Eras, chapters and phases

Tobold mentioned recently he's canceled his WoW subscription again. He plays the part he finds fun then takes a break.

I lean more to trying to find fun when there often isn't fun to be found. Riding out the lulls in the game until fun comes back around. I don't advise this to anyone.

If I were to describe my WoW life in eras, I plan on doing this in more detail someday (maybe when I finally quit for good) I'd say

The Leveling Era - the first time I leveled to 60 in WoW. I hadn't played a game like it before. It was so fun at the time. Many of us look for that experience again in new games only to be quickly disappointed.

The Raiding Era - the time I raided four to five times a week. I can't believe I actually did this. I really thought I was having fun and during first kills I truly did. If I had my choice I wouldn't do this again. I tried not raiding at all but I missed the social aspect that comes with it, now I'm trying to raid but just on a more limited basis.

Can eras overlap?

The RL vs WoW Era - I've been trying to do this back when I started getting tired of raiding so much. It was the same time I started my blog with the thoughts I'd quit playing WoW but still here I am. This era continues.

The Achievement Era - If I hadn't had the raiding era, I may have went a whole year before realizing I'm heading down the same road as I did with raiding. Overkill. I like getting virtual ribbons for doing what I like to do in game. However the past few months I stepped over the line, chasing achievements that weren't fun. I'm fighting the obssessive demon sitting on my shoulder. For instance, this week is Children's week and one of the achievements is to accomplish things in battlegrounds. To do so you have to compete with your fellow faction to get it done. I was irritated to no end trying to get these done over the weekend and I should have given up, but in the end I succeeded. I was more relieved than happy.

I have a feeling I have one more Era left in my Life in Azeroth, have no idea what it will be.