Wake up at 9 a.m., go to the bathroom, maybe eat some breakfast, and then situate the gluteus maximus in front of the computer, not stopping to realize the time of day until 4 p.m. Sound strange? Maybe not to a workaholic, but to addicted gamers everywhere, it’s not work, it’s a lifestyle.

One of the most talked about games during the past summer has been Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft. Also referred to as WoW, it is known for being an addictive game, luring in players from all over the world to gather online and compete and work together in a world consisting of two races: horde (orcs, tauren, trolls, and undead) and alliance (humans, dwarves, gnomes, and night elves).

The massively multiplayer online role-playing game, which was given the acronym MMORPG, has become a huge hit since it first came out in November 2004. Gamers purchase the software for around $50 and then pay a monthly subscription of $14.95 to continue playing the game online.

Many college students have become addicted to the game and Sacramento State student Erik Seguinte is one of them.

“Yeah, I’m addicted,” Seguinte said. “I’ve been saying that since I first started playing.”

Seguinte, a third year chemistry major, admits to skipping a meal or two when getting lost in the game.

“You just can’t leave, so you end up skipping meals,” Seguinte said. “We call it the WoW diet.”

Bobby Martin, a sales associate for GameStop in the Howe Bout Arden shopping center on Arden Way, understands everyone’s undeniable need to constantly play.

“I think people are addicted because it’s never-ending,” Martin said. “There’s always something new and something to do in the game and when there’s always something to do, you almost feel the need to get it down so you can get further and make more progress in what you’re trying to accomplish in the game.”

WoW is not only a game, but it also serves as a social outlet for people. Because it’s played online, gamers can talk to each other while playing and meet people from different parts of the world.

“There are a lot of people playing all at one time, so you can play with friends, or people you don’t know,” Martin said. “I know someone who met her fiance through WoW and moved here to live with him.”

That’s right; males aren’t the only gamers playing WoW. Females are getting into the whole craze as well.

“The female gaming community is growing like crazy now,” Martin said. “In WoW, there’s a ton of them.”

Senior kinesiology major Judy Arcala plays the game too but says that other gamers often have a difficult time believing that girls play.

“You just have to prove it through conversations you have with them,” said Arcala.

Arcala also said she’s not as addicted as she was before. In the past, she started a game in the morning and played the whole day without even realizing she was hungry.

“I used to play with my boyfriend and co-workers, and they would come over and have WoW parties,” Arcala said. “We’d have them almost every other week. They’d come over at 8 p.m. and the latest they would leave was around 3 or 4 a.m.”

“It’s like a hunger. You keep wanting to do it, but you just have to control it,” Arcala said.

With both males and females playing WoW, it should be no surprise that couples engage in hours of playing the game together. In some instances, it can even help the relationship.

“I knew someone whose boyfriend played all the time,” Arcala said. “So she decided to play too, and it saved their relationship. They spent more time together.”

Arcala said it influenced her relationship too. “My boyfriend was always playing, then when I started playing, it was just another thing we had in common. It’s time consuming, so we spent that time together,” she said.

Martin agrees. “When a guy plays a video game their mind isn’t really on their surroundings. They’re not paying attention. Their mind is in the game. So I can see that it would help when their partner is playing with them and they can interact and talk. Something in common is always a good thing,” he said.

An addiction to WoW doesn’t always work wonders. It can do the exact opposite and possibly ruin a relationship. There are even websites and Yahoo groups dedicated to the gaming addiction. WoWDetox.com offers a place for former addicts to share their reasons for leaving. Yahoo has a group entitled WoW Widows where spouses, partners, friends, and family gather to vent about their frustrations of losing a loved one to the addictive game.

With the WoW addiction showing no signs of coming to an end, Arcala offers one piece of advice: “If you ask anyone, it really is warcrack. That’s why real friends don’t let friends play WoW.”

Aleesa Camagong can be reached at [email protected]