So has anyone else fallen victim to the WoW addiction?

[firebirdgold]

So, you ask, what could possibly be more addictive than diamonds or pricescope? What could possibly cause a sane, well-adjusted, 33 yr old to stay up to 2:30 in the morning? W.o.W., World of Warcraft, a fully immersive massive multi-player online role-playing game. This thing is so incredibly addictive, I now use it as a bribe to get through the unpleasant bits in my day. Although I did have to insitute a rule for myself, no WoW if I haven''t exercised outdoors that day. It may actually be increasing my fitness.

Outside of pricescope, I have never come across so many people who are happy to help a complete stranger, or are so friendly. The best part about it isn''t the realistic graphics, or the complicated politics, the self-sustaining economy, the professions, or even the stress-relief of running about and bashing spiders, zombies, and orcs. It''s the wonderful social interactions with support group-like guilds, dance parties, and joining up into groups with friends and strangers to do quests or go on capture the flag type raids against the enemy faction. (I mentioned politics, right?) At some point a heated chat discussion on who''s responsible for getting everyone killed that time became one of the highlights of my day.
Of course the ability to pretend to be someone else completely for an hour or two is pretty nice as well!

So are there any fellow addicts on PS? If there are please whisper Vrenna the next time you''re on. And if you''re not, then come and join up!

It''s actually economical! It''s saving me large quantities of money.

I cut back on my cable subscription, my satellite radio, my amazon habit, and netflixs. Instead of watching a movie with my bf, we both get online and play together!

And hey, it''s a lot more pleasant than reading cnn!

 

[dballing]

Much to Deco''s despair, I am a WoW addict.

It makes the Baby Jesus cry that she doesn''t enjoy it as well.

 

[Selkie]

Well, I''m not, but that''s probably because I''ve never played it. It sounds exactly like the kind of thing that would suck me in and not let go. My FI threatened to take away my Sims, until my computer got too slow for it to be enjoyable

.

 

[Mokey]

My hubby is an addict!




E.T.A. He isn't an actual addict, I just meant that he really likes it.

 

[TravelingGal]

I used to work for the company that owned Blizzard (I worked in educational software), so all this stuff was pretty much free to me. And I could still never get myself to play it. I had (guy) friends telling me I should play and begging me for free stuff. I guess I''ll go through life not knowing what the hype is about - but I heard it really is great stuff.

 

[LollyBear]

My hubby is an addict and I DETEST the game!

The moment he gets home he heads straight for the computer, going on raids that last 3-5 hours. Then he'll duel or capture the flag for another couple hours. ARGH

Now, I think I'm a reasonable person and I wouldn't mind him playing, even for a few hours straight, if it were an occassional thing, but this has become a daily event! Even our weekend plans are being determined by his raid schedule.
This stupid game is going to ruin my relationship

.

 

[strmrdr]

sounds a lot like irc addiction :{
What got me back into programming computers is making irc warbots back in the day. :}
Then I got recruited by the white hats and spent even more time writing anti-warbots and AI scripts :}
g-lining spammers and idiots was way fun :}

I even got death threats but that stopped when I sent them my address and said bring it on with a picture of a little bit of my much larger than it is today collection of toys.

Fun times but in a lot of ways such a waste.
So having been there my advice is break the online addiction its not worth it.

The only good thing that came from the years spent was meeting my wifey2b and a few friends and that would have happened without the downsides if id stuck to a sane amount of time on it.

 

[MINE!!]

LOL.. Indie.. My brother and my father are totally addicted to WoW...LOL.. everytime I call them, they tell me that they are playing WoW.

 

[CourtHorn]

My fiance is playing it right now actually. He is a serious addict. I am trying to find a 12-step meeting for him to attend. It drives me freaking nuts!!

 

[anchor31]

My BF was a hardcore addict and recently got over it. But now it''s his XBOX, so same difference, really.

 

[codex57]

Warcraft 1 and 2 sucked me in bad enough. I learned my lesson. I don''t even play video games now.

 

[justjulia]

13 yr old son and his friends are totally addicted. They type with one hand and cell on the other while battling together. The characters he designs are STRANGE looking, I tell ya.

 

[bookworm21]

I want to try playing, but there''s so much reading to do in order to understand the game!! Or maybe I should just dive in and to hell with reading the guides and such. What do you guys suggest?

 

[firebirdgold]

guides?? Who reads guides?
As a newbie character you gets lots of little quests to help get into the swing of things. It''s much easier to jump into than the old warcraft games since it''s roleplaying.

heh, I may need a 12 step program myself. Although the fact that we both play helps with any potential relationship strain.
I seriously recommend anyone with an S.O who has a WoW addictition to just give up and join in. Once you get to the point of playing with other people in a group you''re going to love it! My bf and I picked characters that work well as a team.

MINE, I think it''s hysterical that both your brother and father are totally into the game!

 

[Mannequin]

I have this problem with the Sims 2 and Sid Meier''s Pirates! games.

When I found myself cruising around the Caribbean at 3 in the morning firing on Blackbeard''s ship, I knew I had gone too far. LOL

I have a GREAT video for you guys to watch. This is a performance by the Australian comedy group Tripod, dedicated to the gamers out there and the people who love (or put up with) them.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1329362959167995041

 

[Mannequin]

Also a funny one: WoW characters singing "The internet is for p0rn" It''s catchy... you''ve been warned!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4446981554735098778

 

[firebirdgold]

ROFLMAO!!

Oh G., I think i hurt myself laughing!

 

[zdrastvootya]

Indie,

I think it''s cool that you and your BF play! I''m always surprised to run into female gamers.

My wife really kicks by butt on this old PS1 fighting game Toshinden. I''m always disturbed by this. All we do is button-mash, but why is she so much better than me?

I''ve been hooked on Star Wars Republic Commando lately (just an individual pc game), but have been cutting back. (Got very good at hitting pause when wife wishes to converse, and then carrying on when conversation is over.) The good part (or bad part) is there''s only about 10 hours of game play to this game. I''m 2/3rds of the way through.

Z.

 

[Waited2Long]

Online games are the devil. I remember the 1st time I played an online game, I stayed up all night, playing for 17 hours straight. My eyes never left the screen. When I finally stood up to use the bathroom I couldn''t focus on anything that wasn''t 18" in front of me. For a while I was addicted to Halo. I can''t play them in moderation and apparently I''m not alone. My fiancee can definitely relate to all you gamer widows. It really is an addiction, with many classic signs. I finally got so fed up with not having control that I went cold turkey, and uninstalled them from my PC. The couple weeks after that were really difficult, and showed me how bad the addiction really was. It was scary. I also refuse to buy a game console, as cool and as fun as they are. Nothing wrong with games but the addiction is known to have cost people jobs and significant others.