A Lion's Tale
Posted on Friday, June 3, 2005 @ 10:42:06 pm C.S.T

I've been a 'Gamer Widow' for about two years now.  My husband and I were married last May, we're newlyweds, but it doesn't always feel like we're newlyweds.  In my own personal stereotype of what newlyweds are supposed to be like, they are all happy and romantic and all over each other in love and mushy and we are not exactly like that.  In fact, perhaps my husband and his video games are newlyweds!

Currently I'm a 'WoW Widow' also known as a World of Warcraft widow. World of Warcraft is a very popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing game, MMORPG, created by Blizzard Entertainment. My hubby started playing almost as soon as WoW, World of Warcraft, was released. Recovering from being a SOCOM II and Final Fantasy Online widow, I really tried hard to not get him the game and so I held out till about Christmas, but then his really good friend got it for him, so what could I do?

He convinced me to trade in the FFXI, Final Fantasy Online, subscription and get a WoW subscription for him instead, since I handle all the household finances, and I succumbed.

At first it wasn't too bad, but very soon after he was starting to become really addicted and I didn't understand it.  I would constantly talk to him about it and get very angry. So he cleverly decided that I needed to play too so that I could understand him better. I decided our marriage was worth it, so I joined up as well.

When created my own character on World of Warcraft he was already 15 levels ahead of me, and he was so enthusiastic about my playing and so excited about us playing together.  He even helped me level up, which translated to non-gamer-speak means he stopped progressing in the game to help me progress at a fast pace.  It actually felt really good to make those achievements as I reached higher and higher levels and doubly wonderful to see his reaction and enthusiasm as I advanced in the game. I felt like at least we were doing it together and I was a part of this crazy gaming world of his.

It wasn't long before I got addicted too.  I found myself one day sort of 'waking up' after 12 hours of playing the game.  I realized that in that week I hadn't cleaned, I hadn't paid any bills, and the worst thing, I didn't answer a phone call from my mom. (All my family lives in Canada, I live here in the US with my husband.  His family is my only family and a call from my mom means a lot to me).  When I realized what this game was turning me into I immediately quit.  I found myself dreaming about the game, having urges wanting to get back on. Boy did I ever start to understand my husband!

However, seeing myself reduced to that, I also realized how sickened I was by the addiction and disgusted that I could become that sort of person.  Thank goodness we don't have children!