So I was thinking of my addiction to WoW and I realized the true source of it

[epigramx]

If you are addicted seek help/counseling, no one here (probably) is schooled for that.

Most people get addicted and forget to eat/sleep/do anything to sustain their life because their psyche tends to that and they will have to find ways to deal with that, i doubt a forum post or your superficial self reflection is enough for that. (If it was, this forum would have quite a few less negative nancys.)

Don't be so sure is useless because e.g. MoanaLisa described a nice way to deal with Entertainment time and I think I offered some ideas as well. I don't find myself having a problem to the extend of someone finding it extreme but I find it extreme myself. I can not play video games at all (e.g. WoW is not even installed right now) but when I do play them I tend to spend way too much time especially if they are good or sneaky with farming manipulation.

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You should look up dopamine responses as it relates to video games.

True since that's part of the enjoyment of completing tasks. Tasks is how I started the thread. Completing any of them feels good (dopamine being one of the reasons (there may be at lease one extra hormone playing a role)) so an alternative is to do other tasks since life is filled with them (and if you find the ones you have gigantic you can break them down or find others).

[Daymanmb]

True since that's part of the enjoyment of completing tasks. Tasks is how I started the thread. Completing any of them feels good (dopamine being one of the reasons (there may be at lease one extra hormone playing a role)) so an alternative is to do other tasks since life is filled with them (and if you find the ones you have gigantic you can break them down or find others).

At a very basic level, living things are electrical impulses. Electricity always follows the path of least resistance. If the path of least resistance to a dopamine fix is playing a video game, as opposed to building a house, which do you think the brain might prefer?

Theres a thing called dopamine exhaustion. Its basically the idea that the brains tolerance for dopamine is incredibly high and basic tasks bring no joy.

[Strawberry]

You have to go into gaming with the right mentality.

1) It's just a game.
2) It's just a game.
3) There will always be something to do in a game.
4) It's just a game.
5) Gaming is not prio #1 in life. It's not even #2, or #3, or even #10.
6) It's just a game.
7) There are thousands of games out there that you could spend your lifetime trying to complete something. Accomplishing something in a game is pointless.
8) It's just a game.
9) It's just a game.
10) It's just a game.

I used to game 18-20h per day back in my 20's. I regret this. But I'm past that and it's because I changed my way of thinking.
Yeah, I still love gaming. I have top of the line computer because I game. I also have board games for €10.000+ and a high-end VR system.
But it's just a fucking hobby I pick up when I have nothing more important to do.

[kranur]

It's the delusion that accomplishing anything hard/easy/whatever is something that I must do otherwise it would be a fault. It's a delusion though because life is filled with hard/easy/whatever tasks to complete (e.g. a task to be good at computer software or building houses or starting a business) so doing something else that is more meaningful/beneficial/complete might be a better investment than a video game that has no real life profit(unless you do it illegally) and you interact with people with a clear distance and with a design that favors farming over skill for most of the time.

That's such a broken mentality. If you only focus on doing something more beneficial and that brings a profit, you may never have fun again.
Why go on vacation, movies, bar etc when you can work some more.

[vashe9]

Well, good for you, but why positing it on a forum ? Yeah you can save the world while we play WoW, go for it... Most human actions ARE meaningless, working makes you earn a salary but in the end, what's the point ?

This post is meaningless, even this entire thread, forum and website...

What I like in wow are the dungeons/raids, because there are more elaborated than any other mmorpg out there.

[Scrysis]

I came to realize I'm not addicted to WoW; I'm addicted to friends. I have these people that just suck me back into the game with them. Without them, I'd quickly grow bored and leave.


Now, if you want a real video game affliction, you can only look to Skyrim. That damn game is never very far from my mind. . . .

[epigramx]

At a very basic level, living things are electrical impulses. Electricity always follows the path of least resistance. If the path of least resistance to a dopamine fix is playing a video game, as opposed to building a house, which do you think the brain might prefer?

Theres a thing called dopamine exhaustion. Its basically the idea that the brains tolerance for dopamine is incredibly high and basic tasks bring no joy.

All true. If all that exists seems too mundane it might help to find new goals. I'm sure most wow players could find hard goals in their work or in human relationships or a sport with a steep learning curve.

[Bloodyleech]

The design of this game allows that kind of gaming mainly with questing and the automatic dungeon finder because guild raiding can be a gigantic time waster (even if only because even the casual guilds may make wait for an entire evening in a raid). In fact even if you try to be optimal on the automatic dungeon finders you must spend many hours studying and practicing the class.
I was considering returning to the game just to see BfA and Shadowlands questing and some basic dungeoning and then I realized even entering a levelling 5man of Legion is more investment than I thought because I knew them as a DPS and I entered as I tank and I wasn't too familiar with the a couple of boss mechanics and I realized even that needed studying to play properly.

Uhm.. What? You mean the usuall leveling dungeons, yeah? Like, the normal, not hero or mythic, yeah?
You don't need more than 10 minutes to learn the basics of a class/spec. Everything else is coming while you play it - known as "experience" and "muscle memory".
I'm doing many 15-100 dungeons right now - most people do not know their classes basics. They deal less dps than someone 20 levels below them. (Really, a 94 arcane mage dealt less dmg than my 70ish arcane mage)
As such - if you just read up for 5-10 minutes, you are better than 50% of ALL leveling players (obviously my experience).
You can go as tank, if you just know the route (you do) and turn every boss with his back to the group, it's fine for around 95% of all bosses.

TLDR: read up on your class or spec, doesn't need more than 10 minutes, at all. Just some basics (like using consecration regulary as tank pala, or shield block for melee hits as warrior, or deathstrike for healing up OR dealing dmg as dk and so on..).

Just a side information: some weeks ago a new player started the game, he struggled hard and asked for help - I helped him, he changed his class, got some basic informations. He had a blast! He almost stopped playing the game. After some levels, we went through some of the higher knowledge, like keybindings/changing movement keys - he was very promising and he got up to all of it in no time. While he is a new player, he is better than MANY people I know. He's better than most mid/high m+ player, if I'd have to rate his skill-ceiling.
Some times ago he even started a tank - obviously having no tanking exp, at all. At first it looked like he wants to stop it - but he's playing his tank from time to time up to these days. And he's doing a good job (obviously many mistakes, because he's not experienced with this role). I just helped him playing his first couple of dungeons, since then he's doing it on his own.

[epigramx]

That's such a broken mentality. If you only focus on doing something more beneficial and that brings a profit, you may never have fun again.
Why go on vacation, movies, bar etc when you can work some more.

Work can be fun. In fact gaming addiction in games like this is based on exactly that because they help the body release Dopamine and other hormones each time you complete a task (someone else mentioned dopamine here above).

But forget work because there are plenty of other goals you can complete in life and also do the same e.g. relationships with other people (closer than VoIP).

[Bodonius]

When wow added to many hard to get mounts/pets it became easier to quit. Whats the point in being a collector when you know you cant get all.

[javierdsv]

My root cause is that you know your character will be there like... well forever. And you know everything you do is saved for decades.

[epigramx]

Well, good for you, but why positing it on a forum ? Yeah you can save the world while we play WoW, go for it... Most human actions ARE meaningless, working makes you earn a salary but in the end, what's the point ?

This post is meaningless, even this entire thread, forum and website...

What I like in wow are the dungeons/raids, because there are more elaborated than any other mmorpg out there.

You contradict yourself since you invest your life here you must find it meaningful. If you don't find it meaningful that means you are wrong investing so much time in it because that time is your life.

A few people in here say that Entertainment is for them is meaningful goal in life and they use WoW as a means to that so if you go in excess of that it may lose part of its meaning.

[VinceVega]

The gist is not to loose your connection to reality.
If you play and work/love/life suffers for it you have a problem.

I have a good job. A big family. And can still play without neglecting any other "real" part of my life.
My friends know that i like to play video games and my raid knows that if somthing happens in RL it is more importand.

I had a time where i neglected everything except wow. I realized it and stopped playing for 2 years.

Also i hate farming so i rather sell a token every 3 month to keep afloat. Sue me^^

[epigramx]

You can go as tank, if you just know the route (you do) and turn every boss with his back to the group, it's fine for around 95% of all bosses.

You must play another game because that's true mainly up to levelling around ~90-100 (or whatever the last 2-3 expansions were). You can wipe the 5man very easily on their final bosses after Legion at least and even 5mans will not be fun with wipes.

You can also obviously wipe raids of easy difficulties that way.

[Bloodyleech]

You must play another game because that's true mainly up to levelling around ~90-100 (or whatever the last 2-3 expansions were). You can wipe the 5man very easily on their final bosses after Legion at least and even 5mans will not be fun with wipes.

You can also obviously wipe raids of easy difficulties that way.

I don't know why you start with raids now, but fine.

I don't know ANY normal legion dungeon boss that wipes the group because the tank does not know anything. There are no one shot mechanics, at all.
If a group wipes there, it's the fault of all 5 people not having any basic clues about the game. Move out of shit, don't stand in front of the boss, kick enemies and bosses. With this knowledge, every legion boss is killable on normal.

In BFA, you see many more people in leveling dungeons that have no clue about their class/spec (there was a time you got a 110 boost, I still have mine), which means that these dungeons are a bit more of a challenge for those people. If everyone would read up their class for 5 minutes, no boss would be ANY problem at all. The leveling dungeons do not have any bosses that are group wiper - except exactly one boss: the witches in waycrest.

[epigramx]

whoa, so you havent even played BfA and you come back to mmo champ just to post about your wow addiction? ok, yeah you might have a problem friend. let the game go if it's a problem for you. stop visiting wow sites, or you'll be drawn back in. you're like a former meth addict hanging with meth junkies, risky game, good buddy. also, go to blogspot.com

You are wrong on two levels. Yes I'm not clinically addicted but I have easy relapses so it's not bad to develop against that.

Also you disrespect half of the posters here who say they use WoW for Entertainment and they control it fully.

[Drusin]

so doing something else that is more meaningful/beneficial/complete might be a better investment than a video game that has no real life profit(unless you do it illegally) and you interact with people with a clear distance and with a design that favors farming over skill for most of the time.

If that's what you care about god speed Epigramx! I personally don't give a fuck about that and WoW is meaningful enough for me.

[epigramx]

I don't know why you start with raids now, but fine.

I don't know ANY normal legion dungeon boss that wipes the group because the tank does not know anything. There are no one shot mechanics, at all.
If a group wipes there, it's the fault of all 5 people not having any basic clues about the game. Move out of shit, don't stand in front of the boss, kick enemies and bosses. With this knowledge, every legion boss is killable on normal.

I didn't start with raids but with 5mans. You forget many things because you spend so much time in it that you think they are obvious to everyone.

e.g. various 5mans may ruin the experience of the other 4 if you have no clue which trash to collect because 80% of the trash is often skippable.

[epigramx]

If that's what you care about god speed Epigramx! I personally don't give a fuck about that and WoW is meaningful enough for me.

The excessive farming may kill it for me to be honest. Having Entertainment as a meaningful goal for a few hours is not bad and various people in this thread say they control it and I believe it.

But that darn excessive farming to achieve most goals in this game is unavoidable (I recently played Hades which was great but it was literally more fun to use a trainer (it's a single-player so it's fine) at its end-game because it needed so much farming to get almost nothing out of it).

[Bloodyleech]

I didn't start with raids but with 5mans. You forget many things because you spend so much time in it that you think they are obvious to everyone.

e.g. various 5mans may ruin the experience of the other 4 if you have no clue which trash to collect because 80% of the trash is often skippable.

You started with raids in your last sentence.

No, I didn't forget it. Most mechanics in the game are: don't stand in stuff, don't stand in front, kick/stun it. Obviously there are some different, too, but those are NOT deadly on normal (most mechanics aren't).
Doesn't matter on normal, as you get experience for them. If you are unsure about the route, open the map - most dungeons got a very obvious fixed route.

You try to hide behind things that you think that they block you .. they aren't. You can just hop into dungeons as completely new player tanking (read my post) and just follow the map-routes. As long as you got some very basic knowledge as tank (turn enemies, use defensives, using dps abilities correct) you are good to go.