Clarification

I feel like my last post was a little vague on why I think I need to cut back on WoW when normally I'm complaining about how little time I have to play.

See, this past summer I was leveling my druid through Outland in an attempt to get to level 70 and be my first max level character in BC. I managed to get it done, but it took a long time. I think he started the push at level 63 and it was almost 3 months later that he finally got to 70.

Now compare this to my priest's leveling through Outland more recently. She also started at level 63 when I decided to concentrate on getting her to 70, and I believe it took less than a month before she got there. I know they had made leveling through Outland faster at that point, but cutting it down to less than a third of the time would suggest a drastic change in my playing habits.

Despite my complaining about lack of time to play WoW in the past, I was actually sort of glad that I wasn't becoming too addicted. I didn't let it get in the way of real life, and while I may not have been leveling as fast as I wanted, I felt I was letting the more important things have priority.

Then a few months ago I found myself with a lot more time to myself. Because I was used to a lot less of that free time, I would use it to play WoW, so that's what I did, except now I would get home from work and just play the rest of the night until I went to bed, which meant almost 6 hours, sometimes multiple nights in a row.

I was on a binge, and I was using WoW to escape the real life problems that were the cause of my excess of free time.

Over the holidays I have been spending more time with family and friends, and thinking more about the situation, and I have come to the conclusion that if I keep playing WoW the way I have been it will just make things worse. I need to confront the situation in order to resolve it, and more WoW isn't going to help me do that.

It's strange how much of an effect a videogame can have on your life, but WoW proves once again that it has the power to be a major influence. Some of you readers may even have had a similar experience and know exactly what I'm talking about.

So that's the reasoning behind my decision. I'm not sure if it's making things better yet, but I'm hoping it will. Only time will tell.