Forever
Friends. I stand on the precipice of addiction. Like a crack addict who has beaten the habit and stumbled upon an errant crack pipe, I stare at the precipice of the pipe’s lip. I lean forward. My mouth hovers over the beloved cauldron that held my crack and scorched its contents into my lungs — and I lick the bowl.
I have logged back into World of Warcraft.
Have you ever heard hoof-beats echo in the amaranthine paradise of Zangarmarsh? Have you ever jonesed for Botanica?
You’re never really free of WoW’s talons. Your mind never recovers once your nostrils inhale deep of WoW’s pure item-hungry powder.
I keep pictures.
Look at her. Look at my female warrior.
When you die in WoW, you become a spirit of your character and have to run back to your slain body to resurrect yourself. In this screenshot I have fallen off a cliff and died on a spike that protruded halfway down the gargantuan mountain. In order to resurrect I had to leap off the cliff’s edge and attempt to land several seconds down on that exact same spike.
In many ways, my current situation is not unlike this screenshot.
You see … many moons have passed since I left the town of Stormwind behind me. Since then I’ve tried to forget the terrors I beheld beneath week old pizza boxes, and the twisted nightmares that have haunted my every waking moment. There’s something dark within me now; I can feel it, driving me towards the login screen, assuring me that my salvation lies within the ruins of ancient kingdoms. Though I know the way, I know not what events will arise to enable my journey, and as I pass through the Authentication check, I know that the better part of my soul will remain behind …
Forever.
oh man… these words… they call to me… this game calls to me… i thought it was a world i could escape from and leave in the past but it’s a world i know so well and lingers in my thoughts… i can taste it on my lips and hear the sounds of swords and the calls of my raid leader, spells casting and the roar of onyxia’s flame… you tempt me so :(
And this is why I’m glad it costs money to play. I don’t feel the longing call to play WoW because I never did. It always looked interesting, and I knew I probably would’ve enjoyed it, but… it’s more money and time that I don’t have. Heck, I’m lucky I get time/money to play Halo!
However, if I put your post in terms of my Halo playing… there have been times where I’d played so long that even after I turned it off, I could hear the sound of assault rifles and warthogs rushing past my earballs.
… and now I want to be playing that.
i’m back in the game, i always go back now and then. for $15/mo, it’s the cheapest form of entertainment available. a movie is $10, and at most is 3 hours of entertainment.
but that doesn’t explain the greatness that is wow.
that said, i’ve never had the addiction problem. like many of my other questionable habits, i start and stop as i please, never a slave. i love the game, and i’m back for now, and i love everything about it. i’m glad you’re back, it’s nice to have someone else to talk to.