Victus Spiritus

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Why I pulled the plug on my favorite escape

10 Jan 2011

World of Warcraft, for those not familiar with online gaming, is a huge and beautiful virtual roleplaying world. It's also a seductive time sync.

I was going to try moderately playing an hour or two a week but that's hardly an instance (5 man dungeon) or a few quests which would be frustrating. I forget how to play characters well, or where I leave off after a few day break. In addition I enjoy playing many different characters, and the system fluctuates leading to a soft minimum play time required per week, aka a second or third job.

I was using it as an excuse to procrastinate work related tasks which are much more important to my future - looking for web startup jobs, working on side projects, going to tech meetups, and learning/reading in my spare time. It's an enchanting and fun game but it's also a black hole of free time. Why struggle with problem X when I can bang out some xp or get sweet loot for a blood elf or bear.

My current subscription ends January 16th. I may hop on periodically to unload some wow gold to friends I'm still indebted to, but it's better for me not to have the easy option of playing when my professional future requires all the enthusiasm, time and effort I can muster.

Farewell Azeroth, I hardly knew you.