On the Aggrochat podcast this week we all talked a bit about our various histories with World of Warcraft and why it sometimes sounds like it physically pains us to speak about that game today. One of the things I didn’t go into on the show was a huge part of my relationship with WoW. Not too long after I started playing I was struggling with medical issues and in particular chronic pain. WoW was a source of comfort and companionship no matter what weird hour of the night I found myself needing it. I even found folks who were going through the same thing as me, and had a bit of a support group of blood elves with medical problems. When I was stuck home on medical leave and recovering from surgery, WoW helped me feel like I was still connected with the outside world. To this day it is still a comfortable refuge when life is crappy, even though the game itself has changed dramatically, and even though I lost touch with most of the people I was friends with in that painful past. It also means I can’t think or talk critically about WoW and its history without remembering what I was going through back then, and all the friends I gained and lost.
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Moonshine Mansion 
I can totally related. TBC was the happiest time of my WoW life, but it was one of the least happiest IRL. I fought through a lot of depression and the only thing prompting me up was a weekly raiding schedule with a ton of people who thought I was good at my role and wanted to have me along. It helped immensely!
Yeah that was a huge part of it for me. I wasn’t good for much IRL at the time but dang it I was good at healing butts and people were glad to have me around in WoW.
I can relate too. Without going into too much detail I found the real me again through WoW and through blogging about WoW. It helped me come through a really tough time and I’ll always be grateful to it for that.