60 levels, 30+ epics, a few really good "real life" friends, a seat on the oldest and largest guild on our server's council, 70+ days "/played," and one "real" year later...
...
To illustrate the impact it had, let's look at me one year later. When I started playing, I was working towards getting into the best shape of my life (and making good progress, too). Now a year later, I'm about 30 pounds heavier that I was back then, and it is not muscle. I had a lot of hobbies including DJing (which I was pretty accomplished at) and music as well as writing and martial arts. I haven't touched a record or my guitar for over a year and I think if I tried any Kung Fu my gut would throw my back out. Finally, and most significantly, I had a very satisfying social life before. My friends and I would go out and there were things to do every night of the week.
...
Blizzard created a game that you simply can not win. Not only that, the only way to "get better" is to play more and more. In order to progress, you have to farm your little heart out in one way or another: either weeks at a time PvPing to make your rank or weeks at a time getting materials for and "conquering" raid instances, or dungeons where you get "epic loot" (pixilated things that increase your abilities, therefore making you "better")
Scary because it's true, right? I remember during the first month of my second long hiatus from WoW (the one in the middle of this blog), I couldn't stop thinking about it, even doing a good deal of research for what quests and recipes to run and bag once I got back. It really felt like I had a bit of withdrawal. No doubt that this is an addiction. The question is what the real damages are, and how one can accurately measure them.
And now, back to figuring out where I was on the I see dead Draenei quest line before the hiatus... *sigh*
1 comment:
I totally agree Ruff! For a 'game', it does seem to have that unequivocal draw to it. My wife has told me its b/c there is no real 'end' to the game. You don't actually 'win' it at any point. It just keeps going and so you keep going (as opposed to previous game where u kill the big bad boss at the end and the credits roll and you uninstall and move on with your life).
Another thing I notice is the 'keeping up with the Jones's' mentality in this game. The fact is, there will always be someone who has more time/money/gear than you and will always be ahead of you (at least from your perspective). So, I had to (and sometimes still have to) remind myself that I'm playing to have fun and not to beat anyone else or to compare my toon with others.
I also have spent way to much time thinking about the 1 hour of playtime I'm gonna get this evening and planning what I'm going to be doing with it!
One way I avoided the draw to play to much is to /gquit and formed a guild with my wife and another local couple we are friends with and play with. So, 4 RL people and their alts in a single guild. Sure, I don't get all the perks of instant help at any time and all the Guild banter but its much more laid back and I don't feel that pressure to hurry up and join my guildies doing xyz.
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