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Your mmorpg withdrawal experiences?

B

brocke

Banned
I'll make it simple. I've been playing mmorpgs hardcore for around 10 years total of my life. From 12 until about a few months ago. Needless to say I have also been without any relationships with women, and no friendships at all. It has been 2 months with no mmorpg's and I feel like complete shit.

Anyone have any stories of how things will get better who have gone through this same thing?
 
Thats pretty sad, as in pathetic.


I played WOW for 2 weeks, realized there were really only 3 or 4 different kinds of missions and never played it again.
 
Der Kommisar said:
Thats pretty sad, as in pathetic.


I played WOW for 2 weeks, realized there were really only 3 or 4 different kind of missions and never played it again.
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Same thing for me. I just can't get the appeal of MMO's. I bought SWG because of the hype, FF XI, and then WOW..same view on all 3.
 
I play for a while with friends, eventually lose interest and then cancel.
What I really have withdrawal from is Magic. Every few months or so I really want to play again, but I some how have kept myself good on that one.
 
LOL. I played Everquest and quit after two weeks. I was level 7 when I quit and spent the majority of my time trying to recover my corpse off the bottom of the ocean floor. Some stupid shark was there guarding it.

I played EQ2 for about two months then quit around level 30. I really liked the style and feel of the game, but when I realized you need to group to get just about anything done, I quit. I went back to it a month later when they offered a seven day free trial. I played again for about a week, gaining a couple of levels and scoring a Ghoulbane, before quitting again. Now I'm thinking of either playing again or trying something else.

I find MMORPGs a lot more enjoyable when I play off and on. If you're the type of person who likes to play with friends or in a guild, this type of style can suck as when you come back all of your old buddies will be busy in higher zones. Though if you're a soloing anti-social misfit like me, you'd probably like this style.
 
I played WoW for about 2 months, stopped around this time last year, and never looked back. There may be other genres I dislike playing more, but MMORPGs are just about the most worthless, IMHO.
 
Yeah they can become pretty addicting if don't keep them in check. I played DAoC pretty hardcore for a very long time. If I wasn't sleeping, working, or in school(high school) I was playing Camelot. When WoW came out it pretty much had the same effect on me. Now that I'm in college though I hardly play at all. I've made alot of friends here and do not want my grades/life to suffer.
You just have to come to the realization that you don't want to look back at your life in 20 years and realize that you've wasted so many opportunities and so much time because of something so petty.
 
Get out into the world and start socializing. Meeting real people and hanging out might make you forget about your former pathetisad life. I don't entirely mean to be harsh but seriously.
 
I have and its not easy. The way I rationalize it is, mmorpgs have given me a high sense of excitment that little things in the real world seem to equal. That's why it is soo hard to adapt.
 
Here's another pathetic story -

In 1999, I was introduced to the wonderful world of Everquest. I had always been a fan of role playing games, especially those with a fantasy "Tolkien" flavor... so it didn't take me but a few short hours in Norrath to get hopelessly addicted. The only problem with this, is that I should have been focusing on college and getting an education. I was majoring in pre-med at the time, and was doing pretty darn well in school.

Unfortunately, my grades began to slip as my hours of collecting "phat lewts" steadily increased. Within three months, I had completely bombed out of school. My GPA had fallen from a respectable 3.2 all the way to a 1.7. I was logging 16 hours a day into my human monk character, and becoming a complete recluse locked away in my bedroom.

Finally, the fateful day arrived when I came to the horrific realization that I was in a real pickle. I had racked up over $45,000 in student loans with no diploma or job to show for it. All I had for the last two years of my life was some dumb ass level 60 human warrior and a pile of virtual treasure. I quit the game cold turkey, tried to sell off as much stuff on ebay as I could and went out and got a entry-level job, which paid virtually nothing on my high school education.

Now it's 2006. I'm re-enrolled in school and have finally gotten my life back on track. My school loans have ballooned up to $70,000... and I will probably spend the rest of my life paying it off since you can't wipe them out by filing bankruptcy.

So... yeah... fuck everquest. fuck WoW and fuck MMORPGS
 
The worst part of it for me is finding new interest. And its really hard to fake an interest you could give a shit less about for an extended period of time. I guess time will be the biggest factor. Don't they say for every year of an addiction it takes 2 years to get over it? So I have 20 years to go :(.
 
My first MMORPG was Asheron's Call. I played it many hours a day for three years straight, until I finaly realized the only reason I was logging on anymore was habit. All of my old friends had quit the game long ago, and I constantly found myself all alone in such a large world. I felt sadder and lonelier as each day passed, and then one day, for no reason in particular, I didn't log on. And I didn't log on the next day either, or the next week, or ever again... I didn't go through any kind of withdrawl, I didn't long to play the game, I simply felt like I had seen all there is to see and have done all there is to do. The game was over, I had beaten it.

For a long time I conciously stayed away from MMORPGs, because getting hooked on Asheron's Call seriously fucked up my life (I lost all contact with all my real life friends, I dropped out of college, luckily my girlfriend never left me and we're still together with her to this day), but some years had passed and I decided to give WoW a go, I played it for a couple of months, reached level 60, ran through all the end game content, and then canceled it once I had seen everything. I guess I learned my lesson with Asheron's Call, now I can play MMORPGs and not worry about them ruining my life, I know better now, and I'm a stronger person for it.
 
I played FFXI for a while (I needed a time killer). After a while I realized that the best thing about the game was talking to people. Heck, I can do that for free. Never went back.
 
ronito said:
I played FFXI for a while (I needed a time killer). After a while I realized that the best thing about the game was talking to people. Heck, I can do that for free. Never went back.
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Exactly....over time I realized that FFXI and Everquest were basically Chatrooms with swords. WoW also for that matter, although I still derive enjoyment when nobody I know is online.

I think your problem isn't necessarily leaving the game, but leaving the socializing behind. Find a site for your local area, whether through myspace or livejournal, or even Cupid, haha. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to fit back in normal life:)
 
I've played WoW twice for a few weeks at a time. Both times I ended up pretty bored after logging like 30 hours. I think MMORPGs would be incredibly fun if I didn't have to spend hundreds of hours getting my character up to the point that it can go on the big raids with the rest of the guild. As they are, it's more like many hours of tedium with little bits of fun spread out within. If I had 8 hours a day to kill and I actually enjoyed killing the same monsters over and over to level up, MMORPGs might appeal to me more, but as it is...meh...It's kind of a love-hate relationship.
 
Although it is cool to chat with people in rooms/boards around your area you must be careful:

"Oh yea you live in San Diego too? Around the Escondido area? Me too! We could play some smash soon and show some ot these losers how to really play!"

"That sounds cool. I'm up for some smash"

*2 weeks later news report on someone raped and killed after meeting them online and then in real life*
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I see these conversations on videogame boards alot. Especially the popular Halo, Smash, and other fighting/FPS games.
 
I don't understand "MMORPG withdrawl". Usually by the time you quit, you're so sick of it that there's really nothing that you want to come back to. Unless there's something external making you quit (like the fact that playing all the time has seriously fucked up your grades/finances/relationships), you should have no real problems saying goodbye because you've burnt out on it in a natural way. I'm don't completely hate WoW, but if my account was disabled tomorrow I'd have no problems with it. Once you've reached the highest level and seen 90-95% of the content, I don't see what there is to pull you back in.
 
Tamanon said:
Exactly....over time I realized that FFXI and Everquest were basically Chatrooms with swords. WoW also for that matter, although I still derive enjoyment when nobody I know is online.

I think your problem isn't necessarily leaving the game, but leaving the socializing behind. Find a site for your local area, whether through myspace or livejournal, or even Cupid, haha. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to fit back in normal life:)
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I've been looking around on those sites since you posted the msg. I live in a major city (St Louis, MO), and can't find a single club that interests me. Almost every clubs msg board has a post once every other week.
 
I will never understand how you can play "16 hours", especially to a MMORPG. I love the concept idea of MMORPG, and I love WoW, but the maximum I have played is maybe 6 or 8 hours (very occasonally), that is not very far away of what I dedicate to other games.

Don´t traumatize yourself, stablishing friendships and get a little of social life is not that hard. Relax yourself, try to do more things than gaming, some sport and you will feel fine eventually. Just don´t force it.
 
"Don´t traumatize yourself, stablishing friendships and get a little of social life is not that hard. Relax yourself, try to do more things than gaming, some sport and you will feel fine eventually. Just don´t force it."

Exactly. I've been playing WoW for over a year now and only I've only put any time into 2 characters. And that time is restricted to a couple hours a week, maybe going into double digits if I have no other plans. I also haven't burnt out on it yet, either. Wonder why?
 
Im in tre's guild, fuk I run the guild tre's in, im on so little its hilarious, but I have fun with it, and I am able to seperate from it quite easily.
 
Gaijin To Ronin said:
I will never understand how you can play "16 hours", especially to a MMORPG. I love the concept idea of MMORPG, and I love WoW, but the maximum I have played is maybe 6 or 8 hours (very occasonally), that is not very far away of what I dedicate to other games.

Don´t traumatize yourself, stablishing friendships and get a little of social life is not that hard. Relax yourself, try to do more things than gaming, some sport and you will feel fine eventually. Just don´t force it.
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I hate sports. I'm sorry that's all there is to it. When I was going from 1-5 grade my dad was one of those dad's that ruined sports for me. I have tried to get back into it before but the dmg is done and I still hate them with a vengeance.
 
"I hate sports. I'm sorry that's all there is to it. When I was going from 1-5 grade my dad was one of those dad's that ruined sports for me. I have tried to get back into it before but the dmg is done and I still hate them with a vengeance."

Sports was just one example, there's still several things out there to do.
 
First off lol @ the dmg has been done. Typing it dmg added merit to your story.

Secondly, sort of off-topic but I recently bought BF2 and played it all night. The following day I was sleep deprived and kept thinking I saw soldiers and my mind would say "enemy troops spotted." I need more sleep. I'm starting to hallucinate :(

Also anytime I saw a flag I thought about capturing it.
 
I hate sports. I'm sorry that's all there is to it. When I was going from 1-5 grade my dad was one of those dad's that ruined sports for me. I have tried to get back into it before but the dmg is done and I still hate them with a vengeance.
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I don´t like sports (I like watching soccer but I´m not really good playing it). But I force myself to do a little of exercise, like bike or swimming because it´s good. A little of phisical activity is good, maybe nothing too demanding (walking for example).

As Teknopathetic comments, it was just example (and you don´t need to do something very complicate, just walking is enough, nice way to hace a chat with yourself). Just put a little of variety in your habits.
 
I'm not denying it doesn't exist, but I don't really get psychological withdrawal. I get really hardcore into things (and lucky for me half the time they're actually productive things), like right now I'm into the new Winning Eleven game (~2 hours per day, you mmorpg folks got me completely obliterated on hardcoreness) but once it's done, it's done, and if you stop thinking about it for a few weeks it becomes just a funny little piece in your patchwork past, like that time when you were 14 and you really liked baseball cards, couldn't stop thinking about 'em. Now the problem, and it seems especially true with almost anything Internet-related is trying to quit something cold turkey and either (a) letting yourself do it "once in a while" (which 99.9% of the time seems to end in complete regression) or (b) technically quitting but thinking about it so much and doing nothing else that to end your "suffering" you go back, when really the only reason you're in pain is so that you have an excuse to go back.

I think it's really sad when someone posts on here for example about how GA or something else has ruined their lives and they're quitting for good, and then they come back, or they say it's ruined their lives so they're "totally cutting down." Give me a break. You may as well just wallow in it completely if that's the route you're going to take. As far as I've observed (and this is certainly my experience too), you can get into almost anything productive (like reading, writing, working, etc.) as much as any online experience. Most people with addictive personalities just fail to use their obsessiveness to their advantage because they just get obsessed with whatever's easiest (games, message boards, etc.) rather than just taking that one additional step to getting obsessed with something that will actually lead to them having better lives.

just imo
 
That's quite a sad story. :/

As for myself, I have tried a few MMORPGs in open beta, but I've told myself to never start playing any of them for real. The reason is I have felt the addiction coming a few times, and it kind of scares me. It became apparent when I felt like playing the game frequently during a day, and when I didn't play I kept thinking about where to go next, what equipment to buy, what skills to get etc etc. So I just decided to stop and think about what I was REALLY doing in the game. That's when I realized how much time I really wasted on it, mostly spent on level-grinding and getting new weapons and abilites to...level-grind some more. :|

That's why I felt it's just better to stay away from those games. I have enough games to play as it is anyway.
It's sometimes tempting to try a new MMORPG though...then I think of a friend of mine who said he would never play an MMORPG again after Ultima Online (because it took up so much of his time), but he just wanted to try out WoW a little. Now he plays it a number of hours everyday, and has been for well over a year. :P
 
The thing is about MMORPG's is that they keep you out of trouble. You know how much money I would be wasting at the mall or on other forms of entertainment if I weren't playing WoW? Probably a hellsa lot more. Oh I go out and find a girl? Or some other hobby that takes up as much time...it's going to cost a lot more money.
 
Reading this thread makes me glad to accept my short attention span.

WoW was the only MMORPG I've tried that was able to hold my attention. Even then, it took me a year to reach level 50. And that's when I finally called it quits for good. I have to admit I would ditch my girlfriend a couple times for PvP but thank God it never escalated to the level I've seen expressed here.
 
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