The Daily Grind: How do you cope without your favourite MMO?

by Lesley Smith Jun 24th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Events, real-world, The Daily Grind

There are always going to be times when, due to real life commitments, you can't play your favourite MMO, whether it's a month of exams or an important week at work. I started playing WoW in November 2006 and was on the cusp of getting the game when my first month ran out and I had to fly back to Norfolk from Exeter for Christmas. My mother doesn't have broadband and is a little scared by technology (it's taken me two years to show her how to use a DVD player) so I didn't bother bringing my laptop. This meant over a month without the internet or WoW. It was during this time that I realised how much the game had gotten its claws into me. When I got back, a couple of days before The Burning Crusade was released, I re-rolled to my current main and haven't looked back since.

During that month I started to take an interest in the game. I hit the library and devoured WoWWiki, I researched the lore of my chosen class and that of Azeroth itself. Then I started reading the novels and finally, I was reduced to watching YouTube videos to get a better idea of how the game had evolved as well as a peek at the endgame. So, constant readers, let's say something in real life has meant you can't play your MMO of choice for a couple of weeks, how do you cope? Do you do something totally different? Do you use other media about said MMO (like YouTube or novels) to get your fix?

Tags: mmo, no-internet, real-life, the-daily-grind, world-of-warcraft, wow, wowwiki

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Yahree said on 8:31AM 6-24-2009

My girlfriend and I spent 4 months without internet when we got a really great opportunity to move to Vermont, live on a farm and make some good money.

It was hard, boring and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. She wants nothing more than to give up the internet again so she might get back to writing or drawing. I found that I just didn't do anything at all when I didn't have it.

Before, wow consumed us. After, it consumes us again. In the middle... I didn't miss it so much but when Lich king came out I wanted to play again.

Arkanaloth said on 8:38AM 6-24-2009

it's exceedingly rare for GuildWars to have downtime.. FFXI does from time to time so I just play GW.

Chaosgerbil said on 9:54AM 6-24-2009

Exactly what I used to do, now I just dip in and out of GW got the games cheap and no monthly fees making me feel 'obliged' to play all the time.

max said on 8:51AM 6-24-2009

WoW's downtime is so over the top ridiculous these days. I find myself getting angry every Tuesday with the idiots Blizzard has working for them. How many years has it been since the game launched? Oh, what's that, the PTR is pointless because you STILL have no clue how to implement a patch on the live servers?

Jack said on 6:19PM 6-24-2009

Really stop crying blizzard for years try keep there downtime on the same week day! You already known there gonna be downtime way before time like almost 24 hours and blizzard is telling for years to not plan noting on the day. Be happy they maintain at all like the servers will be lagging even more when they did not. There database is huge it just will take them hours too load alone this is not a easy process and lots can go wrong!

Kim said on 9:05AM 6-24-2009

Nowadays I can play MMOs without getting total addicted. Took me 8 years (I started playing shortly after UO got on the shelves) but I'm finally cured.

Bam! said on 10:19AM 6-24-2009

This. For me it was middleschool with Asheron's Call. I was consumed for about 3 years, now I can't play for more than 30 minutes without getting bored.

OrganiClockwork said on 9:30AM 6-24-2009

I'm not really the kind of person that goes through withdrawals when I can't play my favorite game, but I have been known to scour WoWwiki to look up interesting tidbits of lore for use in my RP when servers are down or I simply can't play.

JP said on 9:45AM 6-24-2009

I just play a platform game, or see if there is anything on HBO in-demand.

I don't currently have that "need" to play. The game I'm playing now is just filler until JGE and TOR come out. If the servers are down, I could care less.

Soylent said on 10:32AM 6-24-2009

I like to read the forums of the game for a while, or just play some offline games.

W. Graves said on 10:35AM 6-24-2009

update the corp forums.... or actually get some work done.... but downtime ends here at 8am so i rarely am alive during DT.

Drackni said on 11:39AM 6-24-2009

I cant buy a new month subscription for my wow account it really sucks i was hacked now i cant buy anything it just comes up with a message saying "payment method bocked" Im not sure what to do. Its driving me insane

Evi said on 2:00PM 6-24-2009

Sounds like you need to contact customer service.

Amana said on 11:55AM 6-24-2009

Like this?
http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/wow-freakout/321846

Darkop said on 11:56AM 6-24-2009

Eve player here, the game has a daily 1 hr downtime where I grab some lunch and watch some pvp videos from the forums. When I'm away from home I just set a long skill train, forget about the game, and take a stack of DVD's to watch so I don't get bored.

colin said on 2:07PM 6-24-2009

If a game is down I normally just call up some friends and go out some where. Not really that big of a deal in my life. Or just play another game.

DylanGrissom said on 12:30PM 6-24-2009

WAR has had some down time recently and I found myself going back to bed most of the time and/or watching TV.

Hub said on 2:16PM 6-24-2009

Back to the books. Games are great but you can't live on them or you just get 'the grind' rage

Graill said on 4:58PM 6-24-2009

Other than trying the occasional beta (which never last more than a day or so), there are no MMO's out currently taking my money or my time, that all goes to FE rc boating, fly fishing and friends, being retired helps too. Bahahahaha.