Battling Addiction

I was... um, I am a pretty big fan of Tyler Ward. He's a great musician... I love his songs... and he seems like he's a really chill guy.

I have no idea he had these problems though.



His video reminded me of the time when I was hooked on WoW. Granted that WoW is an excellent game and I still love it, I was very much addicted to the game... for years. It's not a major addiction, but it still affected my life and my studies (somewhat). And like all addicts, I was in denial about my addiction even though a small part of me is constantly nagging me... telling me that they (my parents) were right... that I was addicted.

I was very thankful that I have had a very strong will or I would have emerged from my addiction with even more "damage". At uni, I have a friends first policy that I could honestly say I've never broken. It's a struggle honestly... and it's not that I don't enjoy my friends' company, but the allure of WoW can be really strong... I was a total AH addict back then. I have this urge to check my listed items and relist items if I get undercut. It took up quite a lot of my time.

I also have a bit of a "kia su" (afraid to lose) attitude I suppose. No matter how much I long to play, I will still study for my exams and stuff.... but uh, maybe I just study a bit less and a bit more hurriedly, as well as study the subjects later than I would have liked (procrastinating). I got away with this (and still get OK results) for quite some time... until one day, I had a moment of terror when I completely can't recall the formulas I've memorized a few days earlier for a final exam.

It's the "blank" phenomenon... as we Msians call it and it scared the hell out of me. There I was thinking I had managed to do well with minimal studying but this one moment gave me the shock I needed. I still play WoW since then, but I'm a bit more careful about when and how long I play the game. I think that's when I realized that my future, my life... is more important than a virtual life.

And well, there's this: I have to keep my results up or I might lose my scholarship. So, yeah, I didn't went all cold turkey though... and I didn't delete any of my beloved characters, but I think they aren't there any more... it has been years since I last logged into the game.

Even after graduation, I still played the game for a bit, but I'm not sure why... the game starts to lose its hold on me. I still get addicted to games though, but now I know how to manage it... how to prioritise what real life stuff that I value more.

That said, although I still think WoW is the best MMO ever (I might try Guild Wars one day though... and maybe, I may change my mind :P) and that I would love to check out all the new stuff the game has had over the past few years, I'm now a bit afraid of playing WoW again.

Anyway, watching that gut-wrenching video of Tyler talking about his struggles made me realised how grateful I was to have a will that is strong enough to break myself free from my WoW addiction.



So.... that's all there is - my addiction story. What about yours?