How Did You Get Rid of Your World of Warcraft Addiction?

Get up from the computer and get a life. Find yourself a hot piece of a$ $ and a pizza. That should be a good start.

I quit 8 months ago because I was having problems with my hand hurting all the time. I work in an office setting in front of a computer, then I would go home and raid 4-5 times a week. Essentially, on those days, I would be sitting in front of a computer for more than 12 hours.

There are several things that have contributed to my control over a WoW addiction. In the end, it was about realizing what is important to me.

I played EverQuest throughout about half of college, to the point where I was playing till 4am without even realizing the time. Looking back on it, I don’t remember much of what I did that year. It was just a waste of time. In contrast I have very fond memories of all the things I experienced, the crazy adventures, and the campus activities I went to when I wasn’t playing.

I knew a guy who played EQ so much that he literally did fail out of college. What did his friends all think? LAME. How sad, how lame, to fail out of this fantastic college experience because of a computer game. How do you explain that one away when you are interviewing for a job? How do you live with that for the rest of your life?

Now eight years later I am playing WoW. At first it was highly addicting. I made it to lvl 70. I was doing raids. But it seemed like a ridiculous commitment to me to be promising these people who I usually didn’t even know, that I would devote 6-8 hours of my weekend to doing a raid with them, when guild politics may result in my not even getting any gear/rewards. That’s if I end up getting the raid invite in the first place. I found myself very frustrated with guild politics, frustrated with helping others accomplish their goals and not really doing the things I wanted to do.

I started wondering what it was I wanted to do. And I realized that more than levelling up my tailoring, more than figuring out the best gem for my gear, I wanted to learn how to cook so that when I have a friend over for dinner I don’t have to make them spaghetti. I wanted to learn something about digital photography so that I could impress others with the striking composition of my photos. I wanted to start swing dancing again, and play a sport again. I missed seeing the sun. I missed hanging out by a lake and watching the geese. I missed seeing my friends.

I had nothing interesting to talk about at parties. Someone would ask, “So what do you do for fun?”, and I was too ashamed to say, “I play online games all day.” So I would lie and pretend I still played sports, pretend I still swing danced, pretend I still took photos. Everybody else seemed to have interesting hobbies that they enjoyed, and I learned quickly that talking about playing online games was a conversation stopper. Even if one person in a group shared the WoW addiction, it would alienate the two of us from everybody else.

I tried not playing for a few days, just to see what else I could come up with to do. I realized there were several books I had started reading and still wanted to get through. There were movies and TV shows that I wanted to see. There was a concert I wanted to go to. A few days of not playing turned into a week, and I felt better about myself for having NOT wasted that week in a world where NOTHING IS REAL.

I limited myself to only playing 2 weekday nights a week, and half of one weekend day…. AT MOST. I signed up for a cooking class. I rented a video on digital photography. I got involved in things that didn’t involve a computer.

Now I will play a couple times a week for a one-month subscription, then let it lapse and do other things for 2-3 months before I sign up again. When I sign up, I only buy for 1 month and immediately cancel so it will not auto-renew. That way I don’t feel like “I’m paying for it, I may as well use it.”

I still play periodically, but now it is just one of many things I can do for relaxation. I feel like I accomplish a lot more now. I’m more on top of things, more put-together, more in control of my life. Sure I’m excited that I just got another mount. Sure I’m excited to try my new spells. But at the end of the day, does it matter? It’s just a game. I value my time learning new things more. I value my time playing sports more. I value my time spent with friends and family more.

And my friends and family really like having me around. You may not realize it, but while you are addicted to WoW, they miss you. While you are addicted to WoW, you are not there for them. You are fading from their lives.

What do you value more: Your 67 warlock, or your best friend? Your 54 hunter and owl pet, or your mom?

Who is going to be there for you if you need help? Who will congratulate you on graduation day?

Never got one, I am a causal player some days I don’t even log on. Its all in your head.