Man did this game bring me down to my knees... CREDITS _______________ Narrated by: Saberspark Edited by: Eleazar (Eleazar / FER# 7615 on Discord) / fermusica
One of the (many) problems with MMOs is you encounter them when you're a teen, old enough to play and understand and be good at it, and don't have the responsibilities of an adult yet, so you actually have time to play it. That does not set you up for the reality of your late teens/early twenties, because the real world jumps on you all at once eventually.
I think there's more problems at play here than just a MMO not getting you ready for the real world at that point, since even if a young teen takes their time to play a MMO they still got school and their parents to count on to help them get ready for the real world, and quite frankly, schools are a worst offender for that since some don't even teach you actual important things like how to do your taxes or laws of your country and just throws taxing, trivial courses on you that you'll never need in the real world. Because isn't that the point of young education now? To help children get ready for adulthood?
I would argue that, depending on the job they have and what hours they have, someone working minimum wage in fast food has more time to play an MMO than a teenager because teens still have to go to school. And fuck, I learned more about economics and how to operate in a free market playing Runescape than I ever did in school. School does a worst job than video games in preparing kids for adulthood because at least video games aren’t advertising they are supposed to do that.
@@Enderlinkpawnu I'd say that anyone working few enough hours in fast food to be on par with a teenager's free time would be living as a dependent of someone or has a LOT of roommates, cause if you're making enough to support yourself at minimum wage you'll be working 40+ hour weeks and be exhausted to the bone.
I'm starting to realize how uncommon it is for teenagers to also have jobs, clubs, and volunteerwork after class. Do ya'll really just go to school and come home do hw and then nothing?
@@lisscat This is the reality for the vast majority of teenagers in the USA. Just consider all of the things a young person needs to get a job. -Parents who support/encourage it -The young person having a desire to work -A ride to get there -A ride to get back -An employer who is interested in hiring a minor As an adult basically all these things line up automatically for you.
"I tried so hard to beat my WoW addiction. But then the game got shit so beating my addiction became easier." Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that.
@@pforgottonsoul Your mileage may vary. By your logic it should be easy to stop drug addiction by going cold turkey once because a few people managed to do that.
@@jakerelind5577 i think that is a bit different, and for record before i quit i was doing end game raiding and logged in every day for several hours over the course of close to 10 years so i was knee deep into it.
@@pforgottonsoul Ive done hard drugs around solid 4 years of addiction, Also played wow since LK. I skipped some but during covid i got sucked back in really bad..just stopped playing Tbc last week..so as of to date wow is not only harder to quit but also has wasted much more time than drugs have, also less fun irl experiences....
Beating the addiction of WoW became a hell of a lot easier when Activision took over. Thank you, Activision, for making me stop playing WoW, many years ago.
ADHD lack dopamine in the brain, so they get extremely attached to activities that stimulate their dopamine. Thats why WoW can be very addictive for ADHD.
I believe that like a lot of other things addiction also has levels but people only notice it when that addiction has become so strong that has turned them into a dysfunctional member of their society .
I find people throw the word addiction around in situations where they really mean compulsion. Addiction is a biochemical reliance on repeatedly inducing a particular reaction in your body. Stopping typically leads to withdrawal effects. Compulsions are things you feel you need to do but nothing is stopping you from stopping.
This is certainly an addiction taken to the extreme, but there are many people that are addicted and don’t realise it. For example, not being able to go a day without playing a favourite game
My brother was extremely addicted to this game, that is the reason why I never touched it. He lived with me because his wife kicked him out because he would only ever play this game. I owned a business that I gave him a job he would have to ask his guild when he was allows work 😡 he wouldn’t sleep or eat he wouldn’t shower it was horrible
I met my husband on WoW. Meanwhile, one of my high school friends almost failed out of high school because of it. He barely slept. It's amazing how our brains react so differently to things. While the game was a blessing in my life because I have social anxiety disorder and it gave me the opportunity to learn social skills in a controlled environment and not be so lonely, plus meeting my closest friends and even my spouse, it almost ruined his life.
Failing high school is not failing in life. Education does not get you the job, experience does. They want you to have 15 years of experience at age 20.
@@Blargshark1231 I came to the USA in 2001 as a refugee from Bosnia. I started playing Diablo Lod soon after. Skipped school a lot and eventually dropped out and got my GED. It wasn't because of Diablo or WOW but they definitely did an impact on it. When I came here I just turned 18 and coming from foreign country not all my classes were credited with credits. Putting me back into freshman year as 18 years old. It was very discouraging for me to continue schooling.
75 years ago, some college students would destroy their careers by obsessing with Contract Bridge (no kidding). 50 years ago, I knew someone who ruined his career at Stanford playing a networked computer game (Peter Langston's 'Empire', FYI). My Master's thesis was delayed by this new tabletop game that had come out, Dungeons and Dragons. Others ruin their academic careers with football or other sports (especially in high school, where this sort of obsession is encouraged). I think parents and others underestimate the way that teenagers and even people in their early 20s can become 'addicted' (loosely speaking) to _any_ activities, and will end up blaming the thing itself. Ban video games! they will cry. Instead, both parents and their kids need to get better tools for recognizing this behavior and dealing with it intelligently. Edit: That said, it must be recognized that WoW and others are _engineered_ to capture people's time. The whole structure of incremental rewards is designed to keep people paying Blizzard (or other companies) and playing over and over. But the point stands. D&D wasn't engineered to make people want to play more, but it still had that effect.
thats why I quit. I studied the way the game was structured and started questioning design choices, and at hte end of the day, everything in the game I didn't agree with, was there JUST to spread out the time people play. IE raids only do able once a week. This mechanic sole purpose is to force people to play longer. Bosses that require 25 people to beat only dropping 2 or 3 things, again trying to make people pay to play longer. I am totally done with companies that waste my time trying to make me pay more. I wont deal with it anymore, and is why I now cheat at basically all games I play. (not god mode or anything, but If I find a way to make money, I will do it for like 20 min, then cheat in a ton of money and pretend like I just farmed it. I have farmed money in games for countless hours as a kid, I put my dues in on that front, never again will I waste my time FARMING gold for 5 hours straight.)
The main gameplay loop of raiding for loot was the least time consuming. It was all the farming, grinding pvp, needless running from zone to zone , etc
My brother and I started playing it together at the same time, shortly after high school. This was right after Cataclysm. I found myself getting pretty into it and kind of forgoing my other hobbies and social responsibilities. After a month, I stopped. It was addicting but not nearly as gratifying as my other hobbies and I realized it was taking up too much of my time just trying to keep up with my friends in level and stuff. But my brother didn't. And he spent like 8 months doing nothing but play. He stopped doing our weekly D&D games, he didn't hang out with our friends, he wouldn't watch movies together anymore. We still lived at home at this point, at 18 and 20 years old and we were best friends. We hung out everyday. And suddenly he was just ignoring me and all of our friends. 4-6 hours a day was nothing. He'd finished school and wasn't doing college yet and wasn't working (he's disabled, another story) and would play for like 12 hours everyday! This didn't break until we moved out. My brother and I got an apartment together, and there was some complication with getting internet hooked up at our place. So we spent about three weeks, no internet. And we had an awesome time. Playing D&D again, going out for walks at night, going to the movies. Once internet got hooked up, he sat down to play again but stopped after like so hour or two and said he wasn't happy and would rather hang out together. He's never touched it since.
Cold turkey, 3 weeks...Bro, you're going to help me break my younger brother's addiction to literal minecraft. He literally just spends ALL day, not going to school, I mean, imo, as long as he does well, learns stuff in minecraft, and actully goes to school, im good, but he does this. I'll try to help him..
@@totally.normal this is a really touchy situation man, id recommend a therapist, since sometimes, we are just not qualified for things like controlling addictions
Honestly I feel like large scale multiplayer games in general are open to psychological manipulation. Alot of people are going through a battle royal withdrawal phase right now classic mmo players went through.
@@loganh4642 tbf while it is open to psychological manipulation its not always the company or developers fault. Sometimes in social circles there are people playing these games with the charisma of a cult leader who pressures people to play over real life responsibilities.
This. I know it's easy to point at WoW and say, "Haha, no life nerds!" But this kind of thing can happen to every type of gamer. Hell, this kind of thing can happen with every kind of addiction, even people who party will go threw this kind of thing. We just lost a guy at work cuase he would rather party then show up to work. The one day he actually did show up was the day he got fired and he regretted his poor life choices. He probably still does to this day.
Opposite reaction for me. Video games saved my life by offering an escape when there was none and I found friends who changed my life for the better. I also had a birth defect in my heart I had no idea about and one day I was in org. I had a stroke and couldn’t use my right side of my body. I was introverted and people were there to save my life. Also if I hadn’t lead a less active lifestyle my heart defect I didn’t know about would have killed me. Physical excretion most people do without a thought would have lead to my death. So yes video games can destroy lives with addiction but also save them. Without video games my mental illness would have ended me. Two sides. You are brave for sharing you story and it is important people know the dark side of games. But it is also important for people to know about the good side. When people read a bad thing they intend to assume only bad stuff happens. It is my belief people who are addicted to video games if they never played them would find a replacement addiction.
Similar case, with mental illness. Short slice of it: A friend's compliments, after playing in the morning before school, made me rethink attempting to take my own life later that same morning. On a much less dark side of things, i've got to meet my current partner, through an online game.
same, I look back on those times when I was playing the game at my peak with the boys, wasting nights over laughing it out ranking up, and I have NO regrets. Its a pilliar of my learning experience, top end arena taught me that hard work will pay off. every times. If you practice and work hard on learning what you want to do, it WILL flourish. But then, y'know, its all about the attitude you have towards the experiences you go trough.... it easily could have ruined me too if I went the wrong way about playing the game. Ive always said to myself that people who play the same game for 10+years and didn't get good or nowhere with it are the people who wasted their time. But to be fair, the real victims of games like this are teenage bois and ghouls going deep in this not knowing anything else in life... I had the luxury to be older when I started to game, and my moral compass of whats good for me and my health was better than a young 13 years old kid knowing success for the first time in the game
@@_timetravels4528 I was still in single-digits of age when first getting into online games. And one of my most important experiences happened thanks to them. *_It's the main way I learned English, the language I now use first and foremost, daily._*
Yeap, they saved my life. They were a HUGE escape for me. And while I did play way too much when I was a kid, it did get better as my life got better. I am way healthier about games now and because I'm not always playing games, I don't get burnt out on them either. They're way more fun when engaged in a healthy way.
When 60 was the level cap, I had SIX level 60's. I can't begin to talk about all the stories and experiences I had. I stopped for several years, and recently picked it back up. I am 100% retired, and aged 65. Time? Plenty of it now. My wife plays, and that helps. She has several hundred days' worth of time, in one toon.
@SaberSpark 64, I had to sound like a negative Nancy, but you'll be back again. Everyone does... eventually. Whether it's the classic WoW, or Everquest 1, etc... You think you've escaped it's mighty clutches, and maybe you're more clear-headed than ever before. But something will trigger that nostalgia and you'll be compelled to come back to it again. And DONT ask how I know~ =(
Very nice. I've always wondered why so little old people play videogames. It seems like the perfect activity. It's exactly what I intend to be doing when I'm too old to go outside and do physical things
@@Thromnabular - Dude..I have a 12 handicap in golf, and the golf course is two streets over. My wife and I walk a couple of miles per day. You don't have to give up an active lifestyle, just because you are getting older. I am 5-11, and weigh 175 pounds. Because I keep my hair very short, I am constantly being asked if I am in my mid-40's. Yesterday, my BP was 128 over 74.
You are living my retirement goal lol. I've always thought about the fact that there's going to be a very real demographic of retirement gamers who will absolutely curbstomp the kids in the future, because they game all day. I can almost imagine those beady-eyed kids screaming: "The old people are coming, ruuuuuun!"
I had a friend who married someone that became totally obsessed with WOW. After 6 months she finally gave him an ultimatum, he had to choose between her or the game. They got divorced, he picked the game.
I think it reminded me of an MTV True Life documentary about the addiction to video games where one girl left his boyfriend after ignoring her ultimatum like what you said.
@@anduin3410 my mom has been divorced three times and in none of them were a "ton of assets" lost. Most divorces don’t have some big asset battle, frequently they just 50/50 what is theirs. Also, how are y’all siding with the person who chose a game over their life partner??? I have a few thousand too many hours in a few games, but I’m not going to put those games over people.
I feel like a strong relationship would have accepted their hobbies instead of making them choose. My ex tried to get me to quit gaming and I didn't want that kind of negativity in my life. In my current relationship I've actually slacked off with a lot of the gaming, not from an ultimatum though but from a personal choice and just growing out of it. Forcing a person to give up something they're passionate about is toxic af. TLDR: if she can't handle me when I'm gamin' she won't want to be with me when I'm lamin'
Honestly, I think the only thing keeping me from getting obsessed with WoW and other MMO's was never having enough money to pay the regular subscription fees, and being put off by games that require me to do chores.
I could pay for monthly subscription but I could also get several other better things for the same price. I haven't played a multi-player game in nearly a decade because I don't have friends and I have this idea from growing up being repeatedly bullied and abused, I expect the worst and I have enough of my own problems without someone harassing me for no reason. So I just don't play multi-player anything ever. My toxic, abusive ex played games with her friends and I was NEVER invited in 3 years. I even asked and was told they usually play things I don't like. They never asked what I liked and I know nobody still knows or cares. There's some games I really miss playing and I know you can play alone but why would you
@@daniexmachina Damn, if I knew you personally, I would totally invite you to play some of the multiplayer games I play, depending on what you're into.
Old school RuneScape was my savior when it came to not having cash lol. Also knew a lot of people that played maple story which was a lot of fun if you stayed out of heavy trafficked areas as the 2d made it hard to see what you were doing
When I was 22 years old I was shown counterstrike for the first time by a few guys in college (I didn't have a computer growing up). What started out as a fun evening thing eventually turned into me playing a knock-off version of CSGO called AVA. I put in well over 3,000 hours in 9 months, I remember showing up to my final exams and my instructors had to check my ID because I had skipped so many classes. Failed my courses but somehow still went on a co-op job placement for the summer that was mercifully nowhere near an internet connection. I'm now in my 30s with a good job wife and kid....I will never touch online gaming ever again. I used to judge alcoholics/drug addicts for ruining their lives over something that seems trivial to me but for some people you just haven't found your vice yet..... I can drink without feeling the need to overdo it, I have experimented with just about every hard drug in my teens and early 20s without ever once feeling the "need" to get more. But for some reason pixels on a screen and a competitive FPS showed me I could be as dependent as a guy sleeping in a box.
@@ScytheJackal I honestly try not to think about it too much. Total waste of a year of my life and thousands of dollars in tuition. I have nothing to prove it but I honestly suspect waking up at 6 am and playing video games till 2am for months straight probably did some long term damage to my ability to socialize normally. I don't think there is anything wrong with video games in moderation but there is a group of people out there that can develop a full on addiction to them. I still play the odd single player game but I make a conscious choice to stay away from online gaming the same way an alcoholic wont even have a social drink.
@@ScytheJackal Well its a little more complicated than "Just say no" but do your best to monitor yourself as you get older. If I have any advice for people your age its that if you have to lie about it or hide it from your friends and family , you might have a problem. Applies to drugs, drinking gaming and a few other things I'm not gonna spell out for a 15 year old, but it sounds like your a smart kid. Best of luck.
As a game designer, this video hits really hard. You're very strong for having to grown from this and brave to talk about it. Thank you for sharing your story. It is from stories like these that I'm reminded that we, as designers, have a moral responsibility to think about the impact we are putting on the players of our games. We need to talk about how what we're putting out in the world can be causing negative impacts on someone's life and take responsibility for this.
Every game effect every person diffetent. If someone get addicted and if it '' ruin his life'' thats his problem. As a game desinger u must do your best to create a good games.
As long as the game isn’t specifically trying to get people addicted, then I don’t think any responsibility should fall on the developers. People can get addicted to anything, and someone trying to make the best game they can isn’t to blame for that.
@@whitby1208 Agree. The obesity, opioid epidemics along with internet and entertainment addiction are all due to people being lazy and weak and it has nothing to do with their neurochemistry being high jacked by design. It's not like foods and video games are designed to trigger dopamine releases in the brain to make sure you repeat the pleasurable behaviour. Companies have no idea about this, and if they did they would certainly have the morals to not design their products like this! What's a little profit next to human dignity?
I’m 13 and. I have ADD too and do over obsess with things as well but I’m getting better. I always felt a connection and always looked to you and I look up to you even more after hearing this story since I can see myself going through this and now I can look up to you and say “Well Stephen got through it and picked up really high afterwards” so thanks for this story and your whole online presence in general you help me see even with my shortcomings I might be able to be successful like you even when I hit really low lows
Same here, I don't know if I have ADD specifically but when I like something I tend to obsess over it. And I used to love world of warcraft in 2018, but I wasn't obsessed with it. I still tend to obsess and get too far interested in things I like today
@@Centiwing SAME agh, i have it as well and i forget to eat daily x_x though i can recommend setting some alarms or a to do list and involve snacks with them somehow, if you make it fun for yourself it can be super helpful 🤘 heck even marking it on your calendar could work too, so you can see how much progress you've made and be satisfied when you fill the whole thing
The Elwynn Forest music at the start really brings me back. Say what you want about the game but the music is incredible. I love hearing people's stories about this game too.
The guild I was in during Wrath we had a quite a collection of different people. For some reason we ended up with about 50% male/female. I guess that ended up that way because the guys in the guild was mostly married and didn't harass the gals. There was one time when about a dozen of us decide to have saturday night party in the game and in vent. We were all having our characters dance while we were getting trashed in our homes and singing karaoke on vent. That memory stood out to me the most.
@Rikara every single exp pack story is "You thought the last bad guy was the guy pulling the strings? WRONG! There is another unknown bad guy in the shadows who was MANIPULATING the other bad guy!" Every single exp pack is the exact same copy paste story just with different characters. Gets sooo boring
@Rikara Yeah man that lawsuit has me feelin a type of way. Fuck Blizzard. They're disgusting pigs from what I can tell if even a quarter of whats alleged is true.
The thing that stands out to me now, almost a decade since my WoW addiction, was how virtually everyone in my guild was online all day every day. At no time did anyone point out that it was peculiar.
Saber, this might be my favorite video of yours. You're a fantastic storyteller, I can hear the emotion while you talked about how much WoW messed up your life and how you were able to pull through and make it out. I'd personally be super hyped for more videos like this where you tell stories!!
Good on you, bro. Gaming is an addiction when you don’t do the things you need to do to maintain, sustain, or grow. I am putting my consoles to the sides and putting more effort into my home. I am turning 50 this year and seeing what my delay has cost me. No regrets. I am going to grow from my experience.
i pray you have a wonderful life. men like you who choose life over addiction need to be told how proud we are of you. you have done a good thing, and i pray you are rewarded in life for it. have a blessed life sir, and never forget how proud you made this stranger
Remember playing this myself, stopped playing around Wrath of the Lich King. Guild I was in desolved over internal drama, and finding a new guild became more difficult than applying for an actual job.
This was basically the same story for me, even going through college (dropping out) the first semester. Hell, even the radical and ritualistic destruction of your gaming disc went the same way for me. There was this notion near the end, that I had to destroy gaming media, PCs, ANYTHING to stay away from it. Scary how similar the stories of so many people are with this game.
My father had introduced me to this game when I was 11. The first time I saw him play it I immediately became interested and once I turned 13 he allowed me to make an account. I got hooked on it. My first (and main) character was a night elf called Haygee and on weekends when I was at his place I would play from about 10 in the morning until 11 at night only stopping to eat and use the bathroom. Sometimes I'd forget to eat. I'm glad that I eventually got away from the game but honestly every once in a while I'll get the urge to play it. You can overcome an addiction but it never truly goes away.
You are an addict no matter what. Abstinence just means you are not actively doing it. If you indulge in it too much again, you'll relapse into the active addiction.
Thank you for sharing! I've always struggled with mediating the time I spend escaping reality via videogames more often when my life feels out of my control. I'm glad to hear positive stories about video game addiction.
This was me with Skyrim, I used to play from 1pm to 23pm almost every single day, it was a full on addiction. I was so into it that game that one day coming back from school thinking about a test I probably failed and thinking to myself: "eh I can just reload an earlier save". I stopped in the streets wondering what was happening to me, luckily after that I never became addicted into a game again.
I’ve got a pretty recent and surprisingly similar story. I’ve always been someone who probably plays a little too much (20ish hours a week) but in 2021 it got sooo much worse. My friends got me into Destiny 2 a couple months after Covid first started, and at first it was pretty normal. But when Covid started getting serious, everything went to shit. My engineering college courses all went online, serious family issues developed, I nearly lost my house, never got to see my friends, had one of them completely disappear, and had a grandparent die all in the space of a year. D2 became my coping mechanism as well as my only social lifeline, and I started playing like 40+ hours a week. I think I have a screenshot from one point when Steam logged me at 120 hours in the past 2 weeks. I racked up 2,000 hours on D2 in one year, and that’s not including all the other games I played. My grades started suffering (online courses didn’t help), I flunked a major course I couldn’t retake until the following year, and I didn’t take care of myself like normal because my brain was just in complete breakdown mode. 2021 was just a remarkably shitty year. I told myself at the end of it that it was the worst year of my life, and that I was going to make sure it would remain the worst year of my life. In-person courses started again this fall, and getting to interact with fellow humans in person and actually needing to go somewhere has helped so damn much. I always thought of myself as an introverted person, but turns out I need social interaction just like everyone else. I’m back to only playing 20ish hours a week, fixed my sleep schedule and self-care routine, and I’m passing that class I bombed last year. And I gotta say, it feels great.
The family problems was the thing for me and yeah the summer of 2021 was the worst season of my life. i didn't play any games and just hang out on discord with either my friends or watched memes and chatted in those public servers. though things are getting a lot better now. i found games that i was interested in. and when i felt better i started studying again. though i would never come close to the grades i had. which now that i look back...those grades were really good. seems like this whole corona changed me for the worst in terms of grades
I cannot speak enough about how much I connect with this. I had been addicted to the Realm and UO in the 90s when I was in like 8-12th grade. When DAoC came out I was a freshman in college in 2001 and I didn’t even go to class. My classes were from 7 am to 2 pm but my sleep schedule was basically 6 am till 2. I got a 1.5 gpa and fell into academic prohibition. It was a huge struggle to recover. I ended up needed 5 years of college as a result instead of 4. I played WoW heavily when it came out and by 2007 I had over 365 days played on my main. My daughter was born in April of 2007. When I looked back and realized in the past 3 years, I that I fully spent 33% of time on the game, it stopped me cold. I quit and never went back. I am still a gamer today at the age of 38 but I haven’t played any online game in 15 years. I refuse. I play single player games only which works great because I can control when I stop easily. I’m proud that you recovered. I personally knew people who ended up worse off
I still remember those golden days 😌, that nostalgia just kicked in, i played wow from vanilla till cataclysm (left after that as it took all my energy for just wow). Till this day, in the back of my mind i still wish if i could play and indulge into that experience once again. Golden days that were. That background music for all different cities :') *sigh*
Such an interesting and relatable story. I have ADD as well and tend to hyperfixate on things which makes me very careful and aware of what kinds of things I get into. It's annoying to have to deal with, but I try my best to not let it consume me like it has a possibility to do so
@@RaidenKaiser ADD as a term is outdated and is not really used anymore. Now it's only ADHD. There are three types: Inattentive ADHD Hyperactive ADHD Combined ADHD
I seem to be that one odd person that loved MMOs and disliked this game. Everyone I know has stories of being into it at least for a little bit and I'm the odd man out.
Yeah for me the major turn off of most PC MMO's it always comes down to the controls could never click with me which is why I personally love more action oriented RPG's.
Yea never played wow I was more of a everquest (played eq2 for about 10-11 years and played eq1 for about 2 years?) player always saw wow as a everquest ripoff thought about giving a try a few times but couldn't get into it I'm just a everquest fan and always will be will never play my rival game lol everquest 2 was a huge part of my childhood not wow
get help. more importantly, get better taste in games and gaming companies.. ohh I see the check mark besides you name, that explains everything, disregard what I said as you wont even listen to me anyway.
@@slimebuck hey man, there are way nicer ways to tell people you think they should look into getting help ^^ just remember there is a living, breathing person behind that checkmarked username that has feelings, so don't try shaming them into doing better! i do hope they look into getting some help and using this video as a tool to step back and look at how they can improve their lives, ofc. but again, shaming people into things just makes everything worse for everyone involved
Dont know how you managed to keep playing. Games has been terrible since BFA S2 up until now. Although 9.2 has been a massive step in the right direction
@@baboonman846 there's like a million things for me to do in the game, I think I started today between 9am -12pm or whenever I woke up and I just stopped at 11pm, I did some WOD quests and dungeons, killed a couple heroic bosses in the new raid, killed Anduin and Lords on normal and got my 3rd Tier set item, did a mythic+, caught a few pets, killed some rares in the new area, and maybe a little more. It was kind of a.slow day because I spent a lot of time waiting to get into raid groups and then waiting between pulls every time people left
That bit where you mentioned how you shattered the disc the try and just end it there, and how it didn’t work was really profound. It reaffirms the thing about leaving addiction. You can try and put as many external barriers between yourself and your object of addiction, but you’ll always find a way to get your fix. At the end of the day, it’s you. You have to be truly willing to put it down, and have that internal confrontation. Because if you’re not truly willing, you’ll ALWAYS find a way to get back to your addiction.
I played WoW on and off, quite a latecomer to the game tbh, my parents got me into it. Then my whole family played it, we had a guild, we’d do game nights. It was honestly amazing bonding this way. My problem was I kept falling behind. I got burnout faster and though I loved questing, raids, and hunting for mounts. It was more stressful for me to join my family in new expansions because I couldn’t keep up with their drive through the quest lines that we attempted to do together. I still have many fond memories, and often miss getting on just as an escape. Nothing has quite compared to the expansive universe that WoW has to other games I’ve played. It really does drag you in. Ngl. Hearing the WoW music in the background of your video makes me want to get back on. I stopped playing during Shadowlands though, and paying monthly for it wasn’t worth doing when i got on about once a week to quest some and run the firelands raid for the millionth time trying to get the damn Phoenix 🤣. Definitely agree with you on how addicting the game is, I never had a social life on there like you did, and that’s probably what let me step back and focus more on life rather than raiding. Love for those good gamers still playing WoW, all I have to say is- For the Alliance!
Damn man, I give you huge respect for making this video. I never struggled with wow but have/do struggle with literal drugs and your parts when you smashed the disk and later on felt like the game released it’s grip rather than you straight up beating it on your own really really spoke to me and shared quite a bit with my own story. Anyways, thank you for sharing, I really enjoy your videos. Best of luck!
This was such a great video. I can't say I ever reached that level, probably because I was grown with my own kids when I got into it, but it took me down memory lane. Some of my fondest memories are playing WOW with my kids.
I had a similar addiction to Runescape however I was never brave enough to ask my parents or older sister to buy me the premium membership. I had to grind everything as a free player and I knew that a lot of the great stuff came from buying membership. I eventually got burned out because I just wanted to try something else and juggling middle school, Runescape, and any other console game made me realize that I just wanted the next big hit. I can't say things would've been the same if I had bought membership when I still played Runescape but I know that my addiction would've been much more severe.
wow! i thought i was the only one who knew about Runescape! :O I used to play it until my account got hacked and i couldn't go back to Runescape and i wasn't even high level neither i was just a noob and now thinking of going back to Runescape haven't played it in years since i got hacked around say 10 or more years and i was just learning the beginning of the game too :(
I'm glad I was never the type to get into MMOs, but I've definitely had addiction problems with other types of games. Not quite to this level, but even today, I struggle not to fall into the trap of binge-gaming, instead of doing literally anything else with my time (other than work and sleep) for a week+.
I honestly have had the need to play games like Fortnite, Overwatch and Battlefront 2 when I know I'm busy cus they end quickly and I can control how many games I allow myself to play. Story games are for when I know I can afford time and even then I feel guilty playing for no reason
can't believe this wasn't a main channel upload. obviously it's not movie/show related, but the quality is amazing. the story is sooo relatable and well told. forget the "draw my life" trend, this is waaay more interesting than that
I was an addict too for almost 15 years. Then I ran out of gold to buy game time, decided it was enough, but kept the game on my computer. After about 4-5 months I realized it's still on my PC so I deleted it. Happy life.
Might as well drop a story myself. When WoW released, I was a year into my first enlistment in the USAF. I had a deployed in place type of job, one that rarely deploys outside the country, so it was essentially a 9-5 with strict rules for the most part. I got into the game religiously. Years later, still addicted, I went to my second base where I was placed in a backshop, a toolroom essentially, before I was to go to my proper section. My supervisor, an E-5, was also into WoW. He was always late, smelled atrocious, and barely kept himself awake. His time away from work was spent endgame raiding in WotLK on 2 accounts, heavy raiding mind you, not just casually. The last nail in the coffin, however, was when the higher ups decided to do some investigating, and visited his house which was on base. His wife, also an addict, was passed out on the couch in a living room that was unlivable. Trash strewn around, just filthy. Oh, to make matters worse, he had kids. They were playing in the trash when the sup's showed up. The most degenerate thing found were actual dirty diapers from his youngest...stuck to the damn wall. I don't know if the kids were taken away, as that was kept rather confidential, but he did get reprimanded and dishonorably discharged. A year after this, we had another guy where almost exactly the same thing happened again. The family issues weren't as egregious, but the end result of discharge was. My WoW addiction died shortly after, and these incidents played major roles.
Yo I watched something like happen in the army. It was the EverQuest era though but the same crack at the end of the day. Barracks life, end of long weekend, the same guy late for formation. Don’t remember why but it was me running up to his damn door banging on it, like bro you fucked up. He answers in whitey tighties, all bleary eyed with I shit you not EverQuest running from the night before. It was really fucking weird for me and shit went downhill fast for that guy. I wonder how he turned out.
Back when I was in the Navy the most trouble I ever got into was due to playing wow when I was supposed to be on watch in my barracks. My room was on the 4th floor of the building and I was supposed to be going floor to floor and then checking in every 30 minutes to an hour (I can't remember which, that was in 2005). I had done this a lot, because usually nothing was actually happening, so when I reported in and said everything was in order no one knew any different. This went on until one day I tried doing the same thing, taking the side stairwell that was rarely used down to the ground floor and telling them everything was fine. Turns out a pipe had broken on the floor below the one my room was on and for the last 20-30 minutes massive amounts of water were flooding down the main stairwell to every floor below. So when I reported in saying everything was fine they knew I was clearly full of shit and not doing my job. I somehow was able to avoid captains' mass, but it was a BIG deal.
Man, I thought I was one of the only ones going through this “mmorpg addiction” battle. This video was a wake up call for me, having so many similarities to what you went through. I’m still addicted to this one mmorpg since it first released 2 years ago and it’s pretty much consumed my highschool life. The game really gives me a false sense of happiness, and it really takes me away from interacting with rl people. Thank you for this video Saber, it opened my eyes and the eyes of many currently going through similar circumstances 💛 Edit: I’ve pried myself away from the game successfully for almost two months! I really have this video to thank for getting my life in a healthier direction. Thank you, Saber.
I was a senior in high school in burning crusade came out. I was already playing daily, my story isn't too much different. College and life was in the way of WOW, I wasn't proud of it. I stopped caring as much in wraith and slowly got back to life.
I was truly hooked for 2-3 years from ages 14 to 17. In those years I gained over 500 DAYS of game play. Literally almost half of my existence in those years was WoW. I dropped out of high school in 10th grade because I got held back twice from skipping school to play WoW..I eventually I *grew up* and started my new life living as a pro mountain climber and snowboarder. I've been living this awesome life of sports ever since! Though it's been over 10 years since I've played I have always remained a fan of the game and the right time for me to play it once again is coming! Im gonna buy a laptop this summer and revisit my teenage childhood!
I'd like to say I accept my teenage mistakes as my own but I really think a lot of it had to do with the fact my parents didn't care, allowed, and even encouraged me to keep playing because all they wanted is for me to be happy. Something I still live true to.
The parental controls thing hit me, like... yeah I think in a way it actually makes it *worse*. You can 'only' play for that set amount of time so it adds to the intermittent reinforcement/scarcity effect where you're trying to get in as much gameplay before the cut-off as you possibly can. It also didn't address the factors for addiction for me personally, eg household had issues, school had issues whereas online I could talk to people without clamming up or getting bullied for 'disabled person exist'. The environment needs to be addressed, like they studied this with rats and heroin I think? The rat with 'ratworld' and more of a social network had their own things to do so the drug was less lucrative. I think the 'chores' the game creates turns into a similar issue as 'action-faking' where "yay I did some material achievement, oops my house is still a mess". The streamlining and changes were for the best in a way, there was a little too much upkeep to do. (freaking weapon skillpoint grinding)
The chores simulates work really well. You doing a boring mindless activity for a long time that rewards you with the things you need. It has importance so it's valuable like work, despite being boring. You can then justify you are "working" on your character, not playing, so had play all day and night, sometimes even incredibly bored, because it is "important work."
I started off with Final Fantasy 11 as my very first MMO. my little brother got into Warcraft and tried to get me into it but was never as appealing or enjoyable. And before this I was a fan of Warhammer 40k so I had something more tangible in my hands to begin with and more entertaining because I was always a Sci-Fi fan. When I got bored of Final Fantasy 11 I decide to try around Wrath of the Lich King World of Warcraft but I didn't find entertaining at all because by the time I got to the endgame I encountered what I call the endgame gear score Loop of hate: this is actually something that's very common in almost every single MMOs that exist but this was my first time encountering it, as I had never decided to play Final Fantasy 11 as anything more than enjoyment casually. The idea is that if you want to end game raid you need to have gear that allows you to survive the raid, however the only way to get gear that will allow you to survive the raid is if you have already done the raid beforehand, order to have that gear to participate in the raid, leading into an endless impossible cycle that as you can see is maddening in the first place and even if you did get into a raid group. Nepotism was the word of the day every single day, it didn't matter if you showed up to every raid before the stated time with every food buff or item or potion that was needed and even spec into something that you really didn't want to but the raid really needed, there was always an 90% chance that you would never get a single thing! Because the raid leader did not care about contribution! they only cared about who sucked up to them the most. This is reason why I hate most MMOs in the first place. It took until Final Fantasy 14 for me to return to enjoying MMO's. Because at least in that game you don't get screwed over by the raid loot. The only thing that World of Warcraft prove to me is that nepotism will always exist unless there was a system in place that forces the removal of nepotism. Final Fantasy 14 is an example of how MMO's should function when it comes to raid content
lol I had to build my own guild, and RUN my OWN raids just to get loot. I tried running raids while just being a member of other guilds, and never got a single piece of gear. They would just give the gear to someone like "we making this guy the main tank so he gets dibs on all these items, then after hes geared we will spread loot out" Then when that tank got fully geared, he would just up and leave the guild... happened a few times, and it enraged me so much, going months of effort raiding getting NOTHING, that I had to quit and just make my own guild.
Thank you for this wonderful video filled with passion, I never played WOW nor do i like it, but i still enjoy it's lore and hearing the nostalgic stories from the good oll' days.
Good video, thanks Saber for sharing your journey. I suffered a spinal cord injury in 05 that left me with very limited mobility and went from working 60 hours a week to having nothing to do nor the ability to work. I was deeply depressed and thought many times about ending it all. Then my kids, yes I was 43 at the time introduced me to wow. I say this very literally, it saved my life. I left the world of pain, boredom, worry and doubt and allowed me to escape to a world where I could run, fight, meet new friends. I eventually had a top ten raiding guild, hard core raiders and also became addicted. I recovered over a seven year period where I could function in the real world again. I played all the end game content through WOD and the game lost it's pull on me as it had gotten weak. I stepped away for two years but came back and I play very casually. I appreciate wow as it helped me through a very hard time in my life but the game was addicting, not the games fault, once upon a time it was just that good.
The feeling of empowerment in games is real. It can also be real addictive when you feel disempowered in real life. I think it effects kids so much more because we don't have money, transport, control over our life or important decisions to make, our young life is preordained so given a little bit of power we become drunk on it and only want more like a drug.
Very nice. Thanks for speaking up. To help make your case Mr. Spark, I direct this to those who are rolling their eyes at this. I have been playing online games since diablo 1 and I like to say this is real. To sound cliche, touch some grass, you really should. Servers shut down. All the work you put in, all the time you spent, will go away in an instant. All you are left with are burnt bridges. I learned this with star wars galaxies. Playing games is fine, but it's not life regardless of how much people will deny this fact. Your family, your friends are what's important, shutting them out for the next drop is never worth it. Please believe me. If you are online 10-12 hours a day in a game, stop. Games are a good hobby. Problem solving, social interaction, these are good things but, when you shut everything out for these games it is detrimental to life. Once out after being addicted like that you begin to notice how "gamers" treat people and problems in RL. It's almost like nothing else but the game matters. You begin to notice how people have no respect for anyone or anything, like they can just re-roll their situation. Again, servers shut down, people get older, life goes on, don't destroy everything to play a game.
I'm glad you finally got out and recovered. I can't say the same for my X. My X is very much so a video game addict, there must always be a video game he's playing, that's all he talks about. If he was designing video games and getting paid for some of the play testing he claims that would be different. But we are talking someone who has gone to college 3x and quit all three times. The 2nd time was while we had been married, all hours of the day, from waking to sleep if there wasn't work or he'd be late. And with college, late for classes or didn't go at all and never did his homework because his games are more important. I recall one time when he declared he was bored, how much money do we have? I told him we only had $35 to see us to the end of the week before payday and that we needed to spend this on groceries. He insisted on his video game and put us in the hole. I've spoken with my own counselors about this before. I had to know what he did with the money and what he would do. The end was recognized when I ended up in the ER, facing a strong possibility of death. He took my wallet, said he was going to get something to eat, left and never came back. A week and half later when I got out and came home, discovered he'd gone and bought a new game and none of the bills taken care of. Plus the discovery that he had quit college and what I told him, if he quit and didn't finish, we weren't staying married. I tried to tell judge when he visits his child, he can't be on a computer, playing his games. Guess who never asked for visitations. And our child is now old enough, she's tired when he does call, that's all he talks about is his games. She reached where she doesn't want to talk to someone who she only knows as a voice on the phone. Yes, this is an extreme nutshell and there are several more details and factors involved.
I'm so sorry you went through this. You and your daughter deserve better. Maybe you leaving will be a catalyst for change. One can hope. Everyone has to decide what their rock bottom is. Don't expect him to change, he has to want to change.
Dude- I had the same experience getting to my current point in life except with halo (and regrettably fortnite). Up until recently my entire world, hell, the only reason I had to wake up in the morning was to see the NEW FORTNITE BATTLEPASS or to get together with my halo friends and grind matchmaking all day. I don’t want to write an article here but my point is that it drove me down a very bad road. I moved out of my dad’s house and into my neglectful mother’s house just so I could fuel my addiction further. Thankfully this was nearly 2 years ago and I recovered almost entirely. Now I have a job, I’m a senior and high school about to graduate and I’m in a much better headspace. I never imagined anyone else let alone a RUclipsr I watch on the daily, would’ve had a similar experience but thank you for putting this out there dude. Keep up the great work.
Such a great story. I never really got this way with a game, but as my depression really started to set in around 2013, I really latched heavily into the MLP fandom where I first heard of you. I met a lot of friends through sites like Brony Square at the time and got to a point if just neglecting school in lieu of talking with my friends I met through the fandom on Skype and probably drinking the most that I have at any point. Just kind of pure escapism. Luckily I am at a better place now while having retained several of those friendships making something from that dark period present and positive in my life nearly a decade later.
One thing that added to my childhood trauma is my mom actually got addicted to WOW. I felt like I had to play the game to get her attention and affection. Long story short, when I got older I told her that I wished we wouldn't play as much and we would hang out outside the game and I got screamed at... And she essentially told me that was that was her only form of happiness.
My best friend's mom was a WoW addict and she abandoned the entire family when they were 13. For Worldof Warcraft and drugs. Warcraft is a he'll of a drug.
This is a masterpiece of a video, extremely relatable and will absolutely help people suffering with the same problem develop somewhat of an introspection.
Back in the early days of the Internet and MMORPGs the biggest draws for me were the adventure, the exploration and the social aspects. All three things that I had very little access to where I lived ( adventuring and exploration aren’t very common things for anyone in this day and age ). My school friends moved away, but I could always play with them in WoW and with my Internet friends. I ended up playing a lot but I don’t think I was addicted… it never took priority over doing healthy things IRL
I can relate alot to how this game captured me as a young teen. My interest definatly soured during cata and quit midway. but the funny thing is I still enjoy the vanilla experience, played classic a bit and had a great time. The only difference now is that I am not willing to sacrifice my life in order to make progress in the game. But mark my words, if I'm 60 and retired, and classic wow is available, you can bet your ass im gunna be playing lol.
I don't have confirmed ADD, although I've often thought I might have it. Hearing you describe your own experience hits home for me. The "obsessing" part is something I have as well.
Thank you for sharing this. It's strangely scary thinking about an office of addiction researchers devising game mechanisms to maximize people's long term engagement with a product. Yet with the majority of the top grossing games now being free-to-play titles monitzed through micro-transactions, companies are forced to adopt similar means to even compete in this satuarated market. Please research the GaaS (Games as a Service) Business Model. It outlines root level strategies for designing games (products). Many companies are no longer incentivized to just make the best game and let reviews and fans dictate it's profitability. They are manufacturing specifc experiences within their stories, marketing, mechanics, media, and even the audio with the primary goals of keeping you thinking about the game even when you aren't playing it and maximizing your incentives to purchase from their digital storefront.
Honestly, it's not complicated research. Non-human primates as well as humans will press a level for a reward more compulsively if that behavior receives variable reinforcement. In other words, it's the RNG that "addicts" you. The more random elements that developers can introduce into a game without making it seem unfair or PtW, and the more they can tie those to the story narrative or game play loop, the more "addictive" the game will be. Of course, some people are more susceptible than others, but nobody is totally immune
Been subbed for years and never knew u played wow like that. Good to see we escaped this addiction I stopped playing after MoP but that’s cuz work and life finally took over
I remember playing once all night and skipping track practice as I went to sleep. I think that was the moment I knew I was playing too much. Spent years off and on, but I think I'm finally done. Thanks for sharing your story.
I played Guitar Hero like it was life support. Sometime in elementary school the first Guitar Hero came out and it piqued my interest, but a little later in middle school I had a teacher who would host Guitar Hero 2 (and later GH3) tournaments after big tests or major class accomplishments. I had no friends but I found out that I was *very* good at Guitar Hero, so much so that I was like the Final Boss where everyone else would be trying to beat me at it during these tournaments. I begged my parents to get me the game and eventually they did. All I did was play, I neglected my homework, etc etc. It was a Time.
One of the most relatable things for me ( another fellow WoW-boomer) was the mentioning of the 'sell' to get my parents to pay the sub fee ( ended up being me mowing the lawn every other week), the research to see if my family computer could run it, and then sitting around waiting on the game to patch. In the mid 2000s it felt like such an adventure to even get the game set up. But the final release was highly rewarding (...and addicting).
It’s crazy how one game can almost ruin one mans life and then completely change it for the better for another. My uncle met his wife of 10 years on WoW and he’s struggled with a lot of mental health issues and never had the motivation to help himself but his wife truly changed his view on himself and encouraged him to get help and he did! He said he went from doing shrooms and wanting to jump off buildings to finally being happy just because he met a woman on a game by complete coincidence.
I pretty much dropped out of my studies 3 times and it's only been a year that I've quit playing essentially unfortunately too late I suppose, I think it's through a pretty universally viewed decline of the game after like phase 3 of Classic WoW that I think a huge amount of people like me and like you are kind of being freed of this hold that this game has on our lives man, it's almost surreal how intense and crazy this journey has been for me and so many people since I was like 9 years old.
My wife and I have played for about 13 years at this point. I play about 30 hours a week these days. Its never been a full blown addiction for me because I can still work a full-time job and take time to socialize outside of playing WoW. I can absolutely see how it could consume people to an unhealthy extent, though.
My ex played for 40 hours on average. I woke up alone, went to bed alone. He tried to get me into Hearthstone as a gateway to WoW, didn't work. I cried and begged for intimacy. Even extended *cuddles.* I thanked him for breaking up with me, because I kept forcing myself to try to make it work
I have a very similar story with the game Mabinogi, another MMO. I was much younger, around 14-16 and I was completely and utterly addicted to this game. It was all I thought about. I also had a lot of online relationships in the game, and all of them involved me being groomed by someone significantly older than me. I remember when I was 14, I was being aggressively groomed by my guild leader who was around 28. I think it's a big problem in online worlds like this that not many people talk about. It absolutely ruined my teenage years.
I went through the same thing with Dota. I almost lost everything. Pulled myself out of it, but Im glad I went through it. Glad you made it through as well.
I've for ADHD too, so I felt this one. I used to be pretty addicted to League of Legends, but now I haven't played it in at least 5 years... My new addiction is RUclips lmao 💀
this was a great listen man thanks for sharing your story. i wasted my whole 20s playing wow classic private servers and official classic. its crazy how the game and social aspects just suck u in and the whole world revolves around the game. Im now 30 and stepped away from the game over a month ago for the first time in so long and i feel liberated and seeing now thru the veil and the reality of what i neglected all these years. so much to catch up on and to do irl now. I let it all go for being hardcore and speedrunning a 15 year old game and found myself not having fun anymore. the magic is gone, the friends i played with are grown up with wives and kids and careers and here i am at the same point at age 30 that i was when i was 17. its not over tho, we are moving forward and towards a better future.
My wife and I watched this tonight and found it very heartwarming. I'm 45 and she's 8 years younger, she was a high warlord and got me into WoW during Wrath. My big reluctance at the time was I didn't want to game with other people, I thought other people running around would ruin a game, lol. I guess when you don't play the game as a social outlet, it's more manageable. I'm such a loner that when an expansion comes out, I literally think; yeah I'll get around to those raids two expansions down the road when I can solo them. We have two kids now and still play, but yeah, certainly not too much, no raiding, save dailies till after the kids go to sleep, don't sign on till after saying rosaries, etc, lol.
This is spookly close to my story with gaming in general. Sadly I had to repeat my final year of college, twice because of this. And even more sadly, I didn't do any better the final year, I got through with a fluke and didnt deserve it
I remember those days. During Wrath of the Lichking I was my hardcore guilds primary tank healer (paladin healer) and yeah it felt like work, and didn't really enjoy it. My guild was able to 10 man The Lichking with the I think 5% buff and after that there was a huge internal conflict, which thankfully never involved me that disbanded the guild. Though being a fairly powerful paladin healer at the time no longer bounded by a hardcore guild made me enjoy the game more. Also I'm the type of person that likes to help less skilled players through content and it's nice to see people get happy being able to complete content that would otherwise be almost impossible for them without an extremely over geared player.
i have ADD too and i also had hyperfixations that totally threw off my first year of college as well. I was struggling so much to adjust & keep up with the workload that i’d just pass out for a few hours after class and then indulge in my fixation for the rest of the night. Thankfully i turned things around but its such a hard thing to pull yourself away from esp when ur brain is resisting the unpleasant task that awaits you
I played so much Star Wars Galaxies from age 10-14 that I barely remember middleschool. I would get home and immediately fire up SWG and play until about 2:00 AM every night. The only thing that stopped me from playing was my older brother, who was also obsessed with the game. He spent so many hours using our family PC that I was forced to do other things. I still log into the emulator or Legends to check up on things.
RPG’s like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Kingdom Come deliverance had me investing a lot of time into them because of how much world their was to explore and things to do. Lost track of time on many occasions, sometimes playing a whole day without doing anything else. Same thing happens whenever I draw or design as well. So much possibilities for what to do you lose track of what goes on here and now. Still something I’m struggling with even now to tell the truth.
This game left my parents in a pretty bad state at one point. My mom realized this and managed to get herself and my dad out of it. Knowing what it did to them, I have never even tried it. Sure it may look fun, but I don't want to risk losing my life to it.
I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since vanilla. However in that era I was six years old, and my mom encouraged it because I took an interest in something very much. I’ve since stopped playing Retail, but I do mess around on private servers now. I definitely had an addiction issue when I was younger, but it went away slowly. I wouldn’t say WoW ruined my life, but instead shaped it and who I am as a person and all of my interests, and I am forever thankful for that. But I can see WHY it would ruin lives, why it’s so addicting and how things can go wrong. I just consider myself lucky.
I actually went on a few dates with a guy who's parents cut him off financially because he sunk every penny into WOW. We would be watching Netflix and he would have his head tilted to better hear the game chat he had going at all times in the other room. This type of addiction is real and tragic. Thanks for sharing Saber.
As someone with ADHD, I definitely get it. For me, because my family was poor, we couldnt afford all that part of gaming. But we did have gaming systems, and I would be this way with Harvest Moon, Pokemon, Kingdom Hearts, and pretty much any book I was reading lol. Books being the worst because I could control how fast or slow I found out the story. And it would drive me insane to have to wait through school or anything else to finish a book. It got so bad I had one particular teacher snatching my books and chucking them across the classroom because I would simply read instead of listen to class. But when the recession hit? And I was getting unemployment? There was a window of time no one in the house needed my money but me.... And Facebook video games were just becoming a thing.... And I discovered there were FREE MMOs, like Fiesta.... Now THAT is where I did nearly identical to what you did. There was a solid year of my life where all I did was play as much as I could.... I was obsessed. But then my family needed the money due to hardships... And other things happened too.... But I definitely get you
It's hard to walk away from WoW. I spent 16 years putting my everything into that game, and the amount of stress I put myself under chasing validation through gearscore, mounts, etc... I'm not proud of it. Doesn't mean there wasn't good, too. I met my husband playing WoW, and I now have close friends that reached out across that gap and are part of my life outside of the game. But I think that's part of what made it so hard to walk away, even when I was so unhappy. When it's good, it's overwhelmingly good. The highs are amazing. The struggle you went through hits very close to home for me. I'm glad you made it out the other side with something good to show for it. 💜
Me and one of my friends were in our final years of high school, and he'd always talk about WOW on our walk to school, and how he'd be grinding up this character with some crazy meta stats and skills. I was somewhat oblivious just minding my business zoning out while he talked of this game. It was interesting but I just stuck with Nintendo and Pokémon on the DS. In my head, it was just a multiplayer version of those games I'd been playing my whole life and I enjoyed Pokémon alot so I didn't even need WoW. I assume he still plays but we haven't talked in a while, he started streaming it to little success.
That was a very touching story. I can deeply relate to it. For me though this game had the opposite effect as it really helped me socialize at the time when I had no irl friends and was in a really depressed state because of the pressure coming from my family. I had to return to the game 3 days ago for therapeuthic reasons because when your country goes to real life war and you cant stop it, it may be best for your own mental safety to escape to a made-up world for a while. It is no substitution for a proper mental help ofc, but I cant afford it right now.
Ahh I had a similar experience with the Soulsborne games! I've been fighting depression and chronic illnesses for 5+ years now, still dealing with lots of troubles caused by those, and the Souls games just helped me cope and feel accomplished at *something* in my life. Through them I managed to carve my way into a niche PvP community, where I found my closest friends and even my love. They really affected my life in a positive way, even tho 1700 hours in Dark Souls 3 ain't the healthiest thing, admittingly :v And now with all the shit going on rn in the world, especially the horrific war that my country waged, I absolutely agree with you about trying to escape from all of this just to remain sane and alive. I don't see many other ways of doing it, really. Stress is a vicious killer, and without any relief from it - serious consequences are inevidable
This was awesome. I loved WoW during my undergrad. It was a constant tug of war between school, hanging out with friends, and gaming. By some miracle of teenage stamina I was able to succeed at both and even had a guild officer position for a period. I went on a study abroad fully expecting to start playing again when I came home. But then I didn't? Then Cataclysm came out and a third of my guild left and we found each other on other platforms. Haven't thought about that in years. What a weird but incredibly fun time.
journalists: *talking about video game addiction when it's just frequent play* actual video game addiction is when you do something in a way that is detrimental to yourself and everyone around you. news and journals talk about video game addiction, while describing what is little more than an enthusiast, a hardcore player, a person training to become a pro, or simply as a form of therapy. but THIS? this is actual addiction.
I have ADHD, and I know exactly what you mean when you mentioned being obsessed with something you love to the point where you do everything to be the best at it. It’s a blessing and curse to be able to hyper focus like this because if used for something that ultimately betters your life then you can excel dramatically, but at the same time, the same hyper focusing can be self-destructive like having a wow addiction, drugs, alcohol, etc. I had to completely eliminate video games, because I go into a rabbit hole that I don’t want to come out of.
Игры
One of the (many) problems with MMOs is you encounter them when you're a teen, old enough to play and understand and be good at it, and don't have the responsibilities of an adult yet, so you actually have time to play it. That does not set you up for the reality of your late teens/early twenties, because the real world jumps on you all at once eventually.
I think there's more problems at play here than just a MMO not getting you ready for the real world at that point, since even if a young teen takes their time to play a MMO they still got school and their parents to count on to help them get ready for the real world, and quite frankly, schools are a worst offender for that since some don't even teach you actual important things like how to do your taxes or laws of your country and just throws taxing, trivial courses on you that you'll never need in the real world. Because isn't that the point of young education now? To help children get ready for adulthood?
I would argue that, depending on the job they have and what hours they have, someone working minimum wage in fast food has more time to play an MMO than a teenager because teens still have to go to school. And fuck, I learned more about economics and how to operate in a free market playing Runescape than I ever did in school.
School does a worst job than video games in preparing kids for adulthood because at least video games aren’t advertising they are supposed to do that.
@@Enderlinkpawnu I'd say that anyone working few enough hours in fast food to be on par with a teenager's free time would be living as a dependent of someone or has a LOT of roommates, cause if you're making enough to support yourself at minimum wage you'll be working 40+ hour weeks and be exhausted to the bone.
I'm starting to realize how uncommon it is for teenagers to also have jobs, clubs, and volunteerwork after class. Do ya'll really just go to school and come home do hw and then nothing?
@@lisscat This is the reality for the vast majority of teenagers in the USA. Just consider all of the things a young person needs to get a job.
-Parents who support/encourage it
-The young person having a desire to work
-A ride to get there
-A ride to get back
-An employer who is interested in hiring a minor
As an adult basically all these things line up automatically for you.
"I tried so hard to beat my WoW addiction. But then the game got shit so beating my addiction became easier."
Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that.
Their current writing is incredibly insulting to the fans. After they killed off Arthas the story just got progressively worse.
honestly the addiction isn't that hard to beat, for me i literally just stopped playing.
@@pforgottonsoul Your mileage may vary.
By your logic it should be easy to stop drug addiction by going cold turkey once because a few people managed to do that.
@@jakerelind5577 i think that is a bit different, and for record before i quit i was doing end game raiding and logged in every day for several hours over the course of close to 10 years so i was knee deep into it.
@@pforgottonsoul Ive done hard drugs around solid 4 years of addiction, Also played wow since LK. I skipped some but during covid i got sucked back in really bad..just stopped playing Tbc last week..so as of to date wow is not only harder to quit but also has wasted much more time than drugs have, also less fun irl experiences....
Beating the addiction of WoW became a hell of a lot easier when Activision took over. Thank you, Activision, for making me stop playing WoW, many years ago.
Activision did something good for once
wow
"I have ADD. I get tunnel vision. When something is at the forefront of my mind, I obsess over it." This man understands it.
Same
6:52
Bro, normal people are also like that.
they have a name for everything nowadays don´t they?
ADHD lack dopamine in the brain, so they get extremely attached to activities that stimulate their dopamine. Thats why WoW can be very addictive for ADHD.
Everyone throws around the word “addiction” in regards to video games, social media, etc. But this is an example of an ACTUAL video game addiction.
I believe that like a lot of other things addiction also has levels but people only notice it when that addiction has become so strong that has turned them into a dysfunctional member of their society .
I find people throw the word addiction around in situations where they really mean compulsion. Addiction is a biochemical reliance on repeatedly inducing a particular reaction in your body. Stopping typically leads to withdrawal effects.
Compulsions are things you feel you need to do but nothing is stopping you from stopping.
The actual therminology is compulsory addiction.
@@Redskull1411 Fair enough.
This is certainly an addiction taken to the extreme, but there are many people that are addicted and don’t realise it. For example, not being able to go a day without playing a favourite game
My brother was extremely addicted to this game, that is the reason why I never touched it. He lived with me because his wife kicked him out because he would only ever play this game. I owned a business that I gave him a job he would have to ask his guild when he was allows work 😡 he wouldn’t sleep or eat he wouldn’t shower it was horrible
How's he doing now?
@@artvulture456 he’s still the same :(
Did he have a neckbeard?
@@SkitSkat8008 learn some empathy. This is a real addiction.
@@Gohansgirl I'm so sorry. Praying he gets the help he needs.
I met my husband on WoW. Meanwhile, one of my high school friends almost failed out of high school because of it. He barely slept. It's amazing how our brains react so differently to things. While the game was a blessing in my life because I have social anxiety disorder and it gave me the opportunity to learn social skills in a controlled environment and not be so lonely, plus meeting my closest friends and even my spouse, it almost ruined his life.
?
Failing high school is not failing in life. Education does not get you the job, experience does. They want you to have 15 years of experience at age 20.
I failed out of HS because of WoW too. It was all I cared about back in 2007-2008
@@Blargshark1231 I came to the USA in 2001 as a refugee from Bosnia. I started playing Diablo Lod soon after. Skipped school a lot and eventually dropped out and got my GED. It wasn't because of Diablo or WOW but they definitely did an impact on it. When I came here I just turned 18 and coming from foreign country not all my classes were credited with credits. Putting me back into freshman year as 18 years old. It was very discouraging for me to continue schooling.
@@armin7851 yea but if you show up to most skilled labour jobs without a high school diploma theyl throw you out
75 years ago, some college students would destroy their careers by obsessing with Contract Bridge (no kidding). 50 years ago, I knew someone who ruined his career at Stanford playing a networked computer game (Peter Langston's 'Empire', FYI). My Master's thesis was delayed by this new tabletop game that had come out, Dungeons and Dragons. Others ruin their academic careers with football or other sports (especially in high school, where this sort of obsession is encouraged). I think parents and others underestimate the way that teenagers and even people in their early 20s can become 'addicted' (loosely speaking) to _any_ activities, and will end up blaming the thing itself. Ban video games! they will cry. Instead, both parents and their kids need to get better tools for recognizing this behavior and dealing with it intelligently.
Edit: That said, it must be recognized that WoW and others are _engineered_ to capture people's time. The whole structure of incremental rewards is designed to keep people paying Blizzard (or other companies) and playing over and over. But the point stands. D&D wasn't engineered to make people want to play more, but it still had that effect.
thats why I quit. I studied the way the game was structured and started questioning design choices, and at hte end of the day, everything in the game I didn't agree with, was there JUST to spread out the time people play. IE raids only do able once a week. This mechanic sole purpose is to force people to play longer. Bosses that require 25 people to beat only dropping 2 or 3 things, again trying to make people pay to play longer. I am totally done with companies that waste my time trying to make me pay more. I wont deal with it anymore, and is why I now cheat at basically all games I play. (not god mode or anything, but If I find a way to make money, I will do it for like 20 min, then cheat in a ton of money and pretend like I just farmed it. I have farmed money in games for countless hours as a kid, I put my dues in on that front, never again will I waste my time FARMING gold for 5 hours straight.)
The main gameplay loop of raiding for loot was the least time consuming. It was all the farming, grinding pvp, needless running from zone to zone , etc
My brother and I started playing it together at the same time, shortly after high school. This was right after Cataclysm.
I found myself getting pretty into it and kind of forgoing my other hobbies and social responsibilities. After a month, I stopped. It was addicting but not nearly as gratifying as my other hobbies and I realized it was taking up too much of my time just trying to keep up with my friends in level and stuff.
But my brother didn't. And he spent like 8 months doing nothing but play. He stopped doing our weekly D&D games, he didn't hang out with our friends, he wouldn't watch movies together anymore. We still lived at home at this point, at 18 and 20 years old and we were best friends. We hung out everyday. And suddenly he was just ignoring me and all of our friends. 4-6 hours a day was nothing. He'd finished school and wasn't doing college yet and wasn't working (he's disabled, another story) and would play for like 12 hours everyday!
This didn't break until we moved out. My brother and I got an apartment together, and there was some complication with getting internet hooked up at our place. So we spent about three weeks, no internet. And we had an awesome time. Playing D&D again, going out for walks at night, going to the movies. Once internet got hooked up, he sat down to play again but stopped after like so hour or two and said he wasn't happy and would rather hang out together. He's never touched it since.
Thanks for posting, this is a great story.
Cold turkey, 3 weeks...Bro, you're going to help me break my younger brother's addiction to literal minecraft. He literally just spends ALL day, not going to school, I mean, imo, as long as he does well, learns stuff in minecraft, and actully goes to school, im good, but he does this. I'll try to help him..
@@totally.normal this is a really touchy situation man, id recommend a therapist, since sometimes, we are just not qualified for things like controlling addictions
frickin amazing story
@@serpentmaster1323 Yeah, it was a weirdly emotional time in my life. It was like my best friend was taken from me.
Honestly I feel like large scale multiplayer games in general are open to psychological manipulation. Alot of people are going through a battle royal withdrawal phase right now classic mmo players went through.
I get this. I play destiny and I feel that it cuts into more social and few academic aspects of my life sometimes
@@loganh4642 tbf while it is open to psychological manipulation its not always the company or developers fault. Sometimes in social circles there are people playing these games with the charisma of a cult leader who pressures people to play over real life responsibilities.
@@RaidenKaiser Oh yeah no this is something I’ve experienced
Its partly because introverts trying to make social connections often do it in the wrong way
This. I know it's easy to point at WoW and say, "Haha, no life nerds!" But this kind of thing can happen to every type of gamer. Hell, this kind of thing can happen with every kind of addiction, even people who party will go threw this kind of thing. We just lost a guy at work cuase he would rather party then show up to work. The one day he actually did show up was the day he got fired and he regretted his poor life choices. He probably still does to this day.
Opposite reaction for me. Video games saved my life by offering an escape when there was none and I found friends who changed my life for the better.
I also had a birth defect in my heart I had no idea about and one day I was in org.
I had a stroke and couldn’t use my right side of my body.
I was introverted and people were there to save my life. Also if I hadn’t lead a less active lifestyle my heart defect I didn’t know about would have killed me.
Physical excretion most people do without a thought would have lead to my death.
So yes video games can destroy lives with addiction but also save them.
Without video games my mental illness would have ended me.
Two sides. You are brave for sharing you story and it is important people know the dark side of games.
But it is also important for people to know about the good side. When people read a bad thing they intend to assume only bad stuff happens.
It is my belief people who are addicted to video games if they never played them would find a replacement addiction.
Similar case, with mental illness. Short slice of it: A friend's compliments, after playing in the morning before school, made me rethink attempting to take my own life later that same morning.
On a much less dark side of things, i've got to meet my current partner, through an online game.
same, I look back on those times when I was playing the game at my peak with the boys, wasting nights over laughing it out ranking up, and I have NO regrets.
Its a pilliar of my learning experience, top end arena taught me that hard work will pay off. every times.
If you practice and work hard on learning what you want to do, it WILL flourish.
But then, y'know, its all about the attitude you have towards the experiences you go trough.... it easily could have ruined me too if I went the wrong way about playing the game.
Ive always said to myself that people who play the same game for 10+years and didn't get good or nowhere with it are the people who wasted their time.
But to be fair, the real victims of games like this are teenage bois and ghouls going deep in this not knowing anything else in life... I had the luxury to be older when I started to game, and my moral compass of whats good for me and my health was better than a young 13 years old kid knowing success for the first time in the game
@@_timetravels4528 I was still in single-digits of age when first getting into online games. And one of my most important experiences happened thanks to them.
*_It's the main way I learned English, the language I now use first and foremost, daily._*
It's not the game itself, it's the escapism, the community. Especially when it comes to lonelier people
Yeap, they saved my life. They were a HUGE escape for me. And while I did play way too much when I was a kid, it did get better as my life got better. I am way healthier about games now and because I'm not always playing games, I don't get burnt out on them either. They're way more fun when engaged in a healthy way.
When 60 was the level cap, I had SIX level 60's. I can't begin to talk about all the stories and experiences I had. I stopped for several years, and recently picked it back up. I am 100% retired, and aged 65. Time? Plenty of it now. My wife plays, and that helps. She has several hundred days' worth of time, in one toon.
But Were you prepared ....😏
@SaberSpark 64, I had to sound like a negative Nancy, but you'll be back again. Everyone does... eventually. Whether it's the classic WoW, or Everquest 1, etc... You think you've escaped it's mighty clutches, and maybe you're more clear-headed than ever before. But something will trigger that nostalgia and you'll be compelled to come back to it again. And DONT ask how I know~ =(
Very nice. I've always wondered why so little old people play videogames. It seems like the perfect activity. It's exactly what I intend to be doing when I'm too old to go outside and do physical things
@@Thromnabular - Dude..I have a 12 handicap in golf, and the golf course is two streets over. My wife and I walk a couple of miles per day. You don't have to give up an active lifestyle, just because you are getting older. I am 5-11, and weigh 175 pounds. Because I keep my hair very short, I am constantly being asked if I am in my mid-40's. Yesterday, my BP was 128 over 74.
You are living my retirement goal lol.
I've always thought about the fact that there's going to be a very real demographic of retirement gamers who will absolutely curbstomp the kids in the future, because they game all day.
I can almost imagine those beady-eyed kids screaming: "The old people are coming, ruuuuuun!"
I had a friend who married someone that became totally obsessed with WOW. After 6 months she finally gave him an ultimatum, he had to choose between her or the game. They got divorced, he picked the game.
I think it reminded me of an MTV True Life documentary about the addiction to video games where one girl left his boyfriend after ignoring her ultimatum like what you said.
Damn thats kinda based. i probably would've dont the same.
sad they got married and he had to lose a ton of assets in divorce
@@anduin3410 my mom has been divorced three times and in none of them were a "ton of assets" lost. Most divorces don’t have some big asset battle, frequently they just 50/50 what is theirs.
Also, how are y’all siding with the person who chose a game over their life partner??? I have a few thousand too many hours in a few games, but I’m not going to put those games over people.
I feel like a strong relationship would have accepted their hobbies instead of making them choose. My ex tried to get me to quit gaming and I didn't want that kind of negativity in my life. In my current relationship I've actually slacked off with a lot of the gaming, not from an ultimatum though but from a personal choice and just growing out of it. Forcing a person to give up something they're passionate about is toxic af.
TLDR: if she can't handle me when I'm gamin' she won't want to be with me when I'm lamin'
Honestly, I think the only thing keeping me from getting obsessed with WoW and other MMO's was never having enough money to pay the regular subscription fees, and being put off by games that require me to do chores.
I could pay for monthly subscription but I could also get several other better things for the same price.
I haven't played a multi-player game in nearly a decade because I don't have friends and I have this idea from growing up being repeatedly bullied and abused, I expect the worst and I have enough of my own problems without someone harassing me for no reason.
So I just don't play multi-player anything ever. My toxic, abusive ex played games with her friends and I was NEVER invited in 3 years. I even asked and was told they usually play things I don't like. They never asked what I liked and I know nobody still knows or cares.
There's some games I really miss playing and I know you can play alone but why would you
@@daniexmachina Damn, if I knew you personally, I would totally invite you to play some of the multiplayer games I play, depending on what you're into.
There are a few free to play MMORPGS but by and large those tend to be crap.
@@craigh5236 or riddled with pay to win features. As much as I played wow I felt is was worth the subscription.
Old school RuneScape was my savior when it came to not having cash lol. Also knew a lot of people that played maple story which was a lot of fun if you stayed out of heavy trafficked areas as the 2d made it hard to see what you were doing
When I was 22 years old I was shown counterstrike for the first time by a few guys in college (I didn't have a computer growing up). What started out as a fun evening thing eventually turned into me playing a knock-off version of CSGO called AVA. I put in well over 3,000 hours in 9 months, I remember showing up to my final exams and my instructors had to check my ID because I had skipped so many classes. Failed my courses but somehow still went on a co-op job placement for the summer that was mercifully nowhere near an internet connection. I'm now in my 30s with a good job wife and kid....I will never touch online gaming ever again. I used to judge alcoholics/drug addicts for ruining their lives over something that seems trivial to me but for some people you just haven't found your vice yet.....
I can drink without feeling the need to overdo it, I have experimented with just about every hard drug in my teens and early 20s without ever once feeling the "need" to get more. But for some reason pixels on a screen and a competitive FPS showed me I could be as dependent as a guy sleeping in a box.
sound like you are a classic example of a coward
3000 hours in a single game in nine months?! That’s crazy! I could never even imagine that.
I’m sorry bro
@@ScytheJackal I honestly try not to think about it too much. Total waste of a year of my life and thousands of dollars in tuition. I have nothing to prove it but I honestly suspect waking up at 6 am and playing video games till 2am for months straight probably did some long term damage to my ability to socialize normally. I don't think there is anything wrong with video games in moderation but there is a group of people out there that can develop a full on addiction to them. I still play the odd single player game but I make a conscious choice to stay away from online gaming the same way an alcoholic wont even have a social drink.
@@Hierax415 yeah. It’s all about moderation. Still, I’m extremely sorry you went through that. I’m 15 and it’s sad to hear about peoples addiction
@@ScytheJackal Well its a little more complicated than "Just say no" but do your best to monitor yourself as you get older. If I have any advice for people your age its that if you have to lie about it or hide it from your friends and family , you might have a problem. Applies to drugs, drinking gaming and a few other things I'm not gonna spell out for a 15 year old, but it sounds like your a smart kid. Best of luck.
As a game designer, this video hits really hard. You're very strong for having to grown from this and brave to talk about it. Thank you for sharing your story.
It is from stories like these that I'm reminded that we, as designers, have a moral responsibility to think about the impact we are putting on the players of our games. We need to talk about how what we're putting out in the world can be causing negative impacts on someone's life and take responsibility for this.
You create beautiful things that people enjoy, never feel bad about this.
Every game effect every person diffetent. If someone get addicted and if it '' ruin his life'' thats his problem. As a game desinger u must do your best to create a good games.
Actually wow helped be quit meth
As long as the game isn’t specifically trying to get people addicted, then I don’t think any responsibility should fall on the developers. People can get addicted to anything, and someone trying to make the best game they can isn’t to blame for that.
@@whitby1208 Agree. The obesity, opioid epidemics along with internet and entertainment addiction are all due to people being lazy and weak and it has nothing to do with their neurochemistry being high jacked by design. It's not like foods and video games are designed to trigger dopamine releases in the brain to make sure you repeat the pleasurable behaviour. Companies have no idea about this, and if they did they would certainly have the morals to not design their products like this! What's a little profit next to human dignity?
I’m 13 and. I have ADD too and do over obsess with things as well but I’m getting better. I always felt a connection and always looked to you and I look up to you even more after hearing this story since I can see myself going through this and now I can look up to you and say “Well Stephen got through it and picked up really high afterwards” so thanks for this story and your whole online presence in general you help me see even with my shortcomings I might be able to be successful like you even when I hit really low lows
Same here, I don't know if I have ADD specifically but when I like something I tend to obsess over it. And I used to love world of warcraft in 2018, but I wasn't obsessed with it. I still tend to obsess and get too far interested in things I like today
I have ADHD and i obsess over things very quickly and randomly, which actually made me loose weight because i forget to eat, whoops
@@Centiwing That happened to me as well when I started playing sims haven’t returned since
@@Centiwing SAME agh, i have it as well and i forget to eat daily x_x though i can recommend setting some alarms or a to do list and involve snacks with them somehow, if you make it fun for yourself it can be super helpful 🤘
heck even marking it on your calendar could work too, so you can see how much progress you've made and be satisfied when you fill the whole thing
I thaught it is "Steven"
The Elwynn Forest music at the start really brings me back. Say what you want about the game but the music is incredible. I love hearing people's stories about this game too.
The guild I was in during Wrath we had a quite a collection of different people. For some reason we ended up with about 50% male/female. I guess that ended up that way because the guys in the guild was mostly married and didn't harass the gals.
There was one time when about a dozen of us decide to have saturday night party in the game and in vent. We were all having our characters dance while we were getting trashed in our homes and singing karaoke on vent.
That memory stood out to me the most.
@Rikara every single exp pack story is "You thought the last bad guy was the guy pulling the strings? WRONG! There is another unknown bad guy in the shadows who was MANIPULATING the other bad guy!"
Every single exp pack is the exact same copy paste story just with different characters. Gets sooo boring
@Rikara Yeah man that lawsuit has me feelin a type of way. Fuck Blizzard. They're disgusting pigs from what I can tell if even a quarter of whats alleged is true.
The thing that stands out to me now, almost a decade since my WoW addiction, was how virtually everyone in my guild was online all day every day. At no time did anyone point out that it was peculiar.
Saber, this might be my favorite video of yours. You're a fantastic storyteller, I can hear the emotion while you talked about how much WoW messed up your life and how you were able to pull through and make it out. I'd personally be super hyped for more videos like this where you tell stories!!
Good on you, bro. Gaming is an addiction when you don’t do the things you need to do to maintain, sustain, or grow. I am putting my consoles to the sides and putting more effort into my home. I am turning 50 this year and seeing what my delay has cost me. No regrets. I am going to grow from my experience.
Awesome! Keep fighting!
i pray you have a wonderful life. men like you who choose life over addiction need to be told how proud we are of you. you have done a good thing, and i pray you are rewarded in life for it. have a blessed life sir, and never forget how proud you made this stranger
Remember playing this myself, stopped playing around Wrath of the Lich King. Guild I was in desolved over internal drama, and finding a new guild became more difficult than applying for an actual job.
Drama is everywhere
Lol true. Finding a raid guild (that didnt suck) was like that. 98% asked to be a no-life lol.
Haha I remember sending a CV describing my raiding experience to get into the top guild on my server back in Burning crusade. crazy times
I actually really needed to hear this story..Thank you, saberspark. It's really hard to open about these kind of things, but it was so helpful.
This was basically the same story for me, even going through college (dropping out) the first semester. Hell, even the radical and ritualistic destruction of your gaming disc went the same way for me. There was this notion near the end, that I had to destroy gaming media, PCs, ANYTHING to stay away from it.
Scary how similar the stories of so many people are with this game.
My father had introduced me to this game when I was 11. The first time I saw him play it I immediately became interested and once I turned 13 he allowed me to make an account. I got hooked on it. My first (and main) character was a night elf called Haygee and on weekends when I was at his place I would play from about 10 in the morning until 11 at night only stopping to eat and use the bathroom. Sometimes I'd forget to eat. I'm glad that I eventually got away from the game but honestly every once in a while I'll get the urge to play it. You can overcome an addiction but it never truly goes away.
You are an addict no matter what. Abstinence just means you are not actively doing it. If you indulge in it too much again, you'll relapse into the active addiction.
@@FrostySnow1000LMAO!!! It is impossible now... Pay to win bro
Thank you for sharing! I've always struggled with mediating the time I spend escaping reality via videogames more often when my life feels out of my control. I'm glad to hear positive stories about video game addiction.
This was me with Skyrim, I used to play from 1pm to 23pm almost every single day, it was a full on addiction. I was so into it that game that one day coming back from school thinking about a test I probably failed and thinking to myself: "eh I can just reload an earlier save". I stopped in the streets wondering what was happening to me, luckily after that I never became addicted into a game again.
What’s funny at one of those cosplay events, a guy literally dressed up like a *No-Lifer* and even slouched like the thumbnail, lol.
I saw that, but sadly he passed away, I don’t know what from but damn that guy was a legend
@@FayeTheNerd it was COVID complications :(
@@PatootHD proof or it didn't happen
@@FayeTheNerd You don't mean Jarod Nandin do you? The guy who cosplayed a no lifer at Blizzcon in 2013?
Covid couldn't kill him since he had no life
I’ve got a pretty recent and surprisingly similar story. I’ve always been someone who probably plays a little too much (20ish hours a week) but in 2021 it got sooo much worse.
My friends got me into Destiny 2 a couple months after Covid first started, and at first it was pretty normal. But when Covid started getting serious, everything went to shit. My engineering college courses all went online, serious family issues developed, I nearly lost my house, never got to see my friends, had one of them completely disappear, and had a grandparent die all in the space of a year. D2 became my coping mechanism as well as my only social lifeline, and I started playing like 40+ hours a week. I think I have a screenshot from one point when Steam logged me at 120 hours in the past 2 weeks. I racked up 2,000 hours on D2 in one year, and that’s not including all the other games I played. My grades started suffering (online courses didn’t help), I flunked a major course I couldn’t retake until the following year, and I didn’t take care of myself like normal because my brain was just in complete breakdown mode.
2021 was just a remarkably shitty year. I told myself at the end of it that it was the worst year of my life, and that I was going to make sure it would remain the worst year of my life. In-person courses started again this fall, and getting to interact with fellow humans in person and actually needing to go somewhere has helped so damn much. I always thought of myself as an introverted person, but turns out I need social interaction just like everyone else. I’m back to only playing 20ish hours a week, fixed my sleep schedule and self-care routine, and I’m passing that class I bombed last year. And I gotta say, it feels great.
Dude I played wow and destiny. Destiny is modeled after wow very deliberately.
@@stepheninczech for sure, you can see Activision-Blizzard’s grubby little fingerprints all over the game
The family problems was the thing for me and yeah the summer of 2021 was the worst season of my life. i didn't play any games and just hang out on discord with either my friends or watched memes and chatted in those public servers. though things are getting a lot better now. i found games that i was interested in. and when i felt better i started studying again. though i would never come close to the grades i had. which now that i look back...those grades were really good. seems like this whole corona changed me for the worst in terms of grades
Dang man those are some serious hours in a game.
@@regularpit1508 Live to win. ‘Til you die. ‘Til the light dies in your eyes...
I cannot speak enough about how much I connect with this. I had been addicted to the Realm and UO in the 90s when I was in like 8-12th grade. When DAoC came out I was a freshman in college in 2001 and I didn’t even go to class. My classes were from 7 am to 2 pm but my sleep schedule was basically 6 am till 2. I got a 1.5 gpa and fell into academic prohibition. It was a huge struggle to recover. I ended up needed 5 years of college as a result instead of 4. I played WoW heavily when it came out and by 2007 I had over 365 days played on my main. My daughter was born in April of 2007. When I looked back and realized in the past 3 years, I that I fully spent 33% of time on the game, it stopped me cold. I quit and never went back. I am still a gamer today at the age of 38 but I haven’t played any online game in 15 years. I refuse. I play single player games only which works great because I can control when I stop easily. I’m proud that you recovered. I personally knew people who ended up worse off
I still remember those golden days 😌, that nostalgia just kicked in, i played wow from vanilla till cataclysm (left after that as it took all my energy for just wow). Till this day, in the back of my mind i still wish if i could play and indulge into that experience once again. Golden days that were. That background music for all different cities :') *sigh*
Such an interesting and relatable story. I have ADD as well and tend to hyperfixate on things which makes me very careful and aware of what kinds of things I get into. It's annoying to have to deal with, but I try my best to not let it consume me like it has a possibility to do so
I sometimes wonder if I have both ADHD and ADD I hyper fixate but I also can't seem to stay focused I'm a mess haha
@@RaidenKaiser ADD as a term is outdated and is not really used anymore. Now it's only ADHD.
There are three types:
Inattentive ADHD
Hyperactive ADHD
Combined ADHD
I seem to be that one odd person that loved MMOs and disliked this game. Everyone I know has stories of being into it at least for a little bit and I'm the odd man out.
Yeah for me the major turn off of most PC MMO's it always comes down to the controls could never click with me which is why I personally love more action oriented RPG's.
Yea never played wow I was more of a everquest (played eq2 for about 10-11 years and played eq1 for about 2 years?) player always saw wow as a everquest ripoff thought about giving a try a few times but couldn't get into it I'm just a everquest fan and always will be will never play my rival game lol everquest 2 was a huge part of my childhood not wow
I didn't care for it either. Everyone was crazy about it and I thought it was kinda boring.
In my case minecraft is that game that everyone loves except me
@@GarkKahn im actually the same way haha
i've done practically nothing except play wow, watch youtube, look at instagram, eat and sleep since a week before shadowlands
get help. more importantly, get better taste in games and gaming companies.. ohh I see the check mark besides you name, that explains everything, disregard what I said as you wont even listen to me anyway.
@@slimebuck hey man, there are way nicer ways to tell people you think they should look into getting help ^^ just remember there is a living, breathing person behind that checkmarked username that has feelings, so don't try shaming them into doing better! i do hope they look into getting some help and using this video as a tool to step back and look at how they can improve their lives, ofc. but again, shaming people into things just makes everything worse for everyone involved
Based
Dont know how you managed to keep playing. Games has been terrible since BFA S2 up until now. Although 9.2 has been a massive step in the right direction
@@baboonman846 there's like a million things for me to do in the game, I think I started today between 9am -12pm or whenever I woke up and I just stopped at 11pm, I did some WOD quests and dungeons, killed a couple heroic bosses in the new raid, killed Anduin and Lords on normal and got my 3rd Tier set item, did a mythic+, caught a few pets, killed some rares in the new area, and maybe a little more. It was kind of a.slow day because I spent a lot of time waiting to get into raid groups and then waiting between pulls every time people left
That bit where you mentioned how you shattered the disc the try and just end it there, and how it didn’t work was really profound. It reaffirms the thing about leaving addiction. You can try and put as many external barriers between yourself and your object of addiction, but you’ll always find a way to get your fix.
At the end of the day, it’s you. You have to be truly willing to put it down, and have that internal confrontation. Because if you’re not truly willing, you’ll ALWAYS find a way to get back to your addiction.
I played WoW on and off, quite a latecomer to the game tbh, my parents got me into it. Then my whole family played it, we had a guild, we’d do game nights. It was honestly amazing bonding this way. My problem was I kept falling behind. I got burnout faster and though I loved questing, raids, and hunting for mounts. It was more stressful for me to join my family in new expansions because I couldn’t keep up with their drive through the quest lines that we attempted to do together.
I still have many fond memories, and often miss getting on just as an escape. Nothing has quite compared to the expansive universe that WoW has to other games I’ve played. It really does drag you in. Ngl. Hearing the WoW music in the background of your video makes me want to get back on. I stopped playing during Shadowlands though, and paying monthly for it wasn’t worth doing when i got on about once a week to quest some and run the firelands raid for the millionth time trying to get the damn Phoenix 🤣.
Definitely agree with you on how addicting the game is, I never had a social life on there like you did, and that’s probably what let me step back and focus more on life rather than raiding.
Love for those good gamers still playing WoW, all I have to say is-
For the Alliance!
Of course the painfully wholesome WoW playing family is Aliance.
I'm glad you were able to beat your addiction. I can tell you went through a lot at that time but it definitely taught you a ton.
Damn man, I give you huge respect for making this video. I never struggled with wow but have/do struggle with literal drugs and your parts when you smashed the disk and later on felt like the game released it’s grip rather than you straight up beating it on your own really really spoke to me and shared quite a bit with my own story.
Anyways, thank you for sharing, I really enjoy your videos. Best of luck!
This was such a great video. I can't say I ever reached that level, probably because I was grown with my own kids when I got into it, but it took me down memory lane. Some of my fondest memories are playing WOW with my kids.
I had a similar addiction to Runescape however I was never brave enough to ask my parents or older sister to buy me the premium membership. I had to grind everything as a free player and I knew that a lot of the great stuff came from buying membership. I eventually got burned out because I just wanted to try something else and juggling middle school, Runescape, and any other console game made me realize that I just wanted the next big hit. I can't say things would've been the same if I had bought membership when I still played Runescape but I know that my addiction would've been much more severe.
p
wow! i thought i was the only one who knew about Runescape! :O I used to play it until my account got hacked and i couldn't go back to Runescape and i wasn't even high level neither i was just a noob and now thinking of going back to Runescape haven't played it in years since i got hacked around say 10 or more years and i was just learning the beginning of the game too :(
I'm glad I was never the type to get into MMOs, but I've definitely had addiction problems with other types of games. Not quite to this level, but even today, I struggle not to fall into the trap of binge-gaming, instead of doing literally anything else with my time (other than work and sleep) for a week+.
me too. For that reason, i actively avoid games that don't have a clear ending.
I honestly have had the need to play games like Fortnite, Overwatch and Battlefront 2 when I know I'm busy cus they end quickly and I can control how many games I allow myself to play. Story games are for when I know I can afford time and even then I feel guilty playing for no reason
can't believe this wasn't a main channel upload. obviously it's not movie/show related, but the quality is amazing. the story is sooo relatable and well told. forget the "draw my life" trend, this is waaay more interesting than that
I was an addict too for almost 15 years. Then I ran out of gold to buy game time, decided it was enough, but kept the game on my computer. After about 4-5 months I realized it's still on my PC so I deleted it. Happy life.
Might as well drop a story myself. When WoW released, I was a year into my first enlistment in the USAF. I had a deployed in place type of job, one that rarely deploys outside the country, so it was essentially a 9-5 with strict rules for the most part. I got into the game religiously. Years later, still addicted, I went to my second base where I was placed in a backshop, a toolroom essentially, before I was to go to my proper section. My supervisor, an E-5, was also into WoW. He was always late, smelled atrocious, and barely kept himself awake. His time away from work was spent endgame raiding in WotLK on 2 accounts, heavy raiding mind you, not just casually. The last nail in the coffin, however, was when the higher ups decided to do some investigating, and visited his house which was on base. His wife, also an addict, was passed out on the couch in a living room that was unlivable. Trash strewn around, just filthy. Oh, to make matters worse, he had kids. They were playing in the trash when the sup's showed up. The most degenerate thing found were actual dirty diapers from his youngest...stuck to the damn wall. I don't know if the kids were taken away, as that was kept rather confidential, but he did get reprimanded and dishonorably discharged. A year after this, we had another guy where almost exactly the same thing happened again. The family issues weren't as egregious, but the end result of discharge was. My WoW addiction died shortly after, and these incidents played major roles.
it's actually kind of crazy how common these types of stories are!
I never played the game, but reading stories like these make me glad the franchise is now unappealing.
Is sounds like your describing someone with a heroine addiction, its that bad.
Yo I watched something like happen in the army. It was the EverQuest era though but the same crack at the end of the day. Barracks life, end of long weekend, the same guy late for formation. Don’t remember why but it was me running up to his damn door banging on it, like bro you fucked up. He answers in whitey tighties, all bleary eyed with I shit you not EverQuest running from the night before. It was really fucking weird for me and shit went downhill fast for that guy. I wonder how he turned out.
Back when I was in the Navy the most trouble I ever got into was due to playing wow when I was supposed to be on watch in my barracks. My room was on the 4th floor of the building and I was supposed to be going floor to floor and then checking in every 30 minutes to an hour (I can't remember which, that was in 2005). I had done this a lot, because usually nothing was actually happening, so when I reported in and said everything was in order no one knew any different. This went on until one day I tried doing the same thing, taking the side stairwell that was rarely used down to the ground floor and telling them everything was fine. Turns out a pipe had broken on the floor below the one my room was on and for the last 20-30 minutes massive amounts of water were flooding down the main stairwell to every floor below. So when I reported in saying everything was fine they knew I was clearly full of shit and not doing my job. I somehow was able to avoid captains' mass, but it was a BIG deal.
Man, I thought I was one of the only ones going through this “mmorpg addiction” battle. This video was a wake up call for me, having so many similarities to what you went through. I’m still addicted to this one mmorpg since it first released 2 years ago and it’s pretty much consumed my highschool life. The game really gives me a false sense of happiness, and it really takes me away from interacting with rl people. Thank you for this video Saber, it opened my eyes and the eyes of many currently going through similar circumstances 💛
Edit: I’ve pried myself away from the game successfully for almost two months! I really have this video to thank for getting my life in a healthier direction. Thank you, Saber.
Now's your chance to fix it. Don't let it pass by.
What game? Jc
@@CHloE748 Dragon Raja. Really pretty game but god is it so f2p unfriendly, constant grind just to keep up
I was a senior in high school in burning crusade came out. I was already playing daily, my story isn't too much different. College and life was in the way of WOW, I wasn't proud of it. I stopped caring as much in wraith and slowly got back to life.
I was truly hooked for 2-3 years from ages 14 to 17. In those years I gained over 500 DAYS of game play. Literally almost half of my existence in those years was WoW. I dropped out of high school in 10th grade because I got held back twice from skipping school to play WoW..I eventually I *grew up* and started my new life living as a pro mountain climber and snowboarder. I've been living this awesome life of sports ever since! Though it's been over 10 years since I've played I have always remained a fan of the game and the right time for me to play it once again is coming! Im gonna buy a laptop this summer and revisit my teenage childhood!
I'd like to say I accept my teenage mistakes as my own but I really think a lot of it had to do with the fact my parents didn't care, allowed, and even encouraged me to keep playing because all they wanted is for me to be happy. Something I still live true to.
The parental controls thing hit me, like... yeah I think in a way it actually makes it *worse*. You can 'only' play for that set amount of time so it adds to the intermittent reinforcement/scarcity effect where you're trying to get in as much gameplay before the cut-off as you possibly can. It also didn't address the factors for addiction for me personally, eg household had issues, school had issues whereas online I could talk to people without clamming up or getting bullied for 'disabled person exist'. The environment needs to be addressed, like they studied this with rats and heroin I think? The rat with 'ratworld' and more of a social network had their own things to do so the drug was less lucrative.
I think the 'chores' the game creates turns into a similar issue as 'action-faking' where "yay I did some material achievement, oops my house is still a mess". The streamlining and changes were for the best in a way, there was a little too much upkeep to do. (freaking weapon skillpoint grinding)
The chores simulates work really well. You doing a boring mindless activity for a long time that rewards you with the things you need. It has importance so it's valuable like work, despite being boring. You can then justify you are "working" on your character, not playing, so had play all day and night, sometimes even incredibly bored, because it is "important work."
I started off with Final Fantasy 11 as my very first MMO. my little brother got into Warcraft and tried to get me into it but was never as appealing or enjoyable. And before this I was a fan of Warhammer 40k so I had something more tangible in my hands to begin with and more entertaining because I was always a Sci-Fi fan. When I got bored of Final Fantasy 11 I decide to try around Wrath of the Lich King World of Warcraft but I didn't find entertaining at all because by the time I got to the endgame I encountered what I call the endgame gear score Loop of hate: this is actually something that's very common in almost every single MMOs that exist but this was my first time encountering it, as I had never decided to play Final Fantasy 11 as anything more than enjoyment casually. The idea is that if you want to end game raid you need to have gear that allows you to survive the raid, however the only way to get gear that will allow you to survive the raid is if you have already done the raid beforehand, order to have that gear to participate in the raid, leading into an endless impossible cycle that as you can see is maddening in the first place and even if you did get into a raid group. Nepotism was the word of the day every single day, it didn't matter if you showed up to every raid before the stated time with every food buff or item or potion that was needed and even spec into something that you really didn't want to but the raid really needed, there was always an 90% chance that you would never get a single thing! Because the raid leader did not care about contribution! they only cared about who sucked up to them the most. This is reason why I hate most MMOs in the first place. It took until Final Fantasy 14 for me to return to enjoying MMO's. Because at least in that game you don't get screwed over by the raid loot. The only thing that World of Warcraft prove to me is that nepotism will always exist unless there was a system in place that forces the removal of nepotism. Final Fantasy 14 is an example of how MMO's should function when it comes to raid content
lol I had to build my own guild, and RUN my OWN raids just to get loot. I tried running raids while just being a member of other guilds, and never got a single piece of gear. They would just give the gear to someone like "we making this guy the main tank so he gets dibs on all these items, then after hes geared we will spread loot out" Then when that tank got fully geared, he would just up and leave the guild... happened a few times, and it enraged me so much, going months of effort raiding getting NOTHING, that I had to quit and just make my own guild.
Thank you for this wonderful video filled with passion, I never played WOW nor do i like it, but i still enjoy it's lore and hearing the nostalgic stories from the good oll' days.
Good video, thanks Saber for sharing your journey. I suffered a spinal cord injury in 05 that left me with very limited mobility and went from working 60 hours a week to having nothing to do nor the ability to work. I was deeply depressed and thought many times about ending it all. Then my kids, yes I was 43 at the time introduced me to wow. I say this very literally, it saved my life. I left the world of pain, boredom, worry and doubt and allowed me to escape to a world where I could run, fight, meet new friends. I eventually had a top ten raiding guild, hard core raiders and also became addicted. I recovered over a seven year period where I could function in the real world again. I played all the end game content through WOD and the game lost it's pull on me as it had gotten weak. I stepped away for two years but came back and I play very casually. I appreciate wow as it helped me through a very hard time in my life but the game was addicting, not the games fault, once upon a time it was just that good.
The feeling of empowerment in games is real. It can also be real addictive when you feel disempowered in real life. I think it effects kids so much more because we don't have money, transport, control over our life or important decisions to make, our young life is preordained so given a little bit of power we become drunk on it and only want more like a drug.
My brother's got into it too but they eventually finally pushed through and got over WOW.
sadly my bro, can't , isn't that bad now
Very nice. Thanks for speaking up. To help make your case Mr. Spark, I direct this to those who are rolling their eyes at this. I have been playing online games since diablo 1 and I like to say this is real. To sound cliche, touch some grass, you really should. Servers shut down. All the work you put in, all the time you spent, will go away in an instant. All you are left with are burnt bridges. I learned this with star wars galaxies. Playing games is fine, but it's not life regardless of how much people will deny this fact. Your family, your friends are what's important, shutting them out for the next drop is never worth it. Please believe me. If you are online 10-12 hours a day in a game, stop. Games are a good hobby. Problem solving, social interaction, these are good things but, when you shut everything out for these games it is detrimental to life. Once out after being addicted like that you begin to notice how "gamers" treat people and problems in RL. It's almost like nothing else but the game matters. You begin to notice how people have no respect for anyone or anything, like they can just re-roll their situation. Again, servers shut down, people get older, life goes on, don't destroy everything to play a game.
I'm glad you finally got out and recovered. I can't say the same for my X.
My X is very much so a video game addict, there must always be a video game he's playing, that's all he talks about. If he was designing video games and getting paid for some of the play testing he claims that would be different. But we are talking someone who has gone to college 3x and quit all three times. The 2nd time was while we had been married, all hours of the day, from waking to sleep if there wasn't work or he'd be late. And with college, late for classes or didn't go at all and never did his homework because his games are more important.
I recall one time when he declared he was bored, how much money do we have? I told him we only had $35 to see us to the end of the week before payday and that we needed to spend this on groceries. He insisted on his video game and put us in the hole. I've spoken with my own counselors about this before. I had to know what he did with the money and what he would do.
The end was recognized when I ended up in the ER, facing a strong possibility of death. He took my wallet, said he was going to get something to eat, left and never came back. A week and half later when I got out and came home, discovered he'd gone and bought a new game and none of the bills taken care of. Plus the discovery that he had quit college and what I told him, if he quit and didn't finish, we weren't staying married.
I tried to tell judge when he visits his child, he can't be on a computer, playing his games. Guess who never asked for visitations. And our child is now old enough, she's tired when he does call, that's all he talks about is his games. She reached where she doesn't want to talk to someone who she only knows as a voice on the phone.
Yes, this is an extreme nutshell and there are several more details and factors involved.
I'm so sorry you went through this. You and your daughter deserve better. Maybe you leaving will be a catalyst for change. One can hope. Everyone has to decide what their rock bottom is. Don't expect him to change, he has to want to change.
I also have adhd and substance use / escapism problems and this video really hit home for me. Thank you.
Dude- I had the same experience getting to my current point in life except with halo (and regrettably fortnite). Up until recently my entire world, hell, the only reason I had to wake up in the morning was to see the NEW FORTNITE BATTLEPASS or to get together with my halo friends and grind matchmaking all day. I don’t want to write an article here but my point is that it drove me down a very bad road. I moved out of my dad’s house and into my neglectful mother’s house just so I could fuel my addiction further. Thankfully this was nearly 2 years ago and I recovered almost entirely. Now I have a job, I’m a senior and high school about to graduate and I’m in a much better headspace. I never imagined anyone else let alone a RUclipsr I watch on the daily, would’ve had a similar experience but thank you for putting this out there dude. Keep up the great work.
@Baxi W-
what..?
@Baxi he... Was just telling his story? He wasn't saying anything about whether gaming addiction is a significant issue, just telling his story.
Such a great story.
I never really got this way with a game, but as my depression really started to set in around 2013, I really latched heavily into the MLP fandom where I first heard of you.
I met a lot of friends through sites like Brony Square at the time and got to a point if just neglecting school in lieu of talking with my friends I met through the fandom on Skype and probably drinking the most that I have at any point.
Just kind of pure escapism. Luckily I am at a better place now while having retained several of those friendships making something from that dark period present and positive in my life nearly a decade later.
Just started GW2 and started feeling the same thing, immediately put a stop to it and started working on my other hobbies
One thing that added to my childhood trauma is my mom actually got addicted to WOW. I felt like I had to play the game to get her attention and affection. Long story short, when I got older I told her that I wished we wouldn't play as much and we would hang out outside the game and I got screamed at... And she essentially told me that was that was her only form of happiness.
My best friend's mom was a WoW addict and she abandoned the entire family when they were 13. For Worldof Warcraft and drugs. Warcraft is a he'll of a drug.
This is a masterpiece of a video, extremely relatable and will absolutely help people suffering with the same problem develop somewhat of an introspection.
Back in the early days of the Internet and MMORPGs the biggest draws for me were the adventure, the exploration and the social aspects. All three things that I had very little access to where I lived ( adventuring and exploration aren’t very common things for anyone in this day and age ). My school friends moved away, but I could always play with them in WoW and with my Internet friends. I ended up playing a lot but I don’t think I was addicted… it never took priority over doing healthy things IRL
Good for you! 👍
I can relate alot to how this game captured me as a young teen. My interest definatly soured during cata and quit midway. but the funny thing is I still enjoy the vanilla experience, played classic a bit and had a great time. The only difference now is that I am not willing to sacrifice my life in order to make progress in the game. But mark my words, if I'm 60 and retired, and classic wow is available, you can bet your ass im gunna be playing lol.
I don't have confirmed ADD, although I've often thought I might have it. Hearing you describe your own experience hits home for me. The "obsessing" part is something I have as well.
Bro, I loved this game so much. Man it's so depressing how WoW fucking fell from grace.
Thank you for sharing this.
It's strangely scary thinking about an office of addiction researchers devising game mechanisms to maximize people's long term engagement with a product. Yet with the majority of the top grossing games now being free-to-play titles monitzed through micro-transactions, companies are forced to adopt similar means to even compete in this satuarated market.
Please research the GaaS (Games as a Service) Business Model. It outlines root level strategies for designing games (products). Many companies are no longer incentivized to just make the best game and let reviews and fans dictate it's profitability. They are manufacturing specifc experiences within their stories, marketing, mechanics, media, and even the audio with the primary goals of keeping you thinking about the game even when you aren't playing it and maximizing your incentives to purchase from their digital storefront.
Honestly, it's not complicated research. Non-human primates as well as humans will press a level for a reward more compulsively if that behavior receives variable reinforcement. In other words, it's the RNG that "addicts" you. The more random elements that developers can introduce into a game without making it seem unfair or PtW, and the more they can tie those to the story narrative or game play loop, the more "addictive" the game will be. Of course, some people are more susceptible than others, but nobody is totally immune
Been subbed for years and never knew u played wow like that. Good to see we escaped this addiction I stopped playing after MoP but that’s cuz work and life finally took over
I remember playing once all night and skipping track practice as I went to sleep. I think that was the moment I knew I was playing too much. Spent years off and on, but I think I'm finally done. Thanks for sharing your story.
I played Guitar Hero like it was life support. Sometime in elementary school the first Guitar Hero came out and it piqued my interest, but a little later in middle school I had a teacher who would host Guitar Hero 2 (and later GH3) tournaments after big tests or major class accomplishments. I had no friends but I found out that I was *very* good at Guitar Hero, so much so that I was like the Final Boss where everyone else would be trying to beat me at it during these tournaments. I begged my parents to get me the game and eventually they did. All I did was play, I neglected my homework, etc etc. It was a Time.
One of the most relatable things for me ( another fellow WoW-boomer) was the mentioning of the 'sell' to get my parents to pay the sub fee ( ended up being me mowing the lawn every other week), the research to see if my family computer could run it, and then sitting around waiting on the game to patch. In the mid 2000s it felt like such an adventure to even get the game set up. But the final release was highly rewarding (...and addicting).
It’s crazy how one game can almost ruin one mans life and then completely change it for the better for another. My uncle met his wife of 10 years on WoW and he’s struggled with a lot of mental health issues and never had the motivation to help himself but his wife truly changed his view on himself and encouraged him to get help and he did! He said he went from doing shrooms and wanting to jump off buildings to finally being happy just because he met a woman on a game by complete coincidence.
I pretty much dropped out of my studies 3 times and it's only been a year that I've quit playing essentially unfortunately too late I suppose, I think it's through a pretty universally viewed decline of the game after like phase 3 of Classic WoW that I think a huge amount of people like me and like you are kind of being freed of this hold that this game has on our lives man, it's almost surreal how intense and crazy this journey has been for me and so many people since I was like 9 years old.
My wife and I have played for about 13 years at this point. I play about 30 hours a week these days. Its never been a full blown addiction for me because I can still work a full-time job and take time to socialize outside of playing WoW. I can absolutely see how it could consume people to an unhealthy extent, though.
30 hours a week is literally a full time job, you are addicted as fuck omg
While the first reply might have not put it the most nicely, I still think that is kind of an addiction…
That’s like over 4 hours a day
My ex played for 40 hours on average. I woke up alone, went to bed alone. He tried to get me into Hearthstone as a gateway to WoW, didn't work. I cried and begged for intimacy. Even extended *cuddles.* I thanked him for breaking up with me, because I kept forcing myself to try to make it work
bro you're addicted. That's way too much time to be playing a video game
I have a very similar story with the game Mabinogi, another MMO. I was much younger, around 14-16 and I was completely and utterly addicted to this game. It was all I thought about. I also had a lot of online relationships in the game, and all of them involved me being groomed by someone significantly older than me. I remember when I was 14, I was being aggressively groomed by my guild leader who was around 28. I think it's a big problem in online worlds like this that not many people talk about. It absolutely ruined my teenage years.
I went through the same thing with Dota. I almost lost everything. Pulled myself out of it, but Im glad I went through it. Glad you made it through as well.
Thanks so much for this video! The message of your story has actually helped me a lot.
I've for ADHD too, so I felt this one.
I used to be pretty addicted to League of Legends, but now I haven't played it in at least 5 years...
My new addiction is RUclips lmao 💀
My addiction now is hentai games. Oh and Valheim.
Wait a second, your parents said playing games for 4 hours straight was a problem?! Rookie numbers, I would play games for 12 hours
@Mirrinian same, tried doing a Destiny 1 Raid for 19 hours straight when I was unemployed
this was a great listen man thanks for sharing your story. i wasted my whole 20s playing wow classic private servers and official classic. its crazy how the game and social aspects just suck u in and the whole world revolves around the game. Im now 30 and stepped away from the game over a month ago for the first time in so long and i feel liberated and seeing now thru the veil and the reality of what i neglected all these years. so much to catch up on and to do irl now. I let it all go for being hardcore and speedrunning a 15 year old game and found myself not having fun anymore. the magic is gone, the friends i played with are grown up with wives and kids and careers and here i am at the same point at age 30 that i was when i was 17. its not over tho, we are moving forward and towards a better future.
I can relate but im 32.. Its rough man :/
My wife and I watched this tonight and found it very heartwarming. I'm 45 and she's 8 years younger, she was a high warlord and got me into WoW during Wrath. My big reluctance at the time was I didn't want to game with other people, I thought other people running around would ruin a game, lol. I guess when you don't play the game as a social outlet, it's more manageable. I'm such a loner that when an expansion comes out, I literally think; yeah I'll get around to those raids two expansions down the road when I can solo them. We have two kids now and still play, but yeah, certainly not too much, no raiding, save dailies till after the kids go to sleep, don't sign on till after saying rosaries, etc, lol.
GG to your wife - I never made it to High Warlord, though I didn't regularly PvP until Wrath hit and Cata was my 'quit moment'.
This is spookly close to my story with gaming in general. Sadly I had to repeat my final year of college, twice because of this. And even more sadly, I didn't do any better the final year, I got through with a fluke and didnt deserve it
@Baxi dude, I didnt message you, qnd i mentioned nothing you talked about. Your taking something that i clearly said was "my story" too personally
I remember those days. During Wrath of the Lichking I was my hardcore guilds primary tank healer (paladin healer) and yeah it felt like work, and didn't really enjoy it. My guild was able to 10 man The Lichking with the I think 5% buff and after that there was a huge internal conflict, which thankfully never involved me that disbanded the guild. Though being a fairly powerful paladin healer at the time no longer bounded by a hardcore guild made me enjoy the game more.
Also I'm the type of person that likes to help less skilled players through content and it's nice to see people get happy being able to complete content that would otherwise be almost impossible for them without an extremely over geared player.
i have ADD too and i also had hyperfixations that totally threw off my first year of college as well. I was struggling so much to adjust & keep up with the workload that i’d just pass out for a few hours after class and then indulge in my fixation for the rest of the night. Thankfully i turned things around but its such a hard thing to pull yourself away from esp when ur brain is resisting the unpleasant task that awaits you
I played so much Star Wars Galaxies from age 10-14 that I barely remember middleschool.
I would get home and immediately fire up SWG and play until about 2:00 AM every night.
The only thing that stopped me from playing was my older brother, who was also obsessed with the game. He spent so many hours using our family PC that I was forced to do other things.
I still log into the emulator or Legends to check up on things.
RPG’s like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Kingdom Come deliverance had me investing a lot of time into them because of how much world their was to explore and things to do. Lost track of time on many occasions, sometimes playing a whole day without doing anything else.
Same thing happens whenever I draw or design as well. So much possibilities for what to do you lose track of what goes on here and now. Still something I’m struggling with even now to tell the truth.
Ah yes , Red Dead Redemption is a rpg
@@FlowAaron not hardcore like World of Warcraft, but still a game that you can get deeply invested in.
This game left my parents in a pretty bad state at one point. My mom realized this and managed to get herself and my dad out of it. Knowing what it did to them, I have never even tried it. Sure it may look fun, but I don't want to risk losing my life to it.
I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since vanilla. However in that era I was six years old, and my mom encouraged it because I took an interest in something very much. I’ve since stopped playing Retail, but I do mess around on private servers now. I definitely had an addiction issue when I was younger, but it went away slowly. I wouldn’t say WoW ruined my life, but instead shaped it and who I am as a person and all of my interests, and I am forever thankful for that. But I can see WHY it would ruin lives, why it’s so addicting and how things can go wrong. I just consider myself lucky.
I actually went on a few dates with a guy who's parents cut him off financially because he sunk every penny into WOW. We would be watching Netflix and he would have his head tilted to better hear the game chat he had going at all times in the other room. This type of addiction is real and tragic. Thanks for sharing Saber.
You need higher standards.
Watching netflix...?
As someone with ADHD, I definitely get it. For me, because my family was poor, we couldnt afford all that part of gaming. But we did have gaming systems, and I would be this way with Harvest Moon, Pokemon, Kingdom Hearts, and pretty much any book I was reading lol. Books being the worst because I could control how fast or slow I found out the story. And it would drive me insane to have to wait through school or anything else to finish a book. It got so bad I had one particular teacher snatching my books and chucking them across the classroom because I would simply read instead of listen to class.
But when the recession hit? And I was getting unemployment? There was a window of time no one in the house needed my money but me.... And Facebook video games were just becoming a thing.... And I discovered there were FREE MMOs, like Fiesta.... Now THAT is where I did nearly identical to what you did. There was a solid year of my life where all I did was play as much as I could.... I was obsessed. But then my family needed the money due to hardships... And other things happened too.... But I definitely get you
So you made Warcraft, not love. Like the opposite of that South Park episode
It's hard to walk away from WoW. I spent 16 years putting my everything into that game, and the amount of stress I put myself under chasing validation through gearscore, mounts, etc... I'm not proud of it. Doesn't mean there wasn't good, too. I met my husband playing WoW, and I now have close friends that reached out across that gap and are part of my life outside of the game. But I think that's part of what made it so hard to walk away, even when I was so unhappy. When it's good, it's overwhelmingly good. The highs are amazing.
The struggle you went through hits very close to home for me. I'm glad you made it out the other side with something good to show for it. 💜
My own dial-up internet probably saved me from MMO addiction.
Me and one of my friends were in our final years of high school, and he'd always talk about WOW on our walk to school, and how he'd be grinding up this character with some crazy meta stats and skills. I was somewhat oblivious just minding my business zoning out while he talked of this game. It was interesting but I just stuck with Nintendo and Pokémon on the DS. In my head, it was just a multiplayer version of those games I'd been playing my whole life and I enjoyed Pokémon alot so I didn't even need WoW. I assume he still plays but we haven't talked in a while, he started streaming it to little success.
That was a very touching story. I can deeply relate to it.
For me though this game had the opposite effect as it really helped me socialize at the time when I had no irl friends and was in a really depressed state because of the pressure coming from my family.
I had to return to the game 3 days ago for therapeuthic reasons because when your country goes to real life war and you cant stop it, it may be best for your own mental safety to escape to a made-up world for a while. It is no substitution for a proper mental help ofc, but I cant afford it right now.
Ahh I had a similar experience with the Soulsborne games! I've been fighting depression and chronic illnesses for 5+ years now, still dealing with lots of troubles caused by those, and the Souls games just helped me cope and feel accomplished at *something* in my life. Through them I managed to carve my way into a niche PvP community, where I found my closest friends and even my love. They really affected my life in a positive way, even tho 1700 hours in Dark Souls 3 ain't the healthiest thing, admittingly :v
And now with all the shit going on rn in the world, especially the horrific war that my country waged, I absolutely agree with you about trying to escape from all of this just to remain sane and alive. I don't see many other ways of doing it, really. Stress is a vicious killer, and without any relief from it - serious consequences are inevidable
This was awesome. I loved WoW during my undergrad. It was a constant tug of war between school, hanging out with friends, and gaming. By some miracle of teenage stamina I was able to succeed at both and even had a guild officer position for a period. I went on a study abroad fully expecting to start playing again when I came home. But then I didn't? Then Cataclysm came out and a third of my guild left and we found each other on other platforms. Haven't thought about that in years. What a weird but incredibly fun time.
Never knew u also loved wow and overplayed it as so many of us. Loved this video Saber ^^
journalists: *talking about video game addiction when it's just frequent play*
actual video game addiction is when you do something in a way that is detrimental to yourself and everyone around you. news and journals talk about video game addiction, while describing what is little more than an enthusiast, a hardcore player, a person training to become a pro, or simply as a form of therapy. but THIS? this is actual addiction.
Fun Fact: Henry Cavil almost lost his audition call to play Superman because he was busy playing WOW.
Very much appreciated you sharing this personal story with us.
I have ADHD, and I know exactly what you mean when you mentioned being obsessed with something you love to the point where you do everything to be the best at it. It’s a blessing and curse to be able to hyper focus like this because if used for something that ultimately betters your life then you can excel dramatically, but at the same time, the same hyper focusing can be self-destructive like having a wow addiction, drugs, alcohol, etc. I had to completely eliminate video games, because I go into a rabbit hole that I don’t want to come out of.
Nice South Park reference in the thumb nail.