How I did it:

I started by just taking a break.

I was sick of the drama and the drain on my life, and so I just took a little break.

Stopping playing for a little gave me space to examine why I played and what else I could do with the time. Once I started doing other things I found that I was much happier.

Quitting allowed me time to lose weight, concentrate more on my job and learn more so I could get a promotion at work, and finish the degree I had been putting off for so long.

After a couple of weeks I found I had no real desire to play anymore. After a couple of months, even when I did try to play again, I didn’t understand the appeal or relate to the game at all anymore.

Quitting was the best thing I ever did. I just wish there was some way to get those 200+ full days of my life back.

Lessons & tips:

Identify the positive benefits you are getting out of playing WOW. If you weren’t getting benefits from playing the game, you wouldn’t be playing it. For me, playing shielded me from having to deal with some of the negative aspects of my life. Quitting might be easier if the needs that Warcraft meets for you are attended to in other fashions.

Find some way to keep in touch with those that you enjoy talking to, that doesn't involve Warcraft. IM or forums or something. You've probably built up a social structure within the game, and if you find some way to keep interacting with them outside of the game, your desire to play will be much less. My old guild had an IRC channel, and keeping in touch with the members I wanted to there made quitting a lot easier than it otherwise might have been.

Find something else to fill your time. One of the ways Warcraft can feel fulfilling is it allows you to feel that you’re accomplishing things, in a way that other time fillers don’t necessarily. Finding other activities that make you feel accomplished is an important step. Feeling accomplished because you are accomplishing something real really is a much better feeling.

Resources:

gamer widow
wow detox
without warcraft

Jul 13, 2009, 07:53PM PDT | 0 comments | 2 cheers