Addictions to World of Warcraft (also known as "WoW")?

Question

My boyfriend is 21 years old and I believe he has an addiction to Warcraft. For those of you who don't know, World of Warcraft is a computer game with online interaction with people all over the world. It's mostly a killing and ranking game but it's a game that can never really be beat. What makes me believe he has an addiction to this game is when I ask him (politely!) to stop playing, he gets very defensive. I allow him to bring over his laptop to my house and every once in a while, I don't mind that he plays, especially when it's one of those days / nights you just want to hang out and be lazy. Last night I asked him to stop playing and he did but shortly after I fell asleep just to be woken up and found him playing again! It seems to get worse the more often he plays.How can I confront him on this issue? I'm not asking him to choose between me or the game but I'm seriously concerned about a possible addiction.

Answer 1

Anything can be addicting, but I think you are jumping the gun a bit. It's got more to do with his age, and the fact that you let him. Let's face it this not about the game. This is about respect, and having a good relationship. Men do this with cars, tv, and what not. Wow, and other MMOs are simply a lot more fun, and easier to enjoy. The problem is the game seems to come before you. Which isn't the way it should be. Also you seem to be letting him walk all over you. Why should he be playing wow at your place? That is pretty much him saying he likes wow more than you.

You need to be frank with him that you aren't happy with the status quo. You need to work out set times for the 2of you to be together. Try to be flexible as Sat night is prime time for raiding;-)
If he can't, or won't make time for you it's more likely he's immature, or a jerk. (Lord knows there are enough of those online.) Don't blame the game. Blame the player. Just try and look on the bright side of things at least Sat nights in wow are better than with the guys at a bar.

PS-Personally I play wow, but only about 3-4 nights a week. The major difference is I take breaks on the weekends to go for a hike, and run errands. When a female friend calls I either stop playing or work out a time to call her back if I'm in the middle something with a group(It's considered extremely bad manners to drop out of a group in the middle of a quest.). The trick is finding a balance, and your boy friend is young enough that that's really hard.

PPS- You can hardly blame the guy for playing after you go to sleep.

PPPS- Take advantage of this. On his wow nights take a class, or go out with the girls.

Answer 2

World of Warcraft is addicting regardless of what the people who play may say. There have been *MANY* cases of people losing any chance of a future over WoW and it is true that the more you play the worse it gets because you build 'friendships' and you lose value in achieving something in reality and take more pride in achievement in-game. I used to play WoW and quit and re-join many times because my friends/family pressured me to.

However eventually I got over it, fortunetly before the most important years of my life, and because I quit without being pressured into doing so I don't have a temptation to begin playing.

The ideal thing would be to help him understand that WoW is just a game and that whatever happens inside the game, in the end, means literally nothing.

Answer 3

I read a source that said over 40% of Wow players are addicted. Including my former friend who plays 120 hours a week and ran up an $800 power bill.
I think people get hooked on WoW because it is an escape from an unsatisfactory stage of their life....
Maybe his problem goes deeper than just a computer game... does he have a strong social support network? ie good mates/families? WoW can lead to destructive and dysfunctional relationships.
For example:
A teenager commiting suicide when his rehelm turned against him
A woman not feeding her dying children for a week due to addiction to Wow
You need to monitor his playing. Write down the numbers of hours he plays for a week and confront him.
Also, don't turn off your connection or break the net as this will cause him anxiety.
He needs to want to come back into reality... When he's ready.

Answer 4

I been played games since release of game n watches and atari 2600...wow i a very addicting game..its sucks the player in and next thing u know he drops out of school and no real friend leads a virtual life cos real is is much harder...therefore y work hard for glory when u can have virutal friends and fame....i like chinas policy on role playing games u dont gain anything after 3 hours... people are afraid to face real like challenges,issues, rejections etc..life is a game but its real...
next couple of years we are going to find people with lots of health issues... its upto the player to maje the choice to play or to socialize but 40% of the players lost that will power long time ago..i started playing that game played for a few hours deceided i like the real life better...if u see the world of war craft convention pics... 90% who showed up were guys...hoping to meet their "elf girl" who pretty much is another guy...i have wow should start implementaing chinas policy ...

Answer 5

I used to get really mad at my boyfriend for constantly playing WoW. One day he offered to get me a copy of the game so I could play with him. He did things with me that I enjoyed so I decided to give it a whirl. I guess you could now say I'm "addicted" as well. I've even gotten my two best friends into the mess.

Seriously though, you can't change people. If he's gonna be gaming like that all the time you have to decide if that's something you're gonna live with or not. My best friend's boyfriend was really into gaming too and she'd try to drag him off of it for real life stuff and he'd get really mad saying, "You know I have practice tonight!!" I could always drag my boyfriend off of it to do real life stuff. Anyways, long story short... they broke up and now he can "practice" every night of the week!

Answer 6

I played that game for the better part of a year. I stopped a while back.
I basically quit because I typed:
/played
into the inteface and realized I had spent nearly 40 days out of one year playing that silly game. I don't like to waste time and 960 hours is an insane amount of time to play a silly, inconsequential game. If I had spent that time doing something else....

Anyway, so thats what I encourage you to do. Tell him to type
/played
into the chat window of the game. Hopefully that will help him realize how much time has gone down the drain.


Good luck!

Answer 7

I play world of warcraft also. It is a very addicing game but there are two things you could do. You could either try to play it yourself a bit to get more ideas (at the risk of addiction) or attempt to have a discussion with him about it, maybe you could get him to not stop playing but to play less.
I became addicted and so far i have gotten 6 other people hoked, it is a very good game!

Answer 8

My husband is addicted too. I feel like I have to make him choose between the game and me. Any free time that he has is "in game". We talked about it. He is now limited to two nights and needs to ask to go on other nights. It works most of the time. He needs to understand your needs too.

Answer 9

my husband played that game so much that I finally got sick of it and gave it a try myself, and ok, as much as I made fun of him for playing video games, that game is fun!!! now lots of our friends play and it's nice cuz you can chat with them while your playing and there's always something to do (i hate regular video games cuz I get stuck and then can't play any more). And I guess it would be super easy to get addicted to that game cuz you just wanna keep leveling up and it's so huge you can practically have a whole life in the WoW world. Just make sure he's got his priorities straight, it's just a game, and your his girlfriend, and if he can't put you first he doesn't deserve to have a girlfriend

Answer 10

RUN....run like heck and dont look back.
My X-husband was on that game constantly. Days and nights without stopping. Longest was 6 days/nights. Didn't eat/drink or sleep!!!!! He is a very sick man. He lost his business, everything he owned, went bankrupt, and of course, lost me- his wife. That was two years ago. I often wonder if he even has logged off yet??? BTW....he is 45 years old. I'm serious - beware. It is self-destructive.