WoW Widow? What in the World is THAT?

Yes, I am a WoW Widow. The World of Warcraft is one of the world's most popular On-line games. A recent article on MSN Living a Virtual Life
illustrates the popularity of the game. It describes a small part of this Virtual World, the way it works, and what it looks like.

The article does describe the addictive nature of online gaming. But in no way does it really talk about what the addiction is really like!

My husband is a computer geek from the beginning of the personal computer age, starting with TRS-80 Level 1. (Whew that was a cool, cool thing to have!) About ten years ago, he finally got me into the computer age. Slowly but surely, the world of retail caught up also, and my avocation suddenly became more technologically advanced. A few years ago, I joined a NASCAR message board community, and became delighted at the friendships that I made there! My hubby, though, seemed to love the First Person Shooter type of games, and never really had much to do with any of the Fantasy Role Playing Games. (RPGs)

A year ago, a friend of ours, one we had been stationed with at an Air Force base in Japan (25 years ago!) was visiting, and he talked my hubby into the WoW. A D&D player from 30 years ago, the buddy kept insisting that Hubby would love it. Hubby took the plunge, and 14 months later, is totally hooked. He has a standing appointment 3 nights a week to join the Guild on runs. He 'grinds' away working to 'level' his lower rated characters early in the morning. He schedules appointments for Tuesday, when the server is down for patches. He spends more time of his WoW message board than I do my NASCAR forums. Some members of his Guild will be joining us for Thanksgiving dinner, as they will just happen to be in Vegas that weekend!

I find it interesting that he has developed many friendships through his on-line playing. It is very similar to what I found with my message board. It apparantly has the same effect with most spouses or significant others. I once forced him to break off a game because we were late for an appointment, and he shared that his buddy had HIS spouse glaring at him with her hand on her hip, and tapping her toes!

The only mistake I made, is that I bought him an expensive, state of the art, headset for use while playing. It has such wonderful outside-noise reduction, that it is impossible to get his attention without shouting.

However, it has opened up a new avenue for Christmas gifts. The WoW Merchandise line will be at the top of my Shopping list. He has already received upgraded computer components for Birthday and Anniversary gifts. Some of the WoW tees and hoodies will be under the tree this Christmas. However, I will use WoW to leverage some goodies for me! LOL!

So, any other WoW widows out there?