Curse

Lyynyyrd · Oct 22, 2008, 03:16 AM // 03:16

I see my (as well as a few other extremely awesome individuals) post was deleted. Dunno why, it was a completely legitimate post.

Before I found GW, I was a healthy young man, in a healthy marriage, with an amazing job. I worked for NVidia, designing GPUs, and mentoring my interns.

Since joining GW (and clocking almost 9000 hours of solid play time), I have lost my physique, I've lost my job, I have spent time in jail for domestic abuse, and I have lost my wife (may she rest in peace, sadly I was unable to be at her side when she died - it was Christmas week and I was busy playing Dragon's Den.)

I continue to spend over half of my waking hours per day playing Guild Wars, and it's not all for nothing - I'm three titles away from "Kind of a Big Deal"!!!

redstarx · Oct 22, 2008, 04:35 AM // 04:35

Interesting topic!

My husband and I both play, but I have more hours logged. Physically, we tend to lose sleep on event weekends or when I find an obsession to work on. Also, although this is not related to guildwars but on a previous MMORPG we played - we've gotten healthier once we decided to balance playing and exercise (more gym, less hours playing). Relationships - none at all, we bought this game to play together and we ended up bringing part of our family to play too...gameplay did not have a negative impact on our relationships but gave us something in common. In regards to work and other daily tasks, well...I would say it's more or less related to how I feel physically: if I stay up til 4 am playing, I think I might have skipped work once or twice the next day...and as for those weekends (I work voluntarily on weekends) I will also skip if the event was something I wanted to participate in. And emotionally?? Er...no effect, I can't really see how a game would make me any different, I don't let people bother me too much. But! If I lost sleep due to playing and walked around cranky

then that's a different story.

Age: 25/female (hubby is 27 if that's any help)

3,072 hours logged across all characters over 40 months.

Please let us know how your report turns out! Best of Luck!

daze · Oct 22, 2008, 04:53 AM // 04:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyynyyrd

Since joining GW (and clocking almost 9000 hours of solid play time), I have lost my physique, I've lost my job, I have spent time in jail for domestic abuse, and I have lost my wife (may she rest in peace, sadly I was unable to be at her side when she died - it was Christmas week and I was busy playing Dragon's Den.)

Priceless. I really want to chuckle at the whole "unable to go to wife's funeral because i was farming candy canes", but i cant laugh because there is a good possibility that is true.

RedStar · Oct 22, 2008, 06:53 AM // 06:53

Quote:

In your honest opinion has Guild Wars affected your life Physically/Relationships/Emotionally, and if so how, has it changed? (Examples would be helpful)

Yeah, I've learned that some people are too much into friendship and if you ever allowthem to add you to their Friend list they will ask your for help, and the day you will get annoyed by the fact that you aren't helping them but you are actually doing all the work with the burden of someone who takes advantage of you and you will them to do it themselves, they will tell you that you are a *insert childishly dumb word*.

So I've learned to almost constantly act like a bot on the internet.

Quote:

Your age (I'm guessing that playing video games affects people in different ways dependinng on their age).
How long have you been playing?

17, been playing GW (the second game on the net (first was D2 LoD)) for 38 months.

IXI Nine IXI · Oct 22, 2008, 09:32 AM // 09:32

Just got back from work...such a drag.

One thing I was thinking about while I was at work was that even people who don't play the game still are on the forums. Thought that was kind of interesting to note. I know when i quit for a bit ( My daughter deleted about half my characters inicluding two mules, a FoW armor set, and one of my main characters. /ragequit) I still found myself browsing the forums and looking at builds on wiki.

Lot of interesting posts. I'm sorry to hear about some of your troubles and happy to hear the positive side as well.

I really hope that my research paper goes in the direction that I can use this. I have two weeks to finish it, well with work and school and GW probably more like 4 days lol.

Again, thanks to all that have posted. I'm really glad that I can get opinions from the community and not just the reports written by phsycologists and statistics experts.

ALF71BE · Oct 22, 2008, 09:46 AM // 09:46

I don't have a problem.

I can quit anytime I want to.

*twitch, twitch*

1900+ hours in 11 months. Almost 17 years old. It has indeed affected my life, I can barely keep up the schoolwork.

However no matter what I do, I never win weight. I'm talking of four-five years of sports inactivity and daily dosis of chocolate and sugar. And when I say never, I mean seriously NEVER.

Skinny ftw!

But since the completion of my 15th title I've been less and less active, it's not just the same motivation for vanquisher than I had for Guardian.

And don't even own EotN yet :/, LOL.

ErnardAurili · Oct 22, 2008, 10:04 AM // 10:04

I'm 14, been playing for 6 months, clocked in almost 1000 hours already, including a 2 month break. 250 of those hours came from the recent 2-week school holidays...

Only real effect I've had is becoming more reluctant to do homework. Of course, that's made my grades slip from getting As in 6/8 subjects to 2/8 subjects.

Red Sonya · Oct 22, 2008, 11:08 AM // 11:08

Quote:

(may she rest in peace, sadly I was unable to be at her side when she died - it was Christmas week and I was busy playing Dragon's Den.)

lmao hahaha I really hope you are joking and just trying to be funny. hahahahah That you just had to be playing a stupid silly childish game while your wife was supposedly dying was hilariously funny, but, if you really did this then you really need to be in a mental institution and not allowed to play anymore mmorpgs or anything like them ever again.

Abedeus · Oct 22, 2008, 11:10 AM // 11:10

About 2k hours in.. 33 months? Not sure, I uninstalled GW already.

Currently waiting for 1.1 rebalance or some minor fixes to classes in WAR - 4 underpowered classes that SERIOUSLY need some love, I got one of them to 15 in Preview Weekend, then again to 12 in Open Beta, and the other one to 20 after release. Or at least if they make Open RvR, which I love so much (Engineer = good defense in Keep Siege), profitable. Right now, a lot of people are just grinding scenarios.

And I'm buying TF2 this weekend.

Numa Pompilius · Oct 22, 2008, 08:25 PM // 20:25

To you guys suffering from depression using GW for relief: watch out with that, that's exactly how MMO's can destroy your life. They DO offer relief from the depression, but drain time and don't make you any better in the long run. There's only really two ways to get through a depression: suffer until its run its course, or antidepressants.
Neither of those alternatives are very appealing, so getting a couple of hours per day without depression by playing MMO's may sound like a good deal, but they give temporary relief at the cost making your real life problems worse.

the carrot of doom · Oct 22, 2008, 10:25 PM // 22:25

Hey, im 17 and been playing for 1500 hours over last 22 months

After my first 12 months i figured out that i had spent EXACTLY an 1/8th of the year logged on, down to the very hour (1095hrs), Its not much compared to some other people though.

Got a fright so the last 10 months have been a bit less.

It wasnt that much but my friends noticed a huge difference in me, i was staying in at weekends whereas i should have been out partying, drinking, socialising like everyone else was.

I started to make excuses to my friends as to why i couldnt go out after school or at weekends because i was sitting in doing nothing. My relationships with friends started to weaken, losing a girlfriend, losing contact with friends that i had spoken to all my life.

The part that hurt the most was my best friends judging me very badly for it, i didnt tell people i played this game for a while, they just kinda figured it out after a while and thought i was some kind of hermit that stayed in his room playing nerdy games 24/7.

Im not fat, im 6 ft 3 and quite well built, guild wars hasnt really affected my physical side as much as i thought, although i have noticed a difference in stamina with less excercising, making it up by making myself go to the gym now lol.

My parents noticed the biggest difference in me though. Coming home from school, eating then going straight upstairs and not seeing them for the rest of the night, they got really upset and my mum was finding it hard that she had a "geek" as a son.

School grades dramatically dropped. During study leave my parents went away to work and so trusted me to study on my own accord. Dad would unplug the router to make sure i didnt go on guild wars. but as soon as he had left the house, id look out my window, made sure he had gone, plug in router and play. After hearing his car reversing up the drive, id rush downstairs. unplug router, dive upstairs and turn my pc off, jump on my bed then pretend i was studying . .
Yeah, thats pretty much the definition of an ADDICT right there.

I knew things had to change after friends looked condescendingly at me. So after i calculated how much time i had spend glaring at a screen, i decided enough was enough.

I still log on every second night for a quick 6k zaishen elite farm but thats it.

Think ive come out ok now lol. Got a great girlfriend and go out almost everynight with friends

wow, a part of me had wanted to write that for ages lol, and a part of me was shocked that i actually wrote that :L

thanks,

Robbie

Joe Fierce · Oct 22, 2008, 10:48 PM // 22:48

17, been playing since beta. My first ever mmo, or real rpg, so, i'd lie to say i didn't get sucked into it and waste alot of fuggin time, 6k hours. I'd say out of that, an easy 500-600 is afking, while another good 1000 is just having the client running while checking my mail, instant messaging, other BS.

I' admit that i've wasted alot of time on gw, but i've never put it in front of anything important, never skipped school for it, never skipped out on work. I've gone to school tired as hell MANY countless times, but, i often do that regardless of whether or not i'm playing a game, insomnia is a son of a bitch. I've chosen it over real life things, but, a majority of those real life things are things i wouldn't have done even if I didn't have a game to play, RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO family reunions, and RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO birthday parties for your aunt on your mothers side twice removed by marriage to your uncles dog. I will also admit that i've been too lazy to make plans on occasion and just go, hmm, i'll just get drunk, play a video game, but, wasn't always necissarily GW, lol. I can say i had alot of fun in gw, and it was great while it lasted, but a majority of my friends are quitting, so, i have lost alot of interest, i often log on only when i'm checking my mail, then log off. Although i had this much fn, i don't think i'll ever play another mmorpg again, because unlike a majority of my peers, i could see the blatantly soul stealing effect that a mmorpg has on you, and me, and I saw it as it was occurring. As for how it affected "my health" well, I wouldn't say it had that much of an effect, although it definitely didn't help, Right now i'm 6'4" 195-200lbs depending on how much i watch myself through the week, I'm not fat, but I am average american - esque, little bit fluffy, I do 300 situps before bed every other night, run two miles in the morning ever couple days, so, i'd say I hardly work out ever. When i first started playing guild wars I was about 185, about right before eotn came out, i was about 300lbs, but I don't blame it on the game, I blame it on being a lazy bastard that enjoyed cookies too much, I started actually caring about my health about a year ago, and, if you don't know basic math, i've lost about 100lbs in less than a year, (i finally realized that drinking so much had a negative effect, and decided to cut back on the sweets than my alcohol consumption, cause well, i'm an idiot, but it has worked so far), so, I'd say i'm doing better, but to blame it on the game is simple scapegoating, and RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing ridiculous.

Now i'm a college student, paying my way through college without a job, so, it's kinda rough, but I have time to log on here and there for periods of time.

so the mmorpg effect me? hmm, sure why not, it helped me be as lazy as i would have been even if it wasn't there.

Stealth Bomberman · Oct 23, 2008, 11:15 PM // 23:15

It actually got to the point where i would skip school to go home and play, but that was 3 years ago. 18 and more mature now.

Stealth Bomberman · Oct 23, 2008, 11:17 PM // 23:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

To you guys suffering from depression using GW for relief: watch out with that, that's exactly how MMO's can destroy your life. They DO offer relief from the depression, but drain time and don't make you any better in the long run. There's only really two ways to get through a depression: suffer until its run its course, or antidepressants.
Neither of those alternatives are very appealing, so getting a couple of hours per day without depression by playing MMO's may sound like a good deal, but they give temporary relief at the cost making your real life problems worse.

World of Warcraft almost killed my life. If u have a good life with good friends, dont play WoW seriously its a real life changer.