How to help WoW Addicts…
We were discussing WoW addiction amongst other topics in the office today and someone found this GENIUS link:
Being an ex WoW player i can see how alot of people become addicted, there is alot of stuff to do and due to its repetative nature its a good way for people to just waste lots of time for very little percievable gain, especially if you are a kid and you will just do the laziest thing possible. However after looking through this article i couldn't help but disect some of it and have a little rant about it.
"Play a different videogame. Sure, you might just find yourself in another addiction, but at least you're not paying 15 bucks every month."
This was laughable... Main reason I played WoW is because its financially appeasing. They are effectivly saying stop paying £10 a month, and pay £40 per game every month, as lets face it most gamers will get bored of games after a month and want something new to get their teeth into. This can in some ways cause people to blow ALOT of their income on games that they will never play, in this context I find WoW the lesser of 2 evils. You can decide for yourself if that gem is worth listening to.
"Make it a joint effort. Believe it or not, many people play World of Warcraft simply because their friends play it, and they find it enjoyable to spend time with them in WoW. If this is the case, then convince your friends to stop playing (with these steps, if needed), or even better, find another game to play. 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."
Ok this isnt exactly BAD advice, but for most people who > 18 years old will realise that most of the time you meet up with friends you go do some sort of event. Be it going to the pub, going bowling, going for a meal or whatever other events you do as friends. Most of this sort of stuff costs money, and to be fair it is ALOT more fun than playing WoW but at the cost of your wages. If you meet up with your friends every couple of weeks for some event and play WoW in the mean time with them you would save loads of money and still have the random chats that you would anyway. I play with alot of friends who are gamers (Real life friends not made up ones 
) and its much easier to keep in contact with someone via a computer than it is to meet up with them every few days.
I think there is a bit more too this bit of advice but i guess its really up to you how much you want to see your friends and how much your friends want to see you.
"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"
Oh man this is genius in theory, dont bother having spare time... just work instead. I guess if you dont have a job in the first place it may be fairly decent as an idea, but for those of us who already work its a way to lose any spare time you ever had. I like the way they make free time sound like a commodity you own i would like 5 free times please.
There are some other great sentances in there but it just all seems a bit to unrealistic to me, and it also has that zing of "American Powertalking" in there to motivate you to change your ways and become a better human being in some way or other. I find MMOs as a great way to keep in contact with friends, as well as a cost effective way to entertain myself on some days after work, with or without friends.
I would also like to point out that im in no way making WoW addiction or other addictions a joke, im sure it can ruin alot of peoples lives, i just find alot of this advice to be either wrong or unhelpful to the common game player, remember everything is good in moderation!