Sunday, August 26, 2007

How True This Is...

I JUST got my computer back today, and JUST plugged it in. I am so excited. Anyway, I will work on uploading all of the pictures from our cruise, as I have a backlog of pictures now.

In the meantime, I was at work on Friday when someone sent this to me. I started laughing because I thought it was so true...I can SO relate.

It is an article that MSNBC did entitled

Game widows grieve ‘lost’ spouses

Mates have become consumed with ‘World of Warcraft,’ Second Life

I laughed so hard. They actually have a support group for wives whose spouses are SO consumed with this game (AKA WOW) that they feel as if they are grieving their loved one. I can SO relate. It is a sickness for some people. I swear the house could be burning down, and I would get an evil glare with a "I can't log out right now because I am in the middle of a quest with 4 other people counting on me".

About a month or so ago, Dave and I went out on a date and ALL he talked about was the WOW game. It's cute that he gets so excited, but really a grown man with a computer game? Sigh...

Of course I immediately called David and told him of this story. I was laughing the whole time. Funny thing though...he didn't think it was so funny. In fact, he got a little miffed. Huh, go figure.

To add fuel to the fire, Dave has reached a whole new level of nerd-dom. He actually went out and bought some kind of contraption that allows him to handsfree talk to people on his game while he is playing. It's a headset, and I think it is called Ventrillo. sigh.

All I'm saying is that I can't wait until Dave gets to level 70 and then he can dump the game altogether. He only has 10 more levels to go. I am also praying that the WOW people don't come out with ANOTHER expanded version of this game.

Just to pique your interest I will copy and paste the intro sentence to this article below:

Though their spouses and partners haven't gone to the great beyond, these particular widows and widowers say their loved ones have gone someplace that's almost as distant and unreachable. Some have left this world for the "World of Warcraft," others have forsaken this life for "Second Life" and still others have been taken away by "EverQuest," "Final Fantasy XI" and "Dark Age of Camelot."

It's actually quite sad if you really read the stories, as someone wrote that they have now spent over $1,000 on marriage counseling that doesn't seem to be working because her husband can't give up the game. She said they have been together for 11 years and had a few children as well. So, for all of you gamers out there...is it REALLY WORTH IT? Fast forward to 10 years later while you are still working on reaching the final level of whatever expansion they have come out with, by yourself on the couch with potato chips for dinner. Where's the family? Oh, they went out for dinner 9 1/2 years ago and somehow never came back.

All fun and games aside, apparently this can be a very dangerous addiction, and one that the American Medical Association actually considered adding as a "formal psychiatric disorder". A Reno couple was arrested after letting their children nearly starve to death while they were playing a role playing game.

You can read the full story by clicking on the below link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20397322/

4 comments:

Wendy said...

I was thinking the entire time you were talking about this game about that Reno couple. How very, very sad. At least they caught the couple before the kids died. It sounds like it can be very addicting. Good luck pulling David away. Hopefully he reaches level 70 before the birth of your child or you might be going solo. : )

Pam said...

There's a hilarious Southpark episode that specifically makes fun of World of Warcraft addicts.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/259612/south_park_world_of_warcraft

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAmZ93W2b7A

Hart's Haven said...

Hooray!!!! For getting your computer back. Can't wait for the updates.

Anonymous said...

Go WOW!!