The Value of Time; TLDR version included
Posted 08-12-2009 at 05:40 AM by Petninja
I have an addon called "Altoholic". I use it to save time and organize my 9 different toons, eight of which all have high level professions. It's a real godsend sometimes. (sorry for preening my feathers back there)
One of the things it does though is tell me my total allotted play time across all my characters. I think last time I checked I was somewhere approaching 300 days play time. This bothers me.
It's pretty obvious to me that this game has had quite an impact on my life over the past few years, and now I'm left to figure out if I should call it quits or if the benefits of this game make it worthwhile to continue what it is I'm doing.
One of the problems is that I know my stuff. Many of the mysteries of this game are not so obfuscated to my vision, and I've put a lot of time (which isn't counted into that 300 days) into studying the mechanics and encounters of this game to excel at whatever I choose to do. It's hard to give up on stuff like that.
It's pretty clear to me though that I've basically sold a full year of my life to Blizzard. It may be time to call it quits just for that reason.
I'm not one to put gaming down, because I consider it a superior form of entertainment to television for a number of reasons. The problem with playing just one game, is that you get almost nothing out of it. The great thing about reading books is that you can gather so much information and viewpoints from many different books. Reading is the dead horse though if you only read one book over and over again.
Warcraft is not giving me an array of ideas. It is not broadening my skill set in any way. Instead I am getting the same viewpoint, the same ideas, and the same group of people over and over again. I'm pretty sure I could have become a master carpenter easily with the amount of time and effort I've put into this game.
TLDR;
"Hang out with your friends in Azeroth, but do things outside of Azeroth, too!"
&
"Take everything in moderation (even World of Warcraft)"
One of the things it does though is tell me my total allotted play time across all my characters. I think last time I checked I was somewhere approaching 300 days play time. This bothers me.
It's pretty obvious to me that this game has had quite an impact on my life over the past few years, and now I'm left to figure out if I should call it quits or if the benefits of this game make it worthwhile to continue what it is I'm doing.
One of the problems is that I know my stuff. Many of the mysteries of this game are not so obfuscated to my vision, and I've put a lot of time (which isn't counted into that 300 days) into studying the mechanics and encounters of this game to excel at whatever I choose to do. It's hard to give up on stuff like that.
It's pretty clear to me though that I've basically sold a full year of my life to Blizzard. It may be time to call it quits just for that reason.
I'm not one to put gaming down, because I consider it a superior form of entertainment to television for a number of reasons. The problem with playing just one game, is that you get almost nothing out of it. The great thing about reading books is that you can gather so much information and viewpoints from many different books. Reading is the dead horse though if you only read one book over and over again.
Warcraft is not giving me an array of ideas. It is not broadening my skill set in any way. Instead I am getting the same viewpoint, the same ideas, and the same group of people over and over again. I'm pretty sure I could have become a master carpenter easily with the amount of time and effort I've put into this game.
TLDR;
"Hang out with your friends in Azeroth, but do things outside of Azeroth, too!"
&
"Take everything in moderation (even World of Warcraft)"
Total Comments 1
Comments
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There's such a thing as a middle ground where you combine world of warcraft with other activities... Say going to the gym two evenings a week. I guess it'll take some determination not to log in on certain nights (I know it would for me) but it could sure help you look differently at the game and the time you spend.
Either way, good luck!Posted 08-12-2009 at 11:49 PM by Aethelas 
