Husband plays 35 -50 hours of WOW each week?

Question

Help. He plays so much World of Warcraft. I don't know what to do. He is a nice guy, but this is getting nuts.

Answer 1

I'm a Wow player, too. One of the problems with Wow is that how you end a session can be important in future game play, and the game literally has no end. At no point wil the game tell you you've won. It just goes on and on.

When I found myself heading in the direction of obsession, I walked away for a week, being sure I parked my toon at an inn. When I returned I realized i had not lost ground, since you get twice as much experience  when working from a rested state. Point this out to him.

Plan activities, and demand that he accompany you. Family outings, going out to dinner, sports events, concerts, even a trip to a local bar that features live music. Make the plans in advance, and notify him in advance that he will be attending.

You might also ask him if you can create your own toon, on the existing account, although this can be dangerous. Many women play WoW, so the appeal is universal. So you might find that you are fighting for access to the account. The up side is that you will understand the game well enough to suggest when a break is appropriate (i.e. you can't break in th emiddle of an instance or raid, but you can break or at least set an endpoint while questing.

My situation is this: I'm 60 years old, a chemist, and i work 50 hours a week. I share the accoutn with my son, which limits both of our time. Last weekend I played for about 5 hours. I also went to a party with my wife, a baseball game, did lawn mower maintenance, went to a family picnic. When I jump on my toon, I always set an endpoint for the session, so that I can do all the things you need to do, go to the WoW bank, the auction house, send my guild messages, clean out my bags for the next session and turn in my quests. This takes about 1/2 hour. I play about 8-10 hours a week, I have 3 lvl 70 toons, and I've been playing for 5 months. I frequesntly take a week off, just 'cause I can.

If he is a begining player, at some point he will hit the wall, everybody does, and will be looking for other things to d. At that point, he'll return to his more reponsible self, play in moderation, and enjoy the game a whole lot more. Until then, try out some of the suggestions you will find in this and other answers, and if all else fails, there's always Victoria's Secret ;-)

Answer 2

You have to his real life not suck enough, that he doesn't need to escape it by playing WoW. try talking to him.  

Answer 3

ok he's an engineer so odds are uninstalling it or disabling the internet will only cause fights. Remember video game addiction is an ADDICTION. 35-50 hrs a week is insane. Anything more then 3 hrs a day is ridiculous if you hold a full time job. Try to get some support from his friends (not the WoW players) to put pressure on him to lower his playing time. Try to plan outside of the house activities (that he will enjoy) to keep him away from the computer (computer=crack). If worse comes to worse you'll have to ask him who he loves more WoW or you. Hope this helps.  

Answer 4

He sounds a lot like me.

First, keep in mind that WoW is not a bad hobby.  Yes, it is very time consuming, but keep in mind all these hours is money not spent on going to bars, eating out, gas money, etc.

The only bad coming out of it is you feel neglected.

Since he plays that much, I assume he is on a team with a schedule.  Find out the times he absolutely HAS to play, time he's already committed to this team.  Once the team starts for the night, it's very unlikely you can drag him away without a fight.  Make him spend more time with you outside these times.  Catch him before he sits down to play, because I'm sure you know once you start something in the game, you can be doing it for a while.

To make him be happy about spending time with you instead of playing WoW, have a plan of what you want to do with him.  Start that new hobby, make dinner reservations he must honor.  Make sure he's having more fun with you.

In all honestly, I would really just try leaving him alone while he plays, it's probably how he unwinds after work.  But make sure he knows that you're more important, and using the time you've planned to spend together.

And, if all else fails, a sure fire way (not the most honest one) would to be to sabotage his computer/WoW account somehow.  I lost internet for 2 weeks, didn't play for that time, and after it found spending time on other things much easier to do.

Or probably the BEST solution - as mentioned above - if you're into games, play with him!  I've know 3 different married couples through the game that play with each other.

Answer 5

Where is the "unconditional support" for your love ones when it is not in your favor???

Punishment (by removal or by any other means) is not the answer.  It only seeds bad feelings in the relationship.

Answer 6

Take away his WoW or un-install it. Or play it yourself, you could be like an addicted couple =D

But seriously people get addicted to games like that for some reason. Its not even fun, try unistalling it.

Answer 7

if he's a grown man playing such games tell him how ridiculous he is being.if you can,disable the internet without letting him know.if he can't play it,he'll find som other way to spend his time,possibly with you.or better yet change his password if you know it.then he will be discouraged to create a new account since he starts at level whatever instead of his current.once he has nothing to do he'll come to you.then find a hobby you like and then he realizes hes the one without a hobby.when you notice then say find a hobby of his own,wait till it sinks in then forgive each other and do something together

Answer 8

Say that if you don't stop playing then i won't cook for you and i won't sleep with you anymore until you stop. and if that doesn't work, file a divorce, it just not worth having a husband like that, who spends most of his life in a virtual world.