Time, Time, Time

Yesterday I made the startling revelation that my main, Sayas, a level 80 discipline priest on Farstriders (US) was better qualified for raiding than I had thought. Today I begin to explore what that means.

First of course is the time commitment. Now we’re not talking quantity of time primarily. I spend plenty of that. I’d guess 10-20 hours a week typically. It seems like most raiders devote at least two nights a week to raiding and then many guilds seem to spend one night a week beyond that on “progression.” So, we’re talking three nights, three hours a night… so nine hours. Luckily, my guild really only expects two nights reducing that number to six hours.

But my deal is more about the expectation of nights of the week set aside for raiding. While I spend plenty of time in game, almost all of my time is on an ad hoc basis. I fit my time in between other commitments. Raiding turns that upside down to an extent and says you must to some extent fit those other commitments in around raiding. Still, I want to raid and anything you want doing takes a degree of prioritizing. So what if I committed just one night a week? Would that be good enough? I’m not sure because I know sometimes each raid is a progression in itself. In other words, night two is a continuation of night one. Obviously its an inconvenience at the very least to the others if I participate on night one and not on night two. Then again, what if the day of designated were to fall on day two of our raiding schedules? The chance that I’d be called upon to fill in for someone that started on day one would certainly be diminished from having started the raid in the first place.

I could look at pugging raids instead. I actually do a fair amount of that with 5 mans. But part of my motivation here is guild participation, not just raiding for raiding’s sake so that doesn’t seem to be a satisfactory solution. Also, I could look at raiding with a guild that consistently raids at a more convenient time for me. If I could raid mornings instead, that would far easier for me to commit to. But that would involve me changing guilds and perhaps servers as well. So that kind of would defeat the purpose as well. I don’t even know, is it possibly to transfer to servers in other areas of the world so that my morning might be their evening? Hmm…

So, there you have my thinking on the time issue. Next time, I’ll look at another concern.

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October 14, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Weekly World of Warcraft Addiction – 3/20/09

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Performance Anxiety | I Sheep Things…

I’ve had some really good questing buddies in the last few days. I usually play solo, I think you’re probably all familiar with my unfortunate guild situation at the moment, so the time I spend it groups is limited at best. It’s rare for me to want to quest with a random stranger, especially for quests that don’t involve an instance or elites or other group-requiring details. In my experience most of the people who group randomly are either sort of irritating, complete newbies who can’t find the party chat, or loot ninjas who don’t bother to /roll before grabbing. So I’ve typically steered clear of random groupings.

Progressive WoW: Leave of absence

I know it’s been a while since my last update, and that’s because I always update from work. That being said, I got laid off last week and as such I haven’t been at work to update. You’d think that means I would have more time to blog, but I guess I like to do other things online when I have full internet access.

What Happens When You Are “Done?” – Project Lore: World of Warcraft Videos and Guides

I’ve touched on this before, when talking about a lack of end game in the current content. But once again I personally have reached an interesting point in the life of my Paladin. When Wrath first came out, and I first got a look at all of the loot tables I spent a great deal of time planning my gear. I found every piece I wanted, determined what was the best in each slot, debated what set bonus were worth while, and finally came up with my “gear plan.” More or less I decided exactly
what I wanted my character to look like when I had everything I wanted.

Coming to terms with sex as an addiction

William Cope Moyers says: “Addiction is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. Addiction is not caused by a person’s character, or willpower; it is caused by the way an addict’s brain is wired.” I would add that especially with sex addiction, it is caused by the way early life experiences shaped the brain.

What are the social consequences of video game addiction? | addictionblog.org

Does playing video games negatively effect the time adolescents should be spending in more developmentally appropriate activities like sports and hanging out with friends? I’ve got a personal bone to pick with gaming. Although I intellectually understand the appeal, I emotionally resent
the pull of games. Specifically, I wish that sports would once again replace video games. Not to mention that it’s now the chosen method for how my husband unwinds at the end of the day.

20 Questions with Nassira | The Hunting Lodge

I don’t know about you, but one of the fun things and maybe one of the more fun and misunderstood aspects of WoW is how social this game is. True, chat within the game itself can rapidly become mundane with LFG, WTB, WTS, and Chuck Norris jokes. But if you look beyond that, you can’t help but see the proliferation of WoW related blogs, sites, and other sources like Twitter.

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March 20, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Tools to Help Once You’re Over World of Warcraft Addiction

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When you get over World of Warcraft addiction, you don’t play nearly as often. Makes sense, right? But one of the side effects of not playing as often is that disorientation when you do sit down to play again. What the heck was I doing last time I played? Where was that quest giver? Or maybe where were those pesky Timbermaw anyway?

First thing to get over is beating yourself up for not remembering. At least it is for me. When I’m living, eating, breathing World of Warcraft ie, addicted, I know everything. (Or at least think I do.) Now I sometimes feel like I know nothing.

Back in the addicted phase, I almost considered it cheating to have to resort to sites like thottbot.com and wowhead.com. Now they are my first line of reference. I don’t have time to wander around aimlessly. Tell me where it is and what I need to do. Thottbot and wowhead do that. (To be fair, there are other sites that fulfill the same role. Those are just the two I use.)

Even better though, I’ve discovered a couple great addons. Questhelper and Carbonite Quest. Both do almost the same thing, so choose between them. Don’t run them at the same time.

What they do is keep track of your quests and try to show you the most efficient route to completing them. If you are in a group, (and all group members are using the addon) they also consolidate the list of quests and coordinate you through the groups quests as efficiently as possible.

Neither tool is perfect. But both are right enough of the time to make them immensely worth installing. (Note: Carbonite Quest becomes even better with the Cartographer addon installed as well. Questhelper stands alone.)

Lately I’ve been using Carbonite instead of Questhelper for one reason. Carbonite shows you a path of where you’ve recently been. As someone who is constantly getting lost in dungeons, I find this feature a great benefit.

Questhelper is a totally free addon. Carbonite comes in two flavors. One free and one paid for. I admit I did pay for Carbonite and find the added features worthwhile. But it is a useful tool even in its free version.

Evidently there are addons that take the concept one step further. They not only guide you through the quests you have, but help you decide which quests and quest paths are worth following. I can see the value in that but since I’m one of those that enjoys the trip as much as the destination, I’ve never explored them further.

Do you know of other time saving addons? Let me know. You can either write them up yourself for me to post at myworldofwarcraftaddiction.com (giving you credit of course) or alert me to them and I’ll write something up. I’ve already thought of a couple more addons that I’ll be writing up in the near future.

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March 12, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

World of Warcraft Burn Out

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You all know I haven’t been playing hardly at all the last few weeks. I’ve been far too busy getting this and a couple other websites going to play World of Warcraft. To be honest with you, once I got over the lost of routine and the guilt factor for abandoning my friends, I haven’t really missed playing that much. Could it be the addiction is receding? I don’t really think so. More that it was time for one of my periodic breaks from World of Warcraft.

Which leads me into today’s topic. Today I want to talk a little about the flip side of World of Warcraft addiction. In my mind, that would be World of Warcraft burn out. Yes, World of Warcraft burn out happens just as much as World of Warcraft addiction.

Playing with the next Expansion in mind. « Kinless Chronicles

I’ve got tons left to keep me busy without being 80, and the Expansion will only open up another grand playground for me and the wife. I don’t plan to, or need to, fast track to the end-game and burn out.

Kinless really has it spot on in the above quote. Why do we flog ourselves if its only just a game? We burn out because we’re addicted and playing too much. We vacillate, going back and forth between addiction and burn out, addiction and burn out sometimes barely noticing the brief stopover at enjoyment in between the two.

Instead, why not relax and enjoy the game for what it is… a game! One of the beauties of this particular game is that its open ended. So do what you want in game, when you want. Right now I’m doing one of the very few “mandatory” tasks which is checking the mail every thirty days so you don’t lose items in transit. That’s all you have to do: Check in once a month to make sure you aren’t losing mail. How easy is that?

If you play, you’ve recognized it in some of your friends, guild mates and other acquaintances. Frequent complaints of being bored, general surliness, inability to focus on any one task, these are all signs of burnout. Maybe you’ve seen it in the form of erratic behavior; suddenly quitting a long time guild relationship, dropping out in the middle of an instance run, not being around when they said they would be.

Perhaps one of the tricks to beating both World of Warcraft addiction and World of Warcraft burnout is one and the same. Maybe we just need to slow down. You know, actually read the quests instead of just rushing through the objectives. Following the story lines rather than running about willy nilly to level in the fastest manner possible. I know what I’m saying here is heresy for my leveling guide friends, but so be it!

I don’t know what it is for you, but whatever it is, take time away from task orientation and do what you enjoy with friends. If that means fishing while chatting with guild mates, do that. If it means crafting, do that. If it means shopping for risque outfits or beautiful robes, do that!

If you do what you want, you derail the compulsion aspect of the game. Also, you will enjoy your time more and thus avoid the World of Warcraft burn out factor.

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March 8, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Overcome Your WoW Addiction With the Help of Subliminal Messages

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Overcome Your WoW Addiction With the Help of Subliminal Messages
By Dan Bainbridge

Millions of people all over the world play World of Warcraft – if you are reading this article then maybe you do too. It has been acclaimed as one of the most interactive and accomplished games ever.

However, every year 1000s of people find themselves totally addicted – with school children spending all evening and all of their weekends playing, office workers playing in their lunch hours and getting home then logging straight on.

At some point however it becomes much more than just a computer game, it starts to invade your life – lowering the quality of your schoolwork, or damaging your career, and especially it ends your social life completely. This has come to be known online as WoW addiction.

Can Subliminal Messages Help Overcome Warcraft Addiction?

you may be sceptical as howwubliminal messages will help youto beat your wow addiction, but it’s actually quite simple: subliminal messages will penetrate your mind and eliminate your negative thoughts which are having a negative influence upon your life.

These suggestions build in your subconscious mind to help you to adopt new behavior and ultimately end your addiction and help you to get your life back – here are some sample affirmations used in a wow addiction album:

  • I will stop playing world of warcraft
  • Stopping playing world of warcraft is easy
  • I want my life back
  • Every day it gets easier to resist
  • Each day my addiction lessens
  • I am free from my warcraft habit

Subliminal messages work gradually, however, in time these beliefs are embedded deep in your subconscious mind and eventually whole whole belief system changes. – it is not a magic cure but if you are serious about overcoming your addiction then subliminal messages will give you a boost, and possibly your best chance of overcoming your wow addiction.

As I’ve said, it isn’t a magic cure, but if you really do want to end your warcraft addiction then this will give you the mental strength and the best possible chance of succeeding.

Dan Bainbridge is the Director of Real Subliminal:
Try our free subliminal messages today and experience the power of subliminal messaging for yourself! Or use our WoW Addiction album to start getting your life back straight away.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Bainbridge
http://EzineArticles.com/?Overcome-Your-WoW-Addiction-With-the-Help-of-Subliminal-Messages&id=1965308

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March 4, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

How to Best Use Limited Playing Time

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I logged into World of Warcraft for all of a couple hours this weekend. I was busy but I also made other choices with some of my time. Now here’s the thing: What did I do with my in game time? I spent my abbreviated playing time running between auction house and mail box in Ironforge taking care of my auction routine. What I want to talk about is whether that was a smart decision.

I sit here Monday afternoon thinking heck no that wasn’t a smart decision. When I spend the better part of a weekend playing, its no big deal to spend a couple hours on auctions. Its important that I do because I like doing the auction house thing better than I do farming to to make my gold. But if I’m only going to log on for a couple hours total, why do I need to worry about gold whatsoever. Yeah, you do have to empty the mailbox every 30 days or you lose what you had in there, but I was 3 weeks away from that happening at the very least.

I think what I should have been doing is playing. I should have been out there questing which is what I enjoy the most. Maybe with my mage Undorf who hasn’t seen the light of day in forever. I could work on getting him up to the high 60s so then I could join in battlegrounds effectively again. I love being a frost mage in battlegrounds!

Here’s the thing: When you stop being addicted and start just logging on now and then for fun, for a break from whatever else you have going on or an escape, then do whatever makes you happy in game. All the parameters have changed. Face it, at a couple hours a week I’m not going to get anywhere on the reputation ladders with various factions. Its unlikely I’ll be invited into any sort of intense group situation let alone a raid. I for sure don’t need to continue bringing a thousand in gold every week because there really isn’t anything to fund. I don’t have to spend time leveling crafts (unless that is what you enjoy) because you’ll likely not be crafting much anyway. Change up your thinking from whatever the routine was when you were in game constantly and just have fun. Isn’t that why you started playing World of Warcraft in the first place?

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March 2, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

World of Warcraft More Addictive than Cocaine?

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World Of Warcraft ‘more addictive than crack cocaine’ as teenager suffers convulsions after 24-hour-long game | Mail Online

An internet computer game has been condemned as being as addictive as cocaine after a teenager who played it 24 hours non-stop had convulsions.

World of Warcraft has been hugely successful in capturing the imagination of players by drawing them into a virtual universe of battles and quests.

However, it is at the centre of a growing problem of computer game addiction.

Why do people always have to go crazy over the top with their analogies or similes or whatever they are? What a ridiculous statement to say World of Warcraft addiction is similar to cocaine addiction. World of Warcraft is much more like maybe sugar or coffee in its addictive qualities.

  1. World of Warcraft kind of seeps into your life rather than giving you an immediate but short lived high.
  2. World of Warcraft is much cheaper than cocaine. What? Maybe 3 or 4 trips to Starbucks a month max.
  3. World of Warcraft does not immediately delve you into illegal activity. Well ok maybe if you decide to take the quick and easy way out and buy gold or powerleveling or even a whole account off eBay or something like that.
  4. World of Warcraft is not typically life threatening. Not immediately anyway. Perhaps years of sedentary free time might have an impact, but still…
  5. Word of Warcraft makes you international friends. To get that out of cocaine, you probably have to start dealing.
  6. World of Warcraft does not impair your ability to drive or operate heavy machinery. Not unless your muscles atrophy to a crazy level at least.
  7. World of Warcraft addiction does not make your nose bleed.
  8. You’ll never burn your face off with World of Warcraft addiction like Richard Prior did.
  9. World of Warcraft never familiarizes you with needles and self injection.
  10. World of Warcraft is much more prevalent. I doubt cocaine can claim 11 million accounts world wide.

So there you have it. World of Warcraft may be be addictive, but not like cocaine. No, not at all. People are just nuts when then come up with stuff like the above. You’ll have to excuse me now. I have to log in…

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February 28, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Bad Case of the Shoulds

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So since starting this blogging stuff, I really haven’t had much of a chance to play World of Warcraft. Should bother me, huh? Strangely though it doesn’t. The only way it does at all is if I get caught up in the “shoulds.” You know all those things that you should be doing at any point in time. But why in the world would you let something like World of Warcraft into the realm of shoulds? To me that smacks of addiction.

Last night I did play for a few hours. But you know how I spent the better half of that time? Doing my auction house routine. Now for me, the auction house is how I make my money. Others do dailies or farm but I do auctioneering. I do pretty well at it and of course there is always that next big purchase looming out there that has me feeling like I should be doing my auction routine. But the thing is it takes time. Why should I feel compelled to spend what time I do choose to play on tasks if I don’t feel like tasking?

One other note: I relearned an old lesson yesterday. When leveling multiple characters, there is often no need to go through the same areas over and over again. Right now, I’m (belatedly) leveling a death knight and following the typical path through Hellfire, just lightly touching Zangarmarsh (because I didn’t like it the first time around) before heading over to Terrokar where I was languishing doing a series of quests that were for largely too easy for me.

Well along came a friend and with his help I ran all the Burning Crusade northern areas picking up the flightpoints along the way. Most of the areas I’d never hardly seen with Sayas. Now I’m thinking Dhume, my death knight is going to spend what time he has left in the Outlands in Area 52 and Netherstorm. Then when heading over to Northrend, I’ll do the same thing and hit areas I didn’t get to with Sayas on his way to 80. I figure I should be able to see fresh content with at least three characters this way. Then you figure the difference between Alliance and Horde perspectives and there is plenty new stuff for me to see before the new expansion hits a couple years from now.

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February 20, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »

Moderation and Advocacy

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So I’ve been reading a little around the internet on the topic of World of Warcraft addiction and I’m amazed at how harsh and drastic most of it is. It makes me think I need to backtrack and repurpose before I’ve barely started.

myworldofwarcraftaddiction.com will NOT be an extremist, ban warcraft, twelve steps to freedom kind of thing as long as I have anything to do with it or until I have a major change of heart. I now currently play World of Warcraft and I have been addicted. I have made it through the addiction to the point where I can now play in moderation. That’s not to say I don’t struggle with the urge to play rather than typing this blog. Sure I do! But I am able function within the parameters I set for myself. I am in control of my play time (most of the time) rather than it being in control of me.

Do you know what I think it is? I think that World of Warcraft is not yet recognized as a legitimate hobby. Maybe I could broaden that statement to be true of the whole video game scene. We and what for some of us is our passion are somehow looked down upon as  some sort of ill adjusted segment of society. But what about the guy that is gone all summer long with his softball team or again, the guy that watches umpteen football games every week all season long? My wife is a “theater addict.” When she is involved in a play, we hardly see her for weeks at a time. How about the golfer that spends hours a week playing or practicing? What about the expensive green fees, often the travel on exotic golf vacations, the money spent on sport specific equipment and attire?

See? All these other things are seen as legitimate hobbies while our hobby is looked at as this huge waste of time… dangerous addiction. I think in part what needs to happen is that we need to start advocating for what some refer to as our hobby. I’m reminded of the bumper sticker that says, “Skateboarding is not a crime.” Well neither is playing World of Warcraft gosh darn it!

So now that being said, let me swing back the other way. World of Warcraft is most definitely addictive and for those who simply can not come to terms with its addictive nature the best course of action very well might be complete and total abstinence. But for many of us, finding that place of balance is the key. For instance, I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that I may never again be a raid worthy equipped player and therefore I might not ever see some of the end game content. Can I still have fun playing given that? Absolutely!

As I read those extreme, anti World of Warcraft sites, I was tempted to challenge them here. But that would be following a rabbit trail. I’ll leave it to others to take that on. Here we’ll talk about how to have fun in World of Warcraft without it completely taking over your life.

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February 17, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »
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