creighton0123 Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 Let's face it. It's winter. It's effin cold outside and there are ten foot snowbanks with 1 foot wide sidewalks. Last week, I would be sharing a couch with my significant other of just over 2 years. Now, however, as all of you know, I will be spending quite some time alone in a socially isolated area. Plenty of quiet nights on a quiet street in the suburbs. Has anyone on here successfully used World of Warcraft or other similar games as a crutch to fill empty time when you can't socialize with people in person? I'll be at work all day, have the next four weekends booked with activities, but can only watch so much TV or listen to so much radio/music at night during the week. I think playing online with real people and talking to them over Ventrilo is a great way to pass the time until I grow used to being alone again.
KatZee Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 That is the WORST way to get used to being social with people. In fact, sitting in your house alone, on Ventrilo with little kids on a computer game is the opposite of being social. Especially WoW. That game will suck your life away and you'll be more of a hermit than ever before. Especially if you're going to be playing it as frequently as you say. Why don't you check Meetup.com for events in your area... it's better to be out with new people than home alone with your thoughts and a Ventrilo headset on.
Author creighton0123 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 I think you have a backwards perception of gamers.... I'm already doing meetup events, but that doesn't change getting home at 7:30 to 8PM every night and having nothing to do for a few hours until bed, minus cooking dinner and cleaning. The guild I belong to is an adults only LGBT guild (my people), a few who are local to me and whom I have met in person. I would perhaps play at most 2 hours a night during the week and not play at all on Friday/Saturday. There simply isn't much socialization during the week for me. Not only do I tend to have work to do from 8PM to 11PM every night during the week (at home), if I'm not keeping busy I am often just left there looking at the TV. WoW would at least afford me people to talk to whom I am familiar with. Not talking about playing 5 hours a night, mind you. Just an hour or two on weeknights between work tasks.
Love Bytes Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 Let's face it. It's winter. It's effin cold outside and there are ten foot snowbanks with 1 foot wide sidewalks. Last week, I would be sharing a couch with my significant other of just over 2 years. Now, however, as all of you know, I will be spending quite some time alone in a socially isolated area. Plenty of quiet nights on a quiet street in the suburbs. Has anyone on here successfully used World of Warcraft or other similar games as a crutch to fill empty time when you can't socialize with people in person? I'll be at work all day, have the next four weekends booked with activities, but can only watch so much TV or listen to so much radio/music at night during the week. I think playing online with real people and talking to them over Ventrilo is a great way to pass the time until I grow used to being alone again. Try to enjoy the massive snowfall. Pick up skiing or snowboarding, it'll not only get you excited about something, but it'll also help you get in better shape, to prepare you for when you're ready to go on the prowl again.
Author creighton0123 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 Love, I would, but... money. I'm still exercising. I'm still taking care of myself, eating well, etc. etc. Evenings are just going to be pretty quiet for the next few weeks until I get a roommate in. Edit: Again, this is evening during the week, not the weekend. Can't exactly go skiing/snowboarding during the week ;-)
Love Bytes Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 Love, I would, but... money. I'm still exercising. I'm still taking care of myself, eating well, etc. etc. Evenings are just going to be pretty quiet for the next few weeks until I get a roommate in. Edit: Again, this is evening during the week, not the weekend. Can't exactly go skiing/snowboarding during the week ;-) Most places are open till 10. I hear you tho...it's an expensive hobby for sure...
Author creighton0123 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 Yeah, but the closest place is a 45 minute to an hour drive away and my work schedule makes it impossible to do this during the week. In fact, my work schedule makes most everything impossible during the week until I move back into the city on June 1. Anyone else? Anyone successfully and responsibly use MMO games to keep oneself occupied after a breakup - as a casual player, not a hard-core player?
Sexy Teddy Bear Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 I use to do it all the time. Playing video games was so relaxing for me. All the stress I had was gone in 10 minutes. It didn't matter how I felt, games always fixed it. When both my grandmothers and my grandfather all died in the same year (i know, that's pretty s**t) I just hopped on my PC and played some DayZ, or opened up Hammer and started making a custom map for CSGO and all my worries were gone. Since my ex broke up with me last week however, I no longer have any desire to even play any games. I tried playing some Fallout 2 the other day, and I just couldn't do it. I was actually too sad to play, and I was having a blast with it the day before the break up. Maybe I should try to force myself to do these things I use to love. I'm sure if I did, I would eventually lose myself in them again and forget all the pain. If only for a while.
Author creighton0123 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 Sexy, I agree. I have a few games I can play, but figured WoW might be the best given that it involves voice socialization with people I'm familiar with, as opposed to finishing up Ni No Kuni, Amalur, or playing some Halo by myself. I can play WoW on one monitor and do my work on the other monitor.
Sexy Teddy Bear Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 Yeah, I can understand that. DayZ can offer me the same kind of voice socialization that WoW offers you. Especially if I can get together with a few of my friends online and form a nice little squad and start tactically making our way to the NW Airfield. I literally can't think of anything else then, all my focus is in the game.
meeji Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 Let's face it. It's winter. It's effin cold outside and there are ten foot snowbanks with 1 foot wide sidewalks. Last week, I would be sharing a couch with my significant other of just over 2 years. Now, however, as all of you know, I will be spending quite some time alone in a socially isolated area. Plenty of quiet nights on a quiet street in the suburbs. Has anyone on here successfully used World of Warcraft or other similar games as a crutch to fill empty time when you can't socialize with people in person? I'll be at work all day, have the next four weekends booked with activities, but can only watch so much TV or listen to so much radio/music at night during the week. I think playing online with real people and talking to them over Ventrilo is a great way to pass the time until I grow used to being alone again. What server are u on? I also play. Its funny that u mentioned WoW... funny story! If we meet up in azeroth I'll tell u. I dont wanna post it here. I have many alts. I socialize just fine but the game is good for killing time oe redirecting your thoughts away from your ex.
Amelie1980 Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 I've spent so much money on amazon buying dvds. I have nothing else to do now.
Fitnerd Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 (edited) I haven't posted in a while (figured I needed some time off from LS) but I just had to reply to this! There is nothing wrong with playing WoW in your free time as long as you can control yourself As in, if you can go out, don't avoid it to stay in and play. I myself am a huge WoW nerd, but I also workout a lot, am careful about what I eat, etc etc... not bragging, just saying I'm not the "fat nerd" type ^^ I have played WoW on and off for the last 8 years and have never been addicted, I always take a 2-3 months break after playing for 2-3 months and it's especially helpful in the times when you are alone (like you said, after work at night for example) and wanna socialize, it's still more fun than watching tv! It helped me a lot during my recovery! so go for it! Edit: Hai KatZee! Edited February 14, 2013 by Fitnerd
Toddbt12y1 Posted February 14, 2013 Posted February 14, 2013 LOL hey WoW is okay. Granted between hospital, workouts I rarely have time for it. I play a resto-druid...no not hardcore. I still enjoy my friends and beach/fishing/bowling time! Besides my Druid is only in lfr crap ha... Me and my ex played together,she had a gnome Magellan. Yet I still had tons of time with her/other areas of life. But it can envelope your life...if you let it. Kul'tiras! For eight years...very casually for eight years.
Author creighton0123 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Posted February 14, 2013 (edited) meeji, I'm on Proudmoore. Fitnerd: Same. I got addicted once during Burning Crusade, but I also lived in a rural area with little to do at night during the winter. I completely skipped Wrath, played a little hardcore for a month of Cataclysm, and haven't really played Pandaria aside from leveling my first 90. Toddbt, I also play a resto druid. I despise raiding now, but like the occassional raid finder. Mostly, I just do daily quests and a dungeon or two and then sign off. Edited February 14, 2013 by creighton0123 1
Fitnerd Posted February 15, 2013 Posted February 15, 2013 Oh, as for me, I first started playing on US servers when EU servers didn't exist yet as a rogue, moved on during TBC to EU servers, made a balance druid and after that feral (I will never play a healer!). After that, made a mage. Until Cata, my druid was my main but switched to mage during MoP. I then lvled a panda rogue from 80 to 90 (got a scroll of ressurection from a friend, you get a free lvl 80!). Raided a bit, pvped less (while I'm always a pvper at heart, the game was too unbalanced) and stopped. Now, I like playing a few dota 2 games to blow off steam (pun intended )
eduardo23 Posted February 15, 2013 Posted February 15, 2013 Love the game talk on here lol. It sounds like you are doing a lot of things to help you get over your breakup and grow, so go ahead and responsibly play some games. It only becomes an issue if it starts interfering with other aspects of your life. Everyone has a few hobbies, if yours is gaming go for it. 1
Els Posted February 15, 2013 Posted February 15, 2013 I think it depends on you as a person. If you're prone to addictive tendencies, I wouldn't recommend it, since if you get addicted it will make it even more difficult for you to attain what you desire in the future - a stable, happy R. If you've played WoW before and nothing bad became of it, I'd say go for it. I played quite a bit of WoW when my relationship was long-distance and it really, really did help the feeling of loneliness. It's a little counterproductive for people to say: Go out with friends instead!, when most of us don't have friends at our beck and call to hang out IRL with when we're up and feeling sad and lonely at 1am. I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive when you can hang out with friends IRL and still play WoW when friends aren't available to hang out with. When our relationship became a local R I had no problems cutting down on the time that I spent in it, so yeah, I suppose it was a fairly healthy way of coping with loneliness for me. If you're not going to raid, how do you intend to talk to people though? Do you already have friends there? Nobody uses Vent for anything else anymore (except PVP) and LFR is usually so full of childish bull**** that I usually just AFK through it.
Author creighton0123 Posted February 15, 2013 Author Posted February 15, 2013 Elswyth, My guild is pretty big with an active vent server. There are always six or seven people on vent - the hardcore members of the guild. It is also a raiding guild, but allow for casual members who, like me, are willing to support the guild's raiding efforts. There was a little funk with some of them a few months back when they continued to try to get me to raid (I'm great at whack-a-mole healing in a raid environment), but as long as I continue serving them feasts and potions and the like, they're fun to play with. Right now, I'm on their raid standby party with the promise that if I am online and one of their healers drops out, I will come in for a single boss fight while they work on finding a replacement healer. Haven't done that in a while, but when I did do that, I would only raid for an hour and wouldn't roll on loot. Do loot rolls still exist?
KatZee Posted February 15, 2013 Posted February 15, 2013 Edit: Hai KatZee! Welcome back! (At least for now )
Els Posted February 16, 2013 Posted February 16, 2013 Elswyth, My guild is pretty big with an active vent server. There are always six or seven people on vent - the hardcore members of the guild. It is also a raiding guild, but allow for casual members who, like me, are willing to support the guild's raiding efforts. Oh, that's pretty cool. I've been on and off from WoW nowadays, and the only thing that keeps me coming back now is the guild that I've been with for a few years and met IRL. If they stopped playing I'd probably never subscribe again. There was a little funk with some of them a few months back when they continued to try to get me to raid (I'm great at whack-a-mole healing in a raid environment), but as long as I continue serving them feasts and potions and the like, they're fun to play with. Right now, I'm on their raid standby party with the promise that if I am online and one of their healers drops out, I will come in for a single boss fight while they work on finding a replacement healer. Haven't done that in a while, but when I did do that, I would only raid for an hour and wouldn't roll on loot. Do loot rolls still exist? That sounds good - so you get to play casually and talk to your friends to boot. One word of caution is that it's not that easy nowadays to catch up to the required gear level to perform even decently in a 10/25m if you're playing casually. That's why I'm not even playing casually now that I've quit raiding because I don't want to make the commitment. A lot of progression loot is locked behind gating mechanisms - you need a certain ilvl to enter LFR, a higher ilvl to enter better LFRs, reputation to unlock valor items, dailies to get the reputation, etc. Catch-up was much easier in previous xpacs IMO. Loot rolls still exist in 10m and 25m.
A n t h o n y Posted February 16, 2013 Posted February 16, 2013 Well the first problem is you should be playing League of Legends =P
Author creighton0123 Posted February 16, 2013 Author Posted February 16, 2013 Heh. Don't want to get into a new MMO. Too much effort required to get to a place where playing is satisfactory.
Els Posted February 16, 2013 Posted February 16, 2013 League of Legends isn't even a MMO, it's an overly-glorified version of DotA. *hides*
A n t h o n y Posted February 16, 2013 Posted February 16, 2013 League of Legends isn't even a MMO, it's an overly-glorified version of DotA. *hides* /Puke .
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