It’s time again for Gadabout Gamers, and the theme for this month is My Biggest Gaming Regret. While my first effort was a bit of light-hearted entertainment, this month’s topic is something that I can’t help but get all Serious Sam about.
‘Warcrack’
A few years ago I was really big into World of Warcraft. I was raiding up to five times a week, I was running a thriving guild, and I had recently discovered the joys of playing the Auction House.
If there was a rare moment where I wasn’t playing the game, I was reading blogs about the game. I religiously watched Legendary (Back when Lore and Mike B were on the show) as well as other live streams. I even started a WoW specific blog, Neri Approves, and one of my proudest moments was having a few of my posts mentioned on WoW Insider.
Needless to say, I was pretty big into the game, and all these things that I was doing both inside and outside of Azeroth, well, they took up time.
Time that should have been dedicated to my son.
Time that could have been dedicated to furthering my education and career.
But it wasn’t. The first thing I would do every morning was log on to check and re-list auctions. The last thing I would do every night was log out of the game and check on my blog to see if my latest post had any new comments.
I was, for lack of a better word, addicted.
Hate The Player…
It might be easy to read the above and assume that I regret playing World of Warcraft. The thing is, I don’t regret playing the game per-se. The game was not the problem. The problem was me, and how much time I was spending playing it when I had other, more important things I should have been focusing on.
I regret that there was a time in my life where I was more concerned with the price of Obsidium Ore instead of my son’s development.
I regret that I wasn’t grown up enough to properly balance raising my son with playing a video game.
I regret that I didn’t see the signs that maybe–just maybe–I had a spot of depression and instead of seeking help, I drowned my sorrows in a virtual life where I was awesome and important; not a stay-at-home mum in an isolated town with no friends and a boy who deserved better than being plonked in front of the TV.
Looking Forward
One day everything just got the better of me, and I poured out my heart into a blog post titled, ‘The Lonely Life Of A Gamer Mum‘. It was incredibly cathartic to let go of those emotions, and the comments I received from people helped me realise that, hey, I’m not actually alone! That there are people out there in the same boat as me. And, most importantly, that it is in fact possible to find a balance between playing a game you enjoy and raising a healthy, well adjusted kid.
It was the responses to that post which inspired me to start Mama Needs Mana, and it was this blog that has led me to start my own business. Basically, had I not been so shit at life back then, there is a good chance that I wouldn’t be where I am today: a happy mother who is involved and engaged with my boy, a passionate business owner, and an occasional World of Warcraft player.
My biggest gaming regret may be that I didn’t have the balance right a few years ago, but I certainly do not regret getting it right today.
Do you have any gaming regrets? Share them here or whip up your own post and use the link on Gamer Wife’s post to submit it to the link up!
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