Breakfast Topic: When is it too much WoW?
by Adam Holisky 
Jan 2nd 2010 at 8:00AM
And it's at that point where you put the game down and stop playing for a bit. In my case it's usually a couple of days, or in some more busy periods of my life it's a couple of weeks (oddly, with my job here I find that I can't play much during patch days, right around the time I want to jump in and run the new instances and what have you). I'm curious to know how long of a break you all take when you've played too much WoW, and when those breaks tend to come about.
So answer away, and after a few days I'll compile all the comments into some graphs, representing at least the portion of WoW.com visitors who responded to today's breakfast topic. It should be interesting, even if it's only a segment of the overall community.
Have at it! When is it too much WoW?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
Gamer am I Jan 2nd 2010 8:07AM
Usually I'm pretty good about not playing WoW too much, but I was spoiled by patch 3.2 because the content just wasn't that good, so it was easy to not play a lot. With patch 3.3, I found that the seeds of addictive play were still sown within me, and I fully realized it when my WoW time started creeping into my study time. (Why did patch 3.3 need to come out during finals?) When that happened, I just played less each day; I have enough self control that if I do something too much, I don't need to go cold turkey and then ease my way back into it.
Gamer am I Jan 2nd 2010 8:08AM
I forgot to mention that I don't use an objective standard to measure when I am playing too much WoW. My standard is when it starts creeping into other, more necessary activities, or when I do nothing else with my spare time in a day.
RetadinMan Jan 2nd 2010 8:08AM
When you neglect eating, drinking, and outside social stimuli.
Daz Jan 2nd 2010 8:46AM
What is this "outside" you speak of?
Knob Jan 2nd 2010 9:15AM
When you have to justify your playtime to others.
Thyen Jan 2nd 2010 8:09AM
I would say... when you`re seriously contemplating teaching your 4 year old to 'okay, honey, farm gold for papa!'.
Or when you're offered some very wonderful... 'private time' with your partner, and you're just like "I only need 3 more random heroics, I'll be there later!"
Bloodangels Jan 2nd 2010 8:58AM
You wait until they are 4?? I have 2 year old fishing for me already even thought i've drowned a few times now, i have more fish then i can use until the Cataclysm comes out. Just trying to figure out a way for her to farm up eternals without getting yelled at by the wife.
Bloodangels Jan 2nd 2010 9:01AM
Side Note: You are a parent and get private time with your partner?? How i envy you, the only private time i ever get is when Nitequil or some other medical Sedative is in use and even then there is no guarentee!!
Thyen Jan 2nd 2010 9:30AM
@Bloodangels
~snickers~ It helps when there are three adults in the house (go Stonewall Family... that's all I'll say), and in-laws within driving distance that LOVE to take the children for a while.
Eddy Jan 2nd 2010 10:29PM
I'm seriously upset my cat won't play for me.
Ben Jan 2nd 2010 8:08AM
When my wife starts to get mad at me :)
I have found that trying to raid on more than one toon was too much. I just focus on my druid now, and pvp on my priest in my extra spare time.
Mop+Bucket Jan 2nd 2010 8:12AM
when your shite raid leader that you know in RL decides that WoW is more important that your family.
Gave me an earfull in ICC last week becuase my sister came in and spoke to me half way through Saurfang while i was kiting adds. It was then supposedly my fault that he had a bad string of avoidance fails.
Sleutel Jan 2nd 2010 9:44AM
Was somebody bleeding? It's one thing to say, "I can't make raid tonight because I'm going out to dinner with my sister"; it's another to say, "Oh yeah, I'll come raid, and take on this important role that needs to be done or everybody dies," and then turn away from what you're doing to talk about last night's episode of Lost. If you were in a volleyball league and the ball, just served, was heading right for you, and your sister leaned over the stands to ask you a question, would you wander over to talk to her, or would you hit the ball back and tell her you'd talk to her after the game?
Assuming that there WASN'T an emergency, your RL was right and you were wrong. Not about the avoidance RNG badness, obviously, but about the need to focus on raiding when that's what you're doing. Unless there's an issue that needs to be addressed right that second, your sister can wait until after the raid--or at least until after the boss is dead or you're in the middle of recovering from a wipe.
bmiller Jan 2nd 2010 10:57AM
I think we know who Mop+Bucket's Raid leader is.
Glaras Jan 2nd 2010 11:13AM
No kidding! Folks, when you think that real life has less priority than the game, it's time to step away from the keyboard.
Sleutel Jan 2nd 2010 11:24AM
@bmiller:
Raiding is a commitment. If you can't set aside the time, DON'T JOIN THE RAID. It's that simple. It's possible that there was an emergency that M+B's sister wanted him to help with, but he didn't say that--from what he wrote, she probably just stopped by to chat. "What do you want for dinner?" maybe. An emergency needs to be dealt with, but in ALL OTHER CASES, it's unspeakably inconsiderate to the rest of your raid to NOT tell someone else to please hold on for five minutes, and you'll get back to them after this attempt.
There's nothing wrong with being a casual raider, UNLESS you want the benefits of being a raider (gear, titles, mounts), but don't want to put the effort in. Which INCLUDES setting time aside to actually raid, when 24 or 9 other people have done the same thing. Your sister is a real person, but so is everyone else in your raid, and they deserve the same consideration. Which means honoring your commitments, or not making them if you know you can't keep them.
Direwoe Jan 2nd 2010 11:34AM
Maybe I am just too casual - but if my RL/GM had this attitude I'd just have a giggle and call 'Lag'.
Comparing Raiding to any kind of sport makes me LOLMAX.
Mop+Bucket Jan 2nd 2010 12:00PM
*sigh* and this is why i dont raid anymore.
Hardcores... Go out side and get a life, sample some other games if you are too scared/addicted to wow to do it.
Aedilhild Jan 2nd 2010 12:30PM
Sorry, I'm with Sleutel.
Let's try the real-life context again: if friends and family appear in the crowd while you're playing a ball game, do you a) abandon your position on the field to greet them, or b) realize they'll understand that you're occupied and greet them when you can be substituted or the inning or game is over?
This has nothing to do with hardcore or casual, M+B, and shame on you for name-calling to justify letting 9 or 24 people down. My guild is full of players in their 30s and 40s with spouses, children, and valued extended family. When there's company, they communicate that they can't make the event.
If you're not raiding anymore, then things have been put in their proper place.
Brian Jan 2nd 2010 6:15PM
It has nothing to do with WoW being "just a game" or raiding being serious business or not...it's about the fact that you're playing with other people, and making people sit around waiting when you don't have to is rude. The context in which you're doing this doesn't really matter.