Breakfast Topic: Has playing WoW changed your life?
by David Ryan Palmer 
Oct 14th 2010 at 8:00AM
As I write this, it's my last week on the job. I work as a small-time newspaper reporter in the southern United States, and at the end of the week, that's going to be over. The following Sunday, I'm going to be packing up my meager belongings and heading to the Sunshine State. What brought on this change to my life? Why would I move, when Mark Twain himself if often quoted as saying, "Two moves equals one fire?"
World of Warcraft did this to me -- but in a roundabout and fairly awesome way. I met my fiancée, a fellow WoW player, while battling foes and rounding up new prospective guildies to enter into the WoW social scene. What's funny is, at first, she said I was kind of mean to her. Despite blowing up guild chat with random quotes or lyrics, I was a fairly serious guild master, having to mediate disputes between raid fellows and defuse explosive situations with only words and hard choices. My fiancée and I ended up talking after one of these situations. She told me about her life, and I told her about mine.
After months of speaking this way, we felt that we knew enough about each other to try a face-to-face meeting. I flew to the Bay Area and we met. Everything clicked into place after that. We're getting married next year, after a faction and server change (myself from dwarf to tauren warrior, her from draenei to troll mage). If you would have told me a year ago I'd be moving across the country because of World of Warcraft, I'd have thought you were crazy. Then again, it's a crazy world.
How has World of Warcraft changed your life, and in what ways?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
johnybean Oct 14th 2010 8:07AM
wow just wow congrats =]
matt Oct 14th 2010 8:07AM
its changed my life. in fact, if id have known about wow. id have never enlisted. this is the truth.
i had nothing better to do. if only i had klnown.....
quasarsglow Oct 14th 2010 8:13AM
Did you not get your coffee, or do you normally wake up on the wrong side of the bed?
sooper Oct 14th 2010 9:24AM
WoW saves me money. Anyone else that I know who has to tighten their budget but struggle sticking to it; I tell them "play Warcraft! You'll save a ton because you won't want to do shit-else!"
It works I tell ya. I T W O R K S
Roy Oct 14th 2010 2:33PM
^^ THIS.
World of Warcraft does so much for me. As the father of 4 children ages 6, 4, 3, and 1 - I get stressed out, and am not sure where all the money actually disappears to...
Playing the game with my wife after the kids go to bed helps both of us with our sanity, without having to have a "date night" and spend money we don't have. Oh, and it does help a little with helping us to NOT have a child #5 - at least on raid nights...
Rob Oct 14th 2010 8:10AM
I learned what is important, which is relationships. Games come and go. My best friend and I started playing BBS games in the mid 80s and quickly formed a gaming bond. We have played all times of games, getting addicted to Doom, playing madly through Ultima 7, then I strarted WoW 5 years ago, and he joined me shortly thereafter. He decided to make a guild and I helped when I could. Now we are still going strong after 2+ years, and our relationship is strong, thanks to our ability to communicate in-game (we were never much for phone calls and the like).
Also I just moved away from the city where my wife is at due to a new job . A primary, easy, cheap way we stay in touch is through WoW. Phone bills get quickly expensive, but with wow and vent we have fairly reliable and near-free communications.
I guess the sad thing is that when i leave WoW it will be hard to take all my wow friends with me, unless i am able to communicate with them otherwise.
Qazaam Oct 14th 2010 8:13AM
Congratulations on the engagement, best wishes.
As far as my experience...my brother and I hadn't talked much for 10 years until 2005 when he was staying at my dad's, I saw him playing. He explained WoW to me and I bought a copy. Over the past 5 years my brother has become my best friend. It's amazing how you can become close to so many people from so far away...but that's WoW.
Claptrap Oct 14th 2010 9:32AM
This right here.
I am playing wow with many of my friends from Highschool and earlier who were, uncoincidentally the guys who I was rolling dice with around my kitchen table "back in the day". We're all growed up with families and kids and careers, but WoW keeps us connected and has the last 6 years. Heck, WoW is how my kids got meet some of these guys originally.
I can't think of any other game/device/hobby/club/organization that could have kept a bunch of gamers in touch in such a way. The best part is that WoW has showed us that not only WoW, but the next mmo out there (it's coming eventually) will allow us to continue to do so. Kudos to Bliz for this, it makes paying for 3 accts almost painless.
Kevin Oct 14th 2010 8:14AM
WoW has changed my life though I'm torn as to whether it was for better or worse. Freshman year of college I changed rooms after the first semester ended due to an absolutely horrible room mate situation. I moved in with another fellow WoW player. I moved into a room with him one floor down in the same building I was living in. The first time I walked out of that room I noticed a sign hanging at the top of my neighbor's door across the hall that read: "Scryer's Tier" and there it began. It turned out that about 10 of the 19 rooms on that floor were occupied by wow players and I ended up making some great friends!
On the flip side, WoW is not conducive to study habits unless you are a very well disciplined person. While others wasted their time drinking and partying, I wasted my time drinking, partying and then returning back to the room to blow up guild chat. Though in terms of professional skill, I feel I am one of, if not the, most qualified members of my graduating class. Downside being that I'll be here for another semester, while all their lives and careers are getting started.
I could go on, but I'll leave it there. I've made great friends and great memories, but at a cost.
EaterOfBirds Oct 14th 2010 8:56AM
i hear you on the studying brother. Quantum physics or WoW? an all too simple choice ^ ^
Brian Arnold Oct 14th 2010 10:28AM
I paid a similar cost to MUDs, given when I went through college.
Let me tell you: That cost is minimal. One extra semester (or year) isn't that big of a deal in the long run. The friendships can persist for much longer, and the price was well worth it. :)
bui Oct 14th 2010 8:15AM
Not so much as changed my life as helped me cling to my sanity. Awhile ago my fiancée and I went through a real rough patch, and during that time I found out every single person I called friend was a back stabbing piece of filth. But I did have friends I'd met in WoW and even hung out at holidays and such, and those people turned out to be real friends and they helped me through the disaster that was becoming my life.
Bel Oct 14th 2010 9:02AM
Amen. I'm kinda going through the same thing now but WOW is keeping me sane.
Chokaa Oct 14th 2010 8:21AM
I don't know if this counts, but i've made lots of wow friends, some lasting friendships and some that fell away after I enlisted in the army. I've brought a real life friend from my first duty station into wow who had moved international on me. We use Warcraft as a means to communicate. He cant raid and can barely 5man cause of latency, but as a fun game to play while chatting =win.
enginej Oct 14th 2010 8:23AM
It has caused my wife to leave me.
Mindee Oct 14th 2010 11:59AM
No, YOU caused your wife to leave you. Learn to prioritize. :/ You can play too much, and ignore other responsibilities. That's not a game's fault. That is yours.
Not to be harsh, but I hate when people blame their lack of self control resulting in losing things supposedly important to them on a game. We have to take responsibility for our own actions and not try to push the blame off on something else. :/
/end lecture
Uhm unless you were just being a troll, and in that case...I apologize for feeding you. :D
Bvannas Oct 14th 2010 1:16PM
It could have been enginej's wife that was the hardcore player :)
Berlain Oct 14th 2010 3:17PM
Perhaps the parent post was a jest, but I can relate to the statement. My wife really did leave me, but for other reasons with WoW being just one of the factors. Maybe had I walked away from the game sooner, she would not have left; I'll never know.
And before I write a country song, I'll cut to the chase... Yes, most people CAN play wow comfortably and maintain a Real Life... but others, like me, have addictive natures and need to know when to walk away, or get help, before it is too late. Had I been the sort to experiment with alcohol or drugs, I probably would have got hooked to those. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I chose WoW and for me, it became exactly like a drug.
And now to answer the topic - I quit cold turkey a couple months ago and realized that I had nothing to show for the last three years of wow and progression raiding except a marriage that almost failed (she did come back...) 10 extra pounds, and an overwhelming sense that I lost a chunk of my life that I'll never get back.
I still 'like' wow and I still keep up with my guild through our website, but for me it's best viewed from a distance.
Sarah Oct 14th 2010 6:22PM
@Mindee I'm sorry but your thinking here is just plain wrong. If someone asks "how has cocaine changed your life?" an appropriate response might be "it caused me to lose my spouse, my health and my job." No credible addiction counselor researcher will tell you that addiction is a problem of will power and self control. We have many brain imaging studies and decades of clinical histories that tell us otherwise very clearly.
WoW and gaming or Internet addictions are a real thing. The structure of MMO games like wow triggers a cascade of dopamine in your brain very much like like the addictive effects of cocaine and heroin. Not everyone responds the same way, and there are obviously distinctions to be drawn between exogenous and endogenous sources of neurochemicals. However, the things that gaming does to your brain can, for some people, be just as real and uncontrollable an addiction as a drug.
I play WoW and I enjoy it. The fact some people get addicted doesn't make it bad or evil. This is a plea for tolerance, education and understanding of the real problem that is addiction. Part of recovering from an addiction is taking responsibility for your actions. Another part is recognizing the addiction as not a weakness of will, but as a function of brain chemistry.
Being an addict doesn't make a bad person, it makes you a sick person who needs help. If you (or anyone you know) has a problem with gaming or any other addiction, get help. People do get better.
Don't listen to all the people who claim you just need more will power: they are ignorant and wrong.
Krz Oct 14th 2010 8:23AM
WoW has changed my life. It was there for me when I was deeply depressed and suicidal. Something to be excited about, to be hopeful about, to have aspirations in... and that's a very valuable thing to have when you have mental illness.
Now I'm back in RL, and playing WoW a lot more casually, but I'm glad its there.