Full time WoW addict

I’m guessing i will slowly get more fun out of playing Wow now i start to see it like a game again instead of a second job.

What an interesting post to run into on the eve of launching this site. Welcome to world of warcraft addiction. What’s this blog going to be about? Well the long and short of it is that it will be about my personal struggles (as well as guest contributions) in maintaining balance in life while playing World of Warcraft. Will I be advocating complete and total abstinance? Not necessarily. Yes, my personal World of Warcraft addiction was such that I had to take an extended vacation away from the game. (More on that later.) I’ll also readily admit that as someone prone to obsessive/compulsive behavior, I need to check myself constantly in order to stay on the tightrope. I’m sure there are many that are better off to stay away from the game completely. But primarily I’ll be targetting those that realize the game can be enjoyable and rewarding when taken in moderation. Its this moderation which will be my main focus.

So what is World of Warcraft anyway? It is currently the most popular of a genre of computer video games known as mmorpgs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games.) To give you some idea of its impact, the latest figures I read claimed the game has over eleven million subscribers world wide. Often times games of this type begin to wane in popularity with time but World of Warcraft passed its fourth anniversary November 23rd, 2008 and is still increasing in popularity.

What makes it so addicting and popular? Well, we’ll delve into this topic much more as time goes by. Its difficult to capsulize in just a few words. World of Warcraft emerses you in an alternate universe. In it, you escape your real life problems and challenges for a time and have the freedom to recreate yourself replete with a new reputation, a new status, a new set of quantifiable goals and achievements, and not least important, a new set of friends who are often times much more supportive than the real life variety.

I’ve played the game since its final beta test phase only to wait eagerly for the released version to hit the shelves weeks after the beta test shut down. It was during those earliest times of commercial release that I was most addicted. For a time there I was indeed a big shot in Azeroth (The World of Warcraft world.) and all but disappeared in the real world.

Mostly I would like to give others trapped in Azeroth hope that there is an alternative to completely stepping away from the game or completely losing yourself to World of Warcraft addiction. Again, I welcome you to follow along, to participate in any way that benefits you as we delve into the topic of World of Warcraft addiction.