beat a WOW addiction
to my friend Dean:
1. Admit you have a problem. This may be hard, but accepting that Warcraft has taken over your life is the initial step into overcoming your addiction.
2. Consider the following: Imagine the day that you first bought the game. If you knew everything you did now, would you still have bought it? Now the follow up question: Imagine yourself in two years, still playing WoW, looking back on today when you are making the decision to quit or keep playing. How do you feel about your decision to continue?
3. Find out what has caused your addiction. What makes World of Warcraft (WoW for short) so appealing to you? Is it the fact that it has different continents that you will never go to? Is it the fighting? Is it your unique role as a tank or a mage? Is it the happiness of 'pwning noobs'? Whatever it is, try to minimize this happiness in WoW, and make it a pleasure that you could also get in every day life.
* Take a martial arts class. Many gamers are very interested in the martial arts, but never study it. Take up some sort of martial art that is similar to your character in WoW. For example, if you use a sword in the game, then take up fencing, Kendo, or SCA fighting.
* Read. Novels have just as much excitement and adventure as WoW, but you can expand other skills -- such as critical thinking and vocabulary -- in addition to those that interactive storytelling and game play will build.
* Play a different videogame. Sure, you might just find yourself in another addiction, but at least you're not paying 15 bucks every month.
4. Burn yourself out by finding the ways to cheat at World of Warcraft. Find a private server to play on, with ultra fast leveling/gold. Cheating through the entire game in an hour will get you burnt out very, very quickly. Some of them give so much xp they level you up 10 levels for discovering the first major city, and mobs start out dropping 5g each. (Though remember, playing on private servers is a violation of the Blizzard ToS, which can get your account banned)
5. Make it a joint effort. Ideally, find other friends who are trying to break a WoW addiction, and follow these steps with them. Otherwise, explain to your friends and family what you're doing, and ask them to help you stay on track. When you can't trust yourself to keep away from WoW, you have to trust someone else to stop you.
6. Set up parental controls for yourself. Make it so your play-time is limited, and use a complicated password that you are sure to quickly forget. Or, ask a friend or family member to set the parental controls with a password you don't know.
7. Schedule other activities with your free time, so you won't have time to play WoW. One of the most effective way is to get a part time job and book every free time you have to work. Hang out with your friends, play basketball, engage in extra curricular activities at school (such as clubs or sport teams) or volunteer. The important thing is that they keep you outside of your home, away from your computer. You can find that there are many things that are just as exciting as playing WoW. Remember, your "guild" online is no substitute for the company of real friends.
8. Sell your account. There are many players and lazy people out there, willing to pay for an existing account. This is a great way to stop playing, because then someone else takes your character, and you won't be able to control it any longer. This is a nice way to quit, because it gives you some bucks.
9. Sabotage your WoW future. Get on your character, destroy all of your items, and delete your character. Then go on the account management page, remove your credit card info, and change your password to a random string of text. Change all of your personal info, so it is impossible to retrieve your password. If you have your CD key that came with WoW when you purchased it, scratch it out, and throw it away, making it impossible to retrieve your account. If you feel that it is necessary, uninstall the game and snap the CD in half, too. Now, you officially can't play any longer, and if you ever somehow get back on your account, all of your in-game progress is deleted. This is the hardest of the steps to do, but is the most effective.
10. Possibly the best way is to decide you need to quit and just do it cold turkey. It takes 21 days to break a habit, just find something else to occupy your time.
1. Admit you have a problem. This may be hard, but accepting that Warcraft has taken over your life is the initial step into overcoming your addiction.
2. Consider the following: Imagine the day that you first bought the game. If you knew everything you did now, would you still have bought it? Now the follow up question: Imagine yourself in two years, still playing WoW, looking back on today when you are making the decision to quit or keep playing. How do you feel about your decision to continue?
3. Find out what has caused your addiction. What makes World of Warcraft (WoW for short) so appealing to you? Is it the fact that it has different continents that you will never go to? Is it the fighting? Is it your unique role as a tank or a mage? Is it the happiness of 'pwning noobs'? Whatever it is, try to minimize this happiness in WoW, and make it a pleasure that you could also get in every day life.
* Take a martial arts class. Many gamers are very interested in the martial arts, but never study it. Take up some sort of martial art that is similar to your character in WoW. For example, if you use a sword in the game, then take up fencing, Kendo, or SCA fighting.
* Read. Novels have just as much excitement and adventure as WoW, but you can expand other skills -- such as critical thinking and vocabulary -- in addition to those that interactive storytelling and game play will build.
* Play a different videogame. Sure, you might just find yourself in another addiction, but at least you're not paying 15 bucks every month.
4. Burn yourself out by finding the ways to cheat at World of Warcraft. Find a private server to play on, with ultra fast leveling/gold. Cheating through the entire game in an hour will get you burnt out very, very quickly. Some of them give so much xp they level you up 10 levels for discovering the first major city, and mobs start out dropping 5g each. (Though remember, playing on private servers is a violation of the Blizzard ToS, which can get your account banned)
5. Make it a joint effort. Ideally, find other friends who are trying to break a WoW addiction, and follow these steps with them. Otherwise, explain to your friends and family what you're doing, and ask them to help you stay on track. When you can't trust yourself to keep away from WoW, you have to trust someone else to stop you.
6. Set up parental controls for yourself. Make it so your play-time is limited, and use a complicated password that you are sure to quickly forget. Or, ask a friend or family member to set the parental controls with a password you don't know.
7. Schedule other activities with your free time, so you won't have time to play WoW. One of the most effective way is to get a part time job and book every free time you have to work. Hang out with your friends, play basketball, engage in extra curricular activities at school (such as clubs or sport teams) or volunteer. The important thing is that they keep you outside of your home, away from your computer. You can find that there are many things that are just as exciting as playing WoW. Remember, your "guild" online is no substitute for the company of real friends.
8. Sell your account. There are many players and lazy people out there, willing to pay for an existing account. This is a great way to stop playing, because then someone else takes your character, and you won't be able to control it any longer. This is a nice way to quit, because it gives you some bucks.
9. Sabotage your WoW future. Get on your character, destroy all of your items, and delete your character. Then go on the account management page, remove your credit card info, and change your password to a random string of text. Change all of your personal info, so it is impossible to retrieve your password. If you have your CD key that came with WoW when you purchased it, scratch it out, and throw it away, making it impossible to retrieve your account. If you feel that it is necessary, uninstall the game and snap the CD in half, too. Now, you officially can't play any longer, and if you ever somehow get back on your account, all of your in-game progress is deleted. This is the hardest of the steps to do, but is the most effective.
10. Possibly the best way is to decide you need to quit and just do it cold turkey. It takes 21 days to break a habit, just find something else to occupy your time.