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The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast topic: Your priority list
by Amanda Dean 
May 14th 2009 at 8:00AM
We got an email from a reader concerned with the amount of time he spends playing WoW. It seems to be negatively impacting his school and social lives. Most of us manage to balance out WoW time with our real life obligations, but there is a strong possibility that addiction can set in. I cannot stress enough the importance of balance.I think that one of the keys to keeping both your WoW life and your real life balanced is by identifying your priority list. Every once in a while do a reality check and make sure you're keeping it in line. For me WoW sits somewhere between work and sleep (then again, I've never slept much). My guildies know that I will not be on on Friday nights, that's "sister time." I do play WoW when I'm on work trips, but I never go anywhere particularly exciting.
If you find that you're having trouble with focus on the real world, or your seriously considering making your own WoWPod, you may need to make some adjustments. You can try keeping a calendar to schedule your play time around your outside obligations. You may find that you need to drastically decrease your play time, you may even have to give up the game all together.
If you find you're seriously slipping, you can and should seek professional help. Ask your doctor or school counselor for a referral. Remember: don't replace WoW with another another unhealthy addiction. Keep in mind that there are some things that are more important than WoW.
Where does WoW fit on your priority list?
Filed under: Tips, Virtual selves, Breakfast Topics, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
happydays May 14th 2009 8:31AM
We raid two nights a week for three-four hours and it's always scheduled in advance. On top of that I'll need around an hour of herb gathering to pay for my repairs, which amounts to 7-9 hours a week. So raids are a fairly poor excuse for playing too much if you ask me. :p
ambermist May 14th 2009 8:17AM
Having an addictive personality (I tend to get drawn into stuff easily...I even had a Harry Potter span for a while), WoW could threaten to trump real life were it not for my two children and my husband.
Children have a way of getting your attention, and since my husband plays, we kind of check each other. We made an agreement the very first time I walked into my first 25-man that if WoW ever became a problem in our marriage, we would both agree to quit the game.
Basically, if I want to keep all my cool gear, I have to put my husband first. Not hard; he's pretty awesome. :-)
Aggrajag May 14th 2009 8:27AM
Quote "...I have to put my husband first. Not hard; he's pretty awesome. :-)"
That's the nicest thing I've read online in weeks & I'm not even your husband!
Hoaxs May 14th 2009 8:18AM
For the time being, WoW is a low priority for me. I need to focus on my GCSEs. I doubt i will be playing it much untill the summer.
keh May 14th 2009 10:33AM
Ditto - I've been working on my master's thesis this past year and that has really decreased my WoW play. After not logging on at all for 2 months I've managed to work a few dailies back into my schedule:
Mavfreak May 14th 2009 8:23AM
I guess I am sort of different here. I sort of count WoW as my major hobby; any other games I play, anything else I do by myself, I rank WoW above. On my raid nights, Tues-Thurs, WoW comes first. I get my homework and jazz done before it, and then I'm good. Otherwise, I rank friends and family above it. On weekends, I play a little bit during the day, and hang out with people at night.
Extol May 14th 2009 8:26AM
I only play WoW because my wife lets me play. She doesn't understand the fascination I have with it, so when it appears that I do not put her before the game she has me quit for a while. I have had to quit a few times since BC launch for a few months just to keep my priorities in check. I tend to have an addictive personality and am very much a perfectionist, so it is nice to have someone to counterbalance me. What is nice is my guildies in the game understand and even though I have quit a couple times for a couple months, I am always welcomed back when I return and they just help me get caught up with some of the newer content and things I may have missed.
adamjgp May 14th 2009 8:31AM
Wife, work, sleep, WoW. Seeing as how sleep will affect everything else in my life, I can't see putting WoW before sleep, because then WoW would be affecting everything in my life.
Haiko May 14th 2009 8:54AM
"...because then WoW would be affecting everything in my life..."
That sneaky Blizz!!! You're right in that way. I often play quite late at night, put sleep last at that time... But somehow i put sleep before anything else in the morning, hence me missing early classes and since i am late for those i might as well do a round of dailies, without ever prioritizing WoW over anything but sleep...
Good point.
gr33nzo May 14th 2009 8:38AM
I'd say between work, social life and a serious relationship/marriage it's near impossible to find time for serious raiding. But it is important to keep your priorities straight. I choose to hang out with my girlfriend over playing wow any day of the week, which doesn't fly with a serious raid guild.
Bottom line is: if you wanna raid seriously (i.e. hard modes in Uldyur 25) you need to be commited to 5-6 nights a week with a hardcore guild that would expect you to be online for raid times no matter what, therefore making WoW your number one priority.
However I find that once you hit 80 and you're not raiding there really isn't much point to playing. There are only so many heroics and 10-mans you can do before you either progress or quit.
Theresa May 14th 2009 1:20PM
I disagree with the assessment that you can't raid seriously and maintain a balanced life. My guild, which has done Sarth 3D and is at 2/4 keepers in Ulduar, only raids three nights a week.
This is my hobby. It helps that my husband also games (though a different game than me), and understands the fascination and the fact that raid attendance isn't "Just a game" but a social commitment with 24 other people depending on me being there.
However I can log on an hour before the raid and do some dailies when I need money, farm up fish and flowers for flasks and food in an hour on a weekend, and still maintain my job and marriage. Its all in how you approach it.
Todd May 14th 2009 8:43AM
I often wonder if the developers actually care if Warcraft affects players negatively, if it's really just about the money.
It isn't called World of Warcrack for nothing. There are numerous urban legends of people losing their jobs or forgetting their wedding day, just to make it on time for a raid.
Fimbri May 14th 2009 9:02AM
Losing jobs and having to be taken to hospital after collapsing after days of playing alike, I even recall an article from like...year and a half ago? about a guy dying as a result of this. It was covered in internet articles (oh well), but also in some of the more serious medias such as specialized gaming magazines, but also general newspaper (well...). Can't say whether it was true or not.
Luckily, quite a lot of websites with stories of people who realize they have a problem come up every day, so it's becoming easier to find a story you can relate to, and see the consequences.
Gotta admit I found it quite hard to quit myself when my finals started to become actual, and even after I froze my account, I often thought of starting a trial one, just to roll that mage I wanted to, and play him just a little...oh well, stayed "clean" in the end, but I'll be coming back after (or, rather, if) I get to pass, hopefully with a better priority list.
Wall May 14th 2009 9:13AM
@Todd: I think they very much care. Problem is, what are they going to do about people who play too much? Their only job is to make the game as good and enjoyable as possible. Sure, they could introduced hardwired restrictions on the players, but really, it's none of their business. It's about having respect for their clients, and having faith that they do not abuse it.
I agree developers have some social responsibility, but only content wise imo.
sephirah May 14th 2009 11:04AM
@Wall
Sure, because creating achievements like "Insane in the membrane" clearly shows that they don't want people to spend hours and hours mindlessly doing repetitive stuff...
Carrie May 14th 2009 12:29PM
Warcraft doesn't affect people negatively - it's the players that affect the outcome.
You can't blame Budweiser for drunk driving accidents.
You can't blame Smith & Wesson for a shooting spree.
You can't blame McDonalds for scalded thighs on a driver.
You can't blame Nestle for looking like a beached whale.
People have free will. It's their choices that affect them negatively - nothing else. All the responsibility lies directly with the player.
BM585 May 14th 2009 9:55PM
WoW has slowly taken a backseat in my life to friends, women, booze and sports.
Martouf May 14th 2009 9:56AM
Hmm hard. I think people around me would say its very important but I would say not so much.
Making sure the guild is healthy can feel like a job sometimes and I do play a lot and don't go out as much. However I seem to live my life in parts.
I have these periods when I'm very restless and go out a lot and then I have a period in which I prefer staying on the couch playing or watching tv.
But I would never say no because I play wow. I play wow because I said no.
crsh May 14th 2009 9:15AM
We had a relatively new guy apologize profusely one night for being like an hour late to the raid; one "sorry" is more than enough for me, but he kept going on about how bad he felt and how that'll never happen again. We (officers and longtimers) told him to relax and that it was ok.
I've been in the situation where a GM tries to make me feel like shit for putting RL before my "serious hardcore" raiding schedule at a point in my life where there was no way I could skip on something, I told him off on the spot and went my merry way - no matter how much I loved raiding back then, that's simply unacceptable to me.
theRaptor May 14th 2009 8:51AM
I quit WoW last year because I was going back to university and decided that what I liked doing in WoW (hardcore raiding) would interfere too much. Now I am more firmly established at uni and I have realized that I waste more time going "I'll just read one more forum post" than I would if I was playing an MMO because I feel guilty if I play games when I have other things to do. I also set the parental controls (you could have someone else set them for you) so that I can resist the urge to log on during uni days.
So with Wrath not needing such a huge time investment to at least see the damn content I am re-subbing (although I managed to buy an empty gamecard box today. Oh well the free trail will keep me going until I can go back to the store).