This information is for World of Warcraft players who want to quit playing.
At this stage, the reasons don’t matter. Gaming can be huge amounts of fun, and WoW is no exception, that’s why millions are playing it. For some of us though, it’s too much to handle, we let it get out of control and take over life.

What can start as something that is new, exciting and challenging, can turn into something that is addictive and obsessive. I went through a lot of different stages in my gaming, sometimes totally obsessed, playing all day, other times feeling burnt-out and needing time away..
Most WoW players go through a similar set of phases when playing the game.

1) Start-up: Maybe a friend got you involved, maybe you saw an ad or the box in a store. You just installed WoW, all content is new and exciting.

2) Main Drive: You soon pick up the basics, get to know some other players, maybe join a guild. You are now progressing through the content on your main. Goals in the game are clear, lot’s to see, lot’s to learn.

3) Mastery: You reach max level finally (maybe?). You might be a strong guild player now and raiding, or soloing high level quests and areas, or PvPing.

4) Burn Out: Feels like you did most of what you can do. Quests become boring, guild is not changing, raiding becomes more of an effort. The fun seems to have left the game.

Players will then generally take one of three routes:

5a) Casual / Recovery: You figure out a way to play the game at a lower level. They may be doing intermittent raids, logging in casually to play with friends, casually leveling alts, etc.

5b) Repeat Main drive: You continue playing at a high level going back to play new classes and races. This gives a new sense of purpose and goals once again. There’s lot’s you missed, time to see what it was.

5c) Quitting: You quit playing the game completely.

It might take you a long time to reach mastery, it might be very quick. Some players can keep cycling back to the start and creating new characters over and over, and maintaining a very high intensity of play. These players tend to be obsessively involved.

I don’t know how much you play, or at what stage in the process you are at, it’s different for each person.  Some people can play for an hour or two here and there, and are happy with this.  For others it’s more serious, and the game takes over their life, eating up every spare hour, sucking away time from every other activity, until it feels like WoW is the only thing left.
This can often happen without you even being aware of it. Your goals in the game have been so specific, there has been no reason to look outside of it.

For many players, there comes a time when suddenly they do look outside of the game and realise that stuff has changed. This can often come as a surprise. (OMG, my girlfriend hates me, damn there’s 4 weeks of dishes to clean, oh I’m failing at school/college, my boss wants to fire me etc). For some it is then possible to quit immediately. For others, they ignore the feeling and keep on playing, until it comes back again, only stronger. For many it’s a repeat cycle, becoming more difficult the longer it is maintained. The consequences keep getting more severe.

One of the main problems being that, in the game you have invested huge amounts of time and become someone powerful. You are respected, have strong knowledge, you can help others and often lead as well. The real life situation may be the complete opposite, where you have given no time and things are falling to pieces. To give up this position of power, and face reality can be a daunting prospect.

First up, however you feel, you are not alone.  This site is a community of players and ex-players of World of Warcraft.  Some have played for a short time, others for years.  Whatever you think your longest gaming session is, there is someone here who has played for longer.  However addicted you think you are to the game, there is someone who played more, yet have given up and moved on to better things.  However much you think you have screwed up your life by playing, someone has made an even bigger mess. 

Your being here is a sign that things are probably changing.  I don’t know how it will go.  Whatever the situation, we will try and help you to find the answers.
Know this: You can quit WoW and feel the excitement and fun that you felt when playing, and achieve even greater things in your real life.
You might not be able to fix all of the problems in real life, but you can try. It is possible to move forward again.

First things first, please take this quick quiz, and let’s see where you stand.  There’s one for younger players and one for adults.

Quiz for younger children or students up to 18

Quiz for older students and adults

On this site forums are player stories, it’s a good place to start, and to see how others have been exactly where you are now.  The aim of this site, is not just to be a place where people can share their stories and get feedback.  This is an active community, and the aim is to help anyone who wants to quit, and make them feel good about it.  The focus is not just on how to quit, but on why, and also on what to do once you quit.

Our aim is not only to help you quit, but also make sure that you STAY quit.  The number of people I have seen that have quit, only to go back 4 months later is unreal.  The aim of this site is to prevent that, to fill the hole, to make you FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT!

Here’s some of the facts you will have to deal with:

• The game is addictive, it’s designed to be that way by the developers
• If you have played a lot, the habit WILL BE hard to break
• While you have been playing, other people in your life have been moving on
• Quitting will not be  easy, but if you want it, you can certainly do it
• When you quit, there will be a hole, a big hole
• You will not be able to quit unless something fills the hole that the game has left
• Gaming has probably replaced your social life
• Your game friends will probably not follow you out of the game
• Your REAL friends and family WANT you to quit
• When you quit you will probably feel empty and sad
• When you quit you will probably feel like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders
• Basically your emotions will be going crazy!

All of these issues and problems and questions have solutions.  You will hopefully find the answers on this site, and also by asking the people here, who will be happy to help.

Start now by telling us how it is.  Go to the forums, write YOUR story.  I will not tell you how or what to write, just do it.  After that, decide if you want to quit and then either do it, or read “Quit WoW Now, 10 steps to success”.

The biggest thing you will have to accept (and it is hard):  Accept that any situation you find yourself in right now, you are totally responsible for.  Blaming anyone else, or anything else, and not pointing the finger straight at yourself, will ultimately mean you will fail.  You are here, because you have chosen to be here, not because of the game, or friends, or family, or your past, or the economy, or your ex, or your job, or you dog.  YOU are the only one who can make the choices needed.

Good luck.  Post your story here