WoW

[purplerat]

Before WoW, the same stories were around about Everquest. I've known people who've done the whole divorce and losing jobs over Lineage 2, a grindfest I can't stand to play.

Exactly. That's why when I hear somebody say WoW ruined their or a loved one's life I take it the same as if somebody told me gaming in general destroys lives. Having grown up in a generation when gaming was often viewed as a bad thing and gamers as being deviants, ya I do get a little offended.

 

[delsaber]

i wasnt saying i think wow is the devil or anything like that. its jsut a game designed to be as addictive as possible to attract players and of course thats what its done.

I was just making the point that it effects some people more than others. a friend of mine who used to play when i did would be on for between 30-60 minutes 2 or 3 days a week and he loved it! but others (myself included) get more addicted.

for some reason whenever i get a game that has some sort of leveling or collecting items aspect to it i cant help but be drawn in mroe and more and want to play it all the time! like first game since giving up wow is call of duty on the pc and i play it loads. less than a week or two and im level 45 and my experienced COD4 mate cant believe it.

and to the new wow player pvp servers are easily most fun imo having levelled and played on both. when you get ganked (gang killed or killed by a much higher level player) just think of the days when you hit 70 and you can do the same! revenge is sweet.

many times when bored id get on my rogue and pwn southshore or telenas. easily best class for ganking. miss my rogue r.i.p delsaber

also warlocks was fun when just chucking curses on lowbies and watchign them panic when they cant get rid of it. ahhh wow is fun. enjoy it peeps!

mwahahaha!

 

[purplerat]

its jsut a game designed to be as addictive as possible to attract players and of course thats what its done.

I strongly disagree with that statement and the perception that many people try to push that Blizzard created an addictive product in order to profit off users who could not control their use. In the 80s it was revealed that Tobacco companies had known for decades that nicotine in cigarettes caused a powerful addiction and actually increased levels to keep users hooked. Because really why else would so many people smoke so much? This is hardly what video game companies are doing. They make games to be fun so that people will want to play them and profit off people having fun. Just like with anything else some people will abuse it, but unlike say the tobacco industry MMOs are not relying on addicts to make money. The elements that people claim are addicting are in there because normal people can enjoy them without having an issue. Take those things out and the game would fail not because addicts would stop being addicted but because it would make the game boring and normal people would stop playing. The idea that the game should "stop being so much fun" because some people can not control themselves is pretty offensive to those who can. I really hope no developer would ever consider altering a game design because an otherwise creative or fun element might be an issue for a small number of players.

On the lighter side here are a couple of my favorite ganking tactics. Just a little back story, when I first started playing and was getting beat on by higher level alliance players I was way more excited about being able to return the favor than I was pissed about getting ganked. Now everytime I hear somebody complain about getting ganked, even if it's a guildmate or friend, it just further fuels my desire to bring misery to others. Anyways one of my favorite spots with my hunter has always been in the zone just north of The Barrens. There's a small alliance post there and at 70 I can easily tear through the NPCs. But what I love to do is to sit just outside of the post but still in range of the flight path. Whenever some 20-something lands and hesitates for just a second - BAM! I'll drop'em dead. Another favorite is to travel to stable my pet, go to an alliance starting zone and capture some common low level beast. I'll then hide my troll in a bush or something and use Eye's of The Beast to control my pet. Then I'll just start rushing into crowds of newbies hoping one will be dumb enough to attack my pet. Once they do I'll jump out and start wailing on them. If I'm lucky is friends will try and join in as if 5 level 8s would actually stand a chance. Then just basically harass them for as long as I can. But my all time best ganking/griefing was done in Ratchet. I was only about 40 at the time but caught a level 30 alliance starting crap with lower level horde so I killed him. Unfortunatly for him he died relatively close to the grave yard there meaning whether he rez'd at his body or in the grave yard I would be standing right there. I camped between his corpse and the grave yard for about an hour and was able to kill him something like 40 times.

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

BTW

IM GOING TO BLIZZCON WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!

My wife was able to get through the error messages and pick up two tickets for us. Best B-Day present ever.

As for it being addictive, I guess you can say it is addictive for us because its a social environment for us. Our guild is full of families and friends. But if you play and your spouse doesn't you should make sure that you are still paying enough attention to her. LOL its that simple, guys or girls that don't are basically ignoring jerks.

 

[scshadowblade]

Anyone else on M'uru currently?

 

[freelemon]

Are you still getting golds

by finishing quests

or killing monsters

no no no

that's not smart

more golds in www 8thgame co m

waiting for you to take them​

www.8thgame.com

 

[freelemon]

Are you still getting golds

by finishing quests

or killing monsters

no no no

that's not smart

more golds in www 8thgame co m

waiting for you to take them

 

[DannyBoy27]

Truly addictive personalities don't rely on any one obsession, anything will do.

Well said Jalek.

Purple is actually right to an extent. Saying that WOW is satan incarnate is a little pointless and asinine. However i did state that it was MY opinion - which im pretty sure im entitled to. I aslo stated that the game was extremely well designed etc etc. It wouldnt be addictive if it was a poorly executed piece of crap. Writing that just dredged up some pretty raw anger that i had pushed down from the experience - hence the childish hate sentiments

I guess that, since its illogical to try and hate my bro completely for his shortcomings and addictive personality, the next step in the process is to to blame WOW. (irrational I know but it helps me cope).

So I do blame WOW as it is the only focal point to which i can direct said rage.

If it had been Halo or Lineage then i would blame those games for being such an exceptional vehicle to encourage addiction.

Im not sure what the real solution is. And the crux of my thoughts on the matter seem to culminate in me just getting a message out. Tons of people are already/are going to become heavily addicted to various forms of games/gaming.

Perhaps the boxes should come with warning labels ( pointless and ineffective ) or the accounts limited to a certain amount of play time per day ( i believe that this was effectively implemented in Korea ). The latter could just be hearsay yet i believe the idea would prove very effective.

Before you flame me for backing a time limiting feature on MMOs...
If someone you knew was sitting in their room playing a game for 17hrs straight near daily then i would really like you to state that that is considered both normal/natural and harmless behaviour to that individual.

 

[purplerat]

or the accounts limited to a certain amount of play time per day

That is a horribly bad idea [I'll only type 'horribly' once, but assume I meant to fill a whole page with that word alone]. And that type of thinking is exactly why I'm so offended by people blaming games for these issues. You say it's just how you cope, but at the same time you advocate such a disturbing form of censorship.

If someone you knew was sitting in their room playing a game for 17hrs straight near daily then i would really like you to state that that is considered both normal/natural and harmless behaviour to that individual.

You're right it's not normal and that's exactly why it shouldn't be regulated. Normal people don't have a problem with it. If that was the normal behavoir when playing these games then regulation might be warranted. But it's not and it's not.

 

[MrIcky]

I know lot's of 'normal' people that ended up having a borderline problem with WoW, realized they had a borderline problem then got out.

Here's the basic track toward this happening. A person in a fairly stable time environment (i.e. they have a regular and somewhat consistant amount of time they can make themselves available) starts playing WoW. They enjoy the game and maybe play with a few friends, but it's still just a game. This person then joins a guild.

****This is where the gameplay experience splits and may cause issues****

If you join a small fun loving guild that concentrates on 10 mans, things go pretty well.

If you join a guild that is dedicated toward seeing the end game content, you need to make some decisions in your life. I went down this path, as did several others I know. Although I didn't realize that was where the guild was going until I was deep in it (I was in WoW on day 1).

You make 'friends' with people you've never actually met and now you make a commitment to them. You need 25 people with alternates to be on 3-4x a week at a set time. These people need to be prepared by having proper food and potions with repaired gear. So now you've committed to your friends that you will not only play 12-16 hours in raids, but you'll play an extra amount of time so that you can show up ready to play.

This, in theory, is no different really than committing yourself to a 'good' amateur Hockey Team that's dedicated to winning it's division. You put in the time and practice.

The social problems are: only you and others that play this understand (whereas anyone-including non-gamers understand wanting to be 1st place in your hockey league), it is exclusionary in an area that's supposed to be inclusive of your family- your home (so your family just sees the back of your head as you're hunched over your pc with headphones on talking to people you've likely never met), and finally- it takes a larger time commitment then other typical commitments. If you want to see Black Temple, Mt Hyjal and the Sunwell, be prepared to treat WoW like a part time job. There is just no other way to learn the coordination. Pick up people will kill your whole raid.

WoW is great fun if you can stay casual. I don't blame WoW either, just like I don't blame alchohol for the alchoholic. You make your own choices. Therefore I quit. Once you start going down the raid content route, it is extremely hard to go back to just goofing around though.

 

[itadakimasu]

i managed to cut myself off around 9:30 pm last night and goto bed early, of course this was prompted by my computer randomly restarting.... but yeah.

got a valuable 30 minutes in on lunch today though and was just joking about people offering 20gold for whatever a vc run was...

i was like, i will give 40gold for a vc run, and immediately got like 15 whispers saying really!?

then somebody gave me 40gold just to prove the point that to a higher level player 40gold is nothing, even though its taken me 3 weeks to make 40 gold.

 

[RavenMoon]

I spent so long condemning WoW. Then my boyfriend went on holiday recently and I played the trial. I'm still not seeing the hype. I also hate how one of my friends ignores me on msn with the excuse of a 'WoW Raid'. I guess it's a decent game, but I wouldn't pay to play it!

 

[swat565]

my wife isn't so interested in wow... and im not sure if she likes falling asleep on the couch while i'm playing.

i think almost every night since i started playing wow, has ended w\ me having to wake my wife up from the couch to come to bed....

Not to be intrusive but make sure to ALWAYS make family first, WoW last. Follow this simple rule (not so simple to follow). Hate to see people neglect there complete social life over a game... also make sure to take breaks every hour at least, step up walk around, grab some water, chat with the wife for 10-20 minutes and make time for dinner ^.^ stuff like this will make sure your living your life not living a game. just my 2 cents