Ex-Blizzard Employee Divorces Husband Over WoW
By Stephany on Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 1:33 PM PST In Blizzard, Computer, Game Companies, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, World of Warcraft
A California resident who once worked briefly for Blizzard has recently divorced her husband of six years because according to her, his addiction to World of Warcraft ruined their marriage. Never having played the game herself, 28 year-old Jocelyn stated that her husband Peter’s crippling addiction to the game became more than she could handle.
“He would get home from work at 6:00, start playing at 6:30, and he’d play until three a.m. Weekends were worse — it was from morning straight through until the middle of the night. It took away all of our time that we spent together. I ceased to exist in his life.”
Having been friends with Peter since the age of 13 and married for six years, it only took a paltry nine months for the marriage to collapse after receiving the game as a gift from her.
“I bought the game for him for Christmas 2004, when it first came out. By May we had our first serious discussion about where our marriage was going, and by September I had moved out.”
Having had many discussions on the fact that WoW had taken over Peter’s life, Jocelyn tried to intervene and schedule “together” time with him – to no avail. On one such occasion, she had set aside 30 minutes to watch a favorite TV show together, but he refused because he was in the middle of a raid and could not understand why she was upset that he stood her up. Eventually, Peter’s domestic duties also began to suffer for the game as he stopped paying bills and refused to do his share of the housework.
Although a gamer herself Jocelyn has never played WoW because she recognized the fact that it was a game that would never end and therefore did not wish to play it. She also states that WoW was the sole catalyst for the divorce and is still highly emotional about its impact on her marriage.
“I’m real, and you’re giving me up for a fantasy land. You’re destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you’re giving it up for something that isn’t even real. [Blizzard] build it in such a way that you have to keep putting more and more time into it to maintain your status. I remember thinking when I was married that it was downright exploitative to people who couldn’t control themselves in that way. It’s set up like a drug.”
Because of the emotional scars of the divorce and the reasons surrounding it, Jocelyn has stated that next time around, she will stay clear of gamers.
While this is indeed sad news for her and her ex-husband you cannot put the blame solely on WoW. Granted, it has proven to be a highly addictive game for some people, but you have to consider their personality and their choices. Someone like Peter more than likely has a mental issue and has a problem with addiction. Who is to say that he does not have some other forms of addiction as well? His addiction could as easily have been pot, liquor, porn or meth – if she were to have brought them into the house it would have been a different addiction instead of gaming. You have to go to the underlying source and peel back the layers. Was he unhappy in his marriage to begin with? Was he miserable at his job? Was he highly depressed? Was this form of escape a way to keep from coping with the living hell that his life had become? All of these plus family history can become contributing factors to any sort of addiction.
During her interview with Yahoo! Games, Joycelyn never stated or hinted around about counseling. Did the two of them ever discuss the possibility of therapy? Did she ever consider canceling their internet service, his Blizzard account and throwing his WoW disc in the trash? No one knows the full story of why their marriage collapsed or if anything was done to try and salvage it other than “together time” to watch TV. We may never know, but while this news is indeed sad for the both of them, I mostly feel sorry for Peter because he needs help before his life becomes a vicious cycle of self-loathing and addiction to something worse than a video game. Blaming it all on WoW is just ignorance.
Source: Yahoo! Games
No all of it can be blamed on WoW, my son is totaly hooked, I know others that play and they are hooked completely.
WoW is an addiction game and say NO not completely is just plain
denying I mean at least if you smoke pot or drink beer, you know
you have to at least get your sorry ass up and go to work.
The game is like crack, the only difference is people playing WoW
don’t stand on the corner selling themselves.
I’m going to cut the freaking cable line to his room, I love so I
won’t throw his butt out on the street.
I play WOW and my husband doesn’t, I am a casual gamer so I don’t spend every waking hour playing.
I can see how it can become addictive (just finish this quest, get this item, raid etc), but the key here is MODERATION. If you do anything to excess whether it be gaming, tv, eating, whatever it is, it’s not good and can lead to problems with loved ones and your social life.
If I was enjoying my game of WoW and my husband said to me come and watch some tv with me, I would probably suggest going out instead of sitting there watching mindless tv. If he didn’t want to go out, then it would be no different to me asking him to watch me play WoW, but at least my mind is being active and I would be participating in a large social network.
I also think that the husband in the story would have become addicted to Everquest or any other MMORPG, it just so happened that his wife got him a copy of WoW instead of one of the others.
Like I said I only play 20 – 30 hours per week and I still interact with family, friends and work full time. If my husband wants my attention, I switch it off and we enjoy each others company.
My point is: anything done to excess is bad.
Enjoy the sunshine be it real or virtual,
Tina.
I play WOW and my husband doesn’t, I am a casual gamer so I don’t spend every waking hour playing.
I can see how it can become addictive (just finish this quest, get this item, raid etc), but the key here is MODERATION. If you do anything to excess whether it be gaming, tv, eating, whatever it is, it’s not good and can lead to problems with loved ones and your social life.
If I was enjoying my game of WoW and my husband said to me come and watch some tv with me, I would probably suggest going out instead of sitting there watching mindless tv. If he didn’t want to go out, then it would be no different to me asking him to watch me play WoW, but at least my mind is being active and I would be participating in a large social network.
I also think that the husband in the story would have become addicted to Everquest or any other MMORPG, it just so happened that his wife got him a copy of WoW instead of one of the others.
Like I said I only play 20 – 30 hours per week and I still interact with family, friends and work full time. If my husband wants my attention, I switch it off and we enjoy each others company.
My point is: anything done to excess is bad.
Enjoy the sunshine be it real or virtual,
Tina.
“My point is: anything done to excess is bad.”
you can never have enough money or cars.
When I read this I really wanted to cry. I was in the same situation (not married) but a bf of 3 years. The fallowing is oneof our last convos that we had over msn:
]) @ |\| @ says:
are you really willing to risk our relationship over tier6?
Rick says:
i dont know what you want me to say
]) @ |\| @ says:
the truth
]) @ |\| @ says:
but the fact that you couldnt answer that gave me your answer
Reading what happened with her just hit so close to home. I to was a gamer and it was a great time to spend time together but then real life started to seem so distant. There would be things we would want to do but raid was a nightly event that always was more fun or more important or in his words, “it makes me happy.”
I don’t hold anything against WoW, it is not the makers fault and it is not the games fault. It is the fault of the people who let it ruin/control their lives. I simply told my bf that if WoW was more important, he coult have it, the only thing that it would cost him becides the monthly payment was our relationship. He made his choice when I saw him in raid the fallowing night.
I laugh at the last part:
“Did she ever consider canceling their internet service, his Blizzard account and throwing his WoW disc in the trash?”
I don’t play WoW, but if that happened to any of the mmorpg’s I do play, I think everyone in a 10 mile radius would die from 4th degree burns.
“His addiction could as easily have been pot, liquor, porn or meth – if she were to have brought them into the house it would have been a different addiction instead of gaming”
Wife as the dept store:
“Hmm, should I buy him a copy of World of Warcraft or a fat baggie of meth and a Milf Hunter 6 DVD?”
You can throw the WoW Disks in the trash all you want.. you only ever need them ONCE to see the CD key on the package
To All:
I agree with the statements that the media has sensationalized the issue of gaming / Internet addiction, and there are plenty of snake-oil salesmen out there to “cure” someone of the problem. I also agree Blizzard is only guilty of creating a great game, and is not at fault for these tradgedies…just like an alchohic is responsible for their actions while drunk, not the brewery.
That said, whether it is a “compulsion” or an “addition” or an “obsession” or whatever you want to call it, if someone plays so much that it affects their marriage / s.o., job, health, etc. then something is certainly wrong.
I think to argue over these semantics and nuances is missing the big picture. It is a fact that some people (how many / what percentage is up for debate) have a problem. Whether it is technically an “addictive personality” or depression or anything else is irrelevant (except perhaps for determining treatment) if the result is the same as any other form of addiction.
I lost my wife to WoW. She literally went from a career-driven, family-oriented woman in her mid-thirties who had a job and was trying to have children with me, to within a few months of playing WoW (4, 8,then 12-16 hours a day) a complete mess.
It even got so bad she would literally step over dog crap in the floor (left there because she wouldn’t AFK long enough to let him out) to get online.
Now here’s the chicken or the egg issue:
Did becoming “addicted” (insert whatever term here) to WoW cause these personality changes? Or did she have some other form of nervous breakdown and then began to look for an escape?
Either way, her solution to numbing whatever pain or issue she was having was to play WoW excessively. Fundamentally, addiction of any form is primarily about numbing pain with a compulsive action.
When asked by family and friends to stop, even if it meant losing those relationships she decided to keep playing and stated that “if they don’t like me playing, then that is THEIR problem not mine.”
Anyone who has lived with an alchoholic, gambler or druggie has heard these very same words…
So instead of debating exactly what this “thing” is that seems to be going on with some people, the gaming community and developers need to acknowledge “something” is in fact occuring and perhaps make gamers and non-gamers alike aware that if your friends and family express concern about your playing / its effects upon you, and your first reaction is to be defensive perhaps you need to shut off your ego and listen. Don’t play at all for a few months and “prove” to them and yourself you aren’t one of those people with a problem…
…It seems when people do listen to those outside concerns and stop for awhile, they realize in many cases there was some sort of issue, do some self-analysis and constructive criticism of themselves and then either decide to play casually or move on to another game or form of entertainment.
In short, if someone is asked by their spouse to stop doing something (whatever that is) because it is affecting their marriage, and that person refuses then they’ve made their choice to do that action rather than care about their partner’s feelings or the relationship.
I ask all of you on here: If you won’t stop playing to save friendships, marriages, your job, etc. does it really matter what it’s called?
I’d rather not leave my 2cents about this article, but the ignorant person who said First Person Shooters are a better outlet of gaming.
So exposing yourself to abnormally real in-depth depictions of terrorism and blowing another person’s brains out is a more healthy alternative to slaying dragons? I cant even comprehend the reasoning behind this.
N00BS KNOW: RAIDS BEFORE BABES.
Women don’t have hobbies.
I play Wow a lot.
It’s kind of sad but I would bet big time she did not schedule a show, she just said this one and it conflicted with a raid time. That is 24 other people that need your toon to play, if they pick up another person then your out and could end up staying out. So she should have invested in a DVR if it had to be that show, and said Pick a time, anyone can say screw grinding and watch a show with the wife, I guarantee we did not hear the whole story here. We have a guy in our guild raids every other Friday and everyone else is cool with it. If he was hell bent for DKP then there was still down time if she would have negotiated a time. But look at all the people that sit around and watch TV from 6 til midnight oh my goodness.
I have a very addictive personality, and my friends and family would tell you that I am addicted to WoW. That is why if one of my friends wants to get together and hang out, it has to be pre planned because I may be raiding. Even the hardcore raiders that treat WoW like a job always keep a schedule. This guy did not get so engrossed in the game he couldn’t come out of it. He was trying to escape. Maybe from her, maybe from work, but he was not happy. Everyone who actually plays WoW and raids in the game knows that there is always times that you would get bored and want to try to level up secondary skills or just casual PVP (see the other side and ambush them). This guy was not happy, and his wife couldn’t help him. That’s not the games fault. She didn’t try hard enough and he didn’t care enough. Not Blizzards fault.
And BTW, Blizzard has done everything in it’s power to make it so that even if you took a 6 month hiatus from the game, you would NOT loose your status, your loot, nothing. You will come back EXACTLY how you stopped. There are even benefits for people that DON’T play everyday. Blizzard is doing their best to make a game for the masses. The masses have lives, and Blizzard respects and honors that. Gear does not have to be received via raids; there is the PVP aspect of it that allows for completely casual gaming and your gear and loots and rewards are the equivilant of the hardcore gamers. Do not blame the makers because someone chose to give up on rl. Blame him. It was his choice.
As a wife of someone who plays WoW daily and from the time he gets home till late in the evening, I can tell you that WoW can pose a serious problem. I’ve told my husband many times that I’m tired of him choosing the game over real life. He doesn’t want to go out, see friends, or spend any time with me. We used to do active things together all the time. Now we rarely do anything as a couple. The worst part is that he is in total denial. He says he only plays it three times a week. No –three times a week is when he has “appointments” to play — appointments he will never miss. Not even when family is in town. The truth is in addition to “appointment days” he also plays every day and for hours on end. On the weekends he’ll play first thing in the morning, maybe take a break for two or three hours, then get back on and play till 1 or 2am. He argues that he’s only on it for a little while and doesn’t it play it that much. I think he’s an addict in denial. No matter how much it hurts me, he refuses to stop or cut down how much he plays. If I tell him it hurts me, he gets very defensive of the game and feels I am putting him down.
He still goes to work and pays the bills so, until then, I guess he’ll never see he has a problem.
Honestly, I see this game contributing to the end of our marriage. It’s interesting because I haven’t seen any other addictive behaviors in him. My father and brother were addicts (alcohol and drugs) but I never saw this kind of addiction coming.
I am seriously considering leaving over a game!
Well, as a serious gamer myself (averaging probably 20 hours a week) I still manage to both have a social life and a strong relationship. It annoys the crap out of me that the author was trying to defend the guy. People keep saying stuff about how she didn’t try hard enough or that she didn’t do enough to help him but seriously, you can only push a person so far. She stuck with him for a long time, she tried to make time for the two of them to be together. What’s the point in being married to someone who hardly acknowledges you? So what if she didn’t want to go to counseling? That doesn’t make her to blame for the divorce. After that long, I would have gotten fed up and seen the man as not worth my time. She was in a relationship lacking love and affection and you can only go so long without wanting out.
I hate this game. It really ruin people’s lives. My boyfriend plays it everyday ever since it came out. My boyfriend and I been together for alomost 7 years and for 3 years he has been playing this game. I remember during my birthday, he decided to play WOW all day on my special day and he didn’t even do anything for me. Last night, I finally got fed up with it and confronted him after he is done riading or dungeoning whatever. I told him that i have had it and he now needs to choose either me or the game and if he doesn’t answer then im leaving that night. He said he didnt want me to leave him, but he doesnt want to quit WOW too. So i said that if that is what he wants then i’m leaving because years from now i dont want to regret not leaving him at this moment. And he just got angrier to the fact that i am blaming the game and is gonna leave him over a game. However, i told him that WOW isn’t consider a game anymore, it’s more consider like a girl he is cheating with and he still doesn’t get it. I just got angrier that i just left yelling at him it is over. Somehow, he yell out for me not leave and he will do whatever i want, i’m guessing he is afraid of losing me too. So i turn around and listed a bunch things for him to promise and do if i stay with him:
1. He must quit WOW forver
2. Delete his character
3. Unintall WOW on his computer and then reboot his computer in front of me
4. Give me the disc to destroy
5. For the next 3 years, he is going to give me a gift at a value of $15 every month because if he could afford to pay $15 to play WOW every month, he should be able to afford to buy me something worth $15 every month.
6. Help around the house
7. Cook me either breakfast, lunch, or dinner once a week
8. Must attend all his classes and do all his homework
9. Treat me with respect at all times
10.If he ever breaks any of these promises, im walking out on him with no warnings
To all the ladies out there who has a boyfriend/husband who is addicted to WOW or similiar games, confront him when they are done playing no matter how late it is. tell him that you made up your mind to leave him because of his addiction to WOW. Tell him how you feel, if you still have feeling for him tell him and if you still doesnt see them then he isnt worth your time. Ask him if he knows why he is at fault, if he doesnt then leave him cause he will always think that he is right. He has to want to and promise to change, if not LEAVE. Just give one shot to see if he cares about you and if he could give up the game for you. NEVER EVER ATTEMPT TO TALK TO HIM WHEN HE IS PLAYING THE GAME, TALK AFTER HE IS DONE PLAYING THE GAME!
To those people who keep saying for us to play the game in order to understand how he feels about the game, that is one stupid advice. DONT NOT DO THIS IF YOU KNOW YOU DONT LIKE TO PLAY NEVER ENDING GAMES. Honestly, i like video games but not game like WOW. I used to have a WOW account, i used to think that if he wont quit then i mind as will join it. I started to learn that WOW is a really bad addiction game, so i quit and told myself never ever go near it again. By joining the club, it shows him that you like what he is doing and that is why you want to try it out. He will use this against you if you do not like his addiction later on.
@ WOW HATER 4-LIFE
Just from reading your post I hope he does leave, then he can have all the time he wants to play his game, even though wow takes up time it doesn’t ask for attention….it doesnt fight…it doesnt cry and not only that what makes you think hes going to do everything on that list? Women I swear they always want to be put on a pedestal. WoW is a form of entertainment kind of like that crappy show you girls watch oprah? watch it every damn day at the same time, and or other shows? do you hear us bitching about it? NO we don’t care. If you really want to hold on to your man treat him right and maybe he wouldn’t look elsewhere for entertainment.
Wife rant on WoW @ http://www.spriteskeeper.com
…good tips on what we’ve done to balance out WoW life and family life.
check it out, welcome ur comments.
See ya on the game!
- “Crixxo”
I personally find that WoW is only an addicting game if you make it. I only play a few hours on the weekend, and only casually, and its working out fine for me. Just a matter of time management.
“As a wife of a WOW addict I would like to say something. My husband has been playing WOW since it’s initial release. My husband and I have been married for almost three years. He plays WOW everyday he possibly can and until the wee hours of the morning. I know exactly where this wife is coming from. We used do stuff together too. I was miserable because WOW seemed to be controlling his life, until I decided to do something about it. Now I’m a lvl 65 shadow priest and in a week or two I’ll be 70 and keyed for Kara. He takes me places now. We ran SP last night, and mana tombs the day before, and all of our friends and their spouses play to so we spend all night with our friends. Of course we both make time in our schedules to clean the house and take care off other matters, but we are very very happy!”
Most intelligent response I’ve ever heard. What is with the selfishness of women these days demanding that we spend all of our time doing what they want and when they want it. What happened to companionship and the sharing of interests and ideas? Having a husband is not about having a slave that will bow to your every will. Marriage is about giving and taking. So many women are not mature enough to even understand this basic concept of life. I have many friends who are married to women that are exactly like this. If it’s not WoW it’s another video game, school, work, friends or whatever. If you bring this type of attitude to a relationship you can just get out as far as I’m concerned. I can pay for sex when I need it.
I totally agree with WOW ruining their marriage.
My recently EX boyfriend was so totally addicted to the game. We fought about it really bad. He literally played 24/7. Wouldn’t ever go to bed. When I woke up he would either be still playing or sleeping sitting up in the chair. One time while he was playing he fell asleep with a cigarette and almost burned my house down.
I hate WOW and him.
First off, yes I play WoW. I am 17, play hockey, tennis and hang out with my friends. I get pretty good marks in school (80’s) and am looking at a University for the future.
I love the game, and may have even been a bit addicted when I began playing, but that quickly cleared over.
Yes, its is a great game, yet to trash my body, my family, friends and everything I hold dear for a game is just foolish. I play it, sometimes till 12 or 2 in the morning. But I never go over 2-3 hrs because then I either lose interest or force myself to get of my ass and do soemthing productive.
The wife in this story did not proceed accordingly. Yes her husband was quiet obsessed yet wanting all his time for her isn’t the way to go. Through relationships I’ve figured that finding common ground and interests saves a lot of stress.
I met my husband through WoW, we were in the same raiding guild, though we didn’t start chatting until after he had left for another server, where I eventually joined him. We couldn’t be more happier! <3 Gamer Hubbie!
my perfect, my knight in shinning armor, my wow addict. He hit me when I confronted him to stop. He still plays, he hides it. I agree, its taken over. Hope he has fun with it when he is alone. Hope it keeps him warm at night. Hope it wipes his ass when he is disabled. Hope it helps him to respawn when he croaks because I wont be there!
I have been in a 12 year relationship with a gamer. When we first met it was fun we played games together on playstation ect, no PC games. Then we had our first son and he started playing on-line RPG’s for the PC it was not too bad at first until WOW came out. He bought the game when it was first relased and has not let it go since. He now has all the WOW books, figures, newsletters, and even the game board. He plays WOW as soon as he gets home from work until early hours of the morning and the cycle repeats. Of course, the weekend is worse he catches up on sleep lost during the week due to WOW and then plays ALL weekend. He has not only neglected me his wife, his two sons, and all household/yard work duties. Our sons are now 9 and 7 years old and they even comment that they hate WOW and wish daddy would play with them instead of that “dumb game”, it breaks my heart. My husband wont even leave the house except to go to work, he spends no time with our sons or me. I do every thing by my self and work as nurse 40 hours a week as well. He no longer helps with the bills, the lawn, trash, household duties, or being a husband and dad. I have seriously been considering divorce and have contacted a lawyer, but this has not even phased him. I guess he is used to my empty threats and WOW is much more important. I dont know what else to do, my heart breaks for my sons. We did go to counseling for sometime, things would get better for a while then back to the same thing. Our problems all stem from WOW but the chooses not to see this, he says its just me “complaining all the time”. Any advise? Desperate wife and WOW has ruined our lives.
I used to play Wow to the point that I missed out on other things. Never again. I quit and started graduate school and never looked back. Sure I have friends emailing me all the time asking me to come back. I’ll only start online gaming again when Diablo III comes out and I can play solo on my own time.
Oh and for the record, NOBODY can play Wow without net access. Want to shake things up a bit? Miss the bill or have it shut off!
I’m a single mom and I’ll never let Wow suck my life away again.
I would have left his ass too.
My bf and I both play WOW but only an hour or two a day a few days a week, every now and then we’ll make an afternoon of it.
But if he ever starts choosing WOW over sex, I’m out!
With any addiction, the addict has to WANT to change. Obviously he didn’t. Maybe there were other things going on but no matter what other issues they had, gaming 40+ hours a week is enough to scare anyone away.
Hello, real life??
As the subject of this article, I want to post this for anyone who reads my story and is in a similar situation. Happy endings are possible, even if they’re not what you’d expect.
My relationship was happy and strong before introducing WoW into it, and Peter and I often gamed together before he spent all his time on WoW. Peter’s addiction to WoW and the problems that arose from it was the catalyst for our separation. I asked for counseling on multiple occasions. In fact, I tried everything I could to save my marriage–and I do mean EVERYTHING, short of destroying the computer! In my case, I had to remove myself from the situation for Peter to realize the destructiveness of his addiction.
But he did.
Shortly after our separation, Peter began moving away from WoW and and made an effort to spend time with me and tell me he was choosing me over the game. He even asked me to return to our relationship. We see and talk to each other now more than we ever did when he played WoW. For now, I’m happy to have my best friend living back on Earth instead of in Azeroth.
I’m really proud of him for working through this.
So there’s hope for the addiction… Unfortunately, it may take drastic measures before the addictee realizes the severity of the addiction. Not every situation will be like mine, but there can be a light at the end of the tunnel. I have loved Peter for 16 years, and leaving wasn’t my way of giving up on him, it was my way of helping him.
I’ll also say, we’re looking forward to playing StarCraft II together.
Best,
Jocelyn
Thank you Jocelyn for setting the record straight! It was hard to know what exactly happened when Yahoo did not disclose the full story. I also imagine it was hard having the whole world privy to your business.
We wish you and Steve nothing but the best… always.
all i can say is, if she couldnt even get tv time with him, how is she gonna get him to go to therapy?
also, u have to remember that since she was a blizzard employee, he wasnt having to pay subscriptions to the game.
Furthermore, if she spoke up when this unfortunate circumstance happened, it might have been avoided.
im a big time wow gamer and i know how addicting it is.
for how long they have been married, all she needed to do was tell him if he wants to continue with a searious marrage, to give her a call, then she just needs to get her stuff and leave. her parents would prolly let her move in if they heard the situation. he would end up getting the power shut off and other bad things, then he would come to his senses and they might of then had fixxed their marrage.
just remember tho, once they get to the point of gettin on the game the moment they get home or wake up, that person needs to be cut off from the game.
My husband was addicted to games years before we met. Considering that I have a 70 and run BT/Hyjal with my husband’s alt (yep, his ALT), I’ve put forth a great deal of effort into getting us “together time” on his terms. However, the effort is not often reciprocated. Why can’t we spend Saturday together OUTSIDE? Are badge-run Kara’s and ZA’s necessary? What’s a girl to do? I do all the housework and let him eat at his computer. HE’S the one who gained 50 pounds, not me.
If you play this game for more than 3 hours a day, sorry its an addiction. It adds nothing to your real life and is escapism for 3 hours almost everyday for just an average gamer. If you need to attack her blame on wow with this guys addictive personality traits, well yea its so painfully obvious hes an addictive personality who plays wow for 8-16 hours a day, give me @#$@ING BREAK. But the lines are horrible blurred for most wow players (defending their 3-5 hour a night “hobby”). Its like watching self inflicted castration watching someone sit in front of a screen and get their self satisfaction through virtual “gear”. I say this with decency and respect for all the individuals out their that are gamers, don’t “get a life” but expand your life instead of contracting it into a little room where you spend 50 percent of your free time.
I got rid of my boyfriend of 8 yrs today, again, this time for good due to this wow game. He would not do anything else, he became rude, hateful, and would not go to work. He is addicted bad and did not care if I pay for the bills, or if I was cleaning house, It was all about wow and getting him to do anything was like pulling teeth.
I tried to get in the game with him but he had too much to hide, 
I did not have vent and chat rooms like he did. So heres the bad part, he had my password but I was not allowed to have his? He hid his vent chat friends from me and I knew this Gainni,bubbleelf and earthwormjim toons of his ment trouble for me… He kept switching relems and acting weird so today I said I have bills to pay and I’m going to give myself a stroke worrying about his vent chat rooms b.s and so I told him to go back to his daddys and goodbye. 
He did not even care…my feelings were 2nd to wow! I found out they cypersex alot durning raids and I could not even begin to tell u with who, its made it easier for men to cheat and I just had enough of noone to talk to and being lonely inless I got screamed at b/c he was busy with wow 
I tried and did the best I could but everyone that gave me advice said he just does not care Tonya wake up. 
I had no choice, I could not wait to be important enough to him anymore. 
i think your silly your wife gave lots of chances and you blew it you jurk
You have just lost a precious gift in your real life peter. If i knew someone was addicted and that could cause such a serious damage on u, i would have even let the pc on fire rather than the dumbass way of throwing cd into the trash. These retards need to get a life. I feel sorry for her.
I am a wow gamer and i am not addicted to it.I was told repeatedly by people that you cant play without getting addicted.Thats not true,i have quit playing for a year,played a little,then quit playing another 6 months.someone can get addicted to tv,xbox,and many other things its not just wow.
I admit its hard having my husband play WoW, we have been married 5 yrs but he only started playing a month ago. Still, sometimes he does stay up rather late playing it which is particularly hard for me at the moment because right now we live at my grandfathers house in 2 rooms though we can be in the rest of the house, our part is just the two rooms. He doesn’t get home from work till 1 am at the moment. Sometimes he gets snippy at me when I tell him to please come to bed ( his monitor keeps me awake) If we had our own place, which I hope we can in the new Year Wow will bother me less. I do manange to pull him away from it and we do stuff. I like games a lot too, I play them also but I can hit Save and walk away. Wow doesn’t seem to have a real save option,though you can leave it or a Pause button. He wants me to play but its just not my thing. If I played our living space would become overcrowded with dirty clothes and dishes. But there are a lot worse things he could do in the middle of the night on his machine and he doesn’t and I am happy for that. Wow keeps you out of trouble in that aspect.
Does this guy even read these comments
This story matches mine…except it’s Second Life (SL) instead of WoW. He actually met someone in this virtual world and started talking to her in real life. How can I compete with someone who is addicted? I’m waiving my white flag.
OMG guys. yeah. I play wow. Mintae, silver hand server. might only be 36, but I play. ^.^
to all you ass hole guys who think that she didn’t try enough, SCREW yourselves, please. =) I grew up with my MOTHER play Ever Quest and Ever Quest 2 and then wow. through middle school and high school, if I ever asked her for anything while she was on any of those games, she’d look at me and say ‘what is so fucking important that you had to interupt me from this!?” and it usually wasn’t even a raid! I mean seriously; if you actually do that to your child, imagine you, nine years old, wanting mommy’s or daddy’s attention, and getting screamed at because he’s playing a video game.
I play WoW, but not that obsessively. I quit for 5 months for schooling. Now i get back on to say hi to friends and kill things in battlegrounds. it amuses me if I don’t have anything better to do.
get over it.
<3 moi
Ok so I came on here just to see what everyone else has said. I also need to vent out to someone because when I vent to the person I am trying to reach I get no reaction and so at least maybe someone will see this and maybe change something in there lives. I am with this guy and we haven’t been together that long. At first he came out and said he likes to play this game wow like 3 nights a week no biggy, he seemed to actually want to spend more time with me so when he said he was going to play I had no problems with it. So we end up moving in with eachother and for the past month it has been non-stop almost everyday I am getting to the point where I can’t take it anymore. I am so sick of trying to tell him how I fell and how I don’t want to come 2nd to a stupid game. He always has some slick response to calm me down at the time but guess what the next day it is the same BS over again then last night he actually turned it around on me saying that he didn’t play all day because he wanted to spend time with me because he might be leaving to go work for the next few days out of town so I requested that we actually spend the night just the 2 of us and he was in que at the time I said do you really need to play tonite he says nope I said well it would be nice to just hang out tonite and got no response, I had to give my daughter a bath and when I came out he was on and playing so I got a little upset and hurt that it didn’t seem to matter that I had asked him to not play just one nite. So he ended up playing for 4 hours and then got off around 11 so then we watched a movie and that was it for the nite. Then this morning at 9 he gets up and went right to logging in and has been there all day it is now 3:50pm and nothing has been acomplished for the day. I am at my wits end and do not know what else to do or say???
Its quiet sad really, for all those “guys” out their that are so weak mentally that they let a GAME run their lives. And to giveup pussy for that. Such a shame
To all you ladies out there, if u got some bf or husband like that And youv tried talking to them / getting help and even mentioning breakup and they still dont budge, Its time to leave. Its no different from people on crack, (an addiction) if youv tried up to that point and they still put the game before you. I have tons of friends who play wow and alot of them are addicted, I myself only play a couple hours a night (randomly) but my wife and other more important real life events come first. I must applaud blizzard though, to the mastermind who created such a trap for the weak minded. Its like the manufactors of energy drinks who are slipping alcohol in the drinks and not listing it in the ingredients. The author of this article is 100% correct though. It is not blizzards fault, you cannot blame them for providing it, it is the gamers fault. Exactly like the fat people who tried sueing mc donalds for selling fast food, for offering it. COME ON PEOPLE, NOBODY IS FORCING U TO BUY IT, TO EAT IT OR TO PLAY IT ITS UR OWN FU*#KING CHOICE. And wow is no exception. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!CHOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MOTHA F*CKAS
You’re a retard if you think that addiction is the same as doing something a lot, because it’s fun and you’re having a good time doing it! Someone said something like “all the friends I have, who started playing it are still playing”……..maybe that’s because it’s a really great game that’s fun to play. I’m sure you have something you do a lot too, because you think it’s fun. Anytime you have 10 mill. people doing something, there’s bound to be some extreme cases. You can abuse anything. There’s nothing better than a nice cold beer on a hot summer day, but if I drink 30 beers every morning then it’s probably not so good. Live responsibly and don’t go around blaming everything…ESPECIALLY when you have no clue of what you’re blaming!!!!!
I’m out, WoW is calling;)
Well said Serulin!!! I play WoW too and think it’s the coolest game ever, but I don’t go nuts and stuff. It’s just a cool game I play for some hours here and there during the week. Better than watching crap shows on TV.
I lived practically the exact same experience. My husband and I were so happy and in love. I even played WoW for time to get closer to bond with him and understand it, but that was before he went overboard. I can relate to everything she said. My husband playing EVERY moment of the day, giving up friends, family, finances, and eventually losing his job. I begged for counseling and went by myself would he would not go. After I left him he apparently went to counselor and got his life together. But he wouldn’t do it when his family and I beged him to. I, also hate WoW.
My husband is addicted to WOW and it is putting a great strain on our relationship. We have other problems in our relationship and I know that he is playing so much WOW to escape from all of that but it makes things 1000 times worse. I thought eventually he would stop playing so much like computer games in the past but 4 years later he has shown no hint of cutting down on his WOW time. He plays everyday unless there is some unavoidable event which stops him from playing and when he doesn’t get to play he is tense and snappy.
I think that individuals have to take responsibility for their actions but surely the companies who design games to be addictive so that they keep people paying their subscription have some responsibility for the situations they are creating.
It’s a sad story, similar to many I have heard over at our forums.
When you are deep into the WoW obsession, it’s so hard to look up and see what is going on in the real world.
The fantasy that the gamer creates becomes immensely rich and rewarding, and asking them to give it up for real life, can obviously be tough.
As it deepens, the gap between reality (becoming more problematic) and the fantasy world (becoming more powerful) widens.
I believe that MMO’s are highly addictive and damaging, and there needs to be a solution for gamers who feel trapped. That’s why I created a support site specifically for gamers who feel trapped and lost and want to get out.
Head on over and add your story.