work hard to prepare, and people who just do the minimum necessary to get by. You really get a sense of how to deal with each of these people - what pushes their buttons, what makes them tick, and how to get the most out of them.

[Vestig3]

As a former hardcore raider it never realy effected my social life i always made sure that beside the raiding i had time to go out in the weekend and hang out with friends during the week and besides that in the early stages of wow most of my friends also played wow, i finished college and got a good job and looking back at all of it i dont regret anything from those years.

[TheLimonTree]

Seeing as a good friend of mine from WoW ended up moving up to my state and getting an apartment with him, I'd say yes.

[Gsara]

Not at all but I did recently stop playing wow. Before that I hadn't raided for more than 6-8 hours a week since early MoP.

[Joosep]

I used to raid in a top 50 world guild and I have to admit that it did affect my social life quite a lot. Had to cancel a lot of social events with friends and possible new ones just because we had to raid 4-5 (+some alt runs occasionally) nights per week. I did get burned out and after a break I went semi casual and can feel how much better it is if there are less "mandatory" raiding nights. It might have also been one of the reason my long term relationship ended.
Though I have to say that I don't regret my hardcore days as I did enjoy them and have fond memories of them. I still did manage to graduate bachelor's degree and am about to start my master's degree abroad now.

[Qualia]

Not at all, although I guess that depends on how much time you spend for raiding per week, how well you manage your schedule and your culture.

[eternyxx]

interesting to see how raiding has affected people so differently

for me, initially it seriously impacted my social life and I was constantly flaking out on events (which now that I look back at it was a good thing, because these group of friends were no good). I had a period of about a year in which I was hardcore raiding during WOTLK, 0 light yogg on farm and TOTGC had just been released so we were working toward the tribute to insanity achievement. on work nights, my guild leader would call up whenever he pleased and offer me DKP if I got on, so i'd do it and roll into work tired, this went on until the end of WOTLK, Cata launched and I couldn't do it any longer.

Come to find out half the members in my guild all lived very close to me, so some really good friendships blossomed out of this long period of having no life, and I feel like I gained much more than I lost socially.

[FobManX]

It's made me less tolerant of stupid.

[Sunnydruid]

Eh. It used to negatively effect me but then after I graduated high school and moved on with my life all of my then friends either
A- died
B- got deep into drugs
C- are in jail or
D- Nobody knows what happened to them.

I still talk to a few people but I rarely go out. And now that I moved down to Philly I know absolutely nobody at all. It's going to be a boring time for awhile lol. WoW has always been there for me, it helped me become more socially acceptable because I socialized with people from all walks of life. I had gay friends on wow, transgender friends, black friends -white friends - indian - spanish, deaf friends, mute friends, introverted friends - you name it I have socialized and became friends with them. It's awesome! I really wish I could find a server that is really tight-knit again like I used to have so I can meet more people. I don't like these huge servers, it's a cluster fuck.

[Mekkle]

Not if your good with managing your time.

[cuafpr]

YES but in a good way. I've meet some of my best friends raiding and tbqh it helps keep me out of trouble from time to time lol.