ex-world of warcraft players..

[lovekangaroo]

do you ever get over the addiction? i  haven't played since last month and i keep getting urges to play, i dont have the money to keep throwing at it, i don't want it taking up all my time again and it's given me the bad habit of trying to rush through games now.. i've quit and come back a few times already. a friend of mine showed me a video about someone who was saying their life was so much better after quitting WoW, it made me wanna play..

[kaoskat]

I've never played WOW but I've had that issue with other games before. In my experience, it takes a while, but eventually the drive to keep playing does go away. The real catch is not encouraging those thoughts when they come. When you start wanting to play, don't just sit there mourning the game, find something else fun to do. A different, less addictive game, or a movie or a good book. If you have any other hobbies, like customs or drawing or painting or writing, maybe do those instead. Eventually you'll be "normal" again.

[lovekangaroo]

it's the evilest game i've come across so far...

[Eviecorn]

I lost a relationship to Everquest (I wasn't the addict.)  True story. 

Video game addiction is real, but stay strong!  Get some good books and read them in the time you'd be playing WOW.  Find a support network of people to chat with each time you get the urge to play.  I wish you a swift recovery. 

[silvercat]

I'm a big gamer fan so me getting addicted to Wow was no surprise.  At some point They did a major update that in my opinion took the fun away from being a hunter. When I then realized that the game felt more like a job or competition, I resided that I needed a break.

I am so happy that I quit that game.  I...was not having fun with Wow anymore and once I quit, I felt so much happier.

[lovekangaroo]

I'm a big gamer fan so me getting addicted to Wow was no surprise.  At some point They did a major update that in my opinion took the fun away from being a hunter. When I then realized that the game felt more like a job or competition, I resided that I needed a break.

I am so happy that I quit that game.  I...was not having fun with Wow anymore and once I quit, I felt so much happier.

that's how it started feeling for me too. more work then fun. and being rather shy and afraid of people i never did dungeons and raids.. everyone i knew had stopped playing..

[ViciousJupiter]

My hubby and I met through WoW, but since then we have both quit.  Really it takes getting sick of it.  We left because life was too busy anymore for it and shortly after all our friends quit as well so that was a help.  It's not as fun when your friends aren't there.  But really we played since the original Beta and were finally just burnt out.  Love the game but the regurgitated so much old content it kinda killed it for us.  Just stay true to the reason you left, and after a bit you may find that returning wont be as much fun as before.

[Vintergatan]

I started playing about 2 years ago and i´m still waiting to get sick of it, because that's the only way i´ll stop That said, in the meanwhile I almost finished a difficult master's programme (still working on thesis ^^) so I have been productive despite WoW and i´m not alarmed.

One thing that bothers me a lot is that I have a small friendly guild but if I (as a GM) don't log in for 30 days, according to new rules, next in rank can take the guild over from me :S:S I find this really annoying and I kinda feel like Blizz is blackmailing me to play actively. That whole thing is really lame :S

On the other hand, my husband got sick of WoW before we met and has attempted to come back and play with me on numerous occasion. He would just give up every time because he is apparently just so tired of the whole MMO deal, and especially WoW, so I guess it really happens

[ZennaBug]

I played for 4 years and then just decided that it wasn't worth the money and I cancelled my account.  I didn't play for a whole year, but then my account was hacked.  The jerks put an authenticator on my account and it took about 48 hours to have that removed.  I logged in to see what was missing and had to open a ticket to get all my stuff back (my main was a miner/herbalist and had lots of goodies in the bank and a lot of epics).  Once everything was restored to normal, I decided to play until the hacker realized that his card was still on the account and let him pay for it!  *evil*  I figured that someone who makes a living ripping people off deserved a taste of his own medicine.  After 3 months, the card finally rejected the payment and I quit playing again.  It's been 2 years.  Honestly, I miss it sometimes, but it's not worth the $15 a month for me.  I've never been a big video game fan though, so maybe it was easier for me to quit than for some people

[Shaiyeh]

I have been playing for 3 years, and have yet to discover an addiction, lol.
I can go for months without playing, really, but I guess I'm lucky.
When i bought cata, I won 1 year free gametime (in gamecards), so I play pretty intensely when I've activated a card (especially now, when I'm unemployed/a substitute teacher). Then, when the time is out, I can let it be for a while without a problem.
So, I guess I'm lucky.

David had been playing since Vanilla, but his laptop crashed and overheated last summer, and he hasn't been playing since (his computer won't work with games). He misses it sometimes, but can't justify buying gametime right now, nor can he buy a new computer, so.


But I think you just have to quit cold turkey if you want or need to quit. If you're addicted, well, then it's a real addiction, and the only thing that works is that: quitting. For real.
Good luck!

[DoctorMowinckel]

I didn't play Wow, but I played Final Fantasy XI for years, almost a decade, and my playing time has recently waned to nil. I still have the game installed, it's still ingrained in me, if you ask me 'Do you play FFXI?', I'll say that I do, despite the fact that my subscription has only been active for two months over the past year. I started playing FFXI when I was 17, I'm now 25. While I was working, and playing a lot of hockey when I was playing FFXI the most, a lot of my transition from teenager to alleged adult was spent in that game. It's ingrained in me, it will never leave.

I didn't play FFXI so much as I experienced it. It was less a game, and more a culture (and it still is), into which I dove very deeply. It was my culture, my niche, my scene. It's where I hung out. The things I've seen and experienced in FFXI are, to me, real, they're tangible. I know the ins and outs of San D'Oria, all the time I spent in Jeuno and Whitegate, talking to friends, and hanging out, they're more than ones and zeroes on a server blade that's housed in Japan. In a way, I grew up in those places. My friends and I who were in that culture, we saw things. We did things, we had one hell of an experience. To me, Vana'diel is in some ways, real. It's more than data I can neither touch nor see.

In that respect, having grown up with the game, I'll never be done with it, I'll never leave the game. My lexicon is permanently marred with phrases and sayings I've picked up from within the game. I have so many memories about talking to my friends in game, and in Vent servers while we played. I've clocked in so many hours (about 8,000) that it's become a permanent part of me. So, if you're looking to 'quit', or 'get over it', I'm not sure that you will.

When I play now, it feels hollow, and empty. All of my friends are gone, the game's changed drastically, and for the better, but I'm yet left with a feeling of 'what's the point?'. I peaked with the game, it offered me the best it had, I've been there, I've seen that, I've seen it's best. When I do think about getting back into it, I'll renew my subscription, play for a week, and think 'What's the point?'. All I end up doing is comparing it to what it was, the inimitable experiences I've already had. Those are gone, and it can no longer offer them to me.

I don't know how long I'll do that dance, of renewing my subscription every two to six months, but I do know that the game will never leave me.