The Addiction Is Real!

[Lazy Gecko]

I have never found anything mechanically addictive in WoW. There are single player games that essentialy work the same way, but you don't see people ruining their lives over them. What people get addicted to is the social aspect, and the raiding culture nurtured by the players. I don't think I've ever run across a typical "WoW addict" who was into something else than the raiding part of the game.

Human beings generally care about how they are percieved by others, so that's the angle you'd want to look into when explaining WoW addiction. Some people may not get enough positive reinforcement in real life, and they feel more valued as persons by how their guild mates treat them. I think the whole thing about comparing epics to the chemical rush you get from heroin which you often see in the mainstream media is completely ridiculous, a waste of time and is looking at the issue from the wrong perspective.

[karradine]

In my experience, addictive behavior is not so much about the magnetic power of the thing that you are attracted to. It's about the things in your life that you are trying to escape/avoid/not think about, and that is where you need to put your attention if you want to change your behavior. Counseling is good for that.

Also, there is plenty of research about the biology of willpower. We would all like to believe otherwise, but willpower is powered by finite resources that also power cognitive ability ... i.e., if you are tired and your blood sugar is low, it is hard to resist temptation. Wow is pure cognitive load, so it will sap your ability to resist the urge to do one more pull, run one more heroic, or whatever. Your willpower capacity depends in part on your brain chemistry, the other stuff you do during the day, how much sleep you get, etc., so just because other people say "lol wut I just play 4 hrs/week" doesn't mean that you can do the same. It just means you have more important things to think about.

[judgementofantonidas]

Hi there, I'm going to start this off by saying I'm not happy to be talking to any of you -.-* ! About 8 months ago I quit WoW cold turkey. And I was a serious player.... Yeah one of those guys who put way too much time into raiding, studying logs, min/maxing, etc. So that was quite a feast to just stop.

Anyway, all this time has passed and I've found myself back on this site, watching kill videos, reading ptr notes, blah blah blah. The fact is, I'm back, and I know it's time for that part of my life to be over, the better part of 10 years. I went so far when I quit to sell my pc, not just delete wow, unsub, etc. No I sold the whole rig. Since then I've even went to the extremes of joining the armed forces (no, not really to stop me from playing, but I thought it'd give me a great push in the right direction), and I finally had the balls to commit and get married to my high school sweetheart.

I ask you today. If anyone else has found themselves in my position where they know staying away is best, but the memories, nostalgia, and overall great time you had in the game has come back to haunt you. What have you done? What helps keep the urge at bay?

Inb4 "Well being on this site won't help" - I find it to help soothe the urge, where reading acts as if I am playing again, but not really. Same goes with the occasional live stream I've started watching of raids.

Halp! Save me from.... The World Of Warcraft!

of course World of Warcraft has addicting qualities. whether you become addicted is purely a result of your weakness as with ANY other addiction. I might also add that there are far worse things to allow yourself to become addicted to if you have the genes that make you weak when it comes to saying no.

[Topcraft]

I have never found anything mechanically addictive in WoW. There are single player games that essentially work the same way, but you don't see people ruining their lives over them. What people get addicted to is the social aspect, and the raiding culture nurtured by the players. I don't think I've ever run across a typical "WoW addict" who was into something else than the raiding part of the game.

Human beings generally care about how they are perceived by others, so that's the angle you'd want to look into when explaining WoW addiction. Some people may not get enough positive reinforcement in real life, and they feel more valued as persons by how their guild mates treat them. I think the whole thing about comparing epics to the chemical rush you get from heroin which you often see in the mainstream media is completely ridiculous, a waste of time and is looking at the issue from the wrong perspective.

Like with all things, some are more susceptible to things that others. Some people are addicted to watching sports, I wouldn't notice is sports disappeared from the planet altogether. Saying there are no addictive elements to WoW is simply not true. They are the elements that keep the players playing. The biggest element is the fact that everything you do gets rewarded. Getting rewarded feels good. Some people get addicted to that feeling.
Raiding can add to that feeling, especially if you're feeling insecure. You'll do anything to be the perfect player you want to be.

The addiction and the subject of addiction are two separate things. The addiction is: WoW. The part you try to fill the void with can be anything. For some it's perfection in PvE, for others PvP, and for another it's leveling 34 alts to max level. The subject of the addiction is merely something you focus on and make your 'goal'. (which you will never reach, because perfection cannot be attained).

For me it was escapism. Running away from the unpleasant reality that was waiting for me outside the game. I fooled myself into thinking that my problems would disappear eventually if I just kept playing. Of course they didn't.

I will not compare addiction to video games with other addictions, that is not the point of this thread.

[Lazy Gecko]

And then we have the whole attitude of "weakness" and "willpower" which I find unhelpful and downright condescending. Humanity is kind of wired to be vulnerable and impressionable when it comes to social-related things. Same reason why you can see so many seemingly normal, healthy people obsessing over facebook all day.

[wych]

And then we have the whole attitude of "weakness" and "willpower" which I find unhelpful and downright condescending. Humanity is kind of wired to be vulnerable and impressionable when it comes to social-related things. Same reason why you can see so many seemingly normal, healthy people obsessing over facebook all day.

I have no issue on people being "addicted" the only time I will call them weak is when they try to blame others or the thing they're addicted to rather than their own weak and addictive personality.

[judgementofantonidas]

I have no issue on people being "addicted" the only time I will call them weak is when they try to blame others or the thing they're addicted to rather than their own weak and addictive personality.

fully agree

[Smokinya]

Just play the game man, only a little bit every day, give yourself like 10-20 hours per week max. That should help soothe the urge but if you are really that addicted you need to try very hard and if you truly want to quit you need to ween yourself off the game not stop it entirely.

[lordmatthias]

I can relate to feeling pretty compelled to play wow (I am not sure if I would classify it as addicted as I was able to balance in other things while playing, but it did help a lot to have a job where I could play at the time). I have played since the original closed beta back in 2004, from 2005-2008 I was pretty "addicted" to wow while I was going to high school and then doing my generals in college. For me it was a really gradual process of no longer being compelled to play all the time. I started finding other things significantly more important, and I would also go through stints were I just found it boring. Anyway, long story short I still play some (raid a couple times a week for a few hours) but I have found if other things come up, I can pretty easily drop wow. It really just comes down to having some self control.

[Pony Soldier]

If you enjoy playing the game why do you want to quit? Maybe that's why you came back? Because you had fun playing it? It may not be addiction so much as you just having lots of fun with the game. Just play the game and stop thinking it's addiction.

[jbombard]

Actually for me it's just the opposite. I quit at start of 5.3 fully intending to come back for 5.4, yet I really can't seem to get excited enough to resub.

[Xilurm]

Ummm, have you, you know, thought that maybe you like games? And cause you like WoW too maybe you want to play the games you like?

The point is, the addiction isn't real. Those who say it is, are people who never played games in their life. They just join WoW without playing another game and have absolutely no idea of the world of gaming. They think because they want to play WoW again (considering it's the only game they've played) that it's addicting. It's just a really fun game. That's all there is to it.

People think it's a sickness. I call it being a gamer. I'll never quit gaming. Maybe when I'm at my death bed but I have a long way till then.

[Frozenbeef]

I'm not addicted to wow just games/ the internet in general :P So much to do so little time...

[Maxilian]

If you found wow addicting, just look for others things to spend your time in, like sports, reading, others games, etc...

[Raseri]

My solution to the OP's problem has been to only play during my raid times (3 hours, 3 times a week) and daily's for tokens. Yes there will be times of more rabid sessions like a new patch or expansion, but I find that I'm just not that into the game apart from the actual raiding. If you are really wanting to play but worried about getting too hardcore, just login and do old raids or collect things for an hour or two a day. Playing doesn't have to mean being on a cutting edge raid schedule.

[Orcindauh]

I'm addicted to the internet along with a lot of other things and have no plans to quit.

[dokilar]

i played from vanilla all the way to mid Cata only taking a few months worth of breaks in between but i havent played since before Firelands came out. it hasnt been a problem for me, but then again i dont really take video games too seriously. dont get me wrong i strive to be the best player i can in whatever im playing but looking at a guide or two is about as far as i go.

[Jaylock]

At this point, if you find yourself continuing to come back to WoW after how terrible the game has become, then yes I would agree with you that its an addiction. I walked away cold turkey because the game is bad, and has become unoriginal. Play another game, or find a hobby to do outside. I like to longboard, and go cycling, and exercise.

Just find something you enjoy other than a game and you will fill your time easily.

[Nemb]

For years (Vanilla to the end of WoTLK) I have played in serious raiding guilds, chasing rankings, server first, getting ranked on world of logs, etc.

At start of Cata I simply got bored with the game and cancelled the account until about a month ago. Nowadays I am what you would call a casual - running LFR, dungeons, etc. Still enjoy playing the game, because it helps me go to bed at night. I may end up joining a raiding guild with limited raiding (couple hours late night), as I find the social aspect of beating content with a team rather fun.

As for being addicted, with computer games I can stop playing at will, if life requires me to put more time into something else. They are a fun distraction from real life, not a replacement.

[Xl House lX]

Hi there, I'm going to start this off by saying I'm not happy to be talking to any of you -.-* ! About 8 months ago I quit WoW cold turkey. And I was a serious player.... Yeah one of those guys who put way too much time into raiding, studying logs, min/maxing, etc. So that was quite a feast to just stop.

Anyway, all this time has passed and I've found myself back on this site, watching kill videos, reading ptr notes, blah blah blah. The fact is, I'm back, and I know it's time for that part of my life to be over, the better part of 10 years. I went so far when I quit to sell my pc, not just delete wow, unsub, etc. No I sold the whole rig. Since then I've even went to the extremes of joining the armed forces (no, not really to stop me from playing, but I thought it'd give me a great push in the right direction), and I finally had the balls to commit and get married to my high school sweetheart.

I ask you today. If anyone else has found themselves in my position where they know staying away is best, but the memories, nostalgia, and overall great time you had in the game has come back to haunt you. What have you done? What helps keep the urge at bay?

Inb4 "Well being on this site won't help" - I find it to help soothe the urge, where reading acts as if I am playing again, but not really. Same goes with the occasional live stream I've started watching of raids.

Halp! Save me from.... The World Of Warcraft!

If WoW overall negatively impacted your life, stay away from it. If WoW is a positive impact on your life overall then keep playing it... its that simple. It seems like you really wanted to stay away from it so I'm guessing overall the experience was negative for you... so stay away.

I know it was negatively impacting for me... caused me to be anti-social, gain weight, and caused me to skip my first year of college. I've been off the game for a year now, I still lurk these forums though because some people on here are just so weird its funny to converse with them and see how they think. Other than that though I have absolutely no interest in WoW.

But its not about me its about you... my advice is to stay away from the game unless its not a negative impact on you or your family and friends.