Get a Life - Remember to Take Breaks

- John

Hello, my name is John and I'm a Warcraftaholic. As a player of the greatest online gaming system to ever hit the free market - I have trouble keeping my fingers off the keyboard. With the gentle feel of the low profile keyboard, I am lured to my addiction by the suductive artistry of Warcraft. Yes - she's a beauty. So tell me - do you have trouble remembering the names of your friends, or for that matter your family members? If so, you probably suffer from the same thing...

Recently, as the weeks were flying by and I was sinking lower, I realized I might have lost my perspective on life. As if its wrong to get up in the middle of the night to make sure everyone's safely tucked in, and then rush over to check in on my Mage before someone notices me missing. Who doesn't do that? He's my little buddy.

I gotta get a life...

Sound familiar? 

There are things you can do to help break out of your binge playing. For example, consider playing multiple characters so you can have breathing room. I use different characters for different things like mining, fighting, casting spells, etc. Different characters can also help satisfy your playing moods. Like when you get home from a nice case of road rage and feel like jumping in to help some poor soul getting ganked.

When you hit lows in the game consider that a good time to do something different. Ride a bike, go swimming, go shopping, blah, blah blah. After you have had some time away from the game, then figure out when would be the best time to start again. Doing it in time slices rather than day long marathons will also help keep the game interesting for many years to come.

I found it helps to set some small goal to achieve like only getting halfway to the next level instead of trying to jump a level or two at a time. This way you can stop anytime after your goal is acieved without feeling like you need to get right back at it. Your friends and family will appreciate it, and if you remember their names will be grateful. Granted it will take more time to level up or catch up to your level hungry friends, but how much is your sanity worth? How much are your relationships worth?

Wake-up...you can't live your whole life in a virtual world... For your own sake, consider these ideas as they will probably help keep you from quiting or burning out on the game; or your family. If you have a parent or spouse hovering nearby - this will probably help keep them from hacking away at your playing time. Maybe you can use the goal setting as a bargaining chip - say to them, I'm only going to get to this point, then stick by it - people like to know you will soon rejoin their world.