Breaking WoW addiction

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-11-19 04:36am

Ever since I got back from my trip I've been really trying to get back into WoW. I just can't. I get away from it for 3 months, I look at it, and I just can't be stuffed. I have no idea what my fascination with it was. Getting new loot and more money and epic mounts and blah blah- it seems completeyly not urgent anymore. I just don't care. *shrug* Too bad I wasted $40 getting a recharge card for it though.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-11-19 04:58am

It was easy enough for me.
With Call of Duty 2, Quake IV, The Warriors, the various HL2, and BF1942/2 Mods to play plus half a dozen other games and City of Villians I kept feeling like I was wasting my time playing WoW.

Laughing Mechanicus · Post by **Laughing Mechanicus** » 2005-11-19 05:17am

The same thing happened with me. I used to play WoW religiously, but I got distracted from it by university work for a month or so. When I went back to it just couldn't enjoy it anymore, it felt like I was wasting time I could be doing something more important with. I tried starting different characters, different servers etc... It was just boring, even playing with my girlfriend. I left it alone for a few more months and went back to it recently and it is fun again, but has nowhere near the draw it had on me originally and I only play it if I don't have anything to do and find it relaxing.

I noticed this with SWG too, played it near non-stop when it came out, ended up putting it down for a few weeks to move home then when I came back to it it was just dull. Although in the case of SWG never got better, possibly because they had mangled it badly by that point though.

I find it quite interesting because we often think of MMOs as addictive, literally like crack. But usually if an addict is able to kick their habit for something then they have to stay away from it for a very long time, otherwise it will prey on them again. But for some reason this doesn't seem to be the way it works for MMOs, probably something to do with the difference between a chemical and psychological dependency or some such.

GuppyShark · Post by **GuppyShark** » 2005-11-19 08:19am

Similar thing happened to me and my housemate. We spent a week without internet because the landline company screwed us, and lo and behold.

We spend all week bitching that we can't play WoW, then when we come back... it doesn't grab us.

WTF would I want to wait two hours to play a 10-minute game of CTF?

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2005-11-19 08:20am

Similar bit with me. Two months of intesive work, that allowed no game time. Thus asking some friends what had happened while gone, hearing the Guild degenerate into yabbering and shit(again), that fuck it. What is the expansion going to have that I'm going to care?

New race, new job, new mount....all easily done within a month, then what? Grind for four months to get that shiny new purple and watch Blizz assrape a character of mine in the pissant self interest to go "Balance!"

We call it crack because a user does really love it, but once the glitter is gone, you do leave and go "ah well."

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2005-11-19 08:56am

Yeah, same thing here, extensive play for a short time, then after getting my mount, I was like "well, I guess that's all there is" since each mission is the same; be a courier or kill some stuff. The only quest I am sorry I never finished was the Gurubashi arena one.

Now I am kind of sorry that my character is probably dead, but these things happen.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2005-11-19 11:51am

Work that limits the amount of time you can play and a groing lack of interest have broken my addiction, to some extent. I'm at that point where every quest either requires a large group or isn't worth the effort, and usually can't play for the 2-3 hours needed to find a group and run through a dungeon without being interrupted by something. Still play every day, though.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2005-11-19 11:58am

My friend once gave me advice -- "Stop upgrading your computer and eventually the games will get too good for it." I bought a laptop with an integrated video card, ditched my desktop to my brother, and it's worked so far. I haven't gotten into the new generation of games, and don't plan to.

For GW, I was addicted for a few months, then beat it and deleted it. Deleting it is a good way to get rid of it. I'm very very lazy when it comes to recreation, there's no CD drive on my laptop, and to reinstall it would be a major 2 hour hassle.

Once a person told me that you get nothing good out of games (I believe the best he said was someone he knew "won a cruise" but that was it), and looking back I'm inclined to agree. I have gotten nothing good out of games, better time could have been spent reading or socializing, and that stops me from playing time-consuming games too.

Brian

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2005-11-19 12:51pm

I got bored with it after awhile and almost never touched it for, hm, 6 months? Then just a few weeks ago, for reasons which will forever be beyond me, I've been going on this unstoppable binge. Of course, I suppose it helps that this time around I've been doing an Alliance character, so most of the quests are a little more fresh and new.

SVPD · Post by **SVPD** » 2005-11-21 11:49am

The times I've taken a break from EQ (now retired) WoW or EQ2 ahve just made me more ready to play when I get back to them.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2005-11-21 11:52am

I believe the packaging each copy comes with is scented with a special pheromone that addicts people to playing it. Obviously this has worn off now and you are of a sane mind.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2005-11-21 01:08pm

I could never get addicted to any MMOGs, even CoV, which is extremely fun, bores me after a few continious hours of playing.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-11-21 01:46pm

Think I used to have the same issue with the Playstation when it first came out. Spent several hours working on various games when I had the time, but after selling it due to financial issues and not having access to one for a few months, the next time I bought one it simply didn't have the same appeal that it used to.