Wow is not bad, I just hate the fact that you have to team up with people to really get the best of the End Game.
As an older player I can't bring myself to group up with 13yr olds to do high level instances.

UO was better in that aspect.

Excellent post KBV!

I am a computer game addict. It is REALLY hard to not play. I got into the original Ultima Online when it was the first MMORPG on the market. I called in sick for work some days because I played UO until 5am or later. In the end, I had a moment of clarity and gave the game account away to someone and asked them to destroy the account if they didn't like the game - I didn't want it back. I can never allow myself to play another MMORPG again, they are just TOO addictive for me.

I made another error in judgment when the Star Wars Galaxies game first came out: I bought a copy as a birthday gift for a friend. Now he and his wife have 4 ACCOUNTS! I should have just bought them cocaine or heroin, at least there are treatment facilities for drugs. I never see my friend anymore because he is hopelessly addicted to that game. His wife talks like the people she meets in the game are more real that people she sees face-to-face.

MMORPGs are very dangerous to people with a certain type of personality. I am one of those people. I have to keep away from them at all costs. I now limit myself to games like GalCiv (which I can save and turn off whenever I want) and Counter-Strike (with short, timed game rounds).

- Proud Canadian

I'm more than 3 weeks WoW free.

In a couple of weeks my brother is going down to London to meet about 10 members of his EVE-Online Corporation. These guys chat to each other using teamspeak everyday and many of them have been doing so for well over a year. I think that's great, for them its no different than talking to a friend on the phone.

My ATR Guild had a huge party in Phili, in my house...It was great.

Yep, games like that really are addictive. I've heard of a lot of people sucked into WoW. My own hubby would rather do nothing with his free time than play computer games, but

I forbid him to let games dominate his free time.

I let him play only when all the work is done, and the baby is asleep, or the day is over. JU is addictive too...I've been off it pretty much all summer; right now I'm having a sleepless night. As I clicked over to JU I felt my stomach mildly churn. Oh no, not the JU addiction again. I'm clean though. I'm going back to bed now.

the same thing usually happens with me it comes in stages like id only play RTW for a week then as i got bored id switch to civ 3 and as that came old id go back to starcraft and so on and so forth

as of right now i really havnt gotten a game were id just do that for months on end but then again i really havent played mmorpgs that much so u never know...

I also can't play the samething over and over but I have been able to play certain games for alone time. I have been playing WoW since its release and played Phantasy Star Online for along time as well. I also still play Warcraft III: TFT every once in awhile also. The way I keep my hardcore gaming going is to simply throw other games into the mix. Right now I am playing about 5 games at once, of varying types. Most of the games are games you just beat and they offer little replayability so I won't continue on with the indefinitley. Works for me.

Since this has been a dead summer in terms of really good gaming for me. I've spent my time split between playing a majhong game, Rome Tw, and as many online downloadable games I can get my hands on

I played WoW. I stopped playing 2 weeks before my first paid month ran out.

But I also played a heckuva lot while I was playing.

Is that addiction?

/shrug

the purpose of games is to entertain and to consume your spare time. of course if a game is really great it is very easy to forget about the real world. its a question of discipline. ppl have to realize that escaping the real world and beeing part of a fantasy world is nice and relaxing, however sooner or later real life will come knock at your door and you will have to deal with your problems and responsibilities... so better log out earlier and get some work done. afterall the gaming experience is much better if you dont know you actually have this and that to do and shouldnt play really.

I played Jumpgate, EVE, Shattered Galaxy, beta tested alot of stuff (Lineage2, EQ2...) and am playing Dark Age of Camelot since 2001. I had a short DAoC break while I was playing WoW. went to level 60 realized the pvp,pvp-reward and battleground system sucked and beside that there is only EQ-ing through 20-40 ppl instanced dungeons for item-farming left so I canceled and went back to DAoC which still has the best PvP on the market.

the key to non-addicted playing of MMOGs is to realized that if you play 24/7 you may achieve something in the game fast, but afterall you can achieve the very same over a longer period while not playing so much per day. if you rushed to the maximum level, grinded and farmed for the best possible equipment, did everything possible, what will be left to do for you? nothing, unless an expansion comes along. therewhile you probably lost your job, your friends, your wife etc.

so MMOGs arent a problem if you just take your time. whatever you could achieve today in the game can always be achieved later so instead going out with friends may be a better activity for this evening.
power gaming takes away alot of fun too. ^^

A MMORPG which upgrades your player based on how wise your moves generally are instead of "who did the most"

You mean like Ultima Online was before they turned it into another crappy game that's all about killing lot of monsters.... UO was the wild WILD West of online gaming. If you were a newbie your heart just pounded as you stepped out of protection of the guards. Not that the guardzone was safe either. There were pleanty of dangers for an uneducated poor newbie. Such as poisoned food left lying around. Or the unsuspecting (Trapped)crates which blew you up when you dared to peek inside. All those hazards were brought to you courtesy of your griefing fellow players. Who took satisfaction in robbing the weak and unwise adventurers of their valuables and their life.

When I started playing that game I was killed constantly, up to 10 tiems a day, usually by other players. Thous sometimes my own ignorance caused my demise. I wont even mention the deaths I suffered at the hands of the monsters Who woudl suspect a spider would poison me? I dont even know how I made it through the initial months. Thou I did wise up. Spending my first weeks dividing time between mining (I didnt plan on being a miner, I just herd a rumor it made you stronger), dying to weak monsters like skeletons, and ofcourse walkign around the world as a ghost, I quickly absorbed my surroundings. Within 6 months I was the one doing some of the kicking. By years end. I did most of it. Eventually pretty much all of it. Sadly by that time the game has changed so much. Fighting whole guilds by myself or with a partner, I started to wonder how long before it would be unplayable? Every patch seemed like a step closer to infinity. With each patch they robbed the advantage the wise player had over the dumb player who just plays too much or a horde of clueless newbies. Eventually I just threw in the towel, it jsut wasnt worth it.

Sorry for the endless ramblings, but I couldnt stop writing UO was the best turned worst game I have ever played! All the friends I made while playing I keep in contact with (Well those that are around the net anyway). Many of them were from other countries. We sometiems run into eachother in strange other games, have a few laughs and see which oen fo us quits the current game first (None of em messure up in the end).