I am addicted
First step is to admit it.
Is it a problem?
Define problem…………..
Firstly my unusual period of quietness, is not a demise of my love of the game, or desire to play, and nor is this a precursor for a sayornara post.
I have had some ISP issues which has not been helping, and calls and polite emails of my dissatisfaction has resulted in 2 months credit for the lackluster internet service, but the fix isn’t happening for weeks, and it is extremely frustrating when you want to play, and your not sure if your going to go from everything is going smoothly to crap everyone is running on the spot, and insta heals are the only ones that eventually hit your target.
Also If I was a bloke, my balls would be bigger then some of the lovely, charming, upfront and honest players I have had the honor of spending time with. Let me wipe away those globules of sarcasm for you, and keep my charming smile properly affixed to my face.
But yes, back to quitting.
Honestly I don’t think I could.
Primarily because I don’t have a reason to quit, I could find / do find reasons to reduce my playing. But quit, that’s crazy.
Say you did decide to quit Wow for various reasons, and want to stay away – wash Wow right out of your hair. Maybe there were too many asshats, things you thought you ought to be doing.
So How would you quit with the idea of not coming back?
Cause everyone I know that quits comes back
You could
- Cancel your subscription.
- Give your authenticator to a friend to hide and a promise not to return it to you even when begging them at 2am in the morning in tears.
- Uninstall.
- Destroy your PC.
- Find distractions in a new game – patches of browser based MMO’s to lessen the pain.
- Find distractions in people.
- Get a new hobby. ( I am half serious about the idea of learning Archery and Welsh)
- Just don’t come home and work on your fluro tan in the office.
But all of those things would be easily changed, and so easy to slip back into the habit.
I am a deleter. I delete things that could be bad for me that I would be tempted to keep and use eg Mobile numbers. It might sound a little odd. But deleting, or uninstalling it would most likely be the more affective way for me, as long as I deleted my back up files, and then threw out my cds.
What you can download it off battlenet?
Nooooo
I had a friend that went hungry so they could smoke. That’s what addictions do to you. What would I do to get my fix?
Me and Caffeine have had a love hate relationship for years. I have quit Caffeine successfully for short periods of time. Cold turkey. But I am glad I never smoked, because I can’t leave caffeine alone. I have Suffered through the withdrawal headaches of caffeine and the cravings and the crazy thoughts towards someone holding a coffee cup in the lift – the smell so intoxicating that I had to stand a little closer and take a long sniff.
Your coffee dear sir, has me in a swoon..
But I had several habits to break when quitting caffeine.
I had to break a ritual at the same time. Drinking the coffee wasn’t the only thing I had to change. The coffee place was on my way to work, walking cheerfully into the office so used to holding that cup, the cup sitting there next to the PC, waiting to be sipped.
I managed to do it by changing the direction I walked to work, buying a piece of fruit from a fruit vendor and eating that like I would drink a coffee. I replaced my habit with something, because the times I have tried to do it other ways. Feet! Keep walking! haven’t lasted as long as my successful attempts.
So quitting Wow, would need to involve more then canceling an account, not turning on the PC, Even hanging out with people is dangerous because it’s so easy to slot wow into a conversation, and the internet is dangerous because there are all these things about wow!
Can I come over to your place to watch you play Wow? No I really did come here for Wow.. Really, it wasn’t an excuse to see you.
I have resisted the urge to manage my auctions through my phone. Wow has already permeated my life, I’d like to say mostly for good reasons, but I dream about wow, stay out of my subconscious.
However a Chinese monastery sounds like it might work.
Practicing Casting animations while wearing a robe. It’s Wow Fu – Iron Shadow Priest form. Like this ” Waves hands around” Mindblast! I win against preying mantis!
Nope wouldn’t work.
I don’t have – nor can I forsee, a big enough reason to quit completely, and I think I would have great difficulty doing so. I guess that worrys me a little.
Though I am writing this instead of playing right now.
Must write more!
Provided by 
Pugnacious Priest's Warcraft Blog 
this strikes a few chords… I’ve ‘quit’ WOW three, or is it four? times now only to come back for a variety of reasons; people rarely quit, they just take prolonged holidays.
I suffered burn out the first time from running a big guild and organising 40 man raids, I went cold turkey for a good 3 months, came back too early and fell straight back into raiding, and hated it, I ended up having another 12 months away before returning on a more casual basis for TBC and then every expansion since.
I suppose I’ve got a very addictive nature (same issues with caffine…) so I’ve set myself some quite strict ground rules; the main one being if a ‘real life’ friend (I’d consider several of the people I’ve met through wow to be real life friends, but you get the picture) asks me to do something, say go down the boozer for a couple, I will ALWAYS do that over playing WOW.
Actually thats the main rule, whilst Cata is easily my favourite change to the game ever, and makes me want to play more, my work means I can’t fall back in to regular raiding so I’m reasonably ‘safe’.
oh and I blog… it’s cheaper than therapy. now wheres that coffee pot?….
you lasted 12 months! that’s a good effort, and I have the coffee pot. Mine!
Well it happens to many! I’m getting ready to take another 6mo hiatus myself. Not really happy with things at the moment in game. I think it is healer burnout.
I logged in the other night and attempted to pug a heroic after patch. I have to say it was not a fun experience and I’m at a point where I dread even logging in at all. Which overall is sad. I had such high hopes for Cata and really enjoyed level path from 80-85. My enthusiasm has quickly ebbed though as i encounter the dark attitudes of many current players. Logging in has become something “I’ve always done” rather than something I really want to do.
For the moment I’m going to go to other games. Eq2 has a new expansion coming. I haven’t raided there for a while so I may explore that.
Most likely I will be be playing Rift. I got into the beta and have to say I had a blast. Its similar enough to WoW in function that you can slide into it without even thinking but different enough to keep your interest. The newness of it also has an appeal and it seems to get better and more challenging as you level.
So while I will be on leave from WoW I’m not leaving gaming.
I surprised myself when I worked out how long it was – this from the man who had to uninstall championship manager and post the CD to my parents in order to study for my finals at uni… pretty good effort I think.
Wysiwig – for me it’s about doing things for enjoyment, why different people enjoy the game differs, but at the end of the day if you’re not enjoying it, somethings wrong. have you tried coffee? 🙂
Mystic I have!
I’ve been playing WoW since 2006 with the exception of another “vacation” I took in the spring of 2009 that lasted for about 8mo.
WoW just doesn’t make me happy right now and that is the reason for the break. Its definitely not gaming or spending too much time in that activity.
As I said its probably just a 6mo thing . I have too many good memories in WoW to leave forever.
I’m just wondering if rift will be a poor mans wow, and that there will be enough similarities for you to miss the real thing.
I quit 7 months ago and havent had much of a desire to go back, expect when i get bored because now i have all that free time 🙂
It did take a couple of months for me to ‘cut the cord’ and uninstall wow from my computer though.
You are right that when you quit you need to get out of the habits that wow (or whatever) formed. I still notice that when certain songs come on the radio that i used to have on high rotation when raiding i feel like playing wow.
could it be as simple as streaming wow music through the speakers of shopping centres to entice ex players back? Music has a powerful emotional affect on me to, I’ve found more new music through wow people then probably any other time in my life, so i probably wouldn’t last through too many songs on a random play list because it would be. oh.. i got that band from…
Here’s what made me go on a break:
“fell the need to play wow” -> login -> queue for dungeon -> 30 min wait -> inside dungeon with some noob wipefest for another 30 minutes -> close wow and start doing smth else.
Repeat this for couple weeks and you get burned out pretty fast.
The problem lies not in quitting wow. The problem is replacing it. The toxic addiction lies in the fact that it gives you quick and easy goals to satisfy your need of accomplishment. Going cold for a while cannot last because you will still feel the same need all over again. A first step is looking for other hobbies/activities that are also rewarding. Once you have found one the need to play wow will simply just fade away.
And let’s face it, we gotta do it sooner or later, because spending time on this game is not productive in any means nor even entertaining anymore as I believe it has gotten old a while ago.
I thought Aion, startrek, and even starcraft would keep my interests suitably diversified, but alas, I do have other hobbies.. they just make me want to write songs at 1am in the morning instead of sleeping. The thing is I’ve always done lots of little things, just do not have that one all time consuming one passion that could occupy my time enough
The only way I would quit WoW is if I moved to a country where my sub (ie US) couldn’t be used.
I wouldn’t level again from scratch.
Even that wouldn’t be enough to get me to quit. I’d level again and enjoy it .. and THEN I would be all frustrated because I only had two professions .. so I’d have to roll more toons to cover the skills I didn’t have .. and the classes I didn’t have .. and pretty soon I’d be right back to where I am .. having fun. 😛
Ah see – I hate levelling with a passion. I do it because I have to, not because I want to.
That’s probably the biggest reason why I wouldn’t. No heirlooms, no money, no items, no professions, no thanks.
it would be a new challenge, my zahraah 2.0 would level smarter, quicker, be better at gold making, and have better hair.
the only way to quite something like Wow – this consistent presence in your life for years, something that’s become almost a art of your daily routine…. is to fall out of love with it. at least it was for me
I found that for me playing WoW was like being in a relationship, so as long as there was something salvageable, no matter how unhappy it made me – I kept trying to salvage it, find a new direction, play a new character, reroll on a new server. and then the realization hit me, that I was still playing because I was used to it, it was a familiar part of life, like having coffee with breakfast and shopping for groceries every Tuesday.
and once I realized that I wasn’t even enjoying myself, just going through the motions, I canceled my subscription and stopped logging in.
trying to fill the void with other pursuits when what you really want to play WoW will only work for a little while. you have to not want to play in a first place.
that said, if you feel like you are spending to much time in WoW and now how to cut it down, but still love the game? then why would you quit in a first place? its a hobby like any other and if it makes you happy without jeopardizing the rest of your life, then why not keep playing?
I dont want to quit! I just don’t think I could, nor have any idea how I could make it stick,
but why would you? its not hurting your real life, you seem to be enjoying yourself. who knows, you might even be playing until the servers are shot down and I honestly don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, as long as you’re playing because you want to rather then because you’re to used to it not to play.
I used to think that I could quit, then I realized that I was addicted and didn’t think I could quit, couldn’t see myself not playing, and then I quit because I didn’t want to play anymore. things change, feelings change. This too shall pass. I’d enjoy it while its still fun 🙂
Wow! Thank you so, so much! I’m so happy that you all loved these pieces as much as I did and that they’ve all found wfnderoul new homes. Amber Danese: Yes! I am sooo ready for Bat for Lashes. If you see me there be sure to say hi!Anja Louise: The prices for the collection range from $28 to $68. Thanks!ohphillipa: I am at an abandoned amusement park close to where I live. Thanks again everyone and I’ve just added a few more pieces so be sure to check it out.
I get very ‘into’ things and I play WoW a lot, with two dedicated raiding nights that I will move my work and social calendars around for. I haven’t taken any sort of break or experienced quitting and/or coming back.
However I don’t have an addictive personality, and as I’m still enjoying WoW I find it hard to really, truthfully imagine quitting. But this was a hugely interesting read and I think reflects the feelings of many players.
~Reala
There are two reasons for quitting WoW:
1. You’re no longer enjoying your time in-game. You will always enjoy levelling up or downing a boss or selling a lot of auctions, these activities will make you feel good in the short term, but those are very shallow feelings. If you ever find yourself logging in, wondering what to do and doing it “just because” and you have this empty feeling inside, trust me, you’re no longer enjoying the game. WoW is designed to mask that feeling, with so many shiny achievements or effects to confuse you into thinking you’re having a good time.
2. There is something you’ve decided is more important than WoW. For me, it was my health. It might be something else entirely for you, maybe you want to find a significant other or maybe you want to become a bigger part of your community, your real life community. Whatever it might be, it can’t be half-assed. You have to realize that there are 7 days in a week and you need to do something other than WoW -every- -single- -day-. A technique that worked for a friend of mine was to find and join clubs that met on different days of the week. That way he wouldn’t get bored and he’d have something to do right there, waiting for him, just like WoW.
Feeling that your time would be better spent doing other things is not a good enough reason, at least not until you’ve defined what those “other things” actually are.
I noticed you mentioned that you were a “deleter”. Have you considered disenchanting and selling all of your gear, vendoring all the non-disenchantables, and giving a friend all of your auctionable loot and gold? Followed by promptly deleting your character. This is what I did, and sure, the temptation is still there to go back and roll a new character, but the entrance barrier is a good deterrent.
An alternative is to go out with a bang. Get your account banned. Get a speed hack and run rampant in a bg. Go nuts, take out capital cities single handedly, I’m sure there are packet sniffers out there that could increase your hp and damage to 1 Trillion.
Whatever it is that you decide to do, make sure it excites you. Which leads me to my question, does WoW still excite you? Are you hanging on the edge of your seat, ready to delve into a world teeming with possibilities and adventure?
Can you honestly say you know every structure and all the people within a one block radius of where you live right now?
Delete zah – oh no – not ever – or ever she is the representation of my accumulated hours of effort. Which is also why I could never give her away to someone else to play.
Going out with a bang – permanently banned isn’t really me – kinda a goodie 2 shoes – the otherthings I like doing arent so much structured – and so I am writing songs at 1am because I felt like it . I have a list of things I can do – just none if them big enough to walk away forever
I deleted a character with over 300 days /played on him. Had a moment of mad panic once I realized what I had done, called Blizzard up the next day and was completely set on begging and pleading to get him back, but it turned out it’s a painless process to restore a character.
I once tried asking blizzard to delete all of my world of warcraft accounts (4 of them) from my b.net account, so I could keep my legacy games and starcraft 2 but it was made clear to me that that would be impossible.
I have my computer in my room and there were days in my past, of which I’m not proud, where I would quite literally get out of bed, log into WoW, play all day and night, and get right back into bed when I was too tired to keep my eyes open.
If that’s not what you’re going through, then what I’m suggesting is probably a little too extreme.
I agree with Leah here. The one time I’ve quit Wow properly, as opposed to taking a break, I realised I had simply fallen out of love with it. I knew I was supposed to be enjoying myself when I logged in but while I raided I was wishing I could be doing other things. So I quit the guild and quit Wow. When I started playing again a few months later it was for good reasons – Cata had hit, my boyfriend and I started playing together again, and I was really having fun this time.
It’s a sticky subject when you talk about finding reasons to quit, Zahrah… if you have to search for a reason, then perhaps it’s not quite as damaging as you think it is? From what I’ve read of your blog you seem to have a pretty well-balanced work-life, social life and Wow-life. Usually, if the game is interfering with your life in a detrimental way, in the back of your mind you know it is. The sensible half of your brain knows you need to take time off, if you just listen to it. In that case, if you’re getting the niggling feeling that maybe you need time off, take time off! You don’t need to find a reason.
Now that I’ve come back to the game, I remember what it was like to log in every day and love what I was doing. If I don’t feel that way when I play now, if I’m not having fun when I log in, I log off. Just like that. Perhaps this is the attitude you need to take, if you’re worried about being addicted to Wow. Make it into a game again, rather than your whole life.
It’s still a love – but perhaps a codependent obsessive kinda love – more a fear if the bleak black world without it – ok not quite that bad, I think when I stop questioning myself I will be in trouble. I do think it would be very difficult to give it up- but I guess when the time is right I will know
Usually I just change the drug of choice, I quit WoW played Warhammer Online.
Basically would get me to quit is a hot naked chick in my bed going, “Get your arse over here you bloke”
I’m just saying. LOL!
But does changing the drug make it as good? Or is it easy to be as intoxicated by the substitute?
Not really into chicks- and I sacked my bc and the honeymoon period doesn’t last forever!
There’s a hobby, and there’s an addiction. Do you call someone who needlepoints every night an addict? No. What if that needlepoint shunned society in lieu of needlepoint, then may be yes.
Is someone who is glued to the TV set, and who “Can’t” miss there favorite show an addict? Just because we rather game, then watch the next best TV show makes us addicts?
I don’t miss out on a vibrant social life, I don’t cancel things to raid I may not schedule anything on raid night, but if something comes up. I know addiction, I had a bad gambling addiction, I lost everything to it. So yeah am I addicted to WoW, No I never lost rent money playing that.Do I like playing games, I sure do. Whether it’s WoW, WAR, or any other myriad of games.
those knitters can be kinda kooky –
hey now! we’re not kooky, we’re charmingly eccentric 😛
i find that you need a powerful disincentive to log on.
This is quite a pertinent topic for me at the moment, as my guild last night announced that they are becoming a single 10 man raid with a defined membership (mostly the officers)… they’ve efectively taken the guild effort of a sh!tload of members… enough to get the guild to level 15, thanked us for our contribution and told us to leave.
At the moment, I’m reminded of the crappier side of humanity everytime i log on, and if THAT’s not a disincentive then I don’t know what is
And really all you can is shake your fist in the darkness – that’s a bum deal- if they aren’t g kicking the best revenge would be your own 10’s that got better progression. But yeah it has been the people that have caused me more disincentive then the actual game does.