Greetings everyone,
In this topic I want you to really talk about your "worst days", when all you did was wake up, play 12-14 hours then go to bed. I know this is kind of a controversial topic to discuss since people tend to get offended or triggered when someone says they're "addicts". Feel free to write down everything and anything that crosses your mind when it comes to deciding whether it's good or bad to be completely swallowed up by a game, its effects on your life and health and really, anything. I'm going to write my story down, my ups and downs and how I managed to reduce my playtime to 1-2 hours at MAX a day, and of course the reason behind it.
First things first, I'm a 20-year-old soon to be pilot student with a loving family and an amazing girlfriend. WoW has always been a major part of my life for many years, I started playing in 2010 and pushed it all the way to the end of WoD when I had a break of 2 years. I didn't want to return to the all new BfA stuff and that's when I found Warmane and it was just amazing, the nostalgia, the number of players, the feeling of "old school" difficulty and leveling. I got completely hooked and I neglected my friends, family, school. I often made up fake excuses and medical problems just to avoid school and play all day, non-stop. I got 4 characters to 80 and maxed out every proff, farmed a ****load of gold, bought everything I needed, I even spent money on the game of course. On my main I got fully geared, both pve and pvp, farmed out every possible achievement that I could do solo. I somehow graduated high school in the meantime with not-so-bad results eventually. However, my grades and %s were not enough to get into my desired university where I wanted to study psychology ( oh the irony ). That's when I realized I have hundreds of days played and by that time I had nothing else to do in the game, I was bored and just freaked out that I spent my last 2 years playing. It was at that moment I deleted the game and returned to my childhood dream of becoming a pilot. I learned hundreds of pages of maths, physics and pilot related stuff all by myself to make up for my wasted school days. I was in a very strong high school which focused on science so I wasn't that bad at all, I just neglected it. Currently I'm spending my "gap year" with working an 8 hour job and learning in my free time to prepare for the pilot tests. I already got accepted luckily, both the medical and English tests were successful. The only test left now is the so called compass test, which is a 5 hour IQ based test for pilot candidates ( at least in my country ). Having learned everything needed for that test I only started playing again about a month ago. Even I was amazed that I could really reduce my play time, usually I only go online for the daily points and 1 single rhc + bg. That can take anywhere between 1-2 hours, but there are days when I'm just not in the mood or don't have time, and I'm completely fine with that. Back in my worst days I would be really mad if I couldn't collect my daily points or have my "mandatory" dailies completed.
World of Warcraft is indeed an amazing game and by no means I want to tell anyone to stop playing it. The beautiful lore, the endless content and feasts you can achieve, the community, the raid nights, the well fought battles and all those quests that are waiting to be completed. It is an excellent hobby and a great way to have fun and let some steam out. It's only dangerous if you can't control it. And that's the keyword here. Are you playing the game or is the game playing with your mind just like if you were puppet? Who's in control? It's like drinking a few cold ones every night after work. If you have control and only drink to have some relaxation and fun it's completely fine, but there's a point where you're an alcoholic who just NEEDS to have those drinks every day otherwise you lose control and become depressed and have actual withdrawal symptoms.
Most people find it hard to admit addiction but that's the first step towards making a change.
That was my story. What is yours?