Is WoW important to you? Like, honestly important? I'm not here to judge - I'm just wondering how highly people regard the game.
It's easy to get addicted. I was when I first started. I lived and breathed for the game. It's only been in the last three years, when caring for my disabled mother has become a priority, that I've been able to walk away from it.
WoW used to be the first thing I'd do in the day, and the last thing I'd do at night. I lived on the computer, and if ever the internet or electric went out, I'd go crazy trying to fix it - even if it wasn't an internal thing, like it was a problem with the internet provider, or a general street-wide power outage. I was like this for what felt like a very long time, and I couldn't go without it. I used to get up in the middle of the night, tell myself I couldn't sleep just to play it. While there are certainly far unhealthier addictions, this was pretty bad for me.
But I moved back in with my parents after two years and quickly became a carer for my mum while my dad worked. It was a huge weight off of his shoulders, and I like to think that I'm helping him just as much as my mum, if not realistically more so. But moving back must have jolted things into perspective for me. I never had an epiphany or a realisational moment - I just stopped living for the game. I'm not sure what happened, because that wasn't the only change that occurred. I started a blog, I opened a handmade shop, and got involved with an amazing guy. I still played WoW, but I would go days without thinking about it, and a few more days beyond that thinking about it but still not playing it.
Even today, three years on, I still have my shop - and I opened another. It's nowhere near as successful (assuming you can call my jewellery shop 'successful'), but it's something. I also started a second blog - this one. It's certainly not as personal as my first blog, and I started it mostly because no one who reads my first blog cares for games at all. That doesn't mean I don't talk about it on there, because, sod it, it's my blog, but The Wyvern's Tail at least gives me a more accepting and interested audience. At least, I hope you are! But then, if you're not, what are you doing here?
I keep my WoW subscription active, for the most part. Just because I don't play all day, every day, doesn't mean I don't still want to, and with my mum the person she is, it is possible for me to sit down and play for a few hours when I'm on duty. Sometimes she naps, sometimes she's happy to just watch TV, and I get a little peace - I may play, or I might write, draw, craft, paint, or manage my business/blogs.
If the power goes out, I shrug it off and pick up a book. Or, if it's night time, I will look out of the window and watch the hilarious show of neighbours who reach for their torches immediately and start flashing them around frantically. I don't understand why half of them go outside, either. It's clear that it's not just them by just looking at the street lights, isn't it? Or, if it's late enough, I just go to bed.
After all of that, I will say that WoW is important to me. It's a constant and easy connection to fantasy, it's something to take my mind off of things, and it also fuels my creativity - not just for WoW-based watercolours or WoW-based writings, but it inspires me in other ways, too. The male Blood Elf death emote in particular inspired a whole character in a book I wrote. You can probably guess from that snippet of info that he died.
How do you see WoW? Is it just a game? Is it the main activity you have with your friends? Is it the only place you're confident enough to make friends?
It's easy to get addicted. I was when I first started. I lived and breathed for the game. It's only been in the last three years, when caring for my disabled mother has become a priority, that I've been able to walk away from it.
WoW used to be the first thing I'd do in the day, and the last thing I'd do at night. I lived on the computer, and if ever the internet or electric went out, I'd go crazy trying to fix it - even if it wasn't an internal thing, like it was a problem with the internet provider, or a general street-wide power outage. I was like this for what felt like a very long time, and I couldn't go without it. I used to get up in the middle of the night, tell myself I couldn't sleep just to play it. While there are certainly far unhealthier addictions, this was pretty bad for me.
But I moved back in with my parents after two years and quickly became a carer for my mum while my dad worked. It was a huge weight off of his shoulders, and I like to think that I'm helping him just as much as my mum, if not realistically more so. But moving back must have jolted things into perspective for me. I never had an epiphany or a realisational moment - I just stopped living for the game. I'm not sure what happened, because that wasn't the only change that occurred. I started a blog, I opened a handmade shop, and got involved with an amazing guy. I still played WoW, but I would go days without thinking about it, and a few more days beyond that thinking about it but still not playing it.
Even today, three years on, I still have my shop - and I opened another. It's nowhere near as successful (assuming you can call my jewellery shop 'successful'), but it's something. I also started a second blog - this one. It's certainly not as personal as my first blog, and I started it mostly because no one who reads my first blog cares for games at all. That doesn't mean I don't talk about it on there, because, sod it, it's my blog, but The Wyvern's Tail at least gives me a more accepting and interested audience. At least, I hope you are! But then, if you're not, what are you doing here?
I keep my WoW subscription active, for the most part. Just because I don't play all day, every day, doesn't mean I don't still want to, and with my mum the person she is, it is possible for me to sit down and play for a few hours when I'm on duty. Sometimes she naps, sometimes she's happy to just watch TV, and I get a little peace - I may play, or I might write, draw, craft, paint, or manage my business/blogs.
If the power goes out, I shrug it off and pick up a book. Or, if it's night time, I will look out of the window and watch the hilarious show of neighbours who reach for their torches immediately and start flashing them around frantically. I don't understand why half of them go outside, either. It's clear that it's not just them by just looking at the street lights, isn't it? Or, if it's late enough, I just go to bed.
After all of that, I will say that WoW is important to me. It's a constant and easy connection to fantasy, it's something to take my mind off of things, and it also fuels my creativity - not just for WoW-based watercolours or WoW-based writings, but it inspires me in other ways, too. The male Blood Elf death emote in particular inspired a whole character in a book I wrote. You can probably guess from that snippet of info that he died.
well i posted a long post in response but then disqus insisted on registering me and deleted the whole thing ho hum :)
ReplyDeleteBeen playing for about three years the set of friends and acquaintances i have in game are totally separate from my real life friends. At times in the past Warcraft has taken precedence over Real Life social activites ( sorry serena!) but i think i have a pretty good virtual real life balance now.
ReplyDelete