LoveToKnow Recovery:AllComments

From LoveToKnow Recovery

Comments

Jake,

Thank you for taking the time to write. You already realize that you need help and you want to get it, which is the first step. You can be addicted to video games without having other addiction issues.

You already know that you need to stop playing. Close your account, get rid of the computer, or do whatever you have to do.

A therapist can help you to find other activities to replace WoW in your life. You also can't start playing again. That doesn't work for you.

Ask your doctor to help you find someone who will bill you on a sliding scale. Some health insurance plans will pay for mental health services and this may be an option for you.

Jodee Redmond LoveToKnow Editor

-- Contributed by: JC Redmond

Hello, I have been playing WoW for over three years now. It began shortly after I moved out of my parents house. I had a demo from a magazine and decided to try it one night when I was bored. I was instantly hooked, and over the next few months I became severely addicted, I started missing work and failing classes that before I was making easy A's in. I comleted the semester with barely passing grades in most of my classes. In my addiction I decided to drop out of college. I had one more class to take before I recieved my degree. This lasted for about a year. I was at work one night, and a friend and I were talking about it, and how badly it was affecting my life. I decided with a massive amount of determination to quit wow. I went home after work, uninstalled it and sold my account. I then proceeded to start loosing the 50 lbs I had gained over that year and was making very good progress for three months. By the end of the second month I was "getting the itch" again. But I was able to steer clear of it. It wasn't long before I began playing again. I was just as addicted as I was before. In oct of 07 i met my wife. I quit wow again. She moved in with me and things were going great. But it wasn't to long before i started playing wow again. It began to strain the relationship, and we had several arguments about it. Basically the jist was that she was being ignored for the game. It took me a while to agree with that, and when i did i made a point to spend time with her and lower my game time. I still played though, and I was still addicted, I still played at least 2 hours a day and sometimes alot more. We bought a house in town a year later, but nothing had really change with my addiction. We got married on may 16 09. It was the happiest day of my life. 4 days later I got a call from work saying i was 1 of the 30ish people being let go. I have since started school again, and half way through the 1st semester i'm making straight "A"s and i'm really trying hard to control my wow time, i just can't seem to give it up. somedays i play as little as an hour, others i play as much as 5 or more. I can't quit. It makes me sad to know some of the things i have missed in the last three years, the friends i no longer have and the oportunities that i've missed. Even so, I can't break my dependance on wow. Just as a side note, i have never been addicted to anything else in my life that i can think of. i've never done drugs, or smoked, I drink but only very occasionally, I may have 1 or 2 beers one night in a month (honestly). I can't afford counciling, but I want to quit wow and i can't do it myself. what do i do. thanks for your time.

-- Contributed by: Jake

Hamza,

If you have become addicted to the game, it's not a good idea to start playing again, even if you've been away from it for a time. You are far better off finding another way to spend your free time.

Jodee Redmond LoveToKnow Editor

-- Contributed by: JC Redmond

hello im 13 years old im from turkey i used to live in Australia when i saw wow off my cousin it didnt work for my pc till i got here something happend and it worked i played on US servers for like 3 months i was addicted till i found out that i need to but EU game cards so 1 year later i went to media market and bought a game card then i made a paladin after that my uncle bought me like 2 more game cards then i was heavly addicted now i cant stop but i am trying to give a break till school holidays i am wondering if i give a break of wow till holidays and get back on for a little while will i get addicted and by thr way my unvle plays heaps and is addicted i go to my nans house on weekends and watch him play will it get he addicted even more please help me.

-- Contributed by: hamza

Finally Better,

Thank you for sharing your experience. Congratulations on making the two-month mark in your recovery.

Jodee Redmond LoveToKnow Editor

-- Contributed by: JC Redmond

I started playing WoW the summer of 06. My older brother had been playing for already close to a year and was hopelessly addicted with already two level 70 toons. My brother told me I HAD to try this game. So I started a Human Paladin: Palimale on the Gurubashi Server. I leveled it to about 12-15. But I was never hooked, I never really got the feel for the game. I played again maybe once or twice total for the next year. That is, until the summer of 07. I got really bored and played it once out of sheer boredom. I started playing 5 hours a day, but I could only play at about 2 AM because that was the only time my brother wasn't on. I adjusted my sleep schedule to fit WoW. This continued for the rest of the Summer (about a month and a half). Then My brother moved out and took his computer with him. I stopped playing and eventually stopped complaining... My brother ended up moving back in because his room mate moved to Alaska after he joined the military and my brother on a part time job couldn't afford rent. I started playing again. It didn't interfere with school because I'd never had to try at school and my Freshman year was no different. My brother was usually working from two till ten so I had free rein over his computer when I got home after sports practice. I had just gotten my toon to 58 and ventured into the expansion... Outlands! After gwetting to Zangermarsch (however it's spelled), our neighbors we had been pirating internet from moved. I wasn't able to play again until a patch or two before Wrath of the Lich King. They'd redone pally seals and I was pumped. I played insessently barely not hitting the 70 level cap before it was raised to 80 by less than a week. After which I proceeded to explore new content. I was by then starting to see the effect WoW was having on my life. I'd completely crippled the relationship between myself and a very special girl that, to this day I still hold dear (I'm also still trying to make up for my actions... Someday... Maybe), was growing increasingly distant from my friends, and was no longer the kind and thoughtful child I was raised to be. I promised myself that I would level my character only to 80 then stop. The leveling process took me about two weeks. When I reached 80 I did not quit. After about a week longer my brother left on a vacation to North Carolina. He took his computer and I was in a state of panic. All I could think about was WoW. I visited forums on my Wii internet channel, and checked the stats and gear of my fellow guild members through armory. And I got so desperate that I cleaned my insanely messy room and hauled my families old computer into my room hooked it up and waited 28 HOURS for the game to download off the internet and patch on our insanely weak connection pirated from a DIFFERENT neighbor. I slept hardly a wink, it was the beginning of Christmas vacation 08. After downloads I attempted to play and found myself disconnecting about every five mins. But it was okay because I was still able to play. I then dropped about $100 into the computer to better it's performance. That I don't regret because this computer that I am typing on is in fact the instrument of my torture and the symbol of my redemption and recovery. In this madness I saw myself as I was and before I lost my senses again, I deleted WoW. The best move of my life. I am writing this to finally relieve myself of the weight that I was never able to fully admit I was carrying until now. To this moment, my addons folder for WoW still exists. In my finally act of recovery I am deleting this folder... There, it's done. I hope that I can somehow help someone else see the truth, we can only be who we are and nothing less.

I have been free over two months, I'll never make a mistake like that, or let it control me again.

-- Contributed by: Finally Better

Widowed,

It sounds like your husband has become addicted to WOW. He won't change his behavior until he decides that he wants to. Before you make any major decision about your life, I would suggest that you get some counseling. Then you can make better choices about what to do.

Jodee Redmond LoveToKnow Editor

-- Contributed by: JC Redmond

My husband is addicted to WOW! He will play from 7am till 3am only stopping to eat and go to the bathroom, sleep a few hours and then go on again to play. I feel neglected all the time and I am angry because he neglects our dogs when I'm not home or if I am away on a business trip. He'll forget to feed them, and never plays with them. When he's not playing his mind is always someplace else and when I talk with him he never answers or never really listens to me. I tell him all the time how I feel, he doesn't care. He tells me that I should get a hobby. His excuse is that it is something he enjoys doing and it is a hobby, not an addiction. He will actually call out sick from work just to play the game, and since he is a teacher all holidays and through the entire summer break that is all he does. I go to bed by myslef everynight, I eat dinner alone because he's always playing. Even on the rare occasion he stops playing to accompany me to the bedroom, as soon as we are done he goes right back to playing the game! I can't take it anymore and am seriously thinking about leaving him.

-- Contributed by: Widowed from WOW

Widowed,

I'm sure that your situation is a complicated one and no one reading your comment is going to judge you. You may find counseling helpful for yourself, since you will have some important decisions to make for yourself and your children if you decide to leave your husband.

Jodee Redmond LoveToKnow Editor

-- Contributed by: JC Redmond

My husband started playing this game 3 years ago. He is a Marine and hadn't dealt with his PTSD from his first two deployments and is a highly addictive person. When he was gone for 3 months training and away from the game, he had an affair. When he came back from that, he became a worse addict than even before. I am about to have my second child (don't judge me you don't know the whole story, and yes it is my last), and I have been planning to leave for 6 months now. I do not see any hope left for a marriage. I just feel that staying with him is enabling him to basically end his life this way. He has no life left outside of the game at all.

-- Contributed by: Widowed

When his playing the game gets to the point where he is neglecting other aspects of his life, then it is a problem. You can try talking to him about it, but he is likely to deny there is a problem. Unless he is willing to admit that it's a problem, he isn't going to want to deal with the issue. Signing up for a fitness center is something positive you can do for yourself and will give you something else to focus on

Jodee Redmond LoveToKnow Editor

-- Contributed by: JC Redmond

i am pretty sure my hubby is addicted to this game. he plays it about 8 hours or more a day and is in total denial. i feel neglected and alone. i am signing up for a fitness center tomorrow, because i am tired to sit around alone, even know he is there. any ideas, i have tried to talk to him. can't believe i am losing my man to a video game, pretty sad.

-- Contributed by: kitty45
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