I've mentioned before on this, that I met my husband on World of Warcraft 10 years ago. I moved to Australia just under 9 years ago now, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. I live in a land even more free than the US, and I am really blessed to have that.
Before I moved out here, WoW was my outlet from my real life. I was in a miserable state, and I felt like I was part of something in WoW. I could be another person. In fact, I was a guy to my guild for months before I finally had to talk. I created as manly a character I could so that I wouldn't be harassed. It worked, but then one day I knew I would have to talk to the other people. So I decided to finally tell the guild I was a girl. The Guild Leader was surprised, but it never stopped him from talking to me.
In fact, he talked to me all the time. Him and 3 other guys. Turned out, in November, when an offer to join another guild came up, I found out the GL had feelings for me. And then it was a roller coaster ride. I stuck with him, and eventually up and moved to be with him.
Between now and then, I have pretty much continued to play WoW. There was a short period of time in 2009, 2011, and almost all of 2013 that I stopped playing altogether. But I always came back. It was a habit.
I wouldn't call it an addiction, but it can be. I don't play to escape anything now. I play because of my guild, and because the game has created a type of repetition to it. If you don't log in every day, you lose out on resources, you can't gear up followers to give you better gear, and you can't do your crafting (which has to be done daily if you want to be able to make anything).
So you log in out of habit, and that's about as close to an addiction as they come.
Recently, I've been realising that during the time I got my fittest, I was not playing WoW. The habit was to wake up in the morning, and do a workout, and then go do another workout in the afternoon before dinner and TV or reading or playing another game. Granted, there have been many other things that have stopped me from being this way, but it just so happens that all of it coincides with WoW.
So I'm going to be taking a break from it from Saturday onwards next week. I have my Short Story Competition happening from Saturday for a week, so I will be working on that. And then I have a birthday trip to see some amazing rainforests. And after that, I will decide if the break was something that does me good. I would much rather only log in once or twice a week to see all my friends. Cuz in all honesty, that's what keeps me there. The community. If that was gone, I'd be gone in a heartbeat. But since it isn't, I do like to chat with them and play with them.
But time will tell. I just need to break this habit and replace it with the healthier one. ^_^
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