WoW addiction

WoW addiction has been well-documented. From suicides to social alienation, to child abuse and homicide. You can see this on the news and the paper, but somehow you feel that you're not part of this problem. You say, that's normal, that there are tons of idiots out there who can't control their game time and it's totally not a problem in your set of friends.

So when I heard the news that a fellow guildy's family has done an intervention, I was shocked! This is a person you talk to and play with daily, a great player who knows all the fights, what to do and you think they have it together. The family came to the house ( I won't be stating details to protect the person's identity ) threw out ALL that is related to this addiction, EVEN the person's social friends who are into the game!

I know most WoW players don't think they're hooked into this game until you ask them. So I began to take a mental note of all my RL friends who play and see how high their level of addiction is.

2 almost didn't graduate from college because of wow
1 didn't finish his thesis in time for the deadline and has to repeat a term
3 don't tell their girlfriends that they're playing and not "studying" at home
1 goes to work late regularly because he sleeps til 6am playing
2 couples fight unnecessarily
and 1 levelled all classes to 70 during TBC then deleted a 67 toon because he can't fit all his Alts in one server account.

Now reading the list again, It's a big whopper to take in. Most of us we're sucked into the vortex that is WoW through conversation, and that 10 day trial account! I personally got into WoW coz that was what my BF talked about all the time with his friends. Rather than be out of place, I tried the game. >.< And it's hard to stop playing when all of the friends you hang out with are playing.

But sooner or later, one of us has to stop and say, " It's time to stop playing and focus on our lives."

I just hope it's soon.