Like 95 percent of the eyes on this page right now, I play World of Warcraft. I am not one to shy away from the subject that I play WoW,
unlike some people. To top it off, I am actually proud of my nerdiness, displaying the titles I am playing in my living room as if they are trophies from the local bowling league. This brings me to my point, I am a gamer - console, PC, handhelds, IRL sports, you name it.
For nearly the past 20 years, the holiday season has become a video gamer's time to shine. By that, I mean their time to get a handful of games, and lock themselves in a room in a vain attempt to finish all those news titles. In recent years the holiday window has been extended further and further into the summer, with some analysts claiming that the new rush begins as early as September. With all these triple A titles hitting the market, how is one supposed to find the time for them, as well as World of Warcraft?
When I first started playing WoW, all other video games fell off the radar. I let titles like Oblivion, Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 2, Company of Heroes, Neverwinter Nights 2, even Half-Life 2 slip by me. Sadly, Resident Evil 4 (one of the best titles ever, in my humble opinion) and F.E.A.R. are the only titles released in that timeframe that I played and are worth noting - looking at you, Halo 2.
Earlier this year I started a new regiment of gaming to compensate for all the missed material. First and foremost, I cut back my World of Warcraft play time as a whole, and now play about half as much as I did during my high-end raiding days. To accommodate this, I joined a raiding guild that was a close group of friends (I am not one of them) rather than a hardcore PvE guild. Another simple change was to schedule things ahead of time and stick to it. Basically, I only raid when I allocate the time a week or so in advance, as you would for any other activity that may take more than 30 minutes.
Since implementing my new "life strat," I have been able to play dozens of other games, for better or for worse. No longer am I missing as many big titles as I was before.
Portal,
Team Fortress 2,
Dead Rising,
Halo 3,
Super Smash Bros. Brawl,
Mass Effect, all defeated. I even found the time to go back and play the amazing Half-Life 2. With titles like Fallout 3, Red Alert 3, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, Street Fighter IV, etc. coming or here, I am glad I made the new strategy. Then of course, there is Wrath of the Lich King. That may change things for awhile...
Are you guys content with just World of Warcraft and everything it has to offer? Or do you fruitlessly strive to digest everything the wonderful video game industry has to offer as I do? If so, what is your strategy?
For those who may be wondering, I am currently playing The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, Red Alert 3,
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, The Incredible Maze (WiiWare - oh god, what a piece of trash), and still wrapping up Grand Theft Auto IV. Fallout 3 is still in its shrink wrap, waiting for me to finish The Witcher.
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