tapping out

[wolpak]

Haven't been here for long or even that rxperienced of a wow player, but I find myself too obsessed with not just one player, but my entire team. Cutting out some sleep and trying to find whatever time I can to play is not healthy for me. Not sure how some of you guys do it. I want to, but I don't see any positive end to this other than just eating way too much of my life away.

[Khatovar]

I'm probably the last person to offer a sane point of view on it since I probably spend more time online than most people, but it's a matter of not tying yourself to the game you're playing. MMOs allow us to set out goals for our toons that we can meet and it's easy to get caught up in the feeling that those goals are our own goals, especially if our real life goals are harder to achieve or our real life is harder to control.

Personally, I actually found it easier to disassociate myself from games with multiboxing. When I played single box, it was easy to get caught up in doing too much for too long, because I always found something else to do. Busy work. With multiboxing, my goals began to change and I didn't feel tied to my "main" anymore, and neither did others. It went from "Ardath" in a sense of me as a conglomeration of healers to "Kate"... a person who plays a game.

Step back and hit up some of your real life goals. Your toons won't care that you're not there, and maybe you'll come back to a point where the game is just fun again and not all-encompassing.

[Clone]

Id have to agree with Khatovar on that, but I can see how it could also lead a person to become 5 times more addicted. I used to raid hardcore 6 nights a week pre wotlk with 1 toon. I lost my job, my girlfriend and completely screwed up a lot of things by playing wow 15-20 hours a day. Once I managed to get out of that though and started multiboxing, Ive maybe played 10 hours a week and some months I havent even logged in once. My life is back on track and wow is just something I play when I get a spare couple of hours.

In your situation though I think the best thing you can do is take a break away from the game. Probably delete wow from your system entirely as the thought of installing wow from fresh certainly would put me off playing. Try to focus on school or work or whatever you 'should' be doing

[Multibocks]

Clone's story makes me go 8|

I pushed the envelope in playtime, but I always stopped short of actually causing real life hardship.

[Owltoid]

I quit for a couple of months and just recently reactivated my two lowbie accounts (still have two Owls that need to get to 80). Just take a break for a month or two (it's actually easier than it sounds... once you're away for a week you don't miss it) and then come back later when you've distanced yourself.

[Taliesin]

I took a break from WoW for about 1.5 years, once everyone started hitting the level of doing 40-man MC raids and such. The time investments were getting to be too much (6-7 hours in an afternoon?!), and found myself staying up later and later every night. Once it started impacting work (due to getting up later or being sleepy all day), I quit cold turkey.

I'm back, but the whole experience gave me a whole new outlook on the game. I'm not reluctant to just step away for a while now if necessary. Boxing gives me a little of that latitude to play birefly and walk away. No commitments to others to have to be around. I'm getting a bit more into the raiding again, but I'm trying to keep it pretty light. Just a 10-man Naxx a week (5-6 hours total), on top of a nightly heroic or two.

If the game is impacting the rest of your life, just walk away from the game for about a month. Just set some priorities.

[Ferrea]

My ex-wife will tell you WOW was the reason our relationship failed, Ill tell you she was the reason I played wow so much, my girlfriend say's its never been a problem.

I've been through the hard core raiding scene, even so far as declining a new job due to its schedule interfering with raiding. What I've learned is if Im in a real guild (not my personal alt guild) and I am raiding, WoW becomes a burden. Suddenly you have obligations to real (wow) people and you have a schedule to maintain or there will be real (wow) consequences.

I can barley lead a real life let alone that and a wow life. Multiboxing has taken me out of guilds ans WoTLK has allowed me to pug anything I want (ever). Now that being hardcore only means world first and not necessarily exclusive content, I can happily play with my girl is at work, out with her friends, or sleeping (when Im on midnight shift with a night off).

I choose life > wow and havn't logged in for over a week, but Ill still play.

[Talamarr]

My ex-wife will tell you WOW was the reason our relationship failed, Ill tell you she was the reason I played wow so much, my girlfriend say's its never been a problem.

Those exact words could (and probably have) come right out of my mouth. Scary. Actually, replace WoW with EQ as it's been awhile.

It's funny how people say multi-boxers have no life. I'm a multi-boxer because I DO have a life. A life that I missed out on spending way too much time playing a game. While people are still LFG, I'm halfway done with an instance. When single boxers are trying to replace a PuG member or wipping for the 100th time on their guilds 48th Naxx run for a small chance on 1 piece of loot, my guys are geared up, logged out in the city and I'm playing outside with my kids.

[Gomotron]

I have friends playing WoW solo that hate PUG's and so now that they are level 80, they have a hard time advancing. I take them through Heroics for gearing up when I can, but I am online different times than they are and so I can't always help out.

Meanwhile, I am still working on Heroics and gearing up and having a blast. When I get my current group geared out, I'll level my other group and then hit 10 mans.

Personally, though, if a game gets tiring, I suggest putting it down for a bit, like others have suggested. If you find yourself not really missing it, cancel your accounts and move on. That's what happened to me and EQ.

[moji]

Wow is a time killer, not gonna lie. It can suck you in so far that you forget what's important. Sometimes I'm feeling that way - I mean, when I'm not playing, I'm on this forum, Tankspot or the Wow forums, or something else just researching how to play better. I've often said I'd be a lot better off if I focused all this energy on my career, but that's no fun, even though my career - tattoo artist - freakin rocks. Everyone has an alternate life, be it sports fanatic, TV watcher, sitting at the bar, or what have you. We all know people who basically live to sit at home and smoke pot all day - and they do - so I'm of the opinion a WoW obsession isn't such a bad thing. If you're squeezing playtime in past your bedtime, or when your friends invite you out, or when you're significant other wants some "playtime" of her own, then you need to re-evaluate things a bit.

It also changes people's opinion of you. My coworkers and family are convinced that WoW is all I do, which isn't true. I paint and draw as much as I play. I go running. I cook every now and then, but seriously, what do you expect out of a bachelor? GF's happy, food in my belly, roof over my head, It's go time.