My realization of how much a drug WoW actually is.

munkle

[H]F Junkie
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This is just a post, thats supposed to be funny (and a little sad at the same time) of how similar WoW is to a narcotic.

When I first saw WoW I had no interest in playing it, my friend had bought it because he always liked warcraft but I wasn't into warcraft. He kept telling me to buy it so we could play together, he let my play his guy a couple times to try and convince me to buy it. Finally I caved and bought the game, I played a warlock up to 41 and then quit because I lost appeal because I thought I had played to much (to much then is nothing compared to what I play now) and it had gotten boring.

I started playing again 6 months later for whatever reason, didn't have anything else to do really. I got to 60 and join a raiding guild and it was all down hill from there, I would raid instead of doing my school work and then stay up all night doing my homework really crappy. I felt I needed that next piece of gear and then I would be happy with my character but it never worked out like that, I always needed to get better and better, similar to how drug addicts need there next fix but its never as good as the last one.

I decided it was time for break and stopped playing my 60. I had another friend that I got to play WoW also but he never got past 26 and didn't really want to play because he felt it was a waste of time. I wanted him to get to 60 so I said ill level a new guy with him if he will take him to 60 it took some peer pressure but I finally got him to level a guy to 60. Basically hes new to the drug doesn't really want to take it and I did it with him, puts lots of peer pressure on him, and got him hooked now too. Same thing happened to a third friend of mine leveling a char with him now too, me and my other friend both pressured him to play. Both of which now stay up late just to play and think about "the man" (we call WoW "the man" because it owns your soul, and takes you over) all day long, none of which they did before.

All my friends and I know that we would be better off not playing the man but we just have this unquenchable urge to play. When we decide to do something in the real world, it becomes a cost analysis with what could we be doing on the man instead, real world usually wins because we are not total crack-o-holics. I used to be able to have a normal conversation with people, now after playing WoW for so long all I want to talk about is WoW and find it a little more difficult to have normal conversation.

WoW is setup to be a narcotic, you get little fixes such as levels, new spells, new gear, but you want more and more. If you are not playing WoW, your friends can email you a trail account for first "free" try, and then when you want more you got to pay.

Most people that I meet that have played WoW and have quit tell other people to stay away from the game and that its bad news. Just like recovering drug addicts say to stay away from drugs. Some people try and deny they have problem with WoW saying its a game and they can quit anytime, I tried it one time and no joke I literally got the shakes, I need a WoW fix. Playing WoW is also kind of taboo, you don't want people to know you play but you play anyways. People do drugs but they don't want others to know it.

WoW is a drug in almost every sense of the word, its addictive, costs money, and can mess with peoples lives.

Any comments how else wow is a drug?
 
WoW is for fat ppl. . and people who like throwing away their money .

Neither me nor my friends are fat, and we don't like throwing away money, I fail to see your point, which you didn't even back up. Unless you are taking these conclusions from your own life?
 
although i can kind of relate to your situation, you need to just take the game in moderation. 1-2 hours a day, drop the raiding guild, and just pvp. seriously. try to do your best with crap gear against people with good gear. theres a rush.
 
I agree with you, WoW definitely tweaks your neurochemical balance and can be addictive. RPG elements play with human empathy and achievment. I was addicted too, for a year actually.

Neither me nor my friends are fat, and we don't like throwing away money, I fail to see your point, which you didn't even back up. Unless you are taking these conclusions from your own life?

Well done. MichaLcoughliN, real WoW players don't have time to eat.
 
although i can kind of relate to your situation, you need to just take the game in moderation. 1-2 hours a day, drop the raiding guild, and just pvp. seriously. try to do your best with crap gear against people with good gear. theres a rush.

Did that the second time I quit, pretty much only pvp when I play now, instances every now and then. I don't play nearly as much as when I raided, glad thats over with.
 
I can sympathize with you brother. Theres only one way to quit, cold turkey. I had a roommate that was addicted to Lineage 2, and let me tell you it was a total addiction. He quit his job, ditched his friends, and basically let his life go downhill all to play the game. The only time he would come out of his room was to use the bathroom or get his pizza from the delivery guy.He would stay up days at a time, and it was taking a toll on his body. One day I walked into his room and found about 100 dirty moldy paper plates, 100's of coke cans and him passed out from sleep deprivation on the floor. He had literally hit rock bottom laying in a pile of his own dirty, pizza stained paper plates and coke cans. At that point I interviened and told him that his addiction had turned into a problem. He had always been the most respectful , cleanliest , and hard working guys I ever knew. A guy who's job always was important to him as well as his friends. It was very sad to see him fall into this downward spiral. He tried to quit several times only to go back time after time. One of the most pitiful things I've ever seen.
 
I completely relate to the ‘just one more piece of gear’ syndrome. Comparing WoW to a drug is a pretty fair analogy TBH, more like a soft drug though really. Where some people can enjoy in moderation with their friends on the weekend or w/e, others are ‘playing’ first thing in the morning and continue all day to the detriment of everything else.
 
I can easily see the potential for it to be a drug. With my first subscription to the game, I almost let it get the better of me. I was living with my fiance and her daughter (we're now married), and spending a great deal of time playing. My old guild started raiding Molten Core/Onyxia, and I started to make plans around it. I would insist on getting home at a certain time so I wouldn't be late.

I didn't like how that felt. At all.

So, I quit. I wrote a long letter to my guild and friends, explaining my situation. I wanted to spend more time with my future wife and step-daughter, in addition to spending time with hobbies that I was neglecting (movies, books, martial arts). I managed to quit without any issues. I missed the game a little, but I missed my WoW friends much more.

I came back after about ten months, which was September of last year. I wanted to play again, and the expansion was due to come out soon. I played for about three or four months, and quit again several weeks before the expansion. January semester was going to start, and I didn't want any distractions. I was thinking my classes would be a bit more difficult and time-consuming than last semester's.

I was wrong, so I came back to the game again. I am still playing.

My wife doesn't have a problem with it. She thinks I play a lot, but she knows I don't let it run my life. I still spend time with her and my friends. I no longer plan my life around the game, which unfortunately means my advancement will soon hit a brick wall. But I guess that's the nature of the beast. I generally will only run instances on the weekends, and even then I only do one or two at most. I hate the idea of sitting at my computer and not feeling like I can just get up and stop when I want. So when I do run instances, it is either Sunday morning when everyone is still asleep, or Saturday nigtht when it doesn't matter. Even then, I usually go out on Saturdays anyway.

With the summer on its way, I will likely be playing much less. I want to start excercising again, and I need to start getting ready for my black belt test next year (I want to be in tip-top shape). I know I can quit the game without any issues, so if I need to I will.

It's like any non-chemically addictive drug: It's only addictive if you let it be.
 
It's like any non-chemically addictive drug: It's only addictive if you let it be.

Yep :D.

P.S. I did the same thing (minus having a fiance!) with Dark Age of Camelot, basically. I've been flirting with WoW now, but not sure I really am going to go into it at this point.
 
don't see how its addictive. its never been fun the times i've tried to play it so i can't see how anyone can play for 4 or 5 hours at a time.
 
A weak will is what keeps you playing, not the fact that its a virtual narcotic. :-p
 
I've felt the WoW-crack before. Ugh.. College, work, and 5-6 hours of raiding a day. Somehow I managed to juggle it all fine and happy but GOOD GOD WAS IT DRAINING.

I'll never play the game again. I dont mind the initial time investment the game takes to hit max level. Its just the fact that it takes a rather massive amount of time to accomplish anything past that point. I hit 60 a month after the game was released, and I clocked over 100 days (yes, physical days clocked) of doing nothing but raiding. After all that time I had JUST managed to get a complete set of epic gear.

Stay away people... stay away!!!
 
To be honest, I've never actually seen how WoW was any more addictive than games like Diablo 2, Titan Quest, or other games where improvement was nearly always available. Granted, I understand the endless draw of the social aspect of MMOs, as I was playing a VB one called RPGWorld before WoW or any of the main titles even existed, and that got out of hand at times.

Either way, it comes down to your force of will. If you're weak-willed, of course you'll get sucked in and unable to stop, the same as a drinker, a smoker, a junkie, an overeater, or a sex addict. Any of these urges can be suppressed if you really want to. Then again, I also believe anyone can get at least Bs in school if they really want to work to do so. It all comes down to free will and human potential, which I believe is far more powerful than some neural stimulant.
 
Hi.... My name is Greg and I'm an addict... I have been without WoW for 8 days now and the jitters are killing me:D .

Actually, I am right along with everyone here. WoW is crack, I do not have an addictive personality, I was a smoker for a few years up until I met my fiance. I was actually to the point of where I was smoking almost a pack a day, then quit cold turkey without a problem. However, my original experience with WoW was stronger for some reason. Up until I moved away from my buddies I had never played an MMORPG. I was normally seen on MOHAA, UT or Starcraft, but that was the extent. When I moved to another state I used the games as a "way to see my buddies" and they introduced me DAoC. I played that for a while only to find that I didnt like it but this new game coming out looked good, Shadowbane. I played that for two years up until my buddy told me about WoW. From there it was downhill.I have been playing since beta and have leveled a number of characters on different servers. It at one point became a massive addiction where I could not go a day without playing. My fiance didnt mind as long as I got what I needed to done, but eventually it came to a point where I was playing on my lunch breaks when I worked near our house. At that point I realized that the game was no longer "fun" but was rather becoming a place holder for other things (ie playing with my dogs, watching movies, playing a board game with my fiance etc.). That is when I decided that I was going to leave my raiding guild and stop playing as much. That happened around November of last year, and things have been good since. I still have my subscription and play occassionally with my buddies but the playing has been replaced with taking our dogs out to run, going out to a nice dinner with my fiance or playing our Wii with her. School has taken a major priority over everything other than her and planning our wedding. But I still find time to play occassionally, normally late Friday nights and Saturday nights. But even those days have slowly been replaced with going to bed early with her or staying up while we play Rayman Raving Rabbits or the like. I get the occassional urge at times, but normally it is only when I am talking with my buddies. It was a hard realization to look back and remember the nights that I would start playing at 8pm shortly after my fiance got home and stay up until 2am only rarely seeing her. It was one of those things that humbles you when you realize what you have done to yourself and the ones around you. Luckily now the summer is coming and we will be making lots of trips to plan our wedding, hence keeping me away from the crack.
 
I'd think almost any game can cause the same effect depending on the player, but I see this happen more frequently with MMO games (perhaps because the virtual life has real people or can keep changing and updating, or the social aspects?). I knew a person who failed a few of classes and slipped in his school work because of Dark Age of Camelot. A roommate of a person I went to school with dropped out of school because all he did was play World of Warcraft if he wasn't sleeping - I'm sure his parents were happy about that.
 
"A weak will is what keeps you playing, not the fact that its a virtual narcotic. :-p"

damn right.. here we have the buddhist monk ------------over there we have--------------> WoW Player

haha im funny
 
...I didn't like how that felt. At all...

My wife doesn't have a problem with it. She thinks I play a lot, but she knows I don't let it run my life. I still spend time with her and my friends. I no longer plan my life around the game, which unfortunately means my advancement will soon hit a brick wall. But I guess that's the nature of the beast. I generally will only run instances on the weekends, and even then I only do one or two at most. I hate the idea of sitting at my computer and not feeling like I can just get up and stop when I want. So when I do run instances, it is either Sunday morning when everyone is still asleep, or Saturday nigtht when it doesn't matter. Even then, I usually go out on Saturdays anyway.

This is a big reason I don't play MMORPG's anymore... even though I'm kind of looking for a new one to play. I think I want to just play STALKER. I do hate the feeling of doing something really important in the game and not being able to hit PAUSE if you need to go to the bathroom or help the wife with groceries, etc. etc. Plus just the sheer amount of time you need to do it. I played Guild Wars for a while, and that was very group-oriented. I had to stop because it's so addicting and you can't just sit down and play it for 20 minutes to an hour. It has to be a long drawn out thing. Video games shouldn't be like that....
 
I can sympathize with you brother. Theres only one way to quit, cold turkey. I had a roommate that was addicted to Lineage 2, and let me tell you it was a total addiction. He quit his job, ditched his friends, and basically let his life go downhill all to play the game. The only time he would come out of his room was to use the bathroom or get his pizza from the delivery guy.He would stay up days at a time, and it was taking a toll on his body. One day I walked into his room and found about 100 dirty moldy paper plates, 100's of coke cans and him passed out from sleep deprivation on the floor. He had literally hit rock bottom laying in a pile of his own dirty, pizza stained paper plates and coke cans. At that point I interviened and told him that his addiction had turned into a problem. He had always been the most respectful , cleanliest , and hard working guys I ever knew. A guy who's job always was important to him as well as his friends. It was very sad to see him fall into this downward spiral. He tried to quit several times only to go back time after time. One of the most pitiful things I've ever seen.

That's kind of funny.... but really sad. These games should be made illlegial when that starts happening....
 
im sorry.. but dont you have to pay monthly for WoW ? Hmm to me..stupid..

And. I know people who have lost their girlfriends due to WoW.. Kinda pathetic really.

When your addicted to a game that much. You honestly are pathetic..
 
im sorry.. but dont you have to pay monthly for WoW ? Hmm to me..stupid..

And. I know people who have lost their girlfriends due to WoW.. Kinda pathetic really.

When your addicted to a game that much. You honestly are pathetic..

That's not any different from being addicted to anything else that can cause external personal problems. This is merely a different avenue for people to get addicted through.
 
well when you start calling "WoW" a drug. You obviously have problems.

Mind you. There are many games that are "addicting" and yes. Many games are fun. But for eg: There has been incidients of people , losing their jobs, losing girlfriends, so on.. due to games.

CS: Also has been blamed for many shootings (AKA virginia tech)

Once a game becomes to a point where it controls your life. You must get help. expecially when you start calling it "like a drug".

I see many of you starting to get defensive. Dont take this as insult. Just a fair statement.
 
I think that when they say it is like a drug they realize that it is getting out of hand.... whether someone wants to do anything about it and cut back or stop... is up to them.
 
Still the comment towards this game is very true for many people.

A lot of people have made reference to WoW in a comedic way. Yet ive never played the game. Due to the nature i would never purcahse a game. And then have to pay a fee on top of that.

Not only are people being suckered into a game , but benig suckered to hand their wallets in.
 
Almost every multiplayer online RPG game has a monthly charge... yes it is expensive, but I guess it costs money to have the huge servers hosted every month. Some people don't like paying monthly for a game, I dont particularly enjoy it either, but millions still do...
 
Almost every multiplayer online RPG game has a monthly charge... yes it is expensive, but I guess it costs money to have the huge servers hosted every month. Some people don't like paying monthly for a game, I dont particularly enjoy it either, but millions still do...

Server upkeep, game fixes, further development all cost money yes. Just because you don't think it's a good use of money does not mean everyone else does. And for $5 - 15 a month, I think that's 'fair.' People still pay $20/month for AOL. :p

And on that matter - no, I don't play MMOs.
 
I've been addicted as well, first to Dark Age of Camelot then WoW. Giving my accounts away was the only way to get away from it, and I don't play MMO's anymore.

I HATED not being able to just pause the game and do something else. I don't PC game much anymore, but I'm still trying to recover some of my social connections. Work is great now, school is done, and I'm getting married. Glad I'm done with that part of my life.

I joked around that those games were addicting when I played them, then I took a step back and looked at how much of a pitiful piece of shit I had turned into because of them. Played way too much. Guess I'm addiction prone.
 
hahah I feel the same SilverSliver. I'm married now... but I still like my video games. Just have to keep it all in moderation. I had fun when I was younger, staying up to all hours of the night playing games and not doing school work. It wasn't good, but fun. I passed school just fine, although I could have done better.

Video games can be very very bad for many people.... especially the MMORPG's
 
im sorry.. but dont you have to pay monthly for WoW ? Hmm to me..stupid..

And. I know people who have lost their girlfriends due to WoW.. Kinda pathetic really.

When your addicted to a game that much. You honestly are pathetic..

If you lose your gf due to a video game, yes that is pathetic.

I still think you're an idiot though.

Pics of your muscle-bound body and super model girlfriend? I want to see the Porsche you drive too, because you obviously know everything and have mastered the stock markets to become wealthy. Right?
 
Still the comment towards this game is very true for many people.

A lot of people have made reference to WoW in a comedic way. Yet ive never played the game. Due to the nature i would never purcahse a game. And then have to pay a fee on top of that.

Not only are people being suckered into a game , but benig suckered to hand their wallets in.

Yeah. We should probably stop paying for gas and electricity too. Hmm, movies at the theatre should be free too! GENIUS!
 
Yeah. We should probably stop paying for gas and electricity too. Hmm, movies at the theatre should be free too! GENIUS!

hahaha

Yeah my friend recently compared paying for an MMORPG to going to the movies. It's like paying for a movie once a month. In all reality, $15 a month isn't THAT much money, especially for the amount of time people play these games. I just always looked at it like by the year.... $180 a year for a game? Dag, yo!
 
I was pretty heavy into WoW for awhile before the expansion. I raided about every second day for 4+ hours, and more on the weekends. I have not touched WoW since just prior to the expansion and im glad I no longer play it. The best thing about gaming now, I can stop whenever I want, to do something else. Try that in a raiding guild and you will likely get the boot.
 
Still the comment towards this game is very true for many people.

A lot of people have made reference to WoW in a comedic way. Yet ive never played the game. Due to the nature i would never purcahse a game. And then have to pay a fee on top of that.

Not only are people being suckered into a game , but benig suckered to hand their wallets in.

Whether or not you mean this as an insult, without personal knowledge and first hand experience you lose credability. Would be like me saying that you have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to modding or building computers because you are a diesel tech. And while diesels may offer more power you are nothing but a sucker for buying one because they do nothing more than pollute the environment to an extreme degree and offer nothing for the consumer market?! Also, you are saying they are suckers because they bought the game AND THEN pay a month subscription fee. That is like calling someone a sucker for buying a car and then having to do your normal maintanence on it. Shouldn't it just work without having to spend $30-$50 bucks every 3k miles for an oil change?

However, everyone is entitled their own opinion to such things. You think its pathetic that people play games and call them an "addiction." I say you are nothing more than a "gearhead" and should stick to fixing cars and leave the real work to people with brains:eek: :D (actually I dont believe that but you get the jist of what I am saying)
 
well when you start calling "WoW" a drug. You obviously have problems.

Mind you. There are many games that are "addicting" and yes. Many games are fun. But for eg: There has been incidients of people , losing their jobs, losing girlfriends, so on.. due to games.

CS: Also has been blamed for many shootings (AKA virginia tech)

Once a game becomes to a point where it controls your life. You must get help. expecially when you start calling it "like a drug".

I see many of you starting to get defensive. Dont take this as insult. Just a fair statement.

I dont see how you can make a "fair" statement with words such as stupid/pathetic and then directing those words at people. If you look at the nature of any mmo you will see its a grind, and there is no winning the game. The game is built to be addicting, otherwise who pays monthly for a never ending grind that you can't win. Think about it for a sec before you mindlessly bash something. Yes people should have the will power to over come WoW, but at its core its built to keep you playing because that means youll be paying the montly fee.
 
It still doesn't make sense to blame WoW or Blizzard. The responsibility is still the player's to oversee their lifestyle. It's the responsibility that comes with our freedom to choose, sometimes you choose badly, but that comes with the package.
 
No doubt it is a drug, it is no better than CS or any other online multi player game. The better you get, the better you want to become. It's been proven in neurological studies that a person with an addiction shows substantial neural activity when their "drug" is mentioned or shown. You are simply getting a high when you play it.

I have never played WoW and I never will but that I did used to play Age of Empires II. I was so good at it and I wanted to play more. When I had my computer taken from me (it was affecting my time, I spent more time playing than doing work), my mom said that I looked like a heroin junkie, I didn't know what to do. Same goes for any game (almost always online). Best to not get too good at any one game ;)
 
It still doesn't make sense to blame WoW or Blizzard. The responsibility is still the player's to oversee their lifestyle. It's the responsibility that comes with our freedom to choose, sometimes you choose badly, but that comes with the package.

Precisely; an addictive personality is an addictive personality regardless of the medium they get addicted to. To blame any of those stimuli is nothing more than shifting blame from the actual issue, (be it mommy didn’t hug me enough, the priest hugged me to much,) whatever...

Personally I’ve played a few MMO’s, first one was probably NeverWinter Nights online, (the original 8-bit AOL game,) through the early iterations of AO, City of Heroes, WoW, and now I’m checking out Lord of the Rings online. Addicted, nope; I just find it a relatively cost effective means for entertainment/relaxation.

For those complaining about the cost think of it this way:

WoW/Generic MMO: $15 a month dependant on your pricing scheme. For say 10 hours of entertainment, (low estimate for some high for others.)
Going to the Movies: $10, (here in Upstate NY), for say 2 hours of entertainment.
Skiing: $25 for say 5 hrs of entertainment, taking into account you have your own equipment.

All in all it’s a pretty economical form of relaxation; when it becomes your only form...well that’s a different story.

Bottom line; personal responsibility, something that far to many people decide to exercise anymore; if this is something you can’t do... then you have far deeper problems than being addicted to a game.
 
For me, I don't wanna turn 60 or 70, look back on my life, and realize I spent most of it playing a video game, dwelling in a virtual world. Do you wanna be lying on your death bed surrounded by computer screens displaying warlocks and warlords, etc., or real people? :p

Sure, someday we may all just be flying brains, but for now, we have a planet to walk around and people to Click>Flirt>Goose.

If you don't have a life, try to get one. If you do have a life, keep it.
 
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