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Warning: World of Warcraft may cause divorce.

Chad and Protoman | February 15, 2008 | News | PC 
Well if you thought that WoW (World of Warcraft) was addicting apparently you have not met this guy. Although if you read the article it was the girls fault. She got the game for the guy. In fact this guy was so addicted he couldn't watch a 30 min t.v. show with her! But, bad news for every one here she doesn't want to marry another gamer.
Although best-selling online role-playing game World of Warcraft boasts over ten million subscribers, it's also leaving in its wake an increasing list of casualties.

Even though she's never played the game, 28 year-old Jocelyn is one of the fallen. A well-spoken California resident, she divorced her husband of six years after he developed a crippling addiction to the smash online RPG.

"He would get home from work at 6:00, start playing at 6:30, and he'd play until three a.m. Weekends were worse -- it was from morning straight through until the middle of the night," she told Yahoo! Games in an interview. "It took away all of our time that we spent together. I ceased to exist in his life."

Jocelyn had been friends with her ex-husband Peter since the age of 13, but it took only nine months for her marriage to collapse.

"I bought the game for him for Christmas 2004, when it first came out. By May we had our first serious discussion about where our marriage was going, and by September I had moved out," she said.

Jocelyn recalled one particular incident that was typical of Peter's habits. "I had set aside 30 minutes for us to watch a television show together, and he couldn't. He was stuck on a raid, and completely failed to understand why I was upset," she said.

Peter's domestic duties also suffered. He stopped paying bills, she says, and refused to do his share of the housework.

Jocelyn doesn't hesitate to cite Warcraft as the main reason for her divorce and remains emotional about its impact on her marriage. "I'm real, and you're giving me up for a fantasy land. You're destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you're giving it up for something that isn't even real."

Despite their differences, the couple remains friends, and although Peter still plays World of Warcraft, Jocelyn says he made an effort to cut down after their split.

A gamer herself, Jocelyn briefly worked for World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment, although not on the title that proved so damaging to her relationship. "I recognized that this was a game that would never end, and that's why I chose not to play it," she said.

"They build it in such a way that you have to keep putting more and more time into it to maintain your status. I remember thinking when I was married that it was downright exploitative to people who couldn't control themselves in that way. It's set up like a drug."

Asked if she would consider marrying another Warcraft player, Jocelyn laughed. "That's actually one of my primary criteria now -- I don't want to marry someone who is a gamer."
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  • 0 thumbs!
    Silver Mirror | February 16, 2008
    Well this is guy is obviously a nut, he'll play his whole life away if he's not careful
    • 0 thumbs!
      Play ISDF | February 16, 2008
      He already has just about.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Avalith | February 16, 2008
    R.I.P. poor casualty of WoW.

    This is one reason why I'll never play MMORPGs.
  • 1 thumbs!
    Sadokun | February 16, 2008
    Poor woman, sad to end a relationship over something small as a game with some one you have been with so long.

    They should really put something like the WoW chinese debuff in all MMORPGs because it easy to get addicted. Im a WoW gamer and at multiple points over the 2 years ive played it, I have been addicted to it for a short period of time. Sad thing is you dont realise you are addicted till you stop for a short while and look at yourself interms of your life and how much you have played it.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Storm | February 16, 2008
    As huge a fan as I am to the Warcraft series, I couldn't allow myself to play WoW because of the sure downfall of my social life. I know a 35-year-old that got addicted to it for the past year or so, recently sold his account on eBay for $500, but he surely was addicted. Everday after work, it's straight to WoW.

    This is sad news indeed, if we're going to get a hobby during a marriage, it's best to see if the significant other would want to get involved in it as well, or at least know how to limit yourself, as hard as that may be.
  • 0 thumbs!
    Kinetic | February 16, 2008
    Damn. I feel bad for his wife. =/
    • 0 thumbs!
      tallteen86 | February 16, 2008
      Ditto -_-

      They were married in six years, and in 9 months, a game (the husband's addiction to it) ruined it..

      How was she to know that the game would kill their relationship?

      The guy, being addicted, had problems realizing just how much it consumed his life...He played it for about 8 or so hours a day....Addiction blinds you to the fact that playing that much, is excessive >_>

      Yeah, I hear stories of WoW addiction, I intend to avoid it like the plague....Though I'm lazy by nature, I don't want to tempt myself >_>
  • 0 thumbs!
    kik36 | February 16, 2008
    Final Fantasy XI was a tough one for me, and my relationship suffered from it as well.....just not to these extremes. Either way I finally beat the addiction, and absolutely refuse to play WoW because of what I went through with FFXI.

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