World of Warcraft Addiction.

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My mother has been addicted to WoW for about two years now. She's unemployed, and used to be a full time house wife, but my sister and I both moved out several years ago (I'm back at home for a bit, but fully independant). She quite literally spends 14-16 hours a day on this thing, and I have even seen her do 30+ hour marathons, especially if she knows she's going somewhere.
For example, we own a block of land in the bush, which we frequently go camping on with friends and family. My mother will play as much as possible the few days before we leave, and not sleep at all the night before, so that she can sleep through much of the camping trip.
We've all told her how we feel, my father, sister, and ever her own mother and brother. She just grows angry and tells us to stop harassing her. At one stage I grew so annoyed with her that I literally walked in, pulled the plugs out of the back of the tower, picked it up and drove it to my girlfriends house.
She flew into a rage, threatened to divorce my father and moving out on her own. I believe she would do it too. I kept the computer for a few days before returning when my father requested. He said if they were going to seperate it should be for them to decide, not me.
There have been a few times I've sat down and actually spoken to her about her addiction. Throughout her life she's tried at various things. She has a fine art degree from one of the best Unis around (very tough to get, due to popularity), but she never suceeded in selling her art (she's very good, but it's an incredibaly tough career to be sucessful in). She also had several small buisnesses to do with art, which all failed as well. Finally, ever since giving birth to me, she's struggled with her weight. She has tried every diet under the sun, but never sticks with them.
She says that playing WoW makes her feel like she is sucessful at something, her character is one of the strongest on her server, apparently. She also claims that if she quit what else would she do all day? She's 50 years old, and claims that she's too old to work.
I've tried everything I can think of. I thought perhaps losing weight might make her feel better about herself. I monitered her calorie intake, prepared all her meals, and I tried to get her to do exercise, but often she'd grow angry again and tell me to leave. Another thing I should mention is I have a temper of my own, and when she snaps at me about this game, I snap back. It makes it a very difficult house to live in.
She needs to quit. It's killing her and our family. We can't just cut her off, because I believe she will take everything she can and move out. The house, car and everything is in her name, because my father owns his own company, and wanted nothing to be taken from him should he go bankrupt. She would be content to take it all, move into a tiny one room house, and live on pizza and coke till she died miserable and alone at 55 due to a heart attack. Needless to say since she started playing her weight problem has only increased.
I guess I'm looking for advice, but I also needed to share it with someone. I've been visiting the website [http://www.wowdetox.com][0] frequently over the past few weeks. It is a truely depressing site. I tried to get my mother to look at it - she wasn't interested. I even printed off some of the more moving posts and left it on her keyboard, but she ignored those too.
Sorry for the long ramble, any advice would be appreciated.
Another thing I should mention is that she is a good person, this post makes her sound like a horrible bitch that we'd probably be better off without. She's not. She was always a wonderful mother, had lots of friends, and we all love her very much, it is just this game, this addiction has changed her.
[0]: http://www.wowdetox.com

hey man thats a tough situation to be in.. and i do know. my dad is addicted to diablo, sad thing is i started him on it but had no idea that it would turn into such an addiction. we both started playin about 7 years ago, i quit after a about 4 months and hes been playin it to this day. the thing with him is that he works a lot so hes not constantly playing it, but after work thats pretty much all he does. hell go out with our family whenever we do and for the most part hes a good dad. both me my sister live at home, but ill be going of to college in few months, so i see him doing nothing else once we leave (parents do not have the greatest relationship). he has many times stayed up very late at night playing this game and then seems very grumpy and sluggish later. we have also all expressed our opinions to him and he has mostly ignored them. im not sure thers much we can do to get him to stop completely but have done other things. we changed the location of the computer to the main floor, so that he is always available to family whenever hes needed and he feels more a part of the family just by being in the same general area. the other one is still a work in progress, but this is the best bet at getting one off of their addiction. you have to get them hooked on something else. sports, building, gardening, etc. getting her out and about. maybe ask her to do some of these things together and maybe she will continue them. get her to join some clubs/make friends, get her to enjoy things outside of the computer game. anyways thats my two cents and i hope all will work out for the best and dont give up it just takes time!

hey hunn

I have to agree with Helms here. One thing people need to understand about games like WoW and EQII is they are very social. Often times people don't get addicted to the game itself, instead it's the social aspect of the game. A person who never felt fully accepted IRL can often times find acceptance in game life amongst people who share the same interests. Plus games like this help take you out of real life stresses and put you into a fantasy world. I myself play EQII; I play it almost everyday after work (Though usually skip weekends unless there is an event) even if it's just for an hour. I don't do it because I feel addicted; I do it because of the people I play with. I have bonded a great deal with a lot of people in the game. For me logging in the game to say hello to people is no different that calling someone on the cell phone. We even use a program called Ventrilo where we actually verbally talk to a group of people over the Internet, handy little device hehe.So though you might think your mother is over doing it, look at it as her social outlet, and if nothing else her creative outlet as well. Now I am not saying maybe she should minimize her use, because according to you her health is getting worse because of her lack on exercise. Best suggestion I can give is instead of trying to take her game away from her try and find ways to incorporate a healthy lifestyle around the game. Like myself for example, I go to the gym before I go home and even think about logging into the game. I also try and keep healthier snacks around the house because like most gamers I like to munch on something as I am playing; they go hand in hand lol. Just keep this all in mind when it comes to your mother.

Originally Posted By: ashley69

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when i get my laptop im gonna buy WoW just to see what its like. it looks pretty sweet, and i used to be completely hooked on diablo 2 lol..(but im not so bad now :grin: )

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Bah! EQII is much better graphically and mechanically as well. Come join my "addiction" hehe :smile:

what EQll???? what am i missing out on!!!

EverQuest II :smile:

Ya know, I would love to comment on how sad you gamers are, but I can't. I have an even worse addiction: This fucking website! Now how sad is that!?!?

Vangaurd > EQ2Planetside > Vanguard I'm done now >.>To the OP: I think you kind of... Have to let her figure out for herself what it's doing to her life, that or confront her a lot more bluntly, and boldly. Hell, Stage an intervention if she won't stop.

LoL.. most people I have talked to who went to play Vanguard were not happy and have come back to EQII. I guess there is a lot lacking in the game.

Yea, but they update it regularly enough to where if there is a problem, odds are it'll be fixed within the day.
I dunno, I'm still an old EQ1 Junkie

Originally Posted By: Java_AddictI dunno, I'm still an old EQ1 Junkie Same here hun, I played EQ1 almost from launch and up to when EQII Launched. I still have my account on EQ1; I have the All Access Pass.

I wouldn't mind if she played WoW in moderation, even if it it were excessive moderation. As she is currently though it's like she's dead already. The only time I see her is when she's going to the toilet, getting food from the kitchen or going to bed. Otherwise she's basically a very expensive, very ineffecient heater taking up our back room. Harsh, I know, but it's not like she talks to any of us, she doesn't clean up after herself, doesn't prepare any meals and she is a drain on the household - home doesn't feel safe and relaxing anymore.Mainly though, she doesn't look happy. I haven't seen her smile in the last month, I truely believe that she only plays because in comparison everything else seems boring. I honestly believe gaming addiction is as strong and dangerous as any drug addiction. I went through a minor phase of it myself in high school. Hell, I know tons of people addicted to WoW. One of my mates was addicted to meth and started playing WoW during his comedowns. Now he's a meth fiend that never leaves his house. I haven't see him in half a year. Just last week another close friend of mine was dumped by her BF because he'd rather play WoW than spend time with her. Another mate at Uni failed everything one year at Uni because he played WoW instead of going to class. His GF of three years broke up with him late last year too. wowdetox.com is peppered with thousands of cases which sound identical to drug abuse.I dunno, I don't feel I can leave her because it's destroying her and my father, and I keep reading things on that site about how people finally do quit, and after a month they feel so much better. I don't want to abandon her when I know she would have never given up on me.

Who said anything about abandoning your mother?? Either you didn't read my post or you ignored it, one of the two. She can have a healthy lifestyle and still play WoW. Perhaps if you and your family would try and incorporate these ideas instead of coming across harshly (like unplugging her comp and hiding it from her) she'd be more willing to listen. Any abrasive actions are not going to get any positive results. I am not going to go too in-depth about how to incorporate this as I have addressed it in my last post to you.And I don't mean to come off harsh but she is an adult and so are you. If you are unhappy and feel so unsafe at home than perhaps it's time to leave the nest. If it’s bothering you this much and she is not willing to change than it’s best to remove yourself from the situation. It’s not healthy for you or for your mother by the sounds of it.

I myself play alot of MMORPG's, I was hooked for one year, didn't really have a social life, although I think these games helped me through my depression, gave me peopel to talk to outside of school.I now just went back into WoW, although I've learned to control it, when I get the cahcne I'll go shoot hoops, and play WoW for an hour a night or so. The best thing to do is try and get her interested in something, even if it takes her off the computer for an houre less a day, it's still an hour a day. Try and figure out what she likes to do and figure a way to get her to do it.

I myself went through a WoW addiction. I played it for a good 6 months then decided to just drop it not let it go any farther and just quit. 4 months later i was back on it wasting away my life. I would sit on the computer ALL day playing the game. I would only get up to eat, go to the bathroom or sleep. I am homeschool so i had all the time in the world to play it. Finally one day i deleted all my characters on the game canceled my account and gave them game disk away to someone else. Since then my social life is alot better. Im working 5 days a week (Not bad for a 17 year old)and just plain out loving life. As for your mother im sorry to hear, the truth is its a HARD addiction to overcome. It truely is like a drug. It seems to me she gets on that game to live a whole different life, one far far away from her "real life" which she is probably trying to escape. As for how to get her away from the computer i can not help you on that. She is a grown women, and can make her own decisions, hopefully she will make one thats good for her, you, and the whole family. I wish you luck.

Originally Posted By: Megadeth90I myself went through a WoW addiction. I played it for a good 6 months then decided to just drop it not let it go any farther and just quit. 4 months later i was back on it wasting away my life. I would sit on the computer ALL day playing the game. I would only get up to eat, go to the bathroom or sleep. I am homeschool so i had all the time in the world to play it. Finally one day i deleted all my characters on the game canceled my account and gave them game disk away to someone else. Since then my social life is alot better. Im working 5 days a week (Not bad for a 17 year old)and just plain out loving life. As for your mother im sorry to hear, the truth is its a HARD addiction to overcome. It truely is like a drug. It seems to me she gets on that game to live a whole different life, one far far away from her "real life" which she is probably trying to escape. As for how to get her away from the computer i can not help you on that. She is a grown women, and can make her own decisions, hopefully she will make one thats good for her, you, and the whole family. I wish you luck. I too am addicted to this game...tried to quit multiple times. My account runs out in like 3 weeks, I don't think I'm gonna renew. Nice to see someone in the same situation, I'm 17 too and about to get a job :P.

When I was a WoW addict that has played for 2 1/2 years and for many of months have played for over 100 hours a week, I have some helpful tips to help a person quit. 1. Show her that there is more to life than a game, she is most likely playing it because she has nothing better to do. Encourage her friends to go out with her or take her to lunch one day and just talk. 2. INTERVENTION! Sit her down one day and have everyone close to her tell her how this has changed them.WoW addiction is very unhealthy physically, mentally and emotionally. As I've said to many of my friends after I quit, World of Warcraft can drain the soul out of a person.

Yo take it from me. I managed 300 hours of WoW in 2 months. Get her a treadmill or something if you dont already have one. I never got around to trying this but have her on it slowly as she plays, like 1.5-2 mph. Itll keep her metabolism up, as well as trim her legs. Dont try anything like the arm weights. Anything thatll distract her. She'll end up getting pwned by a furbolg and being pissed.Just dont screw with her game, do little passive things, or things like the treadmill, so its a win win situation, dont take it away but make sure she cares about her family more than her toon.

I just broke my WoW addiction, was kinda hard leaving all my online friends behind, but I know its for the best.Just make sure to have something to replace WoW with, because right now I'm bored as hell :P.