Argent Bury: a personal journal

I'm still addicted. Even though I know it's wrong. Only the greatest fools repeat the same mistake...twice...thrice...n-times.
-ArgentBury, March 25, 2006

11,175 hours logged Day 1 WoW: 01/07/2005 Today: 08/13/2008 Days Elapsed: 1314 Hours per day: 8.5

• Achievement: Put RL achievements first. Stop fucking around, surfing WoW-related websites, when I could be researching future opportunities for my RL achievements and career. Build self-esteem....somehow.
  
• Relationship: Find a new social life. Obviously my current social life isn't cutting it for me. I think this means meet new people and get in touch with old friends that I enjoyed. However this is going to be harder because when all my college friends go back to school later this month, I'll be kinda alone here in Orange County. So it means find dependable local friends.
  
• Immersion: Recognizing I have RL problems. Confronting them rather than "escaping" via game.
  

I've seen Arathi Basin using my.... methods. It looks fun I suppose, if a bit bland at the moment.

Two town halls facing each other. One's shiney and new, the other was torn from Tarren Mill. I guess this is going to be Undead vs. Humans. The human Hall is in the North, Undead in the south.

The map looks to be half the size of Alterac Valley. The main environmental obsticle is a river that runs down the middle of the map that can only be crossed at certain bridges (banks are too steep in most places). The river runs awkwardly so that on one side of the Hall there's a bridge and then all land to the enemy hall, where it's reveresed on the other side (land all the way to the bridge right next to the hall... dangerous chokepoint).

To the west up on a hill is a lumber mill. The terrain is just like Snowfall GY in AV (two steep paths leading up to it). To the east is a gold mine that's VERY low in the ground... in fact the path that runs next to it is very high above it. Equidistant between the two halls in the middle is a Blacksmith on a raised piece of land in the middle of the river that can only be accessed by the bridges.

Each Hall also has objectives right next to their hall. The Undead have a farm and the Humans have a stable.

Oh, and there's a GY next to EACH objective on the map. No matter where you res, it's not a long trip back to the battle.

While I don't care about personal fame or glory in an MMO, knowing that one day everything you've invested into a game will just vanish is sometimes unsettling. But then I remember I'm just playing for something to do right now; to kill time. If I were playing to leave a legacy, I think I'd have gone insane by now.

There are several reasons why relationships of a platonic or romantic nature occur so frequently in MMORPGs. The anonymity and computer-mediated chat environment facilitates self-disclosure, and many players have told personal issues or secrets to online friends that they have never told their real life friends or family. The high-stress situations inherent in the game also help build trust and bonds between players very rapidly. Of course, another important reason is that the games were designed so that you have to group to achieve most goals.

In the same way that one could be a social drinker and not be addicted to alcohol, it is clearly the same with MMORPGs. Just because someone plays an MMORPG does not necessarily mean that they will become addicted to it. And in the same way that people can be addicted to alcohol even though not everyone who drinks is addicted, it is clear that certain individuals can be addicted to MMORPGs even though not all MMORPG players are addicted. The following charts also make clear that the amount of time spent playing is highly correlated with the likelihood of suffering withdrawal.

I call myself an addict, because I share the same symptoms as someone who's addicted to smoking, or alcohol, or some other substance. I think about EQ while I'm not playing, I get stressed when I have to go 24 hrs without logging on for a fix, and I wasn't able to quit when I tried. If that's not an addiction, I don't know what is. [m, 22]

Symptoms of game addiction include falling behind in school and work and basically deferring everything else in your life so you can play, she said. Compulsive playing tends to mask underlying problems such as depression, anger and low self-esteem, said Orzack, who said she was once hooked on computer solitaire. -Wired

I think a lot of people play games because 1) they're bored and 2) they hate their lives and want to escape. Try to have a fun, happy life with lots of activities and friends and stuff. -Reuben