Altoholism, a Growing Epidemic?

Being an Altoholic myself, I know first-hand how much of a problem it can be. Or is it?

What exactly is an “altoholic” and why the negative name?

Well, from my experience with guilds, it isn’t negative. There may be the occasional “no life” comment, but most people call others altoholics playfully. An altoholic is someone, a player of MMORPGS usually, who plays many different characters, most of the time not focusing on just one. Any normal person who knows MMOs knows that having one character at max level and getting them geared is a task in itself, but to have multiple? This is madness!

How could someone be so crazy?

What is it that drives some players to create so many alts and play them fully? Well, some of it can come from a completionist standpoint. I’m sure you know people that play a game and want to explore every aspect of it. They complete every task, talk to every NPC, read every bit of text the game has to offer. Some people just want to see everything there is to see in a game because, hey why not? After all, you paid for it. So what happens when this player ventures into the MMO space? Altoholism is what happens. The only way to truly experience everything an MMO has to offer is to play every character type that is available in the game.

The above is an altoholic’s worse nightmare, limited character slots.

For others, they may simply get bored of playing one character for a long period of time or just want to play different play styles at any given time. “I’m tired of bashing people with this mace, maybe I’ll try out a spell casting class.” Twenty minutes after creation, “Actually, I kinda like the whole stealth concept. Maybe I’ll try a thief out.” This scenario is more common than you may think. Sometimes people want to try out all the roles in the game, and the only way to do that most of the time is to play alts.

Another big reason why players might become altoholics can be for end-game content. In guilds that may only have a handful of people in a certain role, players may level up alts to fulfill these roles while still being able to play what they love the most. “Oh, you need a tank? Don’t worry; I’ll switch from my DPS. Oh we have one and now we’re short a healer? I got you covered!” I’ve seen this scenario become more of the norm lately and it isn’t viewed as odd at all. Sometimes an altoholic really is a jack of all trades, master of all.

From Curse.com. There is even a game add-on in World of Warcraft dedicated to all the altoholics out there.

It is true that you have to have a lot of time on your hands to actually level up multiple characters and gear them for end-game, so if you’re like me you run the risk of being viewed as having no life. As sad as it may sound the proper response is to say you have many. Personally, I’m just doing something I love to do and I have fun doing it. I won’t let others bring me down, plus I do have a life outside of the games and a girlfriend that I spend time with. To fellow altoholics out there, keep up the good work.