Why you should quit WoW…three questions you need to ask yourself.

[Pun]

Preface: The motivation behind this long post was to provide the community with the thoughts and questions I posed to myself that ultimately led a long time WoW player (me) to quit. I am not complaining about the state of the game.

Before I dive into my discussion, I will pose three questions to you. Bear in mind that any reply to this message should include an attempt to not only answer the questions, but provide at least a little honest explanation (short answer quiz!). I encourage you to read past the questions as well, as I express my own thoughts and bring in some of my experiences.

So then, here we go:

1. If you could go back in time to the day you bought WoW, would you buy it again?

2. If you are still an active player, when do you plan to stop playing?

3. If all WoW servers disappeared today and were permanently removed, what would your reaction be?

Now, the part I enjoy – let’s breakdown these questions one at a time. But before we get to this, let me give you my brief WoW resume:
I played for six years, from release to Cataclysm. I logged in for my last time two months ago. During that period, I logged just shy of 300 days among all my characters, and just over 200 days alone on my main. I took breaks from WoW during those years, sometimes months at a time. My longest break was 5 months towards the end of TBC.

The purpose of providing that little WoW bio was to provide some context for the following discussion.

Question 1 – the time travel question: Here, in a purely hypothetical world where time travel exists, you have the unique opportunity to go back in time and effectively remove WoW from your life. You have two choices here: Yes or No.

If you answered “No”: Answering “no” means you’ve decided to NOT buy WoW again. This is my personal response as well, and was part of what led me to put the game down for good. Why continue playing something that, if I had the choice, I wouldn’t even be playing in the first place? I had to consider the good vs. the bad. And while many good experiences came from WoW, many that I would miss if I never bought it, the bad that came from it definitely came out on top.

If you answered “Yes”: Answering “yes” means you’ve decided to pick up and install WoW again, from the start. Ultimately, you’ve made
the decision that WoW has been a positive influence in your life, and as such, you don’t want it to be missing on your second go-around.

For those with this outcome, I’d encourage some explanation, the reasoning behind your choice. Be wary of answers such as “I met some good friends” or “I met my future husband/wife”. These are not intrinsic to WoW. Have you considered the friends in real life you haven’t been meeting because you are playing WoW? Are the relationships you’ve made in WoW truly as meaningful as the ones you could be having with people in your school/community/workplace? If your response is, “I have loved playing my level 85 Tauren Prot Warrior too much to not buy WoW again” – that is something that ONLY WoW can provide, and is better response.


Question 2 – I like this question because so many players I’ve spoken to haven’t really thought about it.

I suspect the common response to this question will be “When I stop having fun.” To that I pose this analogy: You ask a chronic smoker when he/she plans to quit smoking. They respond “When it stops making me feel good.” You laugh. Of course it’ll never stop feeling good – they are hooked. Now while WoW is not the same kind of addiction as nicotine, the logic of that response is equally flawed.

Games are a waste of time. Wasting time isn’t inherently bad. In fact, I’d argue that wasting time is necessary for everyone. We need relaxation time, to blow off steam. It provides balance to our lives. The problem comes with how much is OK. I wasted 300 days - on ONE game alone. How much have you wasted? How much is too much?

Games should have an end. I LOVE the Mass Effect series. Good story, memorable characters, fun gameplay and interesting dialogue. All the pieces of a great game are there. How much have I played it the last week? None. The last month? None. Why? Because I FINISHED it. You will never finish WoW. How much am I looking forward to Mass Effect 3? Tons. Will I play it for 300 days…well, probably not .


Question 3 – All active players have pictured this doomsday scenario at least once. You wake up and find out that WoW no longer exists. It has vanished from the face of the planet, and the anguished cries of sorrow can be heard all the way from China to Europe and across the oceans.

When I quit for good, I deleted all my toons, including my main with over 200 days logged, 60k gold, and 10k achievement points. I expected for it to hurt. It didn’t. I felt nothing, only disgust that I could have put in that much time and still felt no twinge of pain when I at last deleted my toons.

What would were reaction be?

If you think you would be horrified by the servers disappearing, if it makes your gut sink and your stomach turn that all your efforts could be erased in a single moment – then you are emotionally attached to your characters. That is a sign of addiction.

If you woke up and logged in only to find a blank server list with a message from Blizzard, “Sorry, WoW has ended,” and you feel nothing, just sort of empty, then why are logging in right now?

Summary/Conclusion:

The questions, though slightly loaded I admit, are designed to make the current player examine their WoW experience in three ways: past, future, and present. In the past, what has WoW brought you (that other parts of life couldn’t have)? In the future, where will it end? Or does it even have an ending? In the present, what’s the motivation to log in today? Start asking yourself these questions and taking a serious approach to answer them honestly. My hope is that this will at least start getting some players to consider the influence WoW has had, and continues to have, on them.

Thanks for reading!

[Deleted]

Why should I quit something I enjoy with other likeminded people ? Meh.

There is no general rule, and people don't need a thread such as this to realise if the game is apealing to them or not.

[Deleted]

I hate to play the "it's just a game" card, but jeez.

[Straton]

This game is that deep for some people? Oh my...

[Lysah]

Of course you wouldn't feel a twinge of pain when deleting your characters. If you had decided the game wasn't worth playing, and so decided to quit, it means you weren't invested in them anyway. I wouldn't feel bad deleting my characters from The Sims however many years ago - the game got boring and I stopped playing it, doesn't matter how much time I invested.

"Pain" comes from people who value what they're deleting/losing. Those who value, of course, also typically aren't quitting, because they have a reason to stay.

[The Glitch]

Like any hobby, if it was taken away I would feel bad that it was gone.

I make hand crafted greetings cards and Wedding stationary, if I had worked my arse off for ages crafting something and someone came along and ripped it to pieces, how would you feel?

Same goes for WoW, it fills in some free time, and lets me socialise with my many friends from around the globe at the same time! If that was taken away ofc I would feel sad!

[procne]

Question one - If I went back in time with all memories about the game - why would I buy it again do experience same thing AGAIN. But wait, since there would be no other games around then prolly I would. This question in fact asks - is WoW that good that you would prefer playing through whole old content again for next few years, than to not play at all / play other games.

I don't see in what way would this imply whether I should quit or not.

[Kiry]

1 - i honestly don't know. WoW was the catalyst for my divorce. it wasn't the reason, it just became the scapegoat. I'm also not fond of the tendonitis I seem to be developing, or the back pain. lol At the same time, I have truly enjoyed my experiences. Social, going to Blizzcon, managing people when never seeing them, meeting and creating friendships with some of the people. experiencing things that are unique to online gaming.

2 - soon if the guild merges with a 25 man guild. I dont want to be buried, thus I wont go. There isn't much else for me to do right now. So maybe a break is soon going to occur.

3 - Be deeply disappointed. Move on to the next game.

[Shazzia]

1. If you could go back in time to the day you bought WoW, would you buy it again?

NO! Becuase I hated Vanilla WoW. I would buy it at mid-TBC tho. I'm glad I bought it the day I did, Im a proud WoW member.

2. If you are still an active player, when do you plan to stop playing?

I log in everyday. No plans to stop doing that. I will stop the day either me or wow die.

3. If all WoW servers disappeared today and were permanently removed, what would your reaction be?

I'd me extremely sad. 6 years of fighting and cooperating with other people to achieve different things gone over the night? Who wouldn't be sad?
I would also start playing another MMORPG that catches my interest. Rift, Age of Conan or maybe if something new pops up.

[Deleted]

Of course you wouldn't feel a twinge of pain when deleting your characters. If you had decided the game wasn't worth playing, and so decided to quit, it means you weren't invested in them anyway. I wouldn't feel bad deleting my characters from The Sims however many years ago - the game got boring and I stopped playing it, doesn't matter how much time I invested.

I completly disagree.
The game's quality has nothing to do with the time, and (hopefully for you) fun you spent on your character.
I also RP, so my character is, in a way, second nature for me, and even when I hop over to SW:TOR, I will never delete my characters that i enjoyed so much over the years.
Maybe that's just me though ...

[Lysah]

I completly disagree.
The game's quality has nothing to do with the time, and (hopefully for you) fun you spent on your character.
I also RP, so my character is, in a way, second nature for me, and even when I hop over to SW:TOR, I will never delete my characters that i enjoyed so much over the years.
Maybe that's just me though ...

I didn't mean to make the point that those who quit are always those who don't value what they have, sometimes it's just time to move on. I was merely suggesting that his lack of emotion toward his characters was in all ways expected from a person who had quit the game, deciding it wasn't worth his time. Of course, plenty of people can leave the game behind while still valuing what they created within it, but this is probably a rarer case.

[Pieterman]

1. Yes
2. Don't have anything planned, planning is something women do.
3. Fuck

[Deleted]

1. Yes (I play to get rid of free time)
2. That date seems to be coming in sight, no worries
3. Was fun while it lasted, LF job

[procne]

Question two - I see no flaw in smoker's logic. Smoking is pleasant to him so he is smoking. Sure, it's bad for health, he knows it, but it's pleasant so he's smoking. Where's the flaw?

[Oerba Yun Fang]

Cool story, bro.

But no, really... what possible purpose could this thread serve, other than critting for over 9,000 with Wall O' Text, or some attempt at sounding profound on a MMORPG forum? None that I can see.

By the way, I would say your questions are more than 'slightly loaded.' All of them have a "you either agree with me and quit WoW now or you're hopelessly addicted and your priorities in life are completely skewed" tone to them.

[vian]

I completly disagree.
The game's quality has nothing to do with the time, and (hopefully for you) fun you spent on your character.
I also RP, so my character is, in a way, second nature for me, and even when I hop over to SW:TOR, I will never delete my characters that i enjoyed so much over the years.
Maybe that's just me though ...

Great stated man.

[Deleted]

By the way, I would say your questions are more than 'slightly loaded.'

Check out the actual name of the thread.
Trollolololololol.

[Deleted]

What's with all the "I've quit WoW and I think everyone else should too so I feel better about my decision" posts lately? It's getting fucking annoying.

[Drihan]

If all the WoW servers went down today, I wouldn't really care much. I might get a bit mad since I have payed for so long, but other than that I really can't see me going all hell-over-heels about it.

[commanderbeatdown]

If you don't feel a twinge of cognitive dissonance when deleting your characters, why are you posting here asking us to confirm it for you? You're in denial, and you need us to help you convince yourself you made the right choice.

I'm tired of these threads.