It's like crack from what I hear; my coworker plays every night for hours and barely gets any sleep now <Smile>

I used to play Final Fantasy XI. It stole 9 months of my life. I played it like crazy. I've been clean since January and in February started playing with Tiger on a new app which, while not released as of yet (probably in the Fall), has been much more more fulfilling than my virtual spell list (I was a black mage).

It's fun, but it kills productivity. Good luck.

World of Warcraft is, if anything, MORE addictive than the rest of the MMORPGs out there. WoW is designed explicitly around (among other things) the concept of accessibility to the casual player, and what that means is fast advancement and lots of little chunks of stuff you can do to feel like you have accomplished something. It's way, way too easy to think "oh, i'm SO close to my next level, why stop now" or "i'll just do one more quest, this one's short" and then next thing you know, 12 hours have passed. You don't HAVE to invest a lot of time, but the very things that make that possible also make it hard to quit <Smile>

On the other hand, if you can control the addiction, WoW is indeed fairly friendly to casual play. Even playing a little bit at a time, you can get a character to maximum level in a few months, enjoy a lot of the content at your own pace, and eventually have some fun with groups, PvP, and battlegrounds. Most of the high-end content is for the hardcore raiding types right now, but there is plenty to do along the way, and there is replay value in the fact that there are two sides to choose from, as well as because the classes have different game mechanics and play styles.

In short, if you're hoping to play casually, WoW is one of the better and more accessible MMOs out there, and the fact that it runs on the Mac is a nice bonus...

Don't do it man!

There's a command called "/played" that let's you know how much time your character has spend online in the game world. I'm up to 30 days of actually logged in time, NOT the amount of time since I signed up (which was November 1st, launch day).

If you don't start, you won't get addicted.

I agree completely with the last post. You CAN play casually, but you won't want to.

See ya online mate... <Wink>

Akle
58 Horde Priest (60 by the end of this weekend??)

I feel like I'm getting sucked in already.

I got sucked in, and I always wanted to play. I got my Paladin to level 60 in about 4 months I think. After I hit 60, I only played for about 4-5 more hours. In fact, I have not even played in about 2 months. I'm just taking a break. I'm about to start up again to CASUALLY play in some PVP and the new Battlegrounds.

A good friend of mine says WoW is incredibly well designed - and addictive.

Ceejbot, in my impression, seems to think they've made serious mistakes managing it, but is still playing.

I started playing it knowing it can be addictive and simply decided to play it casually. I started when it came out in Austria and am still level 35, soon to be 36. As long as you keep in mind that the "achievements" you make in the game wont actually impress anyone in real life and only make the peer players jealous, you're good to go. I simply play it a few hours per week and see it as quality entertainment and from that perspective it's really nice.

So if you have enough discipline to work when work needs to be done, and be a hero, a wizard or a rogue in your spare time, I don't think it should be a problem.

World of Warcraft is a lot of fun, and it certainly deserves an Apple Design award - but I stopped playing after the first 8 hours or so. There's only so much fun I can get out of whacking away at enemies in the first person (cast ranged spell-or-weapon, switch to appropriate hand-to-hand weapon, press the same three keys repeatedly until foe falls down or discretion requires that I run away. If succesful, loot bodies. Rinse and repeat.)

Unlike a true first-person shooter like Halo or a squad-level tactical simulation like the never-to-be forgotten Myth series, I never felt a real identification with my online character.

Instead, I felt that I was working on an assembly line - run my puppet through the right moves often enough, and I'll get to do the Same Damn Thing to Yet Another Monster.

I guess I need more of a plot line and/or wider tactical control to get a buzz these days.

It's also a fun way to learn the lua programming language.

/played
9 days, 9 hours, 42 minutes
<Smile>

If you want to play an MMORPG, then WoW is probably currently the best for casual players. 1-60 is probably about 10-15 days played for most people.

The reason it is decent for casual folks is that it is possible to level largely through questing, rather than an enforced grind, plus it is possible for any race/class to solo 1-60.

However, as you will have gathered from previous posts, at 60 (and arguably from 55 up), it becomes markedly less friendly to casual players. The best equipment is in instances, most of which require a guild group and 4-6 hours to complete. At 60 there is effectively no way to improve your character apart from gathering equipment or PvP (which depends on you having good equipment).

For most people, choosing a "Normal" (or PvE) realm is advisable; there's a limit to how much fun you can have while being constantly ganked by level 60 teens. You can still PvP on a normal realm, the only difference is that it is consensual PvP.

Either there's something wrong with the comments module, or Will is trying really hard to make a point. ;o)

There's no explicit check for a double comment submit. I'll add it.

Cool, that's what I call service! <Amazed>)

Sorry 'bout the *triple* comment.

You'll note that the latter two came the morning after the first. I left the page open overnight, then inadvertently refreshed the page in the morning without realizing that it would result in a repost.

While you're fixing things, could you make the post submit result in a refresh to a page that itself doesn't include a submit button?

Or just a "thanks for your comment" page that adds the comment (as used by bulleting boards), that forwards to the already been commented article then. Although that might be less elegant than code checking for comment duplication.

Don't start! I want a boyfriend when I get back from Europe!

What if I get you an account too?

Then she can play a girl for your hero and you don't even need to stand up/turn away from the computer to decide about lunch and stuffs!

PS: A pair of scissors will do wonders to your internet connection and will cure any WoW addiction quite good... ;o)

Dude, this is the era of wireless.

D'oh! <Amazed>)

Just for the record, I wanted to work on sunday but spent trying to get closer to level 40 with my night elf. Make of that what you will...

All right, I'll try.

I'd avoid it like the plague. Anything that sucks that much time away from your life without you having anything to show for it isn't worth it.. at all! Especially if you have a girlfriend :)