Okay, let’s get one thing clear: I love the game. It’s absolutely amazing, and worth all the praise it has received. But there’s no getting around the fact that I’m just not as gung-ho about it as I used to be. I think the main reason I was having so much fun with it at first was that I was playing in the computer LAN area with all my buddies at GenCon. We were all doing missions together, and leveling up quickly (because we didn’t have much else to do).

But once I got home, there were other things to do. There were movies to watch, parties to go to, my wife to socialize with, and (honestly) other video games to play. Instead of putting several hours a day into it, I was lucky to put several hours a week into it. As a result of this, I quickly started lagging behind the other players in my little guild.

It’s not that the group quit playing together, it’s that I wasn’t high enough level to keep up with them. I love soloing, but without the community atmosphere, there’s not much to keep me coming back and putting in the hours I was at first.

And, realistically, I begin wondering whether I want to be spending this much time playing a game that has no real end. The games that I love usually have a great storyline. And a storyline not only needs progress, it needs a conclusion. World of Warcraft cannot give me that. It might always be fun, but if it never ends, then I need to ask myself how long I really want to play for.

Of course, my short attention span for games really doesn’t help. And so, I find myself playing less and less, and attending fewer and fewer guild meetings (I completely forget to go to the one tonight), and as I play less, I find my desire to play getting smaller, until it gets to the point where I’m wondering why I’m paying a monthly bill for this game.

I still love it, and I still play it – but I’m not sure for how much longer.