3 posts tagged “world of warcraft”
My stomach is feeling a lot better; however now I have an entirely NEW problem...my left eye. Yesterday, it got this really weird pain in it; a pain that is hard to explain, it's not a sharp pain or a dull pain, but if I push on the corner of it it's very uncomfortable feeling. I've rubbed the crap out of it because it's been bugging me and now my whole left eye looks bloodshot...I swear I just want to feel better!
In other news, I talked to my boyfriend on the 21st of July and basically told him that I was unhappy and there was not a damn thing he could say this time around to make me feel or accuse me of overreacting or being emotional; this is completely his doing & his fault, and all I have to say about the matter is that if he doesn't shape up & start SHOWING me that he loves me & cares about me & wants to be with me like he SAYS he does, he's going to be seeing the one person who cares about him the most (as he has said himself even) walk out the door. I'm tired of being unhappy, I don't deserve it; does that mean I don't love him or want to be with him? Of course it doesn't, but over the course of my own years of dating & dealing with relationship things between my parents (they are divorced) if there's one thing I've learned it's to take care of myself first & foremost (as selfish as it sounds) and when it comes to my happiness I won't let me be anything OTHER than happy.
I was talking to my bestest this morning on AIM and he sent me the cutest thing...you'll only get it if you play World of Warcraft. It says I heart you or I love you but the love/heart part is an image of a health pot, get it?! :D It made me smile, haha.
I always tend to read the news on Yahoo and CNN when I'm up late at night and as of lately, I've been seeing this articles of the possibly of "calling excessive video-game playing a formal psychiatric addiction." I'm not exactly sure what to think of this. I realize that today's children, teenagers, and young adults stay in doors more and use the TV, computer and video games as their form of entertainment rather than going out in the yard and playing tag or I don't know working in the yard if you're an old teen/young adult. However, to put video gaming into the same category or at least compare it to alcoholism is kind of extreme in my opinion.
A lot of young people, college students and even some older people have been playing the online video game World of Warcraft since it's release back in 2004. I mention WoW as the game of choice, because it seems that any time an article about excessive game playing comes up WoW is mentioned, anyways... I, like most of the people have played, have put off school, friends, family, being outside to play the game instead; I have been holed up in my room for many hours just sitting at the computer playing. Does this mean I was addicted? My mom would say yes. My family would say yes. I would say yes to a degree because I always have/had the choice to stop...I wasn't playing the game because it was something that I absolutely NEEDED (not like an alcoholic NEEDS his beer), I played because I was bored, I had nothing else to do: what is so wrong with playing a video game (whether it be for 10 minutes or hours) after going to classes all day (college student) and/or going to work a PT job afterwards?
Everyone has their own personal reasons for playing WoW, as they do for playing other video games. If you're a younger child, then the parents need to take more responsibility and turn the damn TV off when they think enough is enough. Encourage them to go outside instead or just take the games away completely. As for those of us that are older and enjoy gaming, it really isn't as extreme as these articles are making it out to be and I wish they'd stop. Like I said, a lot of us do it because we're bored or after a long day of classes/work it's OUR way to relax and chill out...you just have to make the decision for yourself when to stop.
World of Warcraft was released in November of 2004; I had played part of the beta because the guy I was dating at the time had access to it. I figured since he was so into gaming, if I liked this game I would buy it and we could play together giving us something else to do and another different way to 'spend' time together. I got the game when it was released in 2004 and have played it religiously for the past 2.5 years (almost 3!!). Today is the day that I cancel my account for the last time never to reactivate it again; I have cancelled it twice in the past 2 months only to be convinced by some gaming friends to reactivate it...NOT THIS TIME!!!
It sounds really cheesy when you think of someone spending all their hours of the day locked away in their bedroom (or where ever your PC is located), pounding mercilessly at the keyboard, with a headset with mic attached glued to your head at all times. But the reality of the matter is this: gaming addiction is no different than any other addiction and is just as hard to break. Do I think I sound weird when I say that I had a gaming addiction to WoW? Of course I do, but the reality was that I did...and I had for the 2.5 years, although the time spent in the game had been drastically reduced at the beginning of 2007. I, like most WoW players, spent all my free time on the PC, raiding "hardcore" until 3-4am sometimes (beginning around 7-8pm EST). I put off spending time with my family (don't really have any friends to put off, and no that wasn't a result of the game) and decided to skip out on many activities, along with failing out of my first semester of college because I felt obligated to be there for a raid and not to let my guild down.
Cheesy, stupid, dumb, illogical I know what it sounds like especially if you've never played a video game as such but the truth is there are millions of players who are in the exact situation I was. I cannot hate the game completely because I met some amazing online friends via the game along with my current boyfriend, so for that I am thankful. However, after 2.5 years of gaming continuously only to lose interest in it in the last couple of months per drama filled environment and the release of The Burning Cursade expansion it is time to hang up my hat and never look back. :)
