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World Of Warcraft Addiction Can Lead To Divorce!

by Dave Parrack

All WoW addicts pay attention! Your little gaming habit could be ruining every other aspect of your life, from your career, to your health, or even your relationships. Don’t believe me? Then believe the case of a guy who now finds himself single due purely to World of Warcraft.

An ex-employee of Blizzard entertainment, makers of World of Warcraft, has divorced her husband after six years of marriage, citing his WoW addiction as the reason the marriage ended in disaster.

28 year old Jocelyn had never played the game herself but stated that her husband Peter’s addiction to the game crippled their relationship, until it became more than she could handle.

She bought him the game, and nine months later, the marriage was in dire straits, and she applied for divorce. The lesson learned straight away is not to buy your partner World of Warcraft, unless you want to see a lot less of him of course.

She said:

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. It took away all of our time that we spent together. I ceased to exist in his life.”

“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.”

California resident Jocelyn did try and talk to her husband about his “problem” on many occasions, and even tried to create together time for the couple to rediscover their relationship.

Unfortunately, hubby Peter was so utterly addicted to the game, he refused because he was in the middle of a raid. He then stopped paying bills and refused to do any of the housework.

Jocelyn cites WoW as the sole reason for her marriage break up, and blames her ex-employees Blizzard wholeheartedly for the way they market and set up the game:

[Blizzard] 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.”

So is she right to be so upset at Blizzard, or is there more to it than that? Surely her husband must have had an addictive personality to begin with, as not everyone gets addicted to World of Warcraft to quite that extent.

Having said that, I don’t own the game, and that’s for just one reason: my girlfriend won’t let me buy it.

[Source: Filefront]

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4 Responses to “World Of Warcraft Addiction Can Lead To Divorce!”

  1. The Couple That Plays Together Stays Together » Weddingbee Says:

    [...] someone forwarded me an article about a husband’s addiction to Warcraft leading to dissolution of a marriage. The article surprised me a bit because, instead of bringing about relationship doom, I’ve felt [...]

  2. Becca Says:

    I myself am going through a divorce right now due the playing of World of Warcraft. I haven’t even been married 2 years. After about three months of marriage he got a new version of this game and everyday it got worse and worse and worse. On our one year anniversary we had plans but he was too busy playing the game and yelled at me like crazy for interrupting him stating he would choose the people he was playing with over me. I tried for another 5 months trying to talk about make a schedule nothing worked. I left for a week and while I was gone his computer broke (kharma mayber?) so when I got back he was better but then he would make plans with me but go to a friends house instead and never show up at the house or call me. So after 3 hours of waiting I called him cell phone was off so I call his friends house and they were playing the game and he stated he would be home late. He found nothing odd about the fact that he didn’t call and I was waiting for him at home for the plans HE made. We then started to talk about divorce but when we agreed he asked if that was what I wanted. He said he knew it was him and he would change. 2 weeks later friday night came he made plans w/ me but didn’t show up. He was at his friend’s house again. So needless to say he is moved out we are trying to sell the home then we will sign the divorce papers and move on. So a warning to all women if your boyfriend, fiance, or husband are playing this game be very cautious and know that if they are addicted it is not likely they will change.

  3. MUDs Can Lead to Addiction and Divorce « Writing Gone Wild Says:

    [...] World of Warcraft Addiction Can Lead to Divorce! [...]

  4. 1P Start » Blog Archive » World Of Warcraft Addiction Worse Than Porn! Says:

    [...] people, not just kids but adults with otherwise full lives, have ended up wasting their lives, even getting divorced! It seems that with therapists not guaranteed to be of any help, the problem could end up getting [...]

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