MMORPGs...

They say the first step to quitting an addiction is admitting you have a problem. I have a problem.

I've been playing MMORPGs since the fall of 2002, when I started playing the now-defunct Earth and Beyond (I'd link it, but the site just redirects to EA's home page now). I had a good group of friends in the game, and that is really what hooked me about MMOs in general. My best friend from that game, Vindilion (link to his blog on the right) came with me to Final Fantasy XI in early 2004.

I played FFXI until about October of 2004. I quit for a few reasons. The main reason was that I was tempted by World of Warcraft, which I'll talk about in a minute. The other is the fact that FFXI basically requires that you group with 5 other people to get anything accomplished. Without that requirement, the game is perfect. Deep, vast, pretty to look at. But requiring a (competent) group is a deal breaker most night. Spending an entire night looking for a party (like I did tonight) is not a lot of fun.

I joined World of Warcraft two weeks after it was released. I immediately joined a great guild, led by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Everyone in the guild is fun to play with and extremely good at what they do. We raided countless dungeons, got tons of great loot, and had fun doing it. Unfortunately, the PvP Battlegrounds that everyone was looking forward to were not what the people in the guild were looking for. Everyone is quitting to go back to their original game, Dark Age of Camelot. I'm welcome to join them there if I wish.

My problem is that I don't like what the games are doing to my life. I've always been a gamer, I've always played a lot of games. With console games, I can pick them up and leave them whenever I wish. With online games, especially when I know a lot of people in-game, I feel like I have to play. If there's something going on, I feel like I need to be there. Even if there isn't anything going on, and I log in, I feel like I have to accomplish something. If I don't accomplish something, I get pissed off. It's ridiculous how seriously I can take these things.

So I think I'm going to quit. What am I going to do with my time? Hell, I don't know. I think I'll increase Netflix to three movies at a time, so I can see more movies on my list. I'll probably console game more. Maybe I'll start going to the YMCA again. I was doing well working out for a while there, but I basically stopped going once I joined WoW. I have a lot of projects going on around the house, maybe I'll finish them (/shock!). Dunno. Wish me luck.