TheCoreWithin

finding wifes is easy... realising that she is ur wife is hard and dramatical...

Narsh ) Dont be so childish )
deleting characters means nothing ) you can always ask blizzards to restore them
i did it many time with husband's chars

shhhh, I know you can restore them, shhh

Let me taste my freedom :p

i did it that too Knop for my husband when he lost the BG's:p (and it wasnt only once:p)

Narsh, its sad to see you leaving but im sure you took the right decision in your mind, i hope to find your way and be happy with the choice.

Argh!!! Argent tournament music in my head.... :p

Ah, your at the voices in your head phase.... cool....

There are phases? o.O?

Shock: is the first stage. It is accompanied by disbelief and numbness.

Denial: follows quickly, crying "I don't believe it," or "It can't be."

Bargaining: is your promise that "I'll be so very good that maybe I can wake up and find that it isn't so. I'll do all the right things if only....I could finish that one quest chain"

Guilt: is painful and hard to deal with. This is when one says over and over, "If only I had..." or "If only I had not..." This is a normal feeling and ultimately it may be solved by stating, "I'm a human being and I gave the best and worst of me to WoW.

Anger: is another big factor which seems to be necessary in order to face the reality of life and then to get beyond it. We must all heal in our own ways. Anger is a natural stage through which we must pass. Your anger at quitting WoW may even make you feel guilty, or it may be because your own life continues whereas your friend's are still playing.

Depression: is a stage of quitting WoW that comes and goes. Knowing this, be prepared to give yourself time to heal. Resignation is a late stage. It comes when finally you accept the truth.

Acceptance and hope! Understand that you will never be the same but your life can go on to find meaning and purpose.

:O

I think I am at all phases at the same time. Appart from anger.

Good luck with getting clean, I found first 2 weeks the toughest then you learn to adapt heh. I only uninstalled the game and took my authenticator over to my parents and told them not to give it back to me untill my RL was sorted. Could never delete my chars even though I may not play again.

Deleting all WoW bookmarks I found helpful aswell.

So far, I still dont miss WoW.
Although sometimes I think about it. About guildies and what I would do if I would log in.
But I still dont miss the endless repetitive grinding for actually nothing but gold. I don't miss the endless wait time to get the right classes for a group, or to wait till the group is filled back again after a little wipe.
I don't miss the stupid people and often those annoying children.
I don't miss to come across the same mobs I have seen in other levelling zones or to come across the same cavern interior I have seen in another zone.

Somebody on my work told me he has seen a show on tv about game addiction. And he told me I wouldn't know about which game they were talking about. But I knew it, I had the gut feeling it would be WoW. So I told him it would be WoW and my guess was right. He told me that Blizzard actually hires psychologists to decide what they would implement next, to keep the people addicted to the game, so they would make some more money. About people who are addicted, who told that they don't like it when a friend comes to visit. Because he can't play WoW at that moment. He actually logs on quickly after his friend leaves to gain up on the lost game time.

And many more things. I felt a bit ashamed at that moment because I was like that guy from the tv show. It's a bit pity that I haven't seen it though.

This may sound silly but I can see there being warnings on mmo game covers in future. After playing regular single player type games and completing then in a few days or so I had no idea how addictive these games can be.
I was going through a rough time in RL when I first started playing and wow was great for some escapism then bang addicted:P Its like when you have a few drinks or try something you shoudnt but you know not to do it often cause it is addictive. Everyone is different I guess but thats my opinion:)
That year round achievement is a great example of one the most cunning ways for blizz to keep people addicted.

Everything should be done in moderation. Extremes are rarely a good thing. Balance is the key.

The way I look at it I would either be watching TV or drinking in the pub, so either way playing WoW isnt as bad. I dont play much at the weekends as I have kids to look after so it balances it out quite nice.

Saying that I am quite happy to play for hours, so I understand the addiction all too well.

Well I think the idea of achievements is somewhat stolen from the "trophies" you can get with playstation 3.
But the dailies to get loads of gold and argent tournament for the mounts and pets is also a very cheap way to keep the people playing.
Especially for that 18K gold mammoth or the crazy prices for the motorcycle. Another big example, Frozen Orbs, emblems, etc...

Best time to play wow is when you are still living at your parents: "Get off that damn computer!!! And come down to eat!!!"