It occurred to me that I haven’t written a blog post since last week, since is the longest gap I’ve had in writing with the exception of the week I took in July for my grad school course. I’d love to say that I was really busy with class or that I’d been focusing on work or studying or inventing a new kind of robot-serpent that I will use to bend the world to my will. The truth is, while I was working and studying, neither of those things are reasons why I’d stop writing. The truth is, there’s only one thing that keeps me from banging out even half-hearted posts about whatever is on my mind.
Azeroth.
That’s a word that will either have you nodding in sympathy and understanding or scratching your head in confusion.
Seriously, I’ve got it bad right now. I’m worried, because although my performance at work and my grad school class haven’t slipped, virtually everything else has. I haven’t taken a crack at the manuscript for a few weeks now, even though I’m literally in the 9th inning on my rewrite with less than 50 pages to go.
On the other hand, my druid dinged 90 two nights ago. Yay, I guess.
Even worse, November is right around the corner. November means NaNoWriMo. I’ve completed NaNoWriMo every year since my first success in 2009. Every year, I tell myself that I don’t need to do it again, that I’ve already done it and I really should focus on the growing pile of unfinished stories collecting on my hard drive. And then every year, November 1 rolls around and I think, if I don’t do it, I’ll break my streak.
The worst part is I already have a character and a title, so I know I’ll probably end up doing it and going a little (more) crazy. Alas. If only I could get my addiction to Azeroth under control before that day comes.
Cynical Idealism 
Could you expand on why you’re characterizing your engagement with WoW as an addiction?
To be fair, I don’t think that the fault lies within the product of WoW itself. The problem is me. I get addicted to things incredibly easily. The only prerequisite is that “it’s a thing that is enjoyable.” So, you know . . . that’s pretty much all of the things.
I think the line for me when I’m spending too much time with a particular game (and thus use the word addiction) is when it begins to dominate my mental landscape. Here’s what a healthy level of investment looks like for me: even when I’m playing a particular game or doing something I really enjoy, I’m still thinking about other things. I have plots for stories going on in the back of my mind or I’m thinking of blog posts or whatever.
Right now, I’m not really investing any mental energy into those projects. I’m thinking about my druid. I’m thinking about getting gear in the Timeless Isle and hitting the LFR to practice my raid healing and get my ilevel up so I can join the guild’s flex team. I’m thinking about night elves instead of fallen angels.
I think my update schedule here over the past month reveals the slip. When I get home from work, yeah, I’m getting my work for my class done, but then it’s right into Azeroth after that. I’m hitting the gym once a week these days instead of three, and this week I didn’t go at all. Yeah, I missed the workout last night because I had an assignment that was due . . . but that excuse doesn’t hold up for why I missed Wednesday (wasn’t feeling good=WoW time), Tuesday (long day at work=WoW time), or Monday (uh . . . it was my day off=WoW time).
The only reason why WoW gets singled out over other games is because of its endless nature. Almost every RPG has the effect of completely subsuming me, but the duration is always limited: Mass Effect 2 lasted for less than a week before I surfaced. Skyrim was longer, clocking in at almost a month before I emerged. WoW, though . . . it’s been about a month since I picked it up and there’s no sign of it slowing down.
The language of addiction is tricky when it comes to video games. I don’t characterize the games themselves as addictive, certainly not in the way that alcohol or other drugs are literally, chemically addictive. It’s behavioral and my particular behavioral patterns lend themselves to an addiction to escapism. It manifests in different ways. At one point, I was taking long, solo motorcycle rides for up to six hours at a time every evening and weekend. WoW isn’t the culprit, just the particular permutation.
That being said, I don’t think I need to quit. I just need to find a bit more balance than I currently have. And yes, that was a slightly intentional pun (my druid is resto/balance, hee hee).
I can get behind that. ^_^
Sorry I haven’t commented – I’ve been playing WoW.
😉
I knew people who read my blog would understand my dilemma! I tried explaining this to a non-gamer co-worker and she looked at me like I was talking crazy.
The really important question, however: Alliance or Horde?
Both, though I suppose Alliance for realz. I have more ally toons and I play them more often.
By the by, when I get into a rut like this – whether with a game or a book or a tv show – I nowadays consciously give myself permission to play as much as I want within [set period], as long as work/studies and other life stuff are taken care of. Usually that burns the current obsession out of my system within a reasonable time. Not sure whether something similar might work for you; just thought I’d share one solution.
I think that’s the path I’m on; my drive to play hasn’t been as strong this week as it was last week. I didn’t log in at all last night, for example.
The problem is that one of the things driving away my WoW obsession is my new obsession with Saints Row the Third. I’m still surprised at how much I’m enjoying that game; I never liked any of the Grand Theft Auto games and couldn’t get into them.