I'll reply. I've told my husband the same thing... "it's a stupid fucking video game!!! If it's just a game, then why is it so important to you that you'd be willing to become hostile to me over it. If it's just a game, why do let me cry over losing my husband's time to a computer over and over again. How are you okay with breaking me heart? In any other circumstance you would do something about it to make things better between us... but when it comes to WOW, I come second."

My husband never agrees with me. He says that his wife and child are more important to him hands down. But actions speak louder than words. And when he ignores me and his baby girl for the sake of a game, then to me, that means the game comes first, hands down. Yes, it is my husband's fault. But Wow, to most people is not JUST a game. It is their LIFE. For my husband, it was his way of coping with every negative feeling he had. Yes, that is sad. Yes, it is their fault. But WOW is like heroin, except one told them so. No one mentioned to them that it could be this addictive. It should have come with a disclaimer... "play at the risk of losing major relationships in your life." You are fortunate enough not to have been deceived into thinking that a VIDEO game is better than real life. Rather, that a VIDEO game IS real life.

You were fortunate enough not to have been sucked into the vortex that is WOW. You have your head on straight while I tell my husband that his priorities are twisted. When he plays WOW, he can't see straight. It's like the land of reverse. But that is the nature of the game. It fools you into thinking it's real life because you are playing with real people, chatting with real friends on vent. But it's just fantasy and and any sense of accomplishment is not tangible. Real life may not be as exciting or as ideal, but it's REAL.

Talk to any one of those hardcore gamers and they'll agree to your face because how can they disagree. BUT will they stop? Not likely. Does an alcoholic know he's an alcoholic? Yes. But can he stop on his own? No. Is it their life partner's fault that he's an alcoholic? No. Will setting boundaries, staging interventions, having long heartfelt talks, will yelling and screaming and pleading make him stop? Most likely not. Why? Because he's an ADDICT! For most of us wives and girlfriends you are speaking to, this is our situation. And until our husbands find inner motivation to stop, they won't. Some of them have lost wives, girlfriends, children, and friends because of their behavior. They essentially became the boozy on the corner with no job, no home, no friends, begging for money for his next drink. So to you, this is just a game, like for some a drink is just a drink. I am happy for you that you don't need WOW the way some do. You are lucky. But some of us are living with addicts whose crutch in life is WOW.

I am happy to say that my husband quit. After seven months of fighting I told him that he should. I didn't want to be the one to take it away from him. I didn't him to resent me for taking away his favorite thing in the world. I didn't want him to think I was being like his mother disciplining him or punishing him for being bad. But it was a risk I had to take. Deep down he knew it was for the best even though he wasn't "ready" to quit, so he says. And yes, he's going through withdrawal. After playing night and day for five years (he hid it from me when we were dating because we didn't live together until after we were married), who wouldn't? He has become more irritable, more hostile, more angry and less pleasant to be around. But my child has her father back. And I have a man who is PRESENT and who cares about real life. He misses it. He longs for it like he longs for a cigarette. But he knows it will destroy us. And for the first time in our marriage, I feel like he's chosen us over a STUPID FUCKING VIDEO GAME.

right, we all know it's just a game and donuts are just a food and pot is just a plant. I'd love to walk around smoking a joint all day, but I don't. You are right, people need to have some sort of personal responsibility, but everyone has their vice. True, we all want to blame the game instead of our spouses because it's easier. But to those of us who have experience people with WOW problems, the entire situation is jacked. Don't you wonder why America is leading the way when it comes to obesity?

K