Addicted...

This game can be addictive.  Anyone who suggests otherwise is lying to themselves or being foolish.  I know this first hand.  Initially, I became addicted to the social aspects of the game, logging in to see which of my newly found friends were logged in.  Once I learned about end game and raiding, I became addicted to the challenge of trying to down that next boss and the feeling of accomplishment once teamwork and coordination triumphed over evil.  Along with others at the time, I grinded through reputation levels, collected keys, geared during times that I wasn't scheduled to be online for raiding.  The scheduled aspect of the game caused the fun factor to decrease and it became more like a job.

Two things happened as a result.  On a personal level, I took my first break from the game.  It came in fits and starts at first.  I wouldn't log in for a day, and then days, and finally it was almost two years before I came back to the world of Azeroth.  I did come back, though in the meantime, the second thing had happened.  Two things that Blizzard is very good at as a company is self awareness and listening to their customer base and adapting to their needs.  The company removed much of the grind from the game and ratcheted down the difficulty for the casual player to be able to play and still experience the content and story of the game.  I was able to have fun with the game without feeling like I was taking on a second job.

Why tell this story?  Why risk ridicule and admit to becoming addicted to (of all things) a video game?

There are several reasons.  First, and I can't personally speak for drug or alcohol addiction even though I have known many people who were addicted to both drugs and alcohol, I tell the story to show that addiction can be contained and overcome.  I have seen the destructive effects that addiction can have on a person's life and I won't ever succumb to that temptation again.  Thankfully my addiction was less dangerous than drugs or alcohol and it was also due to a very unhappy time in my life, so changing the course of addiction was relatively easy.  Two people very close to my family died within a span of 6 months and I buried myself and my misery in the fantasy world of Azeroth and the fictional trials of Alliance vs. Horde.  After I began opening up and talking to people again, my joie de vivre returned and World of Warcraft became a silly little game again instead of an all consuming hobby.  Still, and this is one point I want to make, the possibility of addiction to this game is very real and people need to be mindful of friends and family who play the game and watch for the signs.

Secondly, I meandered at length through the good memories of my introduction to the game earlier this morning.  While I could have spent just as much time, if not more, on my descent into the darker side of World of Warcraft, I didn't.  There is so much more good to this game than bad.  As long as you are able to curb your play time and make time for the other things in your life, you can enjoy all that the game has to offer and still be able to live with yourself in the morning.

Third, I am undeniably impressed with Blizzard as a company and their reputation as a customer friendly game corporation in a time when most gaming companies are faceless entities pumping out the next great FPS shooter is well deserved.  They truly listen to their customer base and change their product to meet the needs of their customers.  Some more cynical people might make the point (and I've seen the point made) that they do so to keep the $15 a month rolling in from close to 10 million people.  I'd be naive to suggest that isn't part of it, but there is more to the story.  Having listened to interviews with people who work at the company, you can hear that they are passionate about what they do and they want that reputation for being the large gaming company that strives for excellence in customer service.

Thank you again for reading.  I hope that my trials through the World of Warcraft continue to entertain and maybe inform you.  Also, please keep reading.  I have one more general post before I will get into the strategy aspects of the Shaman class as I see them as a casual player without much time to dedicate to the game.