My Addiction to MMOs Part 1
This story is quite long so I want to break it into two parts just for the sake of ease. I will post the second part tomorrow.
Ever since I was a little boy, magical worlds with wizards, orcs, elves, ect always caught my attention. Before I had my own computer or internet access the only way I was able to access these worlds was through movies or television. Even when I had access to the internet, my father was a graphic artist, so we only had macs until I was 15, leaving me unable to play many PC games in those worlds. I remember for the longest time looking at websites drooling over gameplay screenshots wanting to play certain titles such as everquest.
Eventually there were a few browser based games I was able to play such as the first release of runescape and neopets, but at that point they lacked any sort of immersive world and werent enjoyable. I was a console gamer up to this point, but in 2004 one game changed that, World of Warcraft. Take in mind I still had macs at this time, so walking into the mac store and seeing an fantasy adventure game that was online and had stunning graphics at the time, was mind blowing. I basically told my dad I would do any chores he wanted me to do for months if he bought it for me. Ultimately he gave into my begging.
When I first logged on I was actually a bit confused, the layout wasnt similar to anything else I had ever played before and I was quite young. I didnt have the traditional experience with roleplaying games to this point so the attributes were mostly ignored. I would take what I could wear with the most armor, even if it was inferior to another piece I had. I was able to get another friend into the game and together we explored the world of Azeroth. Eventually I was able to get the hang of things and mastered my character and joined a guild that would end up being a huge event in my life.
By this time it was 2005, I had maxed out an undead rogue and was playing close to 8 hours a day. I would literally come home from school sit down and play until it was time to go to bed and do it all over again. With my guild I made friends that I would talk to, fight with, and gear up together, only bringing me deeper into the game. I dont think at the time I realized, but I was very addicted. All I thought about was WoW and everything I did outside of the game was dream about being back in it. Eventually I stopped hanging out with many real world friends and the ones that I still did hang out with were ones I convinced to play the game with me.
Eventually we all started raiding together (huge 25-40 man groups taking down bosses) and spending countless hours just to get a piece of epic gear. Ive spent weeks of real time attempting and killing bosses in single raids. I could sit there for hours without even standing up and the time would just melt away. Before I knew it 5 hours could have passed and to me it felt like no time at all. For all intents and purposes I lived inside the game during this time in my life. Even if I had 20 minutes to kill, I would walk around a main city talking to my friends in game. This carried me into highschool where I would ultimately see a big change with some of my real life friends leaving the game.
-Calaber24p
Geez! I wish I enjoyed something so much that I could commit 15 hours of my time to a hobby. I would be an expert 😂. (Growing up, I never really developed an interest like that. I would just go with the wind, from Tamagotchis to learning Japanese.) Then again, I do not want to develop an addiction. It truly is a thin line.
It was partly that I enjoyed it, partly that I was definitely addicted. Especially now with achievements in various games I have to be careful, I am a completionist to the max. Ill spend 10 hours for an achievement that literally is just a digital trophy on my account.
Haha I completely get that! The game does not feel finished until you earn 100% of all achievement trophies 😂
Wow, fifteen hours at a time? That must be one immersive game. Are you still able to commit that kind of time to it? Seems to me that you should be a game developer these days, with all of that experience. Thanks for sharing your story.
Theres a reason people call it World of Warcrack. If you get into the game full force, especially when you are young and have no commitments, I would stay on all day weekends to play. During the week I had school so it was more like 8 hours.
LOL! I'd never head that term before.
I had the same addiction with Dark Ages of Camelot in the early 2000's. My girlfriend was just as addicted, so we were almost always playing when we weren't at work or sleeping.
When we broke up, we both stopped playing. It's like the game and the relationship were one in the same.
DAoC was one of those games that I couldnt get into because I tried it after much of the community had left. Are the servers online any more ? I remember when I tried it around 08 or so, it was pretty dead.
I felt like I was just reading about myself haha. When WoW came out it was just so unique and immersive that it could easily take over your life if you were that way inclined. You knew it was happening but you just didn't care - it was that good.
Will you play Classic when its released?
Yeah definitely was a new experience. I have debated whether or not I will play classic. I have played on 3 or 4 of the private servers that got shut down by blizzard leading up to the announcement. The magic was mostly with the people I played with.
I have had this sort of experience but with other type of games.
The game that I have enjoyed the most and has probably consume me more than 200 hours playing is Skyrim.
This game is the most epic and complete adventure I have ever had. The music is austanding, the world is incredibly alive and with random things happening all the time. The expansion were great. I have never experienced something like Skyrim before. I bought this in 2011 and still remember the good times I had with it :)
This game was so enjoyed by me, that even 2 years later with gta v I still used to go back and have a good time with Skyrim.
I have been waiting for the elder scroll 6 for some time. I hope its releases this year Bethesda!!!
I enjoyed skyrim, like all other bethesda open world games, but for me having other players has always sweetened things up. The elder scrolls mmo I havent played actually, so maybe ill eventually give that a try.
I am more of a Civ guy myself, but I did play a good amount of Project Entropia back in the day.
Project entropia has always been one of those games I WISH I could get into because I LOVE the idea of the real world economy where you can actually pull money out.
Without internet and computer you have entered the world really great by television and cinema. I will wait tomorrow for the rest of your reading And we humans are mostly crazy about the game @calaber24p
Like the way you projected the story
Kind of reminds me my childhood!
you are brave enough because i always feel fear to see and watch such tyoes of wizard movies ;)