Breakfast Topic: Romance and WoW?
by Jennie Lees 
Jun 27th 2006 at 7:00AM
I hear about a lot of drama, usually caused by excessive WoW playing -- and a huge amount of the drama involves couples. Whether you both play, or the gaming is one-sided, it seems rare that trouble doesn't occur in a relationship. Of course, it's not just WoW that can cause rifts like this, but the popularity of the game means that drama seems more widespread than with other titles.If you're part of a WoW couple, how do you manage your time together and time online? How have you persuaded your non-gaming other half that staring mindlessly at a computer seven days a week is a healthy hobby?
Personally, my partner doesn't play games, and I feel very isolated from him when I play. Especially when I turn down dinner because I'm scheduled for a raid, and numbers are tight. As I only raid a couple of times a week, this isn't a big problem, but I can imagine the love lives of those in hardcore guilds may be less fortunate.
Filed under: WoW Social Conventions, Virtual selves, Guilds, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
boneyard Jun 27th 2006 8:17AM
once you regulary start skipping dinner and such in favor of raiding i already start doubting if the effect of a game is good for you.
Molly Jun 27th 2006 8:57AM
Luckily. my boyfriend and I both play. We're in the same guild and levelled with each other all of the way to 60. We go on the same MC runs, we do battlegrounds together, etc. However, I play a warlock and he plays a rogue. We don't tell each other how to play each others classes because we both know we don't know crap about the other's class. We've yet to have any problems in game. I think we're one of the few lucky couples like that. I've heard some serious horror stories. I think a lot of the couples that have problems are those when one of the pair is a healer. For some reason people always find a reason to nag at a healer.
Dejah Jun 27th 2006 9:09AM
I've played WoW for 1,5 years now, and my partner hates it when I play too long (more than 2 hours). I bought the game for her too so now we can play together also, which helps some. We quest together and it is quite fun.
But I never get to play 4-5 hour sessions like Molten Core when she is at home, she gets furious. And I totally understand. I save the long bouts of playing for those times when she is away.
C R Castro Jun 27th 2006 9:40AM
Well at first my partner didn't play WoW. He would watch me play but then again I wouldn't play as much as I would before when I was single because I didn't want him to feel left out. He suddenly decided to join me in the game and try it out. He likes it but he claims he did it to spend more time with me. He has two children and one plays with us. However I do not give up the responsibilites as a parent to spend time with them and make sure they are on task at home and school. Also I won't let things fall behind. I dont get to do raids or dungeons with my guild unless it is easy enough to do with just my family. I also can sometimes play late at night after he has gone to bed but I only do this on a weekend when we are home and he is tired but I'm not. It is a sacrifice yes, but that comes with a family. If you aren't ready to give up some of your time then stay single. I wanted this and manage my time. I'm happy with it.
Tigraine Jun 27th 2006 10:02AM
Personally I don't really see how a hardcore raiding person from guilds like D&T who raid like 7 days a week for 8 hours CAN have a girlfriend.
I mean if you really raid that mutch, count in the time to farm in rep-costs you are virtually sitting in front of your computer 24/7, where is the time for a girlfriend or something like that?
I myself do enjoy playing WoW as a Leader of a quite successful Raid-group on Gilneas-EU, successful being defined as: "Raiding only 3 times a week and still beating the new content". That way I have enough time to spend with my beloved one, and now she is leveling a Druid if she's here while I'm raiding.
But, I do agree, WoW can really get you into trouble as long as your better half doesn't understand what you are doing there. Simply let her sit before your computer and let her do the lvl 1-5 challenge in Northshire abbey, that may solve problems.
If she refuses to do so, simply quit WoW.. there are more important things in life than this game.
Smithra Jun 27th 2006 10:04AM
I'm in a long-distance relationship which has its own snags and such. It makes WoW something we can do together and we can chat on Skype or Teamspeak at the same time.
We had a bit of a rocky time when she picked it up initially because I'd been looking at playing, but didn't really want to start a character when most of my playing friends had 60s from over a year ago. Problem is she picked it up and hid it from me for several days, then was too busy playing to talk to me for close to 3 weeks. I finally picked it up when another friend picked it up. I've played enough similar games and she hasn't that I was able to level up to where she was pretty fast.
We came close to breaking up over it, but we're better now...at least where that's concerned.
blog Jun 27th 2006 12:46PM
Strip PvP....'nuff said.
sollaires Jun 27th 2006 12:59PM
My girlfriend and I have been playing together for about a year now. The main thing that works for us is to only play our mains together, such that we progress at almost exactly the same pace. Same instance runs, same BGs, et al. It's a little annoying when friends/guildmates want to run something with me and she's not around, but that's what my solo alt(s) is/are for.
She's also far more competitive than I am, so I've also found that letting her get the better gear keeps her happy and keeps us playing together. But, it's been a balancing act. She burned out at one point and I quit along with her because, really, it's way more fun playing with her than without.
Sycharis Jun 27th 2006 1:36PM
My guild is up to Nefarion on Khadgar (18% last night...I think we can do it this week.) and I still find time for my girlfriend. What helps is that she's played FFXI and iRO and some others, but not WoW yet. So she knows that these games can be quite fun and quite time consuming. But I find time for her, as we raid from 5:30-9, and most of the fun things on the town are after 9 anyway. ;)
Mike D'Anna Jun 27th 2006 1:46PM
I just think it's funny that in the picture, it looks like the 2 Stormwind guards are daydreaming about each other...