Where did my last 3 years go?
Posted 06-13-2009 at 11:07 AM by Vapo
I started playing WoW three years ago when I was 15 in high school. At first I just played whenever I had the chance generally a couple hours a week. I played school football, marks were good, and had an active social life. Little did I realize what I had gotten into.
Steadily I started to play more. I started to neglect things that I had become used to. If one of my friends called I would make up some excuse to not go out. In my grade 9 yearbook I had all the pages for friends signatures and messages filled out. In grade 10 I had slightly less. I hit level 70. I started raiding 3 nights a week including two "weekend nights." Grade 11 rolls around and I decide that football practice interferes with my WoW playing so I quit the team. I got into a fight with my best friend and after that we never spoke again. I began to see my life fall apart before me and WoW was there to fill the gaps.
Hafe the pages in my grade 11 yearbook weren't filled. I continued my playing. I rarely went out on the weekends now. My friends stopped calling me to go do stuff. Now I'm sitting here getting ready to graduate and I can honestly think of only a handfull of people that are going to sign my yearbook.
I woke up one day about a month ago and wondered what my life would have been like if I never picked up World of Warcraft. I've thought about it everyday and the thought of how much better everything was before this game. Eventually I had nothing to return to if I quit. My old friends I hadn't spoken to in quite some time.
I'm not going to say that the game ruins lives. It was my choice to play it and that makes me feel even worse. This isn't a feeling I would want to make anyone have to live with. Its taken me an extremly long time to figure this out. I used to think this was just a game but to be honest it turns into something more. I just needed to remember that real life comes first and not to let anyone tell me different.
Steadily I started to play more. I started to neglect things that I had become used to. If one of my friends called I would make up some excuse to not go out. In my grade 9 yearbook I had all the pages for friends signatures and messages filled out. In grade 10 I had slightly less. I hit level 70. I started raiding 3 nights a week including two "weekend nights." Grade 11 rolls around and I decide that football practice interferes with my WoW playing so I quit the team. I got into a fight with my best friend and after that we never spoke again. I began to see my life fall apart before me and WoW was there to fill the gaps.
Hafe the pages in my grade 11 yearbook weren't filled. I continued my playing. I rarely went out on the weekends now. My friends stopped calling me to go do stuff. Now I'm sitting here getting ready to graduate and I can honestly think of only a handfull of people that are going to sign my yearbook.
I woke up one day about a month ago and wondered what my life would have been like if I never picked up World of Warcraft. I've thought about it everyday and the thought of how much better everything was before this game. Eventually I had nothing to return to if I quit. My old friends I hadn't spoken to in quite some time.
I'm not going to say that the game ruins lives. It was my choice to play it and that makes me feel even worse. This isn't a feeling I would want to make anyone have to live with. Its taken me an extremly long time to figure this out. I used to think this was just a game but to be honest it turns into something more. I just needed to remember that real life comes first and not to let anyone tell me different.
Total Comments 10
Comments
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The question is - If not WoW, would it be something else?
Sometimes we are predisposed towards destructive behavior and it doesn't matter what our vice is, something is going to get us.
I personally pick gaming as my vice because it's fairly benign compared to other vices.Posted 06-13-2009 at 11:42 AM by Alent 
- I recently semi-quit (an hour a day now) because I did not want to end up in a similar position to yourself.
Posted 06-13-2009 at 01:17 PM by Ferag - You're not the only one vapo
Posted 06-13-2009 at 02:24 PM by Mutt - My friend there are a few people who are feeling like that. But what did you miss out on? The social aspect of high school? My friend you are young and if you're friends that you claim are good friends then I'm sure that getting back into the social interaction of things should be know problem. Like Alent stated "Would it be something else?" I don't know what I'd be doing. I play a few hours a day, but I'm never scared to pull of to go do something else if my significant other or my friends need me. You just need to find that balance.
Posted 06-13-2009 at 10:53 PM by Ferim -
Or, you could have friends whom you raid with. Like me.
Posted 06-14-2009 at 09:19 AM by Klimpen -
From the perspective of a guy who is done with college and is into grad school... to be honest, if you go to college you'll lose touch with all but a few of your high school friends. You'll make new friends in college, but when you graduate you'll lose touch with all but a few of your college friends as well.
It's not about how many friends you can have (though my facebook friends list may indicate otherwise) it's about developing some deep friendships that you know are gonna stick with you down the road.
I've been fortunate that a few of those deep friendships are with folks that I met through this game and that I've known and played with for 3+ years. Don't underestimate the power of your WOW friends!Posted 06-14-2009 at 01:02 PM by Halandir - This is true, sometimes I troll certain of my old vent servers just to see how people are doing.
Posted 06-14-2009 at 01:30 PM by Ferim - Very true Vapo, I too have experienced something similar. It is a highly addictive game and if you let it, can easily take over your life. Sure it is fun and being on vent talking to people etc is all good but is no substitute for RL experiences IMO.
I have now reduced my game time significantly and am getting back into all the things I used to do before WOW started to take over and am much happier and fitter for having done so. For one thing, it is amazing what difference it makes when you start getting enough sleep.Posted 06-14-2009 at 09:31 PM by Blackheathen - To help out with the bad feelings, I had a similar experience but without playing WoW hardcore. It is part of the growing up phase of your life.
Naturally you start to form deeper bonds with certain friends than you do with others until only a handful of those people who are now your "mates" are actually true friends. Although you should make time for these friends and of course a gf/wife around WoW.
My Fiance likes to Watch Eastenders and Holyoaks every night. This gives me two solid hours playtime everynight and if something special is going down i can usually play for longer.
But don't think it is all WoW. A lot of it is but losing mates and making true friends as you mature is a natural process and i just wanted to reassure you of this.Posted 06-15-2009 at 01:59 AM by Daggus - If you could condense the fun time of WoW and claim back the rest, you'd probably find the spend worthwhile. A few hours a week of fun and pretty intense gaming is probably entertainment that you can afford in your life.
The problem is that WoW gives low quality time for a hell of a lot longer. Waiting for slow raids to move on. Waiting in LFG, or waiting for the raid to fill up. Not being sure if your scheduled event is happening or not, or if it will be on time. Grinding and farming stuff. Generally having your attention glued to the thing for tens of hours a week, when it's not actually much fun, is what takes your life away.Posted 06-15-2009 at 06:43 PM by Machus
