Posts in category Quitting Tips

12 things to do instead of playing WoW

Jun08
2009 7 Comments Written by admin

What’s the best way to beat the Warcrack habit?
Why finding another cool, yet less addictive past-time of course!

Here’s Matt’s top 10 things to do, instead of playing World of Warcraft.

1) Pump it

Pump It!

Yes I do work out

You play a muscle-bound hero in WoW, whether you are male or female. Why not take this off-line with weights, wrestling or martial arts.
Many WoW addicts also gain some pounds while gaming, so pumping iron or fitness is a natural solution to getting lean again.  Drop and gimme 10!

 

 

 

2) Party time

Hire a party bus

Hire a party bus

Remember those people who were always hanging around before you started playing WoW?
Not guildies, but “friends”. Real life people who want your company, want to see you, laugh, joke and make physical contact.  Get out of that house and find them.

 

 

 

 

3) Romance

My foot is stuck

My foot is stuck

Your love life might have been nerfed during your WoW playing days. If you are in a relationship, re-ignite the flame with some romantic gestures, eating out, flowers, a card, a love note, eating flowers… Use your imagination. If you are single, get back out on the hunt, the fun of the chase will keep your mind off gaming.

 

 

 

 

4) Sleep

Is it really 2015?

Is it really 2015?

The WoW addiction can leave you drained and lacking sleep. All those late night raids and dailies take it out of you.  You deserve some rest fella.
Getting back to a full night sleep can be one of the most mentally refreshing activities imaginable. 8, 9 or even 10 hours sleep a night will get you back in business and leave you ready for the challenges ahead.

 

 

 

5) Start a blog

It all started when...

It all started when...

Let it all out, tell the world how you feel. Writing down your thoughts is a great way to let the emotion out. I should know, I did it.
It’s also a different way of expressing your creativity, without needing 10 hours per day investment and mucho dollah per month.

 

 

6) Surprise a family member

Mom, it's me

Mom, it's me

Gaming can often leave you feeling completely self-obsessed. WoW addicts spend their entire time thinking about the next bit of gear, the next quest, the next mob. Why not surprise your parents/other half/kids with something special, a cool gift, a day out, a massive kiss or hug. Something out of the ordinary that will make their day.  Make their day today.

 

 

 

 

7) Surprise your boss

my job is your job

my job is your job

Many WoW addicts will let work slip, and only do the minimum necessary. Surprise your boss by getting in to work early, working with maximum enthusiasm, being the new ‘Best Employee’. It’s amazing how quickly this will have an effect and you actually start to really feel how you act. Love your job.

 

 

 

 

8) Climb a mountain

you first

you first

Running around Azeroth can be tedious. Climbing a mountain will leave you breathless, exhilarated and inspired. It’s also a real adventure. Fantasy and discovery are not only available in MMO’s, it’s out there free of charge, just grab it. The world is a big place with many amazing sights and challenges, it’s time to rediscover them.

 

 

 

 

9) Sweat

running makes you tired?

running makes you tired?

Playing WoW all day long, your body stops moving, your joints and muscles atrophy, you forget what it’s like to be a physical entity, and not just a brain connected to a digital device. Go and do something that makes you sweat, the feeling is immensely rewarding. Move those limbs, free up those aching joints and get moving now!

 

 

 

10) Watch your favorite sport

Use the 9 iron!

Use the 9 iron!

If you have been playing WoW excessively, you have probably cut back on your sports too. Make a point of watching the next big game, your favorite match. Get back into it, be uber-passionate, cheer if they win, cry if they lose, cheer and cry if they tie.

 

 

 

 

11) Get a Massage

thats it right there

thats it right there

Treat yourself to a full body massage. Let the stress flow out and relax. No more gold to farm, no more uber gear to worry about.
Get the blood flowing and those muscles loosened up.  Let it out man, it’s over, big breaths now.

 

 

 

 

12) It’s all a game anyway
Remind yourself that life is all one big game, and you are a player in it. How many points have you scored?
Make a system where different activities earn points. Who is current top of the leaderboards? can you catch them?
What activities in your life earn the most points?

Find what you love, remember life is one big game, decide on something cool to do, get out the door and do it.

Posted in Benefits of Quitting, Featured, Life After WoW - Tagged ,

Quit WoW: 10 steps to success

Jun07
2009 2 Comments Written by admin

Are you ready to quit?
If no, then read this, disagree with one or more steps, then go back to playing WoW.

If yes, then follow these steps to remove World of Warcraft from your life, and make sure it stays out.
Remember, this is not about hating WoW, or thinking it is more addictive than some other MMO. This site is about obsessive WoW play, other sites can deal with other problems.
This is about stopping your WoW habit, when it has caused problems in your life, with the aim of letting you get back to living and loving life again.

1) The Foundation
Look at where you are now, this is the basis of quitting. Make an accurate assessment of your life now compared to where it was before you started gaming.
Look at these areas:
- Relationships with loved ones (Friends/Family).
Look at each relationship, how has each one changed? Are you closer, or further apart? Is it tense, or easy-going? Has WoW caused problems?
- Physically
Look at how much and how well you sleep. Are you sleeping enough, do you feel tired? Do you need to sleep more, or get back to a better routine?
Are you using your body? Do you need to start moving again and learning what it is like to be alive, and not chained to that chair?
Look at your diet since playing. Are you eating badly, at your computer? Are you eating junk? Have you put on weight? Has it affected your health?
-Socially
Look at your social life outside of the game. Do you see friends and family as much as you did? Do you really relax away from the game?
Are you an “oxygen thief” doing nothing but consuming and taking, or are you adding anything to the World around you?

Make note of the top 5 things that have been affected since you started gaming. At some stage in the future you will forget why you quit. This list will remind you just why you quit, and what would happen if you went back.

2) Accept it is out of your control
You love gaming, you get a lot of pleasure from it, it has been a source of fun and excitement in the past. It kicks ass and you will miss the good times. You made some good friends, it was a wild ride.
The reason you became hooked is not your fault, it is out of your control. The same thing would happen again in the same situation.

3) Accept that you are responsible
The fact that you have played too much is not the fault of the game. Your obsessive gaming is not the fault of the game developers. Your long hours in the game are not the fault of your friends or family. Even though the degree of your obsession was out of your control, every decision was made by you, and you are responsible for the results. You are also responsible for kicking the habit and getting back to life. You are responsible for change. Tell your story here on the forums later on.

4) The only way forward is to quit
It’s a shame, but it has to be done. Accept this now, and know that if you put it off, you will only drift back into the traps that have been sucking your life dry. Things don’t look so bad the next day, so finish this while you have the chance, and while your desire for change is strong. Do it now.

5) Quit fully and totally
Do whatever you have to do. Make it a ceremony, fraps it, tell the world on Twitter.
Also, delete all items and gear, get rid of gold, everything. It only makes it harder to go back. delete the characters, all of them.
Do whatever else you need with disks, installs, other files, browser bookmarks, resources and sites. You won’t be needing any of it, so do it in style.

6) Announce it
Tell your game friends, your real friends, your family, your dog, you have quit, and you won’t be going back.
Tell game friends it has been fun, they are great, good luck with things. If they are real friends they will stay in touch outside of the game.
Friendships are bigger than games.
Tell friends outside of the game you are back. Tell family you are finally back.

7) Make things right
You might have really hurt people through your actions. You might have driven people away from you. The “you” they have been living with is not the real “you”. The real you is back now, ready to make a difference, to meet the new challenges with them. Apologise – it is well worth it, and necessary. People need to be able to forgive and forget. There is probably a lot of emotional baggage to get rid of. Be the big person and apologise.
If the place is a mess, clear it up. Do all of things you should have been doing while you were gaming.

8) Plan your success
Remember those huge dreams you had about the amazing things you wanted to see, the things you wanted to do or buy, the person you wanted to be, the places you wanted to visit?
Take a big breath, you are alive, and those things will be yours now, if you really want them.
Plan your Dreamlines, make them real, make them tangible. If you need to find a job, or fix a relationship, or fix your health, do it with passion and excitement, do it with energy. The new “You 2.0″ is going to be a work in progress, a work of art. The real adventure is just beginning, the pixels you have been playing with mean nothing now.

9) Find a Hero
Read the post here on finding a hero. Find someone you admire, respect and would want to be more like.
Follow their strengths and the basis for their success. Aim to be more like them, work towards improving yourself in the ways you admire.

10) Commit to an excellent life
You are a unique and excellent person. You have a set of skills no-one else has. You potential as a person is almost unlimited.
Use this period of shock and change to make other radical changes in your life. Get out there and take life by the neck, pull it in the direction you want.
Dump any useless friends who are going to pull you down or tell you that you made a mistake.
You are going to feel a lot of crazy emotions. It might not be easy, but if you want it, and if you have given yourself the desire, then you can do it.

Tell your story on the forums here. Use the community for support, many people have been there and pulled through the other side.
Your love of adventure, fantasy, discovery and excitement will not end. This is only the beginning.

Posted in 10 steps to success, Life After WoW - Tagged ,

Life after WoW

Jun06
2009 6 Comments Written by admin

What can you expect if you quit?
At the very least, it will be a mixed bag of emotions. If you have been playing a lot, it’s going to feel a bit crazy, a whole churning pot of emotional turmoil.
Take a look at this list below, and expect some of the following:

Difficulty sleeping
Depression
Feeling completely empty
Vivid dreams about the game
Fear about the future
Anger at people around you
Irritability and restlessness
Periods of just sitting and thinking
Relief
Strong urges to try and go back
Mood swings
Sadness
Missing game friends
Missing your characters
Anxiety
Loneliness
Boredom
Lost for what to do now
Lack of motivation
Lack of goals
Illness like flu or a cold
Wanting to be alone
Putting off important stuff you know you should do
Wishing you could have it all, and play
Lack of enthusiasm
No passion for anything

The first few weeks after quitting is tough, and a lot of people give in and return to the game and waste all of the hard work they have done.
It’s going to be hard!
Remember though, you are not alone, and the toughest things give the biggest satisfaction. Remember what Gandalf said “All we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us”:

Posted in Featured, Game Psychology, Life After WoW - Tagged , ,

For Friends and Family

Jun06
2009 2 Comments Written by admin

Is a friend or a member of your family addicted to World of Warcraft, or is pathalogically playing the game?
There’s a more formal test for this, but if it is causing you anxiety and stress, it’s clearly an issue.

Gaming habits do not appear overnight, they develop steadily over a period of time.
Lines are not often quickly crossed, mostly they are moved. You may be seeing things now which you would not have allowed to happen 6 months ago.

I would never play in front of my partner.  I would try to move the line by playing while she was there, and judge her reaction.  Her reaction was always cold and firm in these situations.  This reinforced her position of not wanting me to play.  This lead me to going around the line by playing while she was asleep.  This is how the mind of the gamer works.

Friends I played with would have no problem playing in front of their partner.  The nagging and shouting seemed to be part of it for them.  Different people have different tollerances.

It’s a hard place to be, and can feel very frustrating, I see that now.  Gamers who are playing obessively have tunnel vision.  They are often so heavily focused on the game, when they can play next, the next objectives within the game, when the next raid is and so on, the rest of life becomes a blur.  As an outsider, all you see is the back of a head.

Part of your task is that of understanding.  You need to understand, in part, the game they are playing (I don’t mean also playing it with them, or encouraging them to play).  You should know for example, the nature of World of Warcraft.  It is a massive, multi-player game, with many different Realms, or game servers.  All of these servers are the same world, but support different players.  It is a subscription-based service, which means it requires an ongoing fee in order to play.  The game can be played alone, or with other players.  Players within the game form guilds, which are teams of players working together towards similar goals.

It’s a social game, unlike more traditional computer games.  The human interaction takes the potential to a different level, which is why it is far more compelling and potentially addictive by nature.

This information is not useful as material for nagging, spying or emotional blackmail, but try to understand what they are doing and why.  It’s useful to see where they are at in terms of their relationship with the game, which can help to tailor a response.

This site aims to provide you with an advice network and support in dealing with obsessive gaming.  Hopefully the situations of others will be encouraging and useful.  It’s not an “us vs. them” situation.  Nagging and emotional blackmail may work for some, but I have found that in the main it drives further distance between you and will only encourage more dishonestly and anger.

In the main, if the gamer is a self-supporting adult, it is necessary for them to come to their own realisation that gaming is causing problems in their life.
For younger adults and children, the situation can be different.
As this site and forums develop, further resources will be available for this wide variety of situations.

Overall, keep in mind that you will often be asking someone who has build a reputation within a game, with power and recognition, to come back to a real world, where things look a lot more bleak.  More on this to follow, plus additional resources and articles are available throughout the site.

At this time, we really want to hear your story, please tell it in the forums.

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Welcome Adventurer

Jun04
2009 Leave a Comment Written by admin
Don't look back

Don't look back

Greetings adventurer! Finally you arrive.

You have travelled far and seen much. You have fought your fights well and stood against your enemies, that is clear.   Thousands have fallen to your blade, and victory has walked closely beside you. The fight has been long and hard and I can see you are tired. You might think that this is the end of things, that discovery and adventure are soon to be left behind. You are wrong!

This is only the beginning. Greater adventures are waiting for you now, and you will need every ounce of determination and cunning to remain victorious. What you have seen so far has just been a single battle, a first chapter, and the war goes on. Other heroes are calling you, and you are needed.
So go tell your stories and brag about your victories. Then it’s time to leave the past behind and step out into the new world. We will then forge victories that will never be forgotten and will be sung about down the ages. You are the new architect of your own story. The next chapter begins now, are you ready to tell your story?

Posted in Motivation - Tagged ,

For WoW Players

Jun03
2009 22 Comments Written by admin

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

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