Hello! Ex-WOW addict is Ready to Breakthrough!

[nanou]

Hello Game Quitters!

I've been addicted to WoW since its release in 2005, got kicked out college twice and almost kicked out of my home. I remember I was sleeping one night out of two, eating chips all day and smoking a pack a day of cigarettes. God, this was the lowest point of my life.

I stopped playing 2 years later when I really hit rock bottom, and decided to finally take my life to the next level.

10 years later, I moved the US (I'm french), built a tech company and did good for myself in a way I technically don't have to work anymore. As I was facing boredom and loneliness as a successful entrepreneur, I starting playing WoW again on private servers. And here I was back again, a 33 years old guy, with all his life ahead of him, playing 16 hours a day. I lost almost all my friends and my girlfriend I had back then.

One day, I had enough, I deleted the game, I could not stand seeing my life going down like this, and it worked....for a little bit...Every day, I was spending hours on guides, reddits, watching streamers and youtube videos about the game, even if I was not playing, just to get my fix.

And then last year, it happened, Blizzard released Wow Classic, I knew my fate was over as I was counting the days.

I refused to subscribe when the game came out, and I resisted for a few weeks, but one night, as I had nothing to do and felt a bit sad, I told my self I could just give it a try. 

I take my credit card out, create my account, and I did that so fast, because I did not want to think I was actually doing it by guilt, I remember barely looking at the screen, yet the account was ready.

I start playing...it's one of the best feeling I felt in a while, my childhood came back, that sense of safety and predictability that disappears with adulthood, I'm back home...and there are thousands of people home with me.

8 months later, my wrists hurt, my knees, my lower back because of the chair, my neck because of the screen and I'm white as a Tylenol, I realized I was not that young anymore and video games can be so damaging to your body outside of the bad eating habits and mental issues, it destroys your joints and bones.

My girlfriend sees me a completely different person, I don't spend time with her anymore, or when I do, it's only so I give her the attention she needs so I can play in peace, I start being manipulative, lying to her, and she can't recognize me, I become selfish with my time, I want her to go away "Leave me alone!", I tell her...Before she cracked yesterday...she takes my computer, and throw it away against the wall while crying.

I scream at her (I was in the middle of a dungeon) and step out, take a walk, think, and realize the man I've become...A man with so much potential, yet, wasted it because of a company really good at making gaming interactions addicting, I had enough.

I come home and tell her my story between Wow and my past, she understands, hug me, and tell me she will help me, for the first time in my life, I told someone else "I'm an addict, help me".

Next morning, I check my emails and I see my girlfriend bought me access to Game Quitters, she's awesome, I love her, and I'm not gonna let her down.

And here I am, can't wait to get to know you all, and so happy to join this community of winners who want to win their life back.
 

[chiliflavor]

Welcome to the forums @nanou!

2 hours ago, nanou said:

"I'm an addict, help me".

Achievement unlocked—acknowledgement of addiction!  Check out the journal section! That helped me to stay away from gaming. 😄 

I feel you man: "I remember barely looking at the screen, yet the account was ready." I miss playing WoW actually, specifically PVP and running mythic+ dungeons. The lowest point in my life is when I've learned to play WoW's auction house. I started playing WoW in Legion only and got sucked by gold farming—obtained the 9,999,999 gold cap (11.5 million gold across all toons) in less than 1 year!! I literally spent almost 3 years just playing WoW—jobless, no gf, literally no social life at all. Only me, my room, my laptop, my coffee, cigarettes and interaction with my parents and siblings during meal times only. Jeez, writing about it made me take a deep breath.

2 hours ago, nanou said:

she takes my computer, and throw it away against the wall while crying.

I didn't expect this!  😅 I only see this on movies. Haha! You're very lucky to have her man! How I wish my gf bought me respawn too. 😭🤣

Good luck on your recovery and see you around! 😁

Edited June 30, 2020 by chiliflavor

[nanou]

12 hours ago, chiliflavor said:

I feel you man: "I remember barely looking at the screen, yet the account was ready." I miss playing WoW actually, specifically PVP and running mythic+ dungeons. The lowest point in my life is when I've learned to play WoW's auction house. I started playing WoW in Legion only and got sucked by gold farming—obtained the 9,999,999 gold cap (11.5 million gold across all toons) in less than 1 year!! I literally spent almost 3 years just playing WoW—jobless, no gf, literally no social life at all. Only me, my room, my laptop, my coffee, cigarettes and interaction with my parents and siblings during meal times only. Jeez, writing about it made me take a deep breath.

This is amazing, imagine the brain power you developed and the skills, you could apply the exact same thing in the stock market and have as much fun with the right mentorship, or in business. 

Thank you for sharing this, one of the part of WoW that was really hitting my dopamine hard was the min/max aspect of characters, with stats, excel sheets and pure optimization. Over time, I applied the same skills on my business and it made me successful.

If you can find the IRL money maker that will emulate the same skills, you would be crushing it, think about it!

[chiliflavor]

2 hours ago, nanou said:

This is amazing, imagine the brain power you developed and the skills, you could apply the exact same thing in the stock market and have as much fun with the right mentorship, or in business. 

Thank you for sharing this, one of the part of WoW that was really hitting my dopamine hard was the min/max aspect of characters, with stats, excel sheets and pure optimization. Over time, I applied the same skills on my business and it made me successful.

If you can find the IRL money maker that will emulate the same skills, you would be crushing it, think about it!

Nice! Thanks for the motivation!
Holy crap man, optimization, maximizing dps, adjusting gear for ideal stats = stress is real but challenging! Most importantly, rank #1 in details/skada hahaha! 😂  It's great you applied it to your business. I'll try to do this too. 😄
Good luck!