http://ihatewow.tribe.net/thread/87324d93-15ad-4918-84c7-bed912e7a2b5?format=rss Tribe.net. Local Connections http://ihateWOW.tribe.net/thread/87324d93-15ad-4918-84c7-bed912e7a2b5#351dae5e-07ac-44a0-8a89-1f58d69785d2 A site that may also help people is called www.quitwownow.com It offers an indepth view of why people become addicted and how to break the addiction! Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:48:23 GMT http://ihateWOW.tribe.net/thread/87324d93-15ad-4918-84c7-bed912e7a2b5#351dae5e-07ac-44a0-8a89-1f58d69785d2 rich 2009-06-24T09:48:23Z http://ihateWOW.tribe.net/thread/87324d93-15ad-4918-84c7-bed912e7a2b5#408bb798-2a39-4c4f-96a4-ebc829f83737 Hi, (quick note before we start, i will upload this to my blog, and keep editing it there, i can't seem to edit a post once its been made!) Anyway Hi, I am a wow addict, I am writing this as I read some of the posts here and sympathise with a lot of the women (and some men) whose lives this game has affected. I want to help, so hopefully this will help... I started playing the game over 3 and a half years ago, two very good friends of mine had already bought and started playing the game, they played counterstrike with me and told me if would be really fun, add to that the reviews from various gaming magazines and the fact that warcraft 3 was an exceptional game, it was an easy buy.... It seemed like a natural step up from counterstrike, which although is another online multiplayer game it is no where near as involving, as indepth or as addictive as world of warcraft. My friend and I bought the game, brought his computer over to mine and then hardly left the room for the next two or so weeks, we slept in the same room at different times, we ate junk food , we talked , we leveled our characters in an entirely new world and we had a lot of fun! I can still remember the feelings of seeing huge sweeping landscapes, fighting new monsters and most of all leveling. It was something we lived for, pushing ourselves to stay awake and level more, watch ourselves increase in strength and fighting other players in a virtual world. You may be wondering how this is relevent, well, the feeling of doing all this , gaining levels, beating other players and exploring vasts new areas releases endorphins it gave me and my friends huge hits of pleasure! Its very very hard to explain, its like constantly being happy and safe! There is a lot to do in an mmorpg such as wow, you can gain new weapons and armor to increase your characters fighting prowess, the damage he can do to other players, you can increase your profession skills, becoming a miner or skinner, you organise a group of friends to fight huge monsters in short , wow takes as much time as you can give, in short it is very addictive... So, the problems started, leveling was an obsession, getting our characters better items (weapons and armor) was something we shrived to do, we spent more and more time per day (6-7 hours min.) getting them to maximum level. We stopped going to university lectures, we skipped our coursework and most importantly we failed to attend our first year exams we literally played wow right through them thinking we'll just retake the year! That is how much the game meant to us... Fast forward three years... the game still has me in its grip, I am very very good at it, beating some of the best players in europe... and i still play a lot. There are times when i've managed to get away from it, taking 7-8 days off it due to lack of interest , but it keeps drawing me back, it's literally like a drug. I've taken up tae kwon do, joined the gym and go out to go clubbing with my friends but its not enough to keep me away from wow... I am fully fully aware that i am addicted, i won't say it out loud except in jest, but i am seriously addicted to the game, if someone said to me tomorrow you cannot play wow again i don't know what i would do, i have dedicated so much time to it , stayed in when my friends go out to play it, and got so good at it, i think i would go through massive massive withdrawal symptoms. However, there is hope, because i know that most of the people who play wow KNOW THIS, thats right, your husbands, bfs, fiancees or even friends THEY KNOW IT, they know that spending time playing wow instead of with you is wrong, that know you disapprove and they know that they want to change.... you must understand though it is not easy to quit wow, if you think i was being over dramatic about it being like a drug, guess again! So now you know how i got into wow, what makes it so special , the consequences of playing it and the thoughts of the person you care about playing it, it's time for the help part! Important points to keep in mind: It is not easy, know this first off, drill it into your conscious, IT IS NOT EASY ! say it again IT IS NOT EASY TO QUIT WOW! You are up against a euphoric feeling of safety and accomplishment, but it can be beaten, just don't expect it to happen in one day. Secondly , you must know it is not your fault at all, if your partner is playing wow, rather than spending time with you, it is the games fault and the games fault alone, i know you may feel lonely and upset but don't blame him or yourself, blame the game. Thirdly, wow is a form of escapism, people use it to break free from commitment or real life struggles, everything is forgotten when playing wow, this is why when people are disturbed when playing wow it angers them or causes them to be irritable, because life comes crashing back as do the troubles, anxieties and fears. Quitting I suffer from an anxiety and depression disorder which requires me to take a drug that inhibits my serotonin uptake, it short an anti depressant, I also see a councillor, throughout our talks we discussed a lot of ways in which to improve my mind and thoughts, some of which I believe could be helpful here. Starting a new hobby/activity/sport, I chose the gym and tae kwon do, and it worked perfectly, I was out of the house on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday as well as joining my friends for nights out (when I could walk), this left little time for wow and I even though I found myself coming in at 7-8pm I felt no rush to jump onto my computer, I stopped raiding and only did arena a few times a week, it was perfect. My one fatal error was stopping all of this when my university exams hit, so that I struggled to take these activities up again and fell into wow remission! Keeping track of time, When playing wow, any sense of time is lost, you can be so immersed in the game that hours literally whizz by. Keeping an alarm clock next to the computer and setting it to go off every hour will keep focus away from sitting in game doing nothing and will help to give some perspective to it. I get up and stretch my legs for 5-10, take stock of anything I need to do and do it. Setting definitive times for playing wow, although you may frown on this, If you want your friend to quit, this is a sacrifice that must be made. Be realistic as well, set 1-2 hour periods that you leave your ‘friend’ alone to play wow, but these constraints work both ways at the time set get him/her off the computer for some quality time with you! And be patient, a little leeway to finish a boss/quest/game will give you brownie points. I want to get this out to the forums as quickly as possible; I genuinely want to help people. It seems so depressing seeing people’s life’s being torn apart by this stupid game and I do sympathise, I , from personal experience know that this game is incredibly addictive and is a huge problem for some people! Any questions at all, how to quit, what’s the best way to make a change, how people feel when they play wow, simply ask me! I will try my absolute hardest to reply to everything! As this is only a draft I will post it and keep editing. But at least it’s out there I hope it helps Yours sincerely Wow addict Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:38:46 GMT http://ihateWOW.tribe.net/thread/87324d93-15ad-4918-84c7-bed912e7a2b5#408bb798-2a39-4c4f-96a4-ebc829f83737 rich 2009-06-24T09:38:46Z