Monday, June 23, 2008

Warcraft Addiction

I'm going through my updated feeds on Google Reader, and Matticus linked an article by Monique of Girls Don't Game. Monique is a former Death & Taxes raider, and now a reformed hardcore WoW player. Monique's article on her Warcraft addiction is an excellent read, as is Matticus's follow-up. I highly recommend them both.

As for myself, I was pretty darn addicted as late as September of last year. I had slowly but surely built my play-time up from 12 hours a week to 5-6 hours every night, and went from rank-and-file guildie in a semi-serious raid guild to Paladin class lead to officer to Guild Master and founder of a semi-serious raid guild. When it reached its height, I burned out and cancelled my subscription. After a month off though, I felt a little bored with my other games and since most of my friends are working (as am I), going out on weeknights wasn't really a good idea. So, I re-upped my account, transfered and started fresh. Other people re-roll, I just respec.

My play time has been increasing as of late, slowly creeping from 15-18 hours a week (12 raid hours plus extraneous play time when I started raiding on my new server) to upwards of 20. I raided Zul'Aman for a bear run and then did a Karazhan zerg instead of going out on Friday night. It's stories like Monique's that remind me that I shouldn't let that happen.

Always remember: Azeroth is not a habitat or a tangible world, and once that plug gets pulled, it's gone. Live in the real world, play in the real world, and limit your Orcish interaction, lest you live and breath your character and grow too attached.

3 comments:

Captain The First said...

It was an inspiring post wasn't it? I think it's spreading... which just goes to show: good topics are universal

Unknown said...

well i'm in a bad boat then, I consume 50+ hours a week in WoW, I'm pretty much having my normal monday to Friday job, + wow job right now, it's quite insane really.

Shwitz44 said...

@captain
Yea, I've noticed a few other bloggers picking up on Monique's post. Definitely applies to all of us.

@daniel
Ease off the throttle, dude. 50+ hours a week in Azeroth plus 40+ hours a week at your day job? When do you sleep (not to mention eat, take care of personal hygiene, or do anything else)?