Can you pass MMORPG's pipe please?

[Tumburu]

I'm trying to work through as issue right now. It's one of those "I know what I want, but I'm not sure if it lines up with what God wants" kind of things. I really want to buy World of Warcraft, but I'm concerned that my personal relationships might suffer if I play too often. MMORPG's are a lot like gambling, they work on the same principle. Gambling is addictive because of the variable rate of payoff. You know you WILL win, but not WHEN. So, you keep going and going, hoping for the big payoff. Same thing with these games, but instead of money it's usually equipment or levels. You know a certain monster may drop a sword you want, so you keep killing it over & over again hoping it drops. Or, you need to get just one more level until you can do X. So you keep playing and playing. I've played MMORPG's in the past and they bored me pretty quickly because they turned out to be a leveling treadmill that at times seemed more work than fun. However WoW is supposed to have a lot of "meat" to it, so it's not about killing 1,000 creatures to accomplish anything. I'm just worried that instead of wanting to spending time with other people, I'll want to play the game all the time. WoW looks like a ton of fun, and I really want to jump in and check it out, but I just don't know. I'd like to think I have enough self-control that I can dictate when I should and should not play, but I've read how people play these things like 10+ hours a day, so it gives me pause.

Anyone suffer similar thoughts or have seen MMORPG's take over their lives?

 

[Dust and Ashes]

I had to give up EQ because it became an idol in my life. But I haven't came across another MMORPG so far that really gripped me like that. I've played DAoC, CoH, AC, AC2, AO, EQ2 (beta), E&B and just got WoW today though I was in the beta so I know I like it. I played it for a couple of hours and now I'm on here reading my threads and posting so it doesn't seem to have gripped my soul like EQ did. lol

It's all a matter of discipline I think. Just don't let it rule your life and you should be ok. I really like the meaty content of WoW. It's fun to go around and get like 10 quests started then go on a killing spree and pretty much everything you kill will be yielding quest items which means you will be getting cool gear and better xp.

Just stay away from the high population servers. My bro and sis-n-law are are on Blackhand which is very high pop so they lag in the evenings. I just started on 2 low pop rp servers. 1 for alliance and 1 for horde. Give it a try. It's a great game.

 

[Psalms34]

10+ hours?!? Well... yeah on the weekends sometimes. I'm too busy now. I have work and part time college for photography so I just don't/won't have the time to do that much playing. I mean count in Church service/serving and I have very little time left to play.

I'm not playing any now. I've been playing mmorpg's since the early days of UO and some MUDs before that. I've played too many to list. I've spent more time than I can track. Yeah, EQ was addictive and so was UO but most of the rest were under par IMO. I do plan on playing Middle-earth Online though, but that may still be some time off.

What will I do? Well my life load will be pretty heavy but I may have an evening or two to play a week. Maybe part of a day on the weekend too if I'm lucky. And I will be starting a Christian Kinship (guild) before launch so that will cut into my game time as well but I plan on playing the game for years to come so I'll try to relax and not over do the time I have for playing. I guess that's the trick, just don't over do it and play for the long run... or don't play at all. I'm not a Blizzard fan so I don't know what you are going through with this game.

Maybe there are other reasons you feel a drawing away from that game? Maybe time is just a bit of it? I went through that with EQ.

 

[PaladinValer]

D&D used to be an obsession of mine, but it wore off.

Currently, I play GemStone IV as my MMORPG, though I enjoy a bit of D&D when I can and am willing to try many things at least once (such as EQ).