Breakfast Topic: What hobbies take priority over WoW?
by Ken Easthouse 
Jul 30th 2011 at 8:00AM
I consider myself a fairly long-term, consistent player. I have four level 85 characters, with two more in the mid-70s working up. I plan on raiding at least five days a week, and the days I don't, I still am in-game for an hour out of habit. I read just about every WoW blog, listen to the WoW Insider podcasts, and named my cat Thrall. (If only he were as even-tempered as his namesake.)
Yet I found myself trying to rationalize to my guildmates -- my friends -- why I was going to miss a raid night to watch the NCAA tournament. For me, the opportunity to see my favorite team, the Kansas Jayhawks, possibly make the Final Four was more important than another raid night with my third alt. We lost the game, but experiencing the atmosphere with other fans was well worth it.
Obviously family gatherings (especially if you have kids) can and should take priority over something you have to do in game. However, WoW is far from the most important hobby many players have. What other extracurricular activities force you to change up your WoW schedule?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
raposo02790 Jul 30th 2011 8:07AM
When my favorite band "dispatch" reunited and came to Boston, nothing was going to stop me from going, especially raid night
Gendou Jul 30th 2011 8:08AM
Non-WOW hobbies?
Those still exist?
Noyou Jul 30th 2011 4:28PM
I used to...wait what?
Aalokor Jul 30th 2011 8:11AM
My daughter, but only if she's hurt
i kid
I used to play wow while watching her, but lately i've been avoiding that altogether
Mortenebra Jul 30th 2011 8:24AM
Sorry to go off topic here, but how old is your daughter?
I'm actually waiting for mine to reach the magical age where she appreciates constructive and structured learning (and sitting still, but parenting has taught me to wish for one thing at a time! lol). There are a few ideas that I have floating around for turning mommy/daughter WoW time into learning time for things like colors, counting, map reading and directional basics (up, down, left, right, etc), basic math, and reading comprehension.
That being said, mommy/daughter WoW time has drastically lowered since the nooblet started walking on her own. Maybe I should wish for the sitting still part before the structured learning part...
Aalokor Jul 30th 2011 9:06AM
She's 3, and for a while she was pretty good at entertaining herself, but once she could sit through a movie, that's all she wanted to do. That's when I stopped gaming while she was awake
Before that, she loved "making him jump"
If you find a good way to get your kid involved, let me know :)
Mortenebra Jul 30th 2011 9:52AM
lol!! My daughter's still at that "which button makes something happen?!" phase... She killed the spacebar on my last keyboard because she liked making "Mommy" jump and making mommy's dragon go higher. You know that disgruntled squawk your flying mount makes when it hits the world ceiling? She thought that was entertaining.
But I totally understand what you mean... I try not to be on the computer while she's awake and wants to do something (unless I'm eating... I need to eat, too, kid). It makes me feel guilty, like I'm ignoring her. And I like how she's making me less of a computer potato! Once she's ready to start learning, though, I intend on making WoW an integral part of the "curriculum"!
Narkondas Jul 30th 2011 12:03PM
My daughter (4½ years old) also enjoys jumping on any toon. A few specific things really works for her besides jumping:
- Gathering quests (Getting apples / bags of flour in the SWC Cooking quests for instance) - she enjoys trying to spot the "sparkles"
- Travelling - just flying over zones, dipping down whenever she wants to explore
- Companion / mount collecting - possible combined with travelling to "the place where they sell the ELEPHANTS"
- Anything involving my druid shapechanging :-)
mwfrizze Jul 31st 2011 8:08PM
Both of my kids like to press random buttons when i'm playing. They have contributed to numerous dungeons wipes. I do not play when they are awake.
Patrick Jul 30th 2011 8:15AM
Playing that much might border upon the 'addiction' side, if you can't seem to justify clearly why you should stop even for one day. Not to mention having 6 high level characters and feel the need to play every day. Just my outside opinion though. I'm probably going to get hate responses due to this, but I am just responding to what I'm reading.
zubbiefish Jul 30th 2011 10:44AM
That was my first impression too, but then I thought about it. I don't raid as much as the author, but there are periods when I spend truly monstrous hours on WoW. The thing is, it's time that would otherwise be spent watching TV or a movie, or something else equally productive.
I pretty much don't have any other hobbies, these days, but when I played table-top miniature games, I spent at least as much time on that. The primary difference being that WoW is all digital, and those other games leave you with a pile of painted figures.
In fact, now that I'm thinking of it, I've cut my WoW time back a ton in the past few weeks. The reason? I've stared DMing a D&D campaign again, and that takes up a ton of time outside of the actual sessions. So, to address the original topic, I guess I'd have to say that at the moment, D&D takes priority. Or date-nite with my wife, that'll push any raiding off of the schedule.
Jeny Jul 30th 2011 8:25AM
SOCCCEERR! I don't want to end up being the female version of that guy from South Park :P
Naraxis Jul 30th 2011 9:22AM
psh, see if blizz gives you the sword of a thousand truths then.
Ace Jul 30th 2011 11:06AM
The Sword of a Thousand Truths was given Randy and the kids to defeat the fatty, not given to the fatty itself...
Sometimes, with some players, I wonder if they really are like the guy on South Park though... So glad I can't see half these people while we play
Mortenebra Jul 30th 2011 8:34AM
Out of necessity, I made cooking and baking my hobby.
... Well, I guess baking isn't really a necessity but I have the romantic idea of conveying baking as a sort of legacy upon my daughter. You know, kinda like how some adults reminisce about how their mom or dad used to bake cookies every Christmas or weekend, or how every birthday was special because of the cake they made that year. I want to be that mom! Because my dad was the one who baked for me and taught me much of what I know-- he was that dad for me. So as she gets older, I can tell her stories about her grandfather who died long before she was born but still walks alongside us in every muffin, cookie, and cake we make.
Luotian Jul 30th 2011 8:42AM
That...is incredibly sweet. I so wish I could cook, but I'm *horrible* at it. Cooking skill of 1.
Chrior Jul 30th 2011 9:06AM
That is so, so cute! I also love my mom's cakes but I only know how to cook eggs. That's it, eggs. But my omelets are really good!
Chetti Jul 30th 2011 9:46AM
My mom was kind of that mom :) I'm not quite sure that I remember when cakes became a thing, but I remember that when she worked for the Navy hospital when the base in Philadelphia was still open, every birthday or holiday or reason to party involved a cake that mom had to make. I still have some of the pans, but lots she either sold (to make room for new) or really had no use for other than that one time that one person thought it'd be cute. I have her "cake toolbox" that I use whenever I need to make something that I want to make fancy. The biggest creation we made was a cake replica of the trailers that the hospital moved into (and worked from) when they moved to the shipyard part a couple years before closing. It was everthing, down to the wafer stairs, lego people and matchbox ambulance. :)
I've always been into making christmas cookies, I've just recently starting making pies and other desserts.. I don't have any kids yet, but baking will be there.
AudreyR Jul 30th 2011 10:51AM
I wish I could cook more. Unfortunately, the hours I work means that everyone else would have consistently late suppers.
The process of experimenting, adding, and learning is fairly heady, as are the aromas.
I tend to do best with stews and soups.
Tirrimas Jul 30th 2011 12:16PM
@AudreyR:
Invest in a Crock Pot and The Crock Pot Bible.
It's like irl Pilgrim's Bounty: cooking 1-350 almost instantly.