Sad I know.....but I fear my char going to the great server in the sky

Ok - first up - I am an oldie, with wife and kids and a well paid job. Guild Wars is an addiction for me - and my hour countage over the past 22 months is 4,500 hours - the vast amount of that on my title chasing Ranger.
I know many of you will have a "get a life" opinion and the younger, more fickle observers simply wont understand - but I feel an impending sense of doom regarding the permancy of my chars.

My guild has a core of oldies who play too much and maybe rely on the guild as a way of social interaction - some of us oldies have expressed the same fears -
the day they turn the servers off and our chars vanish off to the great server in the sky.

I completely understand this is wrapped up with other serious issues such as video game addiction - and who knows maybe other issues related to mortality - but for me it is very real. And with the recent announcement (albeit on a third party website and may only be rumour), this has made this feeling grow stronger - leading me here to a hopefully sympathetic (I am so naive) community.

This could be the begining of a new genuine pyschological condition within online gaming communities - as on line gaming continues to grow and where people aren't playing games for fun anymore, but their avatars are filling a void. The success of games like Second Life is an example of this - where kudos is key. The game Entropia - a guy spent $26,500 on some virtual land - and it has a real world cash economy. Extreme - but not as extreme as the guy from China who actually murdered somebody who scammed him in-game!

Just wondering how deep this feeling is across the community - or am I a lone saddo? Thats the point of this thread:
How do you feel about the day they switch it off?

That day is way in the future, and well beyond the release of GW2. Fear not, my friend.

It will be as a pet goldfish dieing... sad and mourned for an hour or two, then flush it and move on with life.

Don't worry friend..we will sue their asses if they did that

I think GW will bleed dry of players quickly after GW 2 comes out. It will be the spiritual end of my favorite game, even if they leave it on for ten more years.

Your friends and the social interaction should not be tied to the sphere itself (pardon my English), as you can always move to another place and take your friends along, no matter on what platform, environment. That's the most important thing. A soul can move and not lose its value while (physical/visual) attractivity dies off over time.

First of all to the OP, I'm in my late 20th with a full time job & a serious relationship, I've got rent, bills, taxes and other real life junks to deal with as well.

Like many here I played games just because they're fun and sometime I don't have to think about real life issues while I'm playing them. I also used online games to help me keep in touch with old friends from college/uni, who in some case live in a different part of the world now.

As for you fear of GW server closing, it will happen at some point in the future. But you and your guildies can always move on to the different game as a group, be it GW2 or any other games.

Ps: 4,500 hours in 22 months! wow, I only have 1,458 hours in 14 months

Really now what's up with all the posts about characters lasting "forever" - end of the day large numbers of games are like that: you can put thousands of hours into one and then the sequels usually do not let you move characters into them forever, if even at all!

I've put more hours than I care into remember into a few games, which eventually end up at the end of their lifetime (for me) and then can be looked back on as good times, sure it would have been nice to have another go or three but that's life - it has a beginning, middle bit and end You'll make new characters, have new adventures etc. and if you don't like it (for example I didn't like NWN2 compared to NWN - I can't remember if it let you bring old NWN chars in, didn't even try) well then again, find something else to do... it's not the end of the world either way.

There's really no difference for me between the hypothetical 'Guild Wars ending' or the release of something which I think will entertain me more. Whichever comes first, the motivation will be finding whatever gives me my online entertainment fix. The only negative thing the sudden removal of Guild Wars could spark would be the disconnection from friends I play with (and know only through the game).

To address the 'Online gaming addiction' topic, it's all dependent on the person. People just need to try and find moderation and balance in it, like all things. Sure, some of us fail at times but life goes on.

Your making this way too complicated.

Anything we invest a mass amount of time on (GW in this case), we will care for just as much as anything else, like your career, relationships, etc.

Simply balance that "care" towards other things, and give less care to the game, and put more care towards other healthy things.

So no, there's really no "beginning of some new genuine psychological condition".

I'm also an oldie and I've played quite a few RPGs. I also get very fond of my characters. I've played about 1058 hours in seven months, so uh...

But new characters do take the place of old ones. I've already forgotten the name of my favourite character in Baldursgate...

I don't know..There are many old games that are still running online.And GW is no where near getting old.

I really won't miss my character..for some reason, simply re-using the name in other games is good enough for me. It's the guys on Vent that I will miss the most as we leave for newer games, hobbies or whatever...

If I'm still playing when it comes time for Guild Wars to end it'll be a little sad to have to quit the game, but I won't mind my characters disappearing. Because my characters aren't exclusive to GW; rather, I create a character in my mind and then fit them into the game I'm playing. There've been many incarnations of my primary character Arik Desbreko across a number of games I've played and, if there's a place for them, I'm sure other favorites that I've come up with for GW will find themselves reborn elsewhere. The servers may shut down, but any characters I really care about will live on in my mind.

It won't be pretty when the servers go down (hopefully in the far distant future). ANet's update system will keep the game alive longer than most as you never have outdated content, but someday the profits will disappear and so will the game.

What will I do? I can only hope that as when a favorite author dies and his/her series comes to an unfinished end, I will eventually find a replacement. It will not be easy to replace the community or friends.

By the way, I've played about 2k hours in one year and do not consider myself addicted. What would I do with that time if I didn't play games? I already go out with friends and family, and read several books a week. What's left? Watch TV? Now there's a stupid addiction.

Another doomsday thread? OMG. That rumor, yes RUMOR about GW end, is making me sick. Why the heck is GW ending? mmm? WHY? because some stupid website (or player) say GW2 is in development? mmm? or C4 will be the final chapter? ah? I DON'T see that info in the official website, do you?

I am my character. I persist across many different game worlds. Closing the servers of GW will just force me to focus my attention on another game world. (A perfect example of this would be Michael Moorcocks Eternal Champion series of books - the same 'concsiousness' inhabits multiple bodies across multiple worlds)

As for friends. If I truly desire their company outside of the game, then I will communicate with them and coordinate the migration to a new game.

So real world example - I played EverQuest for three years. When it came time to go, I told the people I cared about that I was going to start playing Neverwinter Nights. We kept in touch via email, or would occasionally game together. Eventually Neverwinter Nights got old and we moved on to GuildWars where we still play together and chat.

Not that difficult. (And I say this because the OP expressed a concern over social aspects of the game, not over losing his gear or gold)

1st I think it will be another year or 2 before GW is shut down so not too worried about that, and secondly good for the guy from China...thief, scammer, etc..dosn't matter if it is in game or in real life, world would be better without them.

Omg, kinda a sad thought, Its true thou, i spent hours and hours on baldurs gate as well as morrowind and those toons are forgotten, The thrill of the next new game will make you forget,

PS: does that chinese guy work for ectos, i have a scammer or two.............j/k

GW server structure has one beautifull thing - the less people are playing the less servers are needed to handle instances and such.

Thus, in far future anet/ncsoft can turn of vast majority servers and your precious GW will still work.

It can eventually end up on one forgotten server in closed somewhere giving last 100 diehard fans their daily fix of gw.