I have an accomplice who, whilst is a great guy, has permanently red eyes, greasy hair, dirty fingernails and stinky pits.
He is skinny and lean, good with computers and always, ALWAYS tired. His work at college is of an average standard - he will not fail, but he won't pass with flying colours, either.
He plays WoW.
On hearing of the upcoming release of Wrath of the Lich King, it was all he spoke about and thought about until it's release. He was not in class on the day it was released, and by the time we next saw him, he looked as if he'd just run a marathon of some kind. He proceeded to proudly tell us that he'd just gained Level 76, about a day or two after WOTLK's release...
This was met with shock and disgust from some of my peers, but others merely heralded him as some sort of icon.
I personally don't know what to say. I love videogames. I know why they have such appeal. But I wouldn't sacrifice things like hygiene or relationships for it... that's kind of pushing it.
It's getting to the point where people are commenting on how bad he looks and sometimes smells. I've tried telling him he should maybe come out with us on weekends but he doesn't listen. And every evening he BOOKS IT like a motherfucker home to go and play WoW.
Anybody else witness to something like this? What do you think about it?
My best friend recently broke his WoW addiction. Doing great in college, quite intelligent, et cetera. He was in a state worse than that - in addition to the horrible hygiene he also gained upwards up 50 lbs. Given that he's still retained his poor health, he also gained something else. Apparently he has become quite fascinated with physics. Around two weeks after quitting his obsessive gaming he told me how amazing he found the world to be, how complex, all that jazz, and now he wants to study physics. Needless to say, and being a physics major myself, I was pretty happy to hear this.
So - yes, I have witnessed it. And it should be obvious that gaming addiction often immerses a person to the point where an external frame of reference is highly likely to be ignored, which leads to more productive thought processes being tunneled to accommodate for the mechanics of said game.
I'm currently letting my life slip into economic despair while playing WoW. That doesn't mean that WoW is blame directly, but that I'm the sort of person who would use it that way.
What's interesting about the game mechanics as compared to other games is that it really only takes an hour or two on a max level character to understand the game, maybe a day or two to do instances and pvp stuff. Everything after that is just the bullshit scaling of your characters items, nothing has actually changed other than your character's power.
Think I might quit now (again).
>>4
Sell your account on ebay and use the money to go out / do something else. How much are you spending monthly on WoW?
#5's idea is good. at least sell it and get rid of everything then move on to something else. I played an mmorpg for 6 years and i miss it sometimes but having many more offline friends now has made me happier in a sense.
Well the problem is I'm agoraphobic, so online activities are the only hobbies I can stick with. I also have a skin disease so I can't have a girlfriend(or friends really).
>>5
Just 15$ a month.
I guess if I sold it I would consider getting some camping gear, because that's something I could do alone and without being seen by people.
I've played WOW for a short period of time, It was only short because I found it boring and had a small appeal to most of the other MMORPG games that I have played.
I find the quality of the game low, I guess this is what drives me away from it mostly.
Also the aspect of paying for the game.
Frankly I found it boring and couldn't even begin to immerse myself for more than an hour at a time.
> I also have a skin disease so I can't have a girlfriend(or friends really).
You're not the only one with said skin disease... if it's that bad join a support group for said skin disease and you have instant friends who can relate... maybe some in your area
>>7 I know how you feel. Not entirely but partially. I also have some sort of skin disease or dry skin, really dry skin. Girls hated me and guys despise me. However it just made me more resolve in getting better so i started in trying a lot of stuff to keep my skin hydrate or dead skin to peel off. Finally i succeeded and no my days are getting better.
And about the game.... i just use it as a conversation topic with my friend.