WA (World of Warcraft Anonymous) 5
My name is Willow, and I am an addict. Please read this not so much as a warning, but a slightly cautionary tale.
World of Warcraft is getting it’s second expansion, after The Burning Crusade (or TBC for short), now comes The Wrath of the Lich King. That will be my cue to stop playing.
I started playing on 19 september 2005, so my account history says, and I remember having been a very casual player. I played 2, max 3 times a week and sometimes not at all for perhaps a month. My main character therefore took ages to level and the game never got old. Then I got to level 60, and the big ‘endgame’ began. I started doing dungeons (raiding) 3 times a week in a 40-man group, and together we killed some of the most intricate and difficult bosses. There’s no end to the amount of factors that matter in such fights. That was pretty hardcore already.
Then TBC was released, the leveling began again (to 70 this time) and the people I used to raid with fell apart. I didn’t game much at that time, until a real life friend of mine suggested that I start a character on another server. Four of my real life friends play on that realm, so I thought that would be fun. This character turned out to be the main cause of my stress for the past half year. Since my friends were all level 70 before I even rolled the character, I was rather alone in questing and I really really really wanted to level to 70 asap, so I could enter the first level 70 dungeon. I didn’t just play for fun anymore, but I played in order to belong with some friends. Leveling wasn’t about the journey anymore, it was about the destination.
I have almost reached my destination now, I’m level 68 and 30%. Has it been fun? Some of it, yes, most of it, no. I’m counting on the fun to start at 70, but if that doesn’t happen I will have done a lot for nothing. What if I can’t get into the dungeon with my friends in the end anyway? What if I turn out to completely suck at playing in such difficult raids?
I never expected World of Warcraft to become an issue in my life after having played relaxedly for 1,5 years. But still, in 6 months’ time it became a liability. An obligation. I want to quit, but first I need to level, and then be able to get into the dungeon (that requires quests first), and then do the dungeon, and then, and then.
In the mean while, our friendship has suffered from it. My friend and I are ok now, but I got so depressed about this character at one point that I just sat down and cried at it, something that he couldn’t quite stand. Imagine that, getting all emo over some bits and bytes.
I’m not saying World of Warcraft isn’t fun, and I’m not saying that it’s wrong to play. But if you do, keep an eye on how serious you’re really taking it. And don’t ever make it a priority over your real life.
