Life after Lasers

aka "I used to be a Chicken"

Welcome to my life after World of Warcraft. Previously I wrote a blog entitled Laser Chicken where I detailed some of my (mis?)adventures in WoW and some theory about being a druid in the game. Recently I stopped playing WoW because I'm tired of being a slob, I'm tired of looking at my dirty room and chores gone unfinished, and I'm simply tired of being tired. In replacement of my Laser Chicken blog I will be writing a blog entitled "That's Gold Jerry, Gold!" which will be a place to put all of my thoughts and ideas for a stand up routine I soon hope to build and exhibit at a local comedy club. However, that blog isn't exactly the best place to put my personal thoughts, which is why I decided upon the creation of this blog.

I stopped playing World of Warcraft on Friday, I cleaned up my mailboxes on all my alts (at least 14 characters!), and sent all my worldly (of Warcraft) goods to friends/guildmates. At first I considered not sending the items/gold. Of course this was a thought that would lead into regression: "if I don't send away my BoE blues I've been hoarding I can always come back and make some nice gold on them". So off they went. I sent my roommate Nomakk at least 15 level 70 blue BoE items that I had amassed from the days when farming the Mechanar by rogues was all the craze. Englehart (my rogue) got a lot of playing time back then. So Nomakk got all those blues, and the guild got everything else I though might be of importance or usefulness to someone.

The minute I logged off I felt great. I had no obligations anymore. I didn't have to worry about how we were doing in arena this week, or if I had done my daily quests that day, or fret about how I didn't get enough honor today to meet my goal of a piece of PvP gear every two weeks. Let me tell you, it felt great to not have to worry about any of that stuff.

People get addicted to World of Warcraft for different reasons. I think the reason I got so addicted was due to the fact that I'm a very competitive person. I want to be the best at everything I do, and it's not easy to be the best in WoW. It takes hard work and most of all it takes lots of time. In order to be the best you need to have the best gear, and getting that gear isn't always a guaranteed. Then when you do get that gear Blizzard comes out with an expansion with newer and better gear. One of the things I saw that really got to me and helped me to quit was a comic by Ken Harrison over at mmolecule. While it is a hilarious representation of the green armor that characters will probably be getting upon entry into Northrend, the point still rings true. All the gear we are amassing right now pretty much means nothing. When the next iteration of the development cycle comes around we'll have to start all over at the beginning. It's kind of disheartening when you think about it in that light.

So here I am, finally out of WoW. I've tried to quit before and was moderately successful at it. I stopped playing for at least a couple of months right before the Burning Crusade came out. Then Nomakk got me back into it, and I was good about my playing time for a while. Things can so easily spiral out of control though when you're a competitive person, and soon I was back in the game, lock stock and barrel. This departure will be a permanent one, and it's my intention to never play WoW again. I'm not even sure I'll play another MMO again. I don't have an addictive personality but I know what I can't handle and, for whatever reason, MMOs fall into that category.

Disclaimer: It is not my intention to "convert" anyone reading this blog who is an avid WoW player to stop playing. However, if there is someone reading this blog who wants help, I of course would be willing to provide that assistance. WoW is not the devil but for some it can be a personal demon. I've been there, I know those people are going through. It's tough, I know, but help is out there.