World of Warcraft Burn Out, Not Addiction

March 27th, 2009 by Starets Sayas of Farstriders

by Starets Sayas of Farstriders

You all know I haven’t been playing hardly at all the last few weeks. I’ve been far too busy getting this and a few other websites going to play World of Warcraft. To be honest with you, once I got over the loss of routine and the guilt factor for abandoning my friends, I haven’t really missed playing hardly at all. Could it be the addiction is coming to an end|receding)? I don’t really think so. More that it was time for one of my periodic vacations from World of Warcraft.

Which segues nicely into today’s idea. I want to talk a little about the opposite of World of Warcraft addiction. I think that would have to be World of Warcraft burn out. Yes, World of Warcraft burn out happens just as much as World of Warcraft addiction. Maybe even more so. It just isn’t making the sensational headlines.

Why do we beat ourselves up if its just a game? We burn out because we’re addicted and play too much. We go back and forth between addiction and burn out, addiction and burn out sometimes barely noticing the brief stopover at enjoyment in between the two.

As an alternative, why not relax and enjoy the game for what it is… a hobby! One of the beauties of this particular game is that its open ended. So do what you want in game, when you want. Right now I’m doing one of the very few “necessary” tasks which is checking the mail every 30 days so you don’t lose items in transit. That’s all you have to do: Check in once a month to make certain you aren’t losing mail. How easy is that?

If you play, you’ve seen it in some of your friends, guild mates and other acquaintances. All the time complaining of being bored, general grouchiness, inability to focus on any one task, these are all signs of burnout. Maybe you’ve seen it in the form of erratic behavior; suddenly quitting a longstanding guild relationship, dropping out in the middle of a raid, not being dependable.

What if the answer to beating Warcraft addiction and World or Warcraft burnout was the same thing? What if slowing down even just a little was the answer? What if you played instead of worked at World of Warcraft? I know some of the, “I capped in 3 days.” crowd might gasp, but maybe it would make the game a fun game again.

I don’t know what would work for you, but change the game up every once in a while|now and then|. Come up with something unusual to do. After our guild meetings, we have this long parade march through Stormwind to Goldshire where we swamp the inn and party, party, party. Another guild would hold tournament style “fight club” events at that island off the coast of Ratchet.

If you have fun, you stop the compulsion aspect of the game. You will also enjoy your time a whole lot more while diluting World of Warcraft burnout.

About the Author:

Starets Sayas is a level 80 deep discipline dwarf priest adventuring about the US Farstriders server in the game World of Warcraft. He’s been on since day one and even earlier, in beta test phase. Catch every episode of his thoughts at World of Warcraft Addiction.com or follow the progress of his upper level kindreds.