Does MMOs affect your work/school performance?

cherryghost

A lot of people I know are entirely addicted to MMOs, and in one case, spent 3 years in college until the 3rd year, he got addicted to WOW, and never went to college, and basically failed the year. He's taking another course now, starting from scratch.

But, based on your own opinions/experiences, can addictive MMO gaming affect your school/college grades, can it affect your work performance, and does it have an effect on your relationships?

Gummy Panda

depends on the person. I know swedish lad who had been playing wow for years and does it in moderation. I know others who live in the game.

super_furry

I usually play on my laptop while I'm watching/ignoring TV. Don't think it's ever had an effect on me other than being something I do to relax/kill time.

Helix

ive never played an mmo, nor do i ever want to

i know id become horribly addicted

Holsten

When I played one yes it definitely did effect my school work.

They affect everything, school/college/work/girlfriends/friends, etc...

With the time they suck up I'm sure they affect everyone at one stage or another.

thelordofcheese

cherryghost wrote: »

A lot of people I know are entirely addicted to MMOs, and in one case, spent 3 years in college until the 3rd year, he got addicted to WOW, and never went to college, and basically failed the year. He's taking another course now, starting from scratch.

But, based on your own opinions/experiences, can addictive MMO gaming affect your school/college grades, can it affect your work performance, and does it have an effect on your relationships?

Nah, but then again i only played WoW for about 3 months.

But it's probably not an MMO only thing, i assume someone could do something equally stupid if they got hooked on something like TF2 or CS: S

Stephen

How about an "I don't play MMOs" option?

Gummy Panda

Stephen wrote: »

How about an "I don't play MMOs" option?

or "There is other games that are not on the Atari Jaguar?"

Fnz

Stephen wrote: »

How about an "I don't play MMOs" option?

It's called the "back" button. :pac:

Krieg

Yes, right now in fact
Wow expansion out tomorrow and currently respec'ing a character rather than doing a Project I need done by Monday.
Although, I do take that game in moderation tbh
MMO's have probably affected my results, but not as far as making me fail anything.

I know plenty of people who it has affected negatively, such as damaging relationships/education.

cian1500ww

Nope, for some reason I'm not bothered with WOTLK at the moment.

xbox36016

no not me but boards.ie does

rainbow kirby

Yes, when I was in third year I scored about 20% below what I should have because I spent so much time playing WoW (I'm a high 2.1 student normally, first on a very good day, I finished third year of Comp Sci with a 47% average). That's just my experience though, it doesn't determine what effect it will have on anyone else.

Before anyone else says anything - yes. I know I suck for letting WoW affect my studies. I don't play any more.

Sea Devils

Before I discovered Boards MMO'S tended to have a minor impact on my work but now Boards does that for me:pac:

MooseJam

never played an MMO, don't think I'd be into it, definately can't see myself paying to play, thats crazy really

silvine

I played WOW for a while and got well pissed off with it. It stopped me playing other games! Also had a kid so that put an end to WOW.

super_furry

silvine wrote: »

I played WOW for a while and got well pissed off with it. It stopped me playing other games! Also had a kid so that put an end to WOW.

That's my only problem with WoW, it's pretty much the only thing I play right now. Fallout 3, Little Big Planet and Gears of War 2 are all sitting gathering dust.

L31mr0d

kinda the wrong time to post this thread tbh. Most MMO addicts will be off leveling and grinding in the new WoW expansion atm.

A guy in work has taken a week off to max out his levels in the new WoW expansion as soon as possible.

tman

Yep. Wasted far too much of my life playing WoW, and would rarely get a decent nights sleep on a weeknight thanks to it, so of course my work suffered.
Also spent quite a few holidays/weekends purely playing it, so instead of coming back to work nice and refreshed, I'd just feel worse still...

Giving up back in August was tough, but I made the right choice and most definitely won't come back to it this time. (like I said the last 5 times I quit!:p)

As I said in another thread;

WoW is the scourge of gaming imo, but most people that play don't even realise what they're doing to themselves... It should be a controlled substance or just plain banned!

Cuddlesworth

L31mr0d wrote: »

kinda the wrong time to post this thread tbh. Most MMO addicts will be off leveling and grinding in the new WoW expansion atm.

A guy in work has taken a week off to max out his levels in the new WoW expansion as soon as possible.

Same where I work, a week and a half(today onwards) to level his hunter in the new expansion. Shows commitment though.

super_furry

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Same where I work, a week and a half(today onwards) to level his hunter in the new expansion. Shows commitment though.

I dunno if commitment is the word I'd use. Think of all the other things they could be doing with their holidays - like having an actual holiday. Don't get me wrong, I like the game, it's fun and enjoyable and the social aspect is a laugh, however, it's still only a game. I'd never put it ahead of a night out or spending time with my friends and it really is only something I play when there's nothing else to do.

I think a lot of it depends on who you play the game with. If you're in a hardcore raiding guild, it will be the norm for your other guild members to spend four or five hours a day playing it and there'll be pressure on you to do likewise. If you're in a casual guild that don't enforce raid sign-ups or crap like that, it's much easier to play the game at your pace.

I picked up WoTLK last night (mainly because I was coming home through town on my way home from work at midnight), but I probably won't get around to playing it until Monday.

rainbow kirby

super_furry wrote: »

I think a lot of it depends on who you play the game with. If you're in a hardcore raiding guild, it will be the norm for your other guild members to spend four or five hours a day play it and there'll be pressure on you to do likewise.

I played through to the start of Sunwell - almost nobody in my guild was online for less than 5-6 hours a day. The really frightening thing is how normal it becomes to spend that much time playing when you're in that sort of guild.

Gummy Panda

rainbow kirby wrote: »

I played through to the start of Sunwell - almost nobody in my guild was online for less than 5-6 hours a day. The really frightening thing is how normal it becomes to spend that much time playing when you're in that sort of guild.

A friend from an old guild was a Naxx raider back in the day.

He said his guild had a guy who had 70k gold and was on constantly. He guy use to get food delivered as in online shopping to his house. He had some medical condition apparently.

70k gold is alot of time but 70k gold pre-tbc is an insane amount of grinding and this guy was a Naxx raider so the grinding must have been more due to consumable use then.

Me, I'm just playing casual with old guildies. Most of the guild has husband/wife and kids so they have real life commitments.

dyl10

Just quit wow 3 days ago, after a year of impacted college life. I couldn't really justify buying the expansion before Christmas exams.

After a year of reasonably serious playing, my conclusion of that particular game are that,

1. The game itself is geared so that anything other than several hours a day of play makes you look like a bad player.

2. Pretty much all raiding guilds I came across really expect you to be raiding intensively for up 20 hours a week (Throw a part time job in with that and the hours add up big time)

3. I miss solo gaming!(I really don't care if you are a Bosnian economist, I just want to play the game)

rainbow kirby

dyl10 wrote: »

Just quit wow 3 days ago, after a year of impacted college life. I couldn't really justify buying the expansion before Christmas exams.

After a year of reasonably serious playing, my conclusion of that particular game are that,

1. The game itself is geared so that anything other than several hours a day of play makes you look like a bad player.

2. Pretty much all raiding guilds I came across really expect you to be raiding intensively for up 20 hours a week (Throw a part time job in with that and the hours add up big time)

3. I miss solo gaming!(I really don't care if you are a Bosnian economist, I just want to play the game)

Would very much agree with that - with 20 hours being on the low end of expected playing time in a big raiding guild.

Ross_Mahon

I've lost a lot of good men to WoW, you know, the few of us that are remaining, we kinda refer to it as the plague...Some of them come back eventually, but...you know, they're not the same...I'll never forget Ion_Dragon, the day he jumped in front of those 5 E's, he just turned and looked at me, he said ' Don't worry man, I'm soulstone....' LIKE WHAT THE **** IS THAT? :mad: