The Addiction Is Real!

[Emaias]

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!

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

Why not...you know...just play it? It's just a game, it's not an addiction.

[KCguy]

Well, you did admit you have or should I say "had" a problem, so....that's the first step, right? lol.

[Zatetic]

Why not...you know...just play it? It's just a game, it's not an addiction.

Well that simply isnt true on any level. Video games stimulate your brain in the same way that all other rewarding activity (drugs, gambling, learning etc) does. You can become addicted to gaming.

[Emaias]

Why not...you know...just play it? It's just a game, it's not an addiction.

While you are right in saying it's just a game, I have responsibilities now. A wife, service to my country, amongst other things I didn't have before. I feel like even if I tried to play casually I'd slip back into my old habits. Bad, bad habits. 16 hour raid duration habits, racing for us firsts habits, spending obscene amounts of time just for a miniscule upgrade outside of raids. While you are right it is a game, you are wrong at how it can be an addiction.

[Kawwah]

Quick shout out to the poster of this thread. If you still love playing the game, then don't focus so much on quitting. Sure, a game can be addicting, but it is up to you not to let it ruin your life. If you find yourself missing out on school or work, then take a break from the game. All the people on mmo champ (Well, mostly all) are here for the same reason. We all love wow, and we play it because we want to and love to. It doesn't sound to me like you really wanna quit the game. :P Then continue playing casually.

[Eshua]

Play better. Clear earlier and faster.

I raid in a top 50 US guild. Did a full 13/13 clear this week. Takes about 4-5 hours a week of play time. I spend more at the gym.

[timtim89]

While you are right in saying it's just a game, I have responsibilities now. A wife, service to my country, amongst other things I didn't have before. I feel like even if I tried to play casually I'd slip back into my old habits. Bad, bad habits. 16 hour raid duration habits, racing for us firsts habits, spending obscene amounts of time just for a miniscule upgrade outside of raids. While you are right it is a game, you are wrong at how it can be an addiction.

Get rid of your computer like a someone addicted to drugs or whatever........ They dont go into bars or put themselfs anywhere near it. Get rid of the MMO account and everything WoW.

[hakujinbakasama]

While you are right in saying it's just a game, I have responsibilities now. A wife, service to my country, amongst other things I didn't have before. I feel like even if I tried to play casually I'd slip back into my old habits. Bad, bad habits. 16 hour raid duration habits, racing for us firsts habits, spending obscene amounts of time just for a miniscule upgrade outside of raids. While you are right it is a game, you are wrong at how it can be an addiction.

Sell your computer. That should help.

[Zhira]

Why not...you know...just play it? It's just a game, it's not an addiction.

No, but it can easily turn into one. Gambling isn't necessarily an an addiction either, but it can be. What might "only" be a game to you can be a serious addiction to some other dude / girl

Z.

[Resentful]

You could just play it? I mean really It's just a game and nothing more lol

[Emaias]

I went so far when I quit to sell my pc, not just delete wow, unsub, etc. No I sold the whole rig.

Don't mean to sound like an ass, but I did state I sold it

[starkey]

Id just unsub if the game was taking over my life ie taking time off work to play, not socializing with friends then id say to myself is it really worth it, but the best thing is playing and be able to still work and socialize, Wow isnt alcohol.

[Anprionsa]

Well then.

I have a very similar story. Started playing in 2005, played for about a year and a half. After which I left the country for a bit and stopped playing and didn't start playing again until 2009 (after I got married). When I got back I stayed for another year and then left once again for about 8 months. It's just what happens. You leave and come back. It's a fun game sometimes and boring at others. Don't focus on it being an addiction if you have fun. If you can leave and not think about it for any period of time, then it really isn't an addiction in any bad way, but just one of nostalgia and good times.

This exact same thing happened to my dad, he's been off and on since he returned to Law School, got his own practice, and now just plays it when there is nothing to do (his down time). He just thinks it's fun.

[Rucati]

While you are right in saying it's just a game, I have responsibilities now. A wife, service to my country, amongst other things I didn't have before. I feel like even if I tried to play casually I'd slip back into my old habits. Bad, bad habits. 16 hour raid duration habits, racing for us firsts habits, spending obscene amounts of time just for a miniscule upgrade outside of raids. While you are right it is a game, you are wrong at how it can be an addiction.

Self control would probably help...

Instead of joining a world first guild, find a guild that raids 2-3 times a week for 3 hours. I play WoW for maybe 10 hours a week, 9 of which are raid hours and 1 hour to prepare with flasks or whatever. That's it. Only time I play more is when I'm doing PvP but I haven't done that recently. It's no different than any other hobby, anything can turn into an addiction, you just have to have the self control to stop that from happening.

[Airwaves]

Blaming no self control on addiction lol

[Pascal]

I've tried to stop playing several times. I've tried to play casually several times. I've tried to just play 'once in awhile'.

It doesn't work. The only time I don't play WoW pretty much all the time (when I'm not working) is when a new video game comes out that I want to play. I'll play that until I win/it gets boring, then it's back to WoW.

It's really hard to quit this. I stopped smoking pot but I can't stop playing this game.

Blaming no self control on addiction lol

He does have self control. He's on self-control overdrive keeping himself from playing again.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Well that simply isnt true on any level. Video games stimulate your brain in the same way that all other rewarding activity (drugs, gambling, learning etc) does. You can become addicted to gaming.

For some it's easier to walk away, for others not so much.

[Mormolyce]

Well WoW obviously isn't chemically addictive, but you can become mentally addicted (obsession? compulsive behaviour? whatever you want to call it) to anything. It's usually a result of having a certain kind of personality.

Play better. Clear earlier and faster.

I raid in a top 50 US guild. Did a full 13/13 clear this week. Takes about 4-5 hours a week of play time. I spend more at the gym.

Being in a hardcore raiding guild =/= playing a lot of WoW. Two unrelated things.

Especially since a lot of people in progression raiding guilds log on to raid (not a lot of the ones in world first guilds due to inter-tier prep time etc, but they're a small fraction of hardcore raiders as well). Hell my guild is realm first and when raid time comes around the number of people in /g quadruples. At least. Then when raid time is over, boom, all gone again.

Meanwhile I quit raiding months ago and still play the game more than like 90% of them.

Also, don't assume that being in a progression raiding guild is even what everyone wants out of the game.

[Razorice]

If you enjoy gaming, then do it.