Has it really been two months?

I haven't done much blogging at all recently. I haven't even been logging on to Tumblr. Heck, my Facebook statuses are few and far between! Why is this? Well, World of Warcraft is like crack. Seriously. I cannot stay away from this game. I swear I have quit the game at least a dozen times, and yet I still come back to it, hoping for something to change so that maybe I won't be bored of it.

Oh, that's right, I never get bored of it. I just run out of money. Then I deal with it for a few weeks, fill in my time with blogging, school, and other assorted activities. And then, inevitably, I have the urge to log on and see what's happening. By some miracle, I am able to save up thirty bucks and buy myself a game card, and then I'm all giddy and happy and RAAAAHHHHHH for a few days. Then I settle into my routine. Every Monday night, I peruse the Auction House, looking for good deals, so that I can sell them the next day for some sort of profit. Tuesdays I post my auctions, which I upkeep throughout the week. Wednesdays I level my lowbies a bit. Thursdays I level them more. Fridays I try to find some sort of raid activity to do. I PvP over the weekend on my rogue. Rinse. Repeat.

Boring. I know. I've been told by nearly every single one of my friends that I should stop playing WoW. They tell me that I am addicted and that it is going to ruin my life. So, of course, I make up some excuse, like, "WAAAAAAH, I'm so lonely, I NEED it to keep my sanity. Give me a break!" And this goes on for about two months. During those two months, I usually get into a guild (or guilds, since I have 80s on multiple servers) and become a key member in the main raid group that they have. I make lots of friends, and become "That Guy" who everyone in the guild likes. I do so with my above-average abilities, my winning (online) personality, and helpfulness that would make Mother Teresa look like a jerk.

This is a jerk.

Then my subscription runs out. I don't even bother telling my guilds what is happening. I just disappear. I'm told that they often wonder where I've gone for weeks after I vanish. Then, anywhere from one to four moths later, I log back in. Some people freak out and tell me that they missed me, but for the most part it's as if I'm a fresh transfer from some other server. It's almost refreshing.

Why did I take the time to write all this down? Well, I feel like I'm a special case. Most people who I know that play WoW have been playing non-stop since starting. While this is technically true for myself (I refer to myself as a WoW player even if I don't have a subscription at the time), I feel like I am one of very few people who play the game because they actually enjoy it, and not because it's just another thing to do. I crave to come back to it, not so that I can get better gear, not so that I can be rich (though, I DO enjoy making gold. Lots of it), but purely because I enjoy my time in the game. I love socializing, I love PvPing, and I love raiding. I can be whoever I want, my character can do whatever I want, and I'm always in complete control. This is in stark comparison to the rest of my life, over which I have very minimal control. Maybe that's why I enjoy playing so much.