Here's a post from someone who discovered Warcraft was ruining his life. He describes what it was doing to him, and what it took for him to quit. He definitely makes it sound like WoW could be a life-wrecking addiction. And, after reading the comments, I see the author of the post got off easy:
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There are a couple of issues here. As another recovering WoWer, there is an issue of self-control. I simply did not have the self-control necessary to play a game like this... I think there are plenty of people that do.
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Lost a girlfriend of 3 years because of WoW. Quit three months ago now and am trying to get my life back on track.
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I hear you loud and clear - I damn near lost my degree, and did lose the best girl that ever happened to me, as a result of an MMORPG.
I look back now and want to cry at the futility of it all - what the bloody hell was I doing?
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Almost lost my wife and three kids to wow... Amen you found way to "hearthstone" out of the game.
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...I did loose my best friend too games like WOW. I saw him right before I left for college and he was on a raid. here I was about to go half way across the country to the largest city I had ever been to and the guy I basically grew up with had more to say to his guild members than too me. I'm no tough guy, but I'm also not prone to being very emotional but this one damn near broke my heart.
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I'd rather spare the personal details as this is the internet but I can truly relate to this Blog all too well. I am just now struggling to quit this video game addiction.
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I started playing on release in Nov 2004 and have been playing ever since. I have even had times where all I did was play, work and sleep. I was in a long term relationship at the time and after a year of suffering my GF left me. I still didn't realise the error of my ways and I continued to play as constantly as my work schedule would allow.
Recently I have been trying to push down the hours and my exGF has given me a second chance. I even was happy to drop Fri-Sun playing for her knowing that I wouldn't play too much on Mon-Thu seeing as I had work the next day. A few days ago she told me that I can play whenever I want, and i've got to say that I felt like Christmas had come early. I played most of that weekend of course...
And then there are people like this, who get offended at the mere suggestion that there is anything addictive about these games:
- The game doesn't ruin people. People like you ruin the game.
No one put a gun to your head saying you had to play 70+ hours a week. I've subscribed to mmo's and gone months without playing them.
Your argument is completely flawed its like saying you can't win alchohol. You're not supposed to win it your supposed to play it.
Alot of people tend to forget that Chess is a game that can't be won. Hence the term "Checkmate" You never take the king hence there never truly is a winner.
Though I'm not sure you should put too much stock in the analysis of someone who doesn't understand that "checkmate" is shorthand for "I win, because I will take your king on my next turn, no matter what you do," he's right about one thing: you don't "win" alcohol. But you can certainly become addicted, even if nobody put a gun to your head.