Why I Quit World of Warcraft

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now, but kept putting it off to write about other things. World of Warcraft was such a big part of my life for a long time--I saw this loading screen almost every night for more than 2 years--and I needed some time to figure out why I quit. History grants perspective, I guess.

One of the reasons I'm writing it now is that it's been about a year since the guild I co-led fell apart. For some people, World of Warcraft is purely social; for others, it's extremely competitive and about improving your own character as much as possible. Neither is right nor wrong, but they definitely describe two very different approaches to the game. Many people think it can't be both. But my co-guild leader (Plugdo, a night elf priest) and I thought it could be. We wanted to make a guild that could do the high-end content, but never put success or the rewards from raiding above the people in the guild. We wanted guild members to be friends first, and hoped that would give the guild the solid foundation it needed for success.

And it worked great, for a while. The best times I had playing World of Warcraft were with that guild. I remember the first time that we took down a major boss (the ugly guy pictured to the right)--I had to call my little brother to tell him, I was so excited. But, like any relationship, there were bad moments along with the good. Members would quit that I thought were in it for the long haul, people would get greedy or act petty, and stuff like that would really hurt. My guild gave me the best times I had while playing World of Warcraft, but also the most stressful and most emotional.

In the end, the guild lasted about 6 months; in June of 2006 we called it quits because guild members (and leaders, to be honest) just weren't able or willing to put in the time and effort necessary to progress to the next level of the game. I think our idea behind the guild is still a possibility (I've seen other guilds that are very close to what we envisioned), but that the timing just wasn't quite right for us. At any rate, guild members scattered in many directions--some switched servers, some quit, some joined other guilds. And after that, World of Warcraft wasn't really the same for me.

I joined another guild that was more explicitly dedicated to being a serious guild, and while I liked the people a lot and enjoyed playing with them, it wasn't the same as me being in charge of a guild that I had a hand in building. I tried playing casually for a while, not doing much raiding but playing a lot in 5-person groups with family and friends, and while I enjoyed the people, I got bored with the content and wanted to be able to experience the more challenging content that I knew I was good enough to do.

Then the Burning Crusade expansion came out, and it was amazing. The zones were well-done, there were exciting quests and new instances to fight in. I thought it would help me get excited about the game again. But at some point, I just got overwhelmed. There was so much to do, all at once. There were quest chains to finish, reputation to earn, tradeskills to level, and money to acquire--all of which took a lot of time. Yes, I could have gone at a slower pace, completing things when I had time, but I'm the kind of player who thinks that if I'm going to play a game, I want to be competitive. And so, since the game was feeling too much like work, I decided to quit and give real life a chance again.

Am I sorry that I spent 2 years of my life playing World of Warcraft? Not at all. I learned a lot about myself, including aspects of my leadership style that are applicable in my real-life job. I met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun (like the time that I blinked into Mar'li the Spider boss in Zul'Gurub and ended the raid...I think you had to be there). And on top of that, I got to see firsthand the amazing creativity behind one of the most popular video games in the world.

But when you ask if I'm sorry that I quit, you'll get the same answer. I'm not at all sorry that I quit playing. I miss the people that I met while playing, and I miss feeling like I'm part of a larger community that's all working together to achieve a common goal. But at the end of the day, there's no getting around the fact that so much of what you're working for doesn't actually exist.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking World of Warcraft, those who love playing, or even MMOs in general. I think it's a terrific game and a great video game genre. It's just that I needed to switch my own focus from things I enjoyed in a virtual world to the things that inspired them in real life. And so now, I'm enjoying this "real" part of real life: I'm having fun making real music in the church choir, instead of just playing the stupid flute trinket from Stratholme; I'm enjoying cooking real meals, instead of leveling up my cooking skill another 3 levels in the game; I think it's great to go swimming in our pool instead of watching my character go swimming in a virtual lake; and I'm working to develop friendships based on mutual interests other than simply killing the next big dragon. It's not quite as exciting as living in a world filled with netherdragons, murlocs, and a complete set of Tirisfal Regalia (I still can't get over how sweet that set looks!...must...look...away..), but it's more satisfying and the rewards are longer-lasting.

I doubt that I'll ever start playing World of Warcraft again--it would be too easy to get sucked back into it (see above comment on Tirisfal Regalia). But I had a great time playing it, and to all those who helped make the game so much fun for me, thank you. May your journeys in Azeroth--or if you've moved on, Middle-Earth, a galaxy far, far away, or real life--be safe, fun, and filled with epixx! :)