Why so Negative? WoW and the unpainted Dark Eldar
This post is more of a personal thing than anything, but probably worth sharing.
I resubbed to WoW when cataclysm hit. I am ashamed. But, its OK, for it is now cancelled again.
The expansion was a damp squib, the content was easily blasted through, even when trying to keep the pace slow. The whole thing was just "meh". Add to this a security breach at my partners work which left my partners main character of 6 years naked next to a post box(got her email details), and there was just no incentive to play.
The other thing I noticed, with nice empirical data, is just how much more productive I am without the time-sink that is WoW. So much so, that when I resubbed I had a desk full of unpainted and unassembled models, a stack of catch up learning for work and two parts of the existing assassins creed trilogy to play through.
It has been a revelation just exactly how much time you lose to MMOs. Since quitting once and for all, I have assembled and stage 1'd 500 point of dark eldar, and finished stage 1 on my menite jacks,
(which allowed me to field a painted force for once!)
Still a long way before they are finished , but the basics are in place, time for blending and doing the rivets etc now. The time it would normally take to log in, faff about, do a daily or two and tank/heal a few instances, and I have a fully painted force. I mean seriously Grum, what the fuck were you thinking wasting all that time!
My total /played was over 200 days, in 5 years, that's 1825 days, with 200 lost. Nearly 11% of my life for 5 years. Bear in mind that there were year long stretches of no playing, time at work and sleeping and you get the following:
1825 Days
43800 Hours
14600 Avg. Hrs Asleep
16425 Avg. Hrs Working
12775 hours left...
3650 Travelling
4800 Hours in WoW.
4325 Hours to do everything else. Relationship, homebuilding, the lot...that's just 180 days from a potential 1825 left to actually have a life.
Those sums are approximate, but the point should be clear. I cant get that time back. The pleasure of wargaming is the good memories, strong friendships, and masses of painted mini's that represent years of effort. I could have almost doubled the amount of actual fun had I not been playing WoW...
Then there's EVE, LOTRO, DDO, AoC and COH...the numbers are scary...I have played more games that have left me with nothing but stress and bad memories than I have actually had any time for.
It got to the stage, in 2009, where I was playing 2 EVE accounts on one box and WoW on the laptop at the same time! That was my first wake-up call to the fact that I am not getting younger, and that time is just...gone...
I made friends in wow, sure, but that's what facebook chat is for now really, like a guild channel without the time sink.
The 80 hours I spent playing through mass effect 1 & 2, assassins creed etc, they dont feel wasted, I followed a story from A to B, and had fun, and have lasting memories and the same emotional experience that a really good book can leave you with. I never felt that with WoW or EVE. The universe is just there, unchanging and static, nothing changes, no impact is felt( yes, I know, cataclysm and phasing..but it's hardly the same as a single player game).
My reburst of energy is tremendous as well, I am more efficient at work, never late, never grumpy, I have lost nearly a Stone (14lbs for our colonial cousins), and had to buy new jeans as my current set of clothes was literally falling off me. I have quit smoking, which was a hand in hand partner to gaming, and find the ability to just "pause" a game and go and make decent, healthy, cooked food or clean up a little or deal with a call from work has let the stress melt away!
I feel so much better about life, and myself, without wow, without smoking, that I have my first regrets in life.
Sometimes you need to regret the things you do.
I resubbed to WoW when cataclysm hit. I am ashamed. But, its OK, for it is now cancelled again.
The expansion was a damp squib, the content was easily blasted through, even when trying to keep the pace slow. The whole thing was just "meh". Add to this a security breach at my partners work which left my partners main character of 6 years naked next to a post box(got her email details), and there was just no incentive to play.
The other thing I noticed, with nice empirical data, is just how much more productive I am without the time-sink that is WoW. So much so, that when I resubbed I had a desk full of unpainted and unassembled models, a stack of catch up learning for work and two parts of the existing assassins creed trilogy to play through.
It has been a revelation just exactly how much time you lose to MMOs. Since quitting once and for all, I have assembled and stage 1'd 500 point of dark eldar, and finished stage 1 on my menite jacks,
 |
| Camera on Phone has bright flash... |
 |
| About to fail... |
Still a long way before they are finished , but the basics are in place, time for blending and doing the rivets etc now. The time it would normally take to log in, faff about, do a daily or two and tank/heal a few instances, and I have a fully painted force. I mean seriously Grum, what the fuck were you thinking wasting all that time!
My total /played was over 200 days, in 5 years, that's 1825 days, with 200 lost. Nearly 11% of my life for 5 years. Bear in mind that there were year long stretches of no playing, time at work and sleeping and you get the following:
1825 Days
43800 Hours
14600 Avg. Hrs Asleep
16425 Avg. Hrs Working
12775 hours left...
3650 Travelling
4800 Hours in WoW.
4325 Hours to do everything else. Relationship, homebuilding, the lot...that's just 180 days from a potential 1825 left to actually have a life.
Those sums are approximate, but the point should be clear. I cant get that time back. The pleasure of wargaming is the good memories, strong friendships, and masses of painted mini's that represent years of effort. I could have almost doubled the amount of actual fun had I not been playing WoW...
Then there's EVE, LOTRO, DDO, AoC and COH...the numbers are scary...I have played more games that have left me with nothing but stress and bad memories than I have actually had any time for.
It got to the stage, in 2009, where I was playing 2 EVE accounts on one box and WoW on the laptop at the same time! That was my first wake-up call to the fact that I am not getting younger, and that time is just...gone...
I made friends in wow, sure, but that's what facebook chat is for now really, like a guild channel without the time sink.
The 80 hours I spent playing through mass effect 1 & 2, assassins creed etc, they dont feel wasted, I followed a story from A to B, and had fun, and have lasting memories and the same emotional experience that a really good book can leave you with. I never felt that with WoW or EVE. The universe is just there, unchanging and static, nothing changes, no impact is felt( yes, I know, cataclysm and phasing..but it's hardly the same as a single player game).
My reburst of energy is tremendous as well, I am more efficient at work, never late, never grumpy, I have lost nearly a Stone (14lbs for our colonial cousins), and had to buy new jeans as my current set of clothes was literally falling off me. I have quit smoking, which was a hand in hand partner to gaming, and find the ability to just "pause" a game and go and make decent, healthy, cooked food or clean up a little or deal with a call from work has let the stress melt away!
I feel so much better about life, and myself, without wow, without smoking, that I have my first regrets in life.
Sometimes you need to regret the things you do.
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