A friend and I were talking about WoW the other day as the both of us were really heavy into it during its first year, but regretfully had to cut ourselves off. The game is still my favorite gaming experience of all time, especially that first few months after launch that were full of discovering new areas for the first time.

He contends that he could play but he would have to find a new girlfriend (who played the game), sell his console games and dvds, and find a new job, in order to get out of it what he wants.
I, on the other hand, am more realistic. I'd rather just alter space and time to make the days 48 hours long. 24 hours for WoW, 24 hours for everything else.

I've tried to go back multiple times, but have found it has to be all or nothing. My question is for those who love WoW, how can you keep it casual and still stay satisfied?

 It is possible to play WoW casually but I'm not sure how many people do it. I was able to play casually for my first couple of weeks with the game before the addiction kicked in and since then I've also managed to have periods of time where I play the game no more than I would any other game.

No, its like casually taking heroin or cocaine

Not possible

It's possible, just not very likely. Many casuals will keep on adding more and more time into it until they spend hours on it regularly.

Yes, it's possible to play it casually. There seems to be a misconception with MMOs, either you have to devote every moment of your free time to it or you can't play it at all. I just don't agree with that. It's possible for some people to just jump in a couple hours a night and then do whatever else they want.

No, I tried. It took me 7 months to reach level 62 and everyone gave me crap for not keeping up with them.

"Yes, it's possible to play it casually. There seems to be a misconception with MMOs, either you have to devote every moment of your free time to it or you can't play it at all. I just don't agree with that. It's possible for some people to just jump in a couple hours a night and then do whatever else they want.
"

Yeah, I did.

Well the "casual" players are what's ruined the game, as in made it insanely easy to get good stuff. So I'd say that's it is very possible to play WoW casually, although not as much fun. Which is why I'm no longer playing, I coudn't keep up with time needed to raid properly and I got nothing out of playing casually. No raids, no fun, no nothing. This is just my opinion of course :).

Yes, I play casually every waking moment that I can and then sweat profusely and twitch when I can't.

I think there is a way, just like with any other game, you can play it in a casual way. Of course, with the constant addition of new content, unlike boxed games that begin and end, ending something in WoW is a bit difficult if you don't have any other goal than seeing everything that game has to offer. You just have to decide what you want - always be on the top gear or just enjoy it. I'm the latter - far from being in the top, but still playing casually with a very relaxed guild that time in time participates in events.

You just have to choose who you hang out in the game - yes, there are jerks who care nothing but humiliating other people, but just as there are jerks, there are very awesome people there too. Just like real life, choosing your company depends only on you.

I guess there could be if a player wasn't to dedicated or sucked into it, but played it for the fun.

"brukaoru said:

"Yes, it's possible to play it casually. There seems to be a misconception with MMOs, either you have to devote every moment of your free time to it or you can't play it at all. I just don't agree with that. It's possible for some people to just jump in a couple hours a night and then do whatever else they want."

I'm not being hostile -but along the same lines I think there is a sort of denial among MMO players that they are hooked.

I've played MMOs. I know the addictive element of it. It's not worth it for me. There are so many other games where you can jump in, have a good time, and jump out. I don't like attachment and obligation to my in-game character.

There's so much debate about this. I just think that you will be so much better off if you avoid these kinds of games.

My point isn't that you *need* to devote all your free time, but that you *want* to, eventually. Its like communism - theoretically its a great idea and you can play for an hour a day, but in practice it doesn't work. "

It just seems that some sort of outside pressure will always come with an MMO. Whether it's the pressure to keep up with your friends or to play at certain times even if it's a small schedule amount of time. Eventually you need consistent people to play with to advance, so after a certain level you have to commit to the game in some fashion. Which is why i have 3467078 characters around lvl 30 without a guild. My only characters above 45 ran with a guild for at least some time, but I eventually couldn't keep up with the people I enjoyed playing with, or would come back a week later to find the guild disbanded or kicked me out. Maybe I need to look into timeshares. Play one character with 3-4 casual players I trust.

Yes, a bunch of my RL friends play casually.

I played casually up until about 2-3 months ago, took me from day 1 till about 2-3 months before BC came out to get my character from 1-60, then BC came out and i took me up till about 2-3 months ago to get 70

but i recently fell into the "trap" and now i play as much as possible, matter a fact i played from 10-11am till 4 am the other day :(

From my experience, it largely depends on what you consider casually.  I play games in my spare time, and if I spend a night after school or work playing WoW, then I don't look it any differently than if I had spent that night playing 360.  However, I never disassociate myself from my friends to play the game, nor do I skip work or school to do it either.  For those reasons, I do not consider myself addicted.  It's definitely a hobby that I spend a lot of time with, but certainly not one that I am willing to sacrifice things in my life for.