Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

radioactive21 — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:15 GMT

The marriage was already dead before he played WoW. The game was just the last straw.

You can take me for example, my worst grades happened during the time I played WoW. But was the game the cause or even what lead me to the bad grades? NO.

I wasnt getting the grades way way way before WoW. Before WoW i use to go out till the wee hours of the morning, DAILY just hanging out and do nothing. WoW just caused me to do even less, but if WoW wasnt there would I still have gotten bad grades? YES.

If WoW never happened would this marriaged have failed anyways? YES.

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

ZekeTheSquirrel — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:14 GMT

It's like blaming Grand Theft Auto for a school shooting. These things don't happen because the person plays the game. If the husband wasn't spending every waking moment on WoW, then he would have been spending his time somewhere else, at the bar, overtime at work, even with another woman possibly.

If you're going to blame video games for ruining relationships like this, you might as well blame car dealers for vehicle collisions. If they hadn't sold the car, it wouldn't have run over the person in the crosswalk.

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

airddragon — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:13 GMT

I would like to reiterate "What it comes down to is self control. If you find yourself playing WoW and not caring about your boyfriend or girlfriend, then that is your own fault. Not the game."

If it was not WoW, it would have been something else. Having had the "You are not spending enough time with me" talk basically the choice was made. The person you love or the thing you love. He choose the thing. Was it WoW's fault? Heck no. Was it poor sod number 52s fault? You bet your epic set it was.

In all things real life must come before artificial life. I'm sorry, but when a real living breathing human being wants to do something with you in real life.... well put the game down and talk to the real person. Substitution via digitization is just not the same as real interaction.

My heart goes out to the poor sod who one day will wake up from the dream and realize "Hey, where is she?"

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

cappyoak — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:12 GMT

She should have rolled a nightelf

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

Nikkadaem — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:11 GMT

To say that WOW had absolutely nothing to do with this is ridicules. Was the marriage already in the can, who knows. I have been married for nine years, have 4 children, and a full-time job. Ultimately what this may come down to is communication between spouses. Did she tell him that she wanted more time with him? Did he understand what she was telling him?

I say this because one evening my wife and I were talking and she said that she thought I was spending too much time on WOW. Well I understood what she was saying. So now I don't get on until after dinner. On the weekends I don't get on till after 5pm. I take every Monday off from WOW. I do understand the allure of WOW. My job is quite stressful. I play WOW as an escape. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. So WOW has become a way to relax for me. You do have to exercise some self control though.

It's about communicating and self control. It is actually quite difficult to get away from playing WOW. Think about it. You are a member of a social structure, a Guild. Many guild's particularly raiding guilds have scheduled events. You are able to communicate with guildies on vent and now through WOW's crappy voice interface. When it comes to scheduled events I actually check with my wife to make sure that she doesn't have anything planned.

Just like a casino is designed to keep you playing their games, WOW is designed to keep you playing it's game. It's designed to immerse you in a hyper-reality by design. Even Blizzard admits it. Take a look at the recent law suite against gold spammers. Blizzard's complaint says that gold spammers interrupt the immersion effect of the game. Basically, if you are able to exercise a little self-control the game and/or your guild should not be able to control your life.

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

CorpsusVitale — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:10 GMT

It's like saying cigarettes are innocent, and that it's the people smoking them who are to blame. Well, to a certain extent that's true. You always have a free choice in whether to smoke or not, but you have to realize that WOW is addictive, just like cigarettes are. It's totally different then hanging with your friends, having to work late, going out, etc.. WOW is a very addictive game and if you can't resist properly to the addictive force, then you might be in trouble. Wake up and smell the coffee, get some help and get in control of your own life again!!!

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

azolex — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:09 GMT

You allways Think you can controle your self , so i think that too, i said my mom i bet my life i can control my self and stop play wow for 7 days i didnt play for 2 days than 3rd I went to Internet cafe.............So you can stop playin wow only if something happen You find new thing or something............

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

Layman — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:08 GMT

If person cant control himself enough to stop playing for usual real-life stuff, like social communication, the guy has something wrong. Be it that he's using game as escape, or simply lacks self control - in either case game's hardly the one to blame.

People need to actually exercise self control, just like quitting smoking - you can do it if you want to but if you just think "yeah I'll quit because everyone moans about it", it wont work because you dont want to.

So what does this implicate... beside WoW's hardly the most addictive thing out there so god help us if these people would get out more and experience them.

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

yogaboga — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:07 GMT

I can understand exactly how Jocelyn felt. That's how a game will control you if you don't control yourself. The truth shows many many things and the truth isn't always a loving feeling. Sadly the problem continues to evolve today in ways that makes it even harder for people to have their own lives. This is how an addiction ruins things. Some people can manage their time while other's have a more difficult time.

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

eidolonnight — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:06 GMT

My wife used to occasionally complain, but then I got her to play. :-P

Seriously though, if you're not playing an unhealthy amount, but still looking to spend more time with your spouse then why not play together?

Wedding Woes: The Dark Side of Warcraft

Ekreii — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:56:05 GMT

This is going to happen with everything that exists, and it's not Blizzard's fault, or any company that makes a video game. It's purely the fault of the player.