1 week, and it's getting harder to not play a game...

John: Simple answer - you're acting like an idiot. Isn't justification just a wonderful thing for us humans to have?!?! 1. You have a great job and make great money: If you had not done all that you did to get out of WoW, how long do you think you would have had that great job? You saw yourself spiralling out of control - that IS the reason you came here, right? Sure it was only 4 hrs (that is, if you weren't "fudging" just a bit about that)...but you know as well as I do that it was only going to get harder and take more time the closer you got to 70. THEN, of course, you have to start raiding, and we also know how long that takes. 2. You have a wonderful wife: If the spiral had continued - AND if it starts up again, how long do you think you will have a wife that thinks you're wonderful, too? I have personal experience with this part - as you well know from our conversations. Once that time sink started sucking up the hours, she would have grown resentful over your spending more and more hours fixated on pixels than her. You know what I am saying is true. And you know it applies to Vanguard as well as WoW. John, I am not a psychologist. Hell, the psychologists can't even decide if excessive online gaming is, in their minds, an addiction. What I am is the spouse of someone who used to appreciate human interaction and the company of a loving family over a series of 1's and 0's that scroll across a computer monitor. So, in my highly amateurish opinion - it IS an addiction. And you have it. Like I said before, you would not have come here if you didn't realize it. You are an intelligent man. Answer the question - HONESTLY - yourself. Gary

Picture this ~ A grown man.A With a successful career and a loving wife. Oh wait, that's you. Now picture yourself rotting away in front of the PC doing another rat-race clone of EQ. You know you don't want that. You know you're just struggling to fill the enormous void left by your abandoning WoW. Read more.A Excercise more.A Go out more.A Shop more.A Live more. Deep down inside, you know playing another MMO is a bad idea. You know you want better for yourself. Now go do the right thing. Love, Solei

Why not talk to your wife about the idea? She how she responds. I don't think that you need to justify yourself to us. I think you need to justify it to yourself and your wife. This makes me wonder about the reason that you came to this site with the name "Wowruiningme". I have a question though. If you were able to play WoW for 4+ hours per night, when did you go to the gym and martial arts training? Unlike most of the people who post here, I feel that there CAN be people who aren't addicted and still play. For me, EQ was the poison. I quit my addiction almost 3 years now. But I reactivated my EQ account about 4 months ago. I've played it about a total of 20 hours TOTAL in the past 4 months. The game hasn't changed much since I quit. But I HAVE changed. I can say that I'm not addicted to it anymore. I'm planning to play Vanguard when it comes out. I know that I will not be addicted to it. The reason I can say that is that I played Vanguard in BETA. I played MAYBE 1 hour TOTAL. If my husband were to become frustrated with my gaming time, there's no contest. My game would lose. There's never going to be a time in my life when I will be looking at my computer screen while my signficant other is talking to me. There's never going to be a time in my life when I will choose playing ANY game over anything that I can do outside of the house. I've been there before doing that. I hurt my family by NOT being at birthday parties, gathering, special occasions. I will never put them through that again. If you can look yourself in the mirror and say the same thing, then I congradulate you on your recovery. I sincerely want to wish you the best in whatever choice you make. I hope that you choose wisely and carefully.

Stay away - for the security of your marriage, your life, your job. Hang on to what you have and what is real!

Hi Runningme, I have to agree with all the other posts, stay off the games and live life! Take it from someone who has lived with a gamming addict and has experienced what it does to a womans self-esteem and from someone who decided to jump on the band wagon only to get myself in a huge addicted mess! Live real life!

Hey ruiningme- OK I am a math major, so lets see if I can make sense of this. You + hot wife (oh yes, we all know ;)) + gym membership + martial arts = great life You + computer + video game = boring, same old stuff, just a different pixel configuration I am also about 1 week free of gaming, and I feel your pain. It does sometimes feel like I'm missing something, especially on weekends, when it's hard to find something to do. The best thing I can say is to plan stuff every weekend with your wife and friends of the family. Go to a museum, park, amusement park. Go volunteer at a shelter, or for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. My point is, the hard part ISN'T quitting the game, it's filling it with other things that are exciting and fun. I know stepping outside of your comfort zone seems kind of hard, because it has definitely been for me. But when you do, you feel SO much better about yourself, because you've done something that is courageous, and something not many people explore in their lives. Hang in there man, I'm pulling for you Alec

good luck with keeping you and the game subtracted from each other Alec :D Love and Light Max

I may sound like the devil's advocate here, but hear me out. It's not always good to quit cold turkey, to quit games forever; I'm speaking from personal experience. I empathize; I tried to not even, ever play another game. But, with me going to college and working to jobs, I honestly needed more stress relief in my life. Even doing extracurricular activites got boring. We need something silly to unwind with. The idea of purchasing a new console (ESPECIALLY a Wii, I'll be getting one once I finish paying for my PC) with games that have pause buttons and ends is actually a good idea, and I'm speaking from an ex addict perspective. These games, unlike WoW, need skill and thought, but not time. WoW wanted time and Vanguard likely will, too. Besides, if you played these games as long as WoW's endgame obliged you to, you'd end up beating them so fast, you'll have wasted your money. Since I can't afford a new console yet, I've been playing the Sims 2. Pause buttons, save point, and if you want to learn something new, you can mod things in it. I'll usually play it after I get off work to relax before I get to working on projects for school, freelance work, and my own thing. This was being discussed at Gamer Widow, too. You might want to take a look:
http://www.gamerwidow.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2009

Now, let me add this: You will want to get cleaned first, THEN consider the idea of console gaming. Leaving WoW like that and then going into another game can be disasterous. It might not sink in so fast that the game you're playing has a pause button, save features or lets you walk away or take your time in it. It's like getting back to the stage of gaming before you touched WoW. I'd say wait a or another week month, then decide. It may take longer, and that's fine; it took me about four months. It will give you time to sort yourself out and personally hone in on what aspects of WoW ensnared you so you can know which kinds of games to avoid. Talk about it with your love, us, and anyone. And no more MMOs!

Ruya's got good advice. When I quit WoW the first time ~ I played a lot of old Nintendo games (Super Mario World!) on my PC. And I found, sadly, that I couldn't beat the same levels that I couldn't beat when I was 14 and played on the "brand new" system. :D :D :D It's not as a wonderful alternative as the gym, a good novel, a walk on the beach ~ but it works. :) Love, Solei PS. I too am saving up tutoring money for a Wii!!!