Is World of Warcraft addictive?

[OursIsTheFury]

This game is still incredibly addictive even after a decade of being online. Holy crap, just read a story about four guys who were good in class, but got addicted to this game they got into debt, failed college, and now in an in-and-out job constantly. Yikes. All for a video game. Good thing I wasn't rich enough to pay for this game growing up. I would have probably ended up like them since I have a tendency to get addicted with gaming. Perks of being poor, huh?

 

[appleandcinnamon]

In the past few years, it got much easier. I could solo some dungeons at level (on a priest). I wanted some gear for doing BGs, so I farmed it on my own. The bracers out of Wailing Caverns for example, which I have to say, I was kind of surprised that I could farm them on my own.

I guess stuff levels up and down with you now though, so that might not be do-able any more.

These days, you only have to be level 20 to ride a ground mount.

That's great! Back in the days you had to be a solid Level 40 to mount a horse. Not to mention horses used to cost a fortune.

 

[arachnophobik]

Pretty addictive still with the Legion expansion I must say. But for me, the most addictive was vanilla WoW when everything felt so fresh and new to me. Over the years, I've been playing WoW off and on as I've grown to crave for other types of MMOs such as those with action-combat implemented like Guild Wars 2 and Tera. WoW is still good, lore wise and gameplay wise, but I think I'm just craving for something new now.

 

[Zyni]

That's great! Back in the days you had to be a solid Level 40 to mount a horse. Not to mention horses used to cost a fortune.

Ha ha, yes, the training was really expensive. You were lucky to have made enough to pay for it by the time you hit 40. I always did professions though and a lot of farming. I guess that's one of the things that makes it somewhat addictive. You can't just quest to level and be done. You have to farm or find other ways to make gold, if you want to get all the goodies.

There are also reputations to grind, and some of them had vendors that sold specific goodies you might want as well. You could only buy from them if you had reputation though.

 

[LydiaHilda]

It can be, yes, but I think it mostly depends on the person playing. If you've got more of an addictive personality, you're going to have a harder time keeping yourself off the game. As for me, having played WoW a bit, I don't think it's necessarily addictive, it's just that there's so much to be done. You can grind levels, go on quests, explore dungeons, raid... It really is a MASSIVE morpg. I wouldn't be afraid to try it out if I were you, just as long as you can tell for yourself when you've been playing too much.

 

[Zyni]

Well said, @LydiaHilda, and I think that's true of any game. You have to know when enough is enough.

WoW was created in a way that made it (at least somewhat) addictive. At least is was originally. After all, it's a sub-based game, so they want to keep people playing. Now days, I suppose they make more from services than subs, so it's not as important.

Research the psychology of game making sometime. It's really interesting.

 

[Soulwatcher]

I can tell you my own personal experience. I played the game in beta and I loved every minute of up. But after the game released it left a real sour taste in my mouth. WOW has the biggest trolls and most toxic gaming community that I have ever seen in any game. People would zerg you and camp your corps and camp the place you revive and kill you as you revive. The only thing you could do was log off and hope they got board. I had enough after playing the game for 6 months and I never looked back. And from what my friends tell me is there's more trolls and toxic players than ever!

 

[Zyni]

Yeah, people still camp. I never understood the fun in that. Ganking sure, but camping for long periods of time, not so much. You must have been on a PvP server. On PvE realms, you have to manually flag yourself for player v. player combat unless you're in the other factions territory. It's even more so now, to avoid accidental flagging.

 

[Strelitzia]

I can tell you my own personal experience. I played the game in beta and I loved every minute of up. But after the game released it left a real sour taste in my mouth. WOW has the biggest trolls and most toxic gaming community that I have ever seen in any game. People would zerg you and camp your corps and camp the place you revive and kill you as you revive. The only thing you could do was log off and hope they got board. I had enough after playing the game for 6 months and I never looked back. And from what my friends tell me is there's more trolls and toxic players than ever!

Actually WoW's community is tame compared to many MOBAs and FPS communities out there. In terms of overall it's middle of the pack with toxic players and attitude. It's gotten much better over the years since most of the playerbase has aged with the franchise. PvP is PvP it'll always attract a certain crowd of a certain mentality regardless of MMO/game. The competitive aspect of PvP in general is worse than if a person were to play in a PvE environment even at a competitive level in any game. Some servers are also much better than others as well. You can't blanket WoW as just one thing or another, the spectrum varies a whole ton.

That being said- to the topic's original premise: It is addictive- no two ways about it and it's not solely due to the game's mechanics itself. A mix of it has to do with the hard effort + rewards that feels good and the social aspect combined together that gets people playing all the time. For people who don't feel like they're accomplishing much in real life can easily get sucked into MMOs because of the work/reward aspect. I've been playing on and off for 10 years and at one point was really into the game raiding 7 nights a week and spending all of my free time in it because of that aspect. Real life just seemed so unfulfilling compared to playing the game at that point in my life and it was hard to just walk away. However I did it cause I didn't want to get sucked into that mentality and have it ruin my life.

 

[Zyni]

Did someone say skinner box?

Yeah, they used to have a risk to reward ratio that drove people to play (maybe too much). Now, as they are prone to doing, they have gone to the opposite extreme.

I think what you said about being more fulfilled in game makes a lot of sense. I know people who stay involved in WoW strictly to play the AH and otherwise make lots of gold. I guess not having money in real life, makes them want to be WoW tycoons.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

Did someone say skinner box?

Yeah, they used to have a risk to reward ratio that drove people to play (maybe too much). Now, as they are prone to doing, they have gone to the opposite extreme.

I think what you said about being more fulfilled in game makes a lot of sense. I know people who stay involved in WoW strictly to play the AH and otherwise make lots of gold. I guess not having money in real life, makes them want to be WoW tycoons.

Yeah, it's mostly overcompensating for real world shortages. Not just WoW, but MMORPGs in general. That's why the more your life is great, the less you are likely to play a game and get addicted to it. Sad I know, but that's the reality of it.

 

[Strelitzia]

Well there's geography to take into account too. There was a study not too long ago about about people's gaming habits across the nation, the coasts and states with things to do and tolerable weather cycles typically tended to play more non time consuming/casual games. Coasts had far less people playing long term games like MMOs in general despite having higher populations. Midwest and parts of the South that has absolutely little to nothing to do with not so tolerably nice weather had higher amounts of players who spend more time playing MMOs or time intensive games. Same can also be said about urban vs. rural as well. Personally I can see it- I've grown up on the West Coast and lived all over the nation...my near stint toward addiction came about when I landed in the Midwest region due to my job. Chicago's the only actual urban city in this region and everything else is just half ass suburban sprawl. The outdoors is nonexistent unless you like looking at miles of soybean and corn.

 

[appleandcinnamon]

Well there's geography to take into account too. There was a study not too long ago about about people's gaming habits across the nation, the coasts and states with things to do and tolerable weather cycles typically tended to play more non time consuming/casual games. Coasts had far less people playing long term games like MMOs in general despite having higher populations. Midwest and parts of the South that has absolutely little to nothing to do with not so tolerably nice weather had higher amounts of players who spend more time playing MMOs or time intensive games. Same can also be said about urban vs. rural as well. Personally I can see it- I've grown up on the West Coast and lived all over the nation...my near stint toward addiction came about when I landed in the Midwest region due to my job. Chicago's the only actual urban city in this region and everything else is just half ass suburban sprawl. The outdoors is nonexistent unless you like looking at miles of soybean and corn.

This reminds me of a study I read some time ago...about how countries with temperatures well below the freezing point often produce many metal bands. LOL

 

[appleandcinnamon]

Ha ha, yes, the training was really expensive. You were lucky to have made enough to pay for it by the time you hit 40. I always did professions though and a lot of farming. I guess that's one of the things that makes it somewhat addictive. You can't just quest to level and be done. You have to farm or find other ways to make gold, if you want to get all the goodies.

There are also reputations to grind, and some of them had vendors that sold specific goodies you might want as well. You could only buy from them if you had reputation though.

Yeah, and that's when I stopped playing. I literally stopped playing WoW not too long after I bought my horses. I just thought the whole game was too difficult, especially if you compare it to other MMORPGs like Ragnarok Online.

 

[Zyni]

Yeah, and that's when I stopped playing. I literally stopped playing WoW not too long after I bought my horses. I just thought the whole game was too difficult, especially if you compare it to other MMORPGs like Ragnarok Online.

Well, you would probably love it now then. It's the complete opposite of what it used to be like. They have made everything much simpler and easier, to attract a wider audience. The last character I started leveling took 17 minutes from entering the world to level 10, including travel time. I timed it, because I couldn't believe how fast and easy it was.

 

[sephyr]

Yes, it is. Like any game, as long as the player actually enjoys it. I played WoW since vanilla up until just before the Pandaria expansion. I used to play it every chance I get. I even took days off just so I can play all day and night. I was pretty addicted. At least until I found a better game to get addicted to. lol.

 

[forumheem]

I think the game is a little bit addictive, there is a lot of functions and activities in the game so there is always a lot to do and it's hard to get bored.

 

[Zyni]

I was pretty addicted. At least until I found a better game to get addicted to. lol.

What game is that, if you don't mind my asking? Not that I want to get addicted to any of them, but I would like to play something really enjoyable. I want to have fun, especially if I can play with others.

I don't have time for a gaming addiction, but I'd make some time to play a really good game.

 

[Chris Holman]

A good friend of mine plays World of Warcraft constantly, though he's also very active with college. Every minute that he's not studying or in class, he's playing online. I'm just wondering if this game is very addictive. He has asked me to download WoW to play too but I don't want to get addicted as I have other gaming interests as well as a job and family responsibilities.

I absolutely believe that word Warcraft can be addictive! Why I mean this is for the simple fact that I have experience in this matter. I got into it about 6 months ago myself and began to enjoy the various ways in which you can build your character. Yet as I am a perfectionist, I needed to have my character better than others because I'm competitive. Ultimately I had to take a break from it and haven't played it since, but if I did I would surely limit it this time around. What do you guys think?

 

[sephyr]

What game is that, if you don't mind my asking? Not that I want to get addicted to any of them, but I would like to play something really enjoyable. I want to have fun, especially if I can play with others.

I don't have time for a gaming addiction, but I'd make some time to play a really good game.

I don't mind.
I switched to SWTOR then Final Fantasy XIV: ARR. However, i'm on game break at the moment because of RL work conflicts. I plan to get to it when I have more free time.