How Warcraft Doesn't Have To Wreck Lives

robustyoungsoul writes "From the same guild leadership as the fellow who started an internet storm with his post about his experience in WoW comes a different point of view: it doesn't have to consume your life." From the article: "I got a Masters degree in policy from one of the most difficult schools in the country while at the same time playing WoW and working a part time job. I would come home from a busy day and think about how to use what I learned to make the guild work better. It was a way for me to practice what I was learning and to discover what was involved with leading people (mostly getting all the blame and no thanks, it seems :P). I've learned the lessons of clear communication, sacrifice, compassion, tough love ... and balance. I plan to use these skills in my professional life. So in short, I play the game because I get something tangible out of it."

Uh huh...

[__aaclcg7560]

So in short, I play the game because I get something tangible out of it.

That's what I thought when I was at the university playing Magic: The Gathering [wikipedia.org] until the wee hours of the morning. I got something tangible out of it when I was kicked out of the university: a full-time resturant job. Nothing like learning about the real world between a hot cooking area and a cold walk-in cooler.

Read the in-game tips!

[rehtonAesoohC]

There is an option to turn on tips for loading screens, and one of those tips says:

"Remember to do all things in moderation. (Including World of Warcraft!)"

Re:Balance

[sheetsda]

Personally, I believe that WoW addiction is just another sign that our society has something wrong with it that no one is paying attention to.

I am someone who has recently given up WoW after being an officer one of the top raiding guilds on a maximum population server for the last year and a half (over 110 days /played and enough epic items to gear my characters 3 times over). What kept me coming back was partly the friends I made online, and partly the obligation I felt not to "let them down" by not being there when the guild needed me. I also felt like I would fall behind every time a missed a raid, as someone might pass me in DKP and then I'd have to play even more to get the loot I was after. The scarcity of loot in WoW puts players in competition with one another and drives them to play more than the other to get what they want. And if I wanted to see that brand-spanking new instance the day it came out (and what gamer doesn't love seeing cool new stuff the day it comes out?), I had to be there get geared up to take it on beforehand. The only things I see that could be seen as "faults in our society" in my case are the pressure to excel, being a team player, or hard-worker; all of which prove very much to one's advantage in other situations. WoW seems just to have taken those things and put them in a context where they drive people to self-destruction.

All things considered, for me, WoW was one viscious self-perpetuating positive feedback loop. I'm glad I'm done "doing time".

Re:All it takes is

[glyneth]

See this old /. article

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/06/ 2018238&tid=209&tid=98 [slashdot.org]

Re:Simple

[Brushfireb]

And again, i'd bet that there are more people pissing away their lives on WoW than their are people who can just hop on and off

Correct. And the blizzard guys have made this so. I was one of those people who wanted to hop on or hop off. Play solo, or do small quests with small groups of friends that would only take 30 minutes, 1 hour, or max 2 hours at a time.

But blizzard doesnt produce content like that, so a lot of the people like me, including me, stopped playing. The game is remarkably good at this type of content from levels 1-40. However, the developers seem to focus more on 20, 40, 60 man raid dungeons, and not single player quests. You cant really be functional and play WOW at high levels, unfortunately. High level WOW play requires 8 hour raids. It requires constantly running dungeons and PVP for items. And that sucks for me, but some people love it (the so called 'addicts'), and thats what they pay for.

Re:Simple

[GodaiYuhsaku]

The LFG tool doesn't work like that. You can "queue" yourself up for 3 different dungeons or quests (types of parties) but everyone in the proper lvl range and maybe zone will be visable. I'm in the beta btw. :) I've done one LFG so far and it was a rather well working group and managed to go through the newest/lowest dungeon with no problems at all.

Re:A visit to the dump - a reality check

[Anonymous Coward]

If that's true, you should feel at least a little lousy for introducing him to it in the beginning :)

As for helping him stop, you should get encourage him to go see a counsellor/therapist. He may have depression, and some meds could provide the boost needed to stop the cycle.
You could get him some books like Feeling Good, or The Now Habit. They approach procrastination from different angles - one as a symptom of depression or self-esteem issues, and the other as a method of bypassing bad habits.

Include him in activities that require him to sacrifice playing online - whether it is socialising or something with a goal (like a sport, or hiking etc.). Something team-based in real-life that requires a commitment to other people will fulfill the same needs as the game, and it helps him get away from the computer.

Finally, seeing a counsellor (as mentioned above) should help him for setting goals and making a calendar for various things. One of the first goals should be cleaning his place, eg. 7-7.15pm clean off table etc.
Small steps to begin with will work, and he should note that these are done to provide motivation for when he steps up to clean an entire room etc.

Good luck.