It's 4.30pm. Man, how did that happen? Where did all that time go? I've been playing since the morning and it only feels like a few hours have passed. Damn, I've only got 2 more hours before Tash gets back home, better get back into it, I'm about to level up! Oh baby! Hahahahha... I knew this would happen, I am totally addicted to
World of Warcraft. When I first started playing WoW, it was clear to me that this game would completely take over my life if I wasn't too careful. And while I'm not quite there yet, it is consuming a lot of my time. But is it a bad thing? To play for hours on end, not noticing when people are talking to you mid-melee, passing on Friday night drinks to quickly get home and kill a few harpies. My girlfriend certainly seems to think so.
I've been playing World of Warcraft for several weeks now. And I must say, this game has got me by the throat. Between working, spending time with my girl, socialising (that one can sure get in the way), sight-seeing and a host of other things I should be doing instead, I find myself trying to squeeze in as much game-time as possible. It is just so easy to forsake what is real and to immerse oneself in this digital and fantastical world. That is unfortunately the nature of the beast. WoW not like Street Fighter or Quake where you can just blast for under an hour and get your fix. The juice is unfortunately in the amount time you spend improving your player. I don't mind hacking away for a few hours here and there; but if you want to experience the true beauty of the game, certain aspects of your real life are doomed to take a bit of a back seat. This game sucks time like a thirsty sponge and suspends you in a place where you can forget you are actually a real human being.
Right now I understand that the game is bad for me and I am hoping that I'm just experiencing the honeymoon period (that sounds so wrong but it's a pretty accurate analogy). So I'm thinking that I'll try to spend a few weeks/months playing more than I should to get the full flavour, and then slow it down to a more respectable, less anti-social pace. I certainly don't want to end up like
this guy.
Obsession can lead to nasty things. Just the other day one of my close friends whom I was questing with launched into a slander campaign against me because I wouldn't give his girlfriend a magical sword (that I won in a drop). He was getting really upset, even the rest of the party were having a go at me for it - all for a digital sword. It's first and foremost a game and should not be taken to seriously. The last thing I want is a
knife in my chest.
