“The Google of
online dating”
— The Boston Globe
“Completely free”
— TIME
“A favorite hangout
for internet goers”
— The Village Voice
“A perfect example
of the Web 2.0 revolution”
— New York Post
Forums
|
Addiction to WoW
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
heinleinsghost
|
|
|
As someone who also plays it too much, I can tell you that I play it too much for sheer lack of other things to do. I go out 2-3 times a week for social events, but after my work is done, I have huge swaths of free time that could be better spent doing anything other than WoW. Yet the game is a brainless, addictive thing where before you know it, you've been at it for 4 hours. I would say, give her other things to do. Get out of the house and do ANYthing. Addiction to a video game is a form of depression associated with escapism...the person doesn't like their life (even at the subliminal level), and plays the game to escape it. Find out what she doesn't like, and fix it. I boggle at stories about how guys are ignoring their gfs to play this stupid game. If I had a gf who loved me, and who wanted the thing deleted off my computer, you can bet that I would be dragging it into the trash icon. |
|
|
I'm terribly sorry, but once a crack addict, always a crack addict! The only thing to do is to get her to switch over to this game, which might be comparable to a less potent form of drug considering how OKC has it up instead of WoW on those banner ads! |
|
|
|
|
|
oh wait! I did see a World of Warcraft ad on the OKC banner! And there's even a 10 day free trial! I wonder how much money OKC generates through the number of clicks alone? Hell, 9 million people online? Multiply that by $20 bucks a month... those fuckers at Blizzard are making a shit ton of money off of this game... No wonder they want people to be hooked... |
|
|
heinleinsghost
Unfortunately my life consists of the following:
|
|
|
heinleinsghost
Nice. Maybe someone else will become addicted because of me. |
|
|
Design a series of trivial and endlessly repeatable chores and tasks that need done around the house and inform her that by performing them she will raise her reputation with [Your Faction]. Inform her that she is currently at Neutral, but after a long and tiring series of grindquests she may one day reach Exalted and will have access to your epix. Emphasize how incredibly l33t these epix are. Like, totally sweet purples. After she has started getting back into the habit of performing menial household tasks, inform her that new weekly quests are available that can be completed for rep. Like, shopping. Tell her they are gather quests, and she must journey to the realm of the Wal-Mart and collect 12 Eggs, a loaf of bread, and goat cheese, etc. Then you can introduce repeatable quests, like 'sexxor the questgiver' to further raise reputation. *cough*
Sorry... ~_~;
But seriously... you're dealing with an addition. A powerful one. Treat it as seriously as any other habitual or substance abuse. You're dealing with something with the same power as compulsive gambling or crack. (Actually... it's more like a compulsive gambler on a slot machine that spits out rocks. It can end lives.) Those games are designed with psychology in mind- a series of hooks and rewards carefully designed to suck people in... keep them playing and paying and still feeling good about doing it. Some folks with addictive personalities just get too deep into it. There may be something she's trying to avoid in real life, but not necessarily. Some folks can be just snapped out of it- a moment of clarity where they realize "fuck... all of this I've spent months on is completely worthless! The grind is pointless! Why do I do this?" (Usually right around the next expansion pack.) It has to be discussed with her, even if it requires the additional assistance of a professional.
|
|
|
heinleinsghost
Good advice. She's the type that will go to the doctor when the tumor is keeping her from walking because it's so large. I may have to go with an ultimatum and try to phrase it so it isn't an ultimatum. That's how I got her to quit smoking two years ago. I don't know how many ultimatums our marriage has left in it. Sad. That whole diatribe about sending her to Wal-mart for 12 eggs was bittersweet. |
|
|
this reminds me of the tyra episode where they made the husband shred his wow discs. yeah, i'm sure THAT worked.
that said, i've never been that addicted to wow so it's hard for me to understand where she's coming from. i would say try and get her into other games that you can enjoy together, but you said you've already tried doing that.
does she have a lot of offline friends? it could be that, besides you, her guild makes up the majority of her social interaction. by playing for four hours at time, it's not just playing a game, but spending four hours with a group of friends.
i dunno. at this point i would say try and see if she'd be willing to accept help if she's clinically depressed. an ultimatium might just make it worse. |
|
|
heinleinsghost
Yes. Her guild is also social interaction. It's absolutely awful and I can't stand it. Every one of those people must be nearly totally dysfunctional in real life. I hate to judge them but they are the biggest pack of arguing nerds I have ever had to listen to in my life. I love nerds because I used to be one. However, I do not like listening to nerds scream at each other on Ventrilo for hours especially when my wife gets into it. Oh God, the agony. The sheer banality of it sometimes makes me want to put a shotgun in my mouth. Ten minutes of arguing about who should get the loot. Then 20 minutes of discussion about why a particular tank did not hold up his/her end of the fight. Endless esoteric discussions of how to kill the boss with individual mini lectures for the players most likely to false start the boss fight early. On and on and on. ARGHHH! It's not healthy. |
|
|
Make her read some WOW addiction stories. |
|
|
And if you get into the whelps you lose 50dkp for not being where the fuck you were supposed to be!
|
|
|
oh christ. i can see how that would be aggravating no matter what they're talking about. glad i never made it to endgame. good luck with that. |
|
|
It certainly isn't healthy. I once tried to go into evil's lair, and tell them all that they were a bunch of addicts. It didn't go over well. I'm playing right now, actually. Why? Because it's after midnight, I can't go out EVERY night, I am a stranger in a strange town, and I'm an insomniac. What is her excuse? She has a bf who seems to be attentive/want her attention. Again, you can bet that I would use my play discs as coasters, if I could find a steady girl or even friends around here. You need to find out what she is escaping from, and make her confront it. Which for a bf, would be disaster. But maybe a husband could do it. |
|
|
heinleinsghost
I've been trying. I haven't given up yet but I've been thinking about it. Where are you at that you're a stranger in a strange town? Nice Heinlein reference. I'll buy you a beer for that one if you drink beer. |
|
|
really? but can she play wow and have sex at the same time?
|
|
|
heinleinsghost
I can think of no greater turnoff. I don't masturbate while watching a dog eat poop. Why would I want to have sex with someone while they were playing World of Warcraft? |
|
|
I do truly- with as much empathy as I can still muster- sympathize and wish you the best of luck in this. I've lost friends to the beast, watched careers fall apart, and watched relationships crumble. And not just to WoW. This isn't a new thing. I watched Ultima: Online suck a couple into the toilet back a decade ago, and we've tales as far back as the MUDs. (Christ, it didn't even have to be online. In the Nethack&clone days, when ')' was your epix lootz and 'D' was your raid boss I knew folks that lost jobs over it.) But I have also seen people turn around and get their lives back together. So there is hope. Just don't think of it as just a game. You're dealing with chocolate-covered crack. Don't be afraid to seek help from outside council and/or professionals specializing in addiction if need be.
[Remembers the "Raid Blowjob" incident over Ventrillo and has the closest thing a gamer can have to a full-blown, reduced to a whimpering fetal-position, screaming about the snipers in the trees flashback.] *cries softly* |
|
|
heinleinsghost
Thanks man. I might tell her to come read this thread when it reaches its natural conclusion. We'll see. She's not the type to try counseling. |
My wife is addicted to World of Warcraft to the point that I've thought about moving out. She plays on average four hours a day. Sometimes she plays eight to ten hours a day. It's keeping her from doing constructive, productive things with her free time. To me, it feels she is avoiding dealing with real life. I've hinted that I think the game is unhealthy and she tells me she is going to quit. She started playing the game when I got called up for duty in Iraq and hasn't quit. That was three years ago. I played it with her for a few months before I just got completely sick of it. Now I can't stand the game or the site of her playing it.
Are there some constructive ways to get her to come back to real life? I want her to uninstall the game from her hard drive and never play it again before it drives me crazy and out of the house. A little fantasy is healthy but this is too much for too long.