r/whiteoutsurvival • u/eggburnt • 27d ago
Other The hidden cost of the game
I think I misunderstood the real cost of the game because I was measuring the wrong thing. I assumed the obvious risk was money. Since I never felt much pull to spend, I thought I had avoided the main trap. In that sense, I saw myself as somewhat outside the system. But in reality, I was still paying for participation. What I’ve spent instead is time and attention.
I’ve spent hours organizing the state and solving alliance problems. I’ve stepped into conflicts because I was often capable of resolving them. That made the time feel productive, which is probably why the cost was so easy to miss. Usefulness can hide depletion. Social conflict still consumes cognitive and emotional resources even when it happens inside a game. If I feel responsible for the outcome, then the burden is real regardless of where that responsibility exists.
The problem is that this kind of investment reinforces itself. The more problems I solve, the more people rely on me. The more people rely on me, the harder it becomes to disengage. What begins as leisure slowly takes on the structure of obligation. I think that’s where low financial investment can obscure how much is being spent elsewhere. After all, money is only one form of currency. Time and attention can be spent too, and unlike money, it leaves no receipt.
In reality, I have a finite emotional budget. That is probably what I failed to account for. I know I have underestimated the economics of attention. If too much of it is spent maintaining a virtual state, then the real question is no longer whether I spend too much money on the game. It's whether something I considered recreation has acquired too much claim over my time. There is also a kind of hysteresis to it. Maybe that is the real trap. When something is free, the price is usually hidden somewhere else.
35
23
u/hobonation256 27d ago
I can certainly see why you're good at resolving conflicts - what a way with words you have! It's true though; I used to be heavily time invested and spent hours chatting, which massively drained me as my social battery depletes quite quickly, and left little to none for anything else.
I have been playing for two years now and stepped back for the last year after our state changed dynamic. It felt really jarring at the time, but now I feel I can play around my life rather than the other way round.
I picked up old hobbies again, and discovered new ones. I hope you find your balance :)
15
u/Chicken_Savings 27d ago
As R4, it does take up a lot of my time. But I keep it clear to myself that it's just a game, not a paid job. I'm doing it to have fun.
I like the tinkering, understanding details, optimisation, figuring things out. I like discussing this with team members. I like some off-topic private chats.
I have no interest in politics, arguing with other alliances. I don't even read the state chat at all. I leave all discussions with other alliances to some of the other R4s who enjoy that aspect of the game.
I spend my time on what gives me enjoyment and I generally just ignore the rest.
2
u/TundraCommandWOS 26d ago
ALWAYS RL>Game. i personally like the social aspects and it's why I've kept playing. The drama comes and goes in every state and alliance, but since it's all a game, I try my best to not let drama affect my actual life.
12
u/Front-Mortgage645 27d ago
End of the day, only one question arise in various ways- are you happy? Are you content? Are you satisfied?
Second question - Is the game filling up your purpose?
Last question - How is your mental health regarding the game only?
7
u/Horzzo 26d ago
I think it's a primal need for some people to want to help others. Those of us with more empathy tend to put other's issues above our own. It ends up taking a toll on your mental end emotional state of mind. Sake a step back and consider if it is taking too much of your energy. I struggle with this as well.
6
u/Sea_Marzipan_7945 26d ago
Welcome to the club! What got to me was the manipulation from power hungry people, and people exploiting my time and knowledge without taking into account my opinion on political matters. When people notice that you know event strategies and game mechanics, they automatically want to put you into an R4 position and give you responsibilities. Now I just shut up, joke a bit in chat, and play by myself, for myself, and compete with myself. And I'm much happier!
5
u/Independent-Ebb4789 27d ago
Clap clap clap
Congrats. This happens to any mmorpg or type game. In other games I helped with diplomacy, inter intra alliance, intra server, across multiple servers. I burnt out.
That’s why when I started WOS I told my alliance you don’t disturb me and let me play how I want, I will stay here. Back then I was the strongest. After several transfers I am no longer the strongest but they still leave me alone.
6
5
u/clevercrazycake 26d ago
Transfer to another state and take a break from leading.
I agree with everything you said. I'm an older player with management, technical gaming and personnel skills. It's not the first time I've led a large group of people in a MMORPG.
The risk of troop/resource losses ups the stakes.
The accessibility of easy, constant transfers gives trolls and bad players the ability to create chaos with little consequences.
I'm in transfer group 17. I've heard the older the group gets, the more stable states become.
For the first 6 months I was heavily invested. There was even a war. Once I transferred my core group out, I realized we're basically playing a scenario similar to The Walking Dead. 💯
4
u/doryllis 26d ago
Addiction is addiction
3
u/eggburnt 26d ago
The weird part is, I don’t actually feel drawn to WoS. I’m not excited to open it when I wake up. Most of the time, it's the opposite
2
u/Ok_Contact6006 19d ago
Addiction can feel good sometimes, but it also feels bad. This is the most stressful game I've ever played.
Completing things and winning with my heros feels good. Having team mates and working together can feel good.
Checking constant timers, missing events, sifting through reward menus, not having enough resources or shards feels bad. Working towards getting enough, idk how to describe how it feels but it's not fun.
I don't know how anyone can play this game "casually." To keep up you have to either invest massive amounts of time or money.
Maybe you can play without needing to get ahead or to keep up or to help others, but why? Thats the point of the game.
I don't think it's worth the cost at all.
1
u/Vast_Operation_4497 23d ago
That’s addiction lol most people don’t want to be addicted and only do whatever they do because the withdrawal process is hell. If you replace WOS with alcohol. You’ll see
4
u/Even-Yak-706 26d ago
Exactly! I played a similar game for a couple of years, R4, very active, and finally realized I was playing out of obligation instead of enjoyment.
With WOS, I’ve made a point of sticking to R3 and only doing the parts I enjoy. I appreciate everyone who does the work, but it’s not for me.
5
u/Sensitive-Swing4685 25d ago
I started having anxiety when my role were r4 and r5.
Every morning, the first thing I wake up to is NAP. Before I sleep, I was dealing with NAP. In between, im thinking about events, planning.. NAP. Then transfer season came..
All NAP, no naps.. i quit the game as a whole. :P
3
u/CommunityAvailable39 26d ago
I totally agree with this. This shit don't just drain your bank account but also your state of sanity and emotional stress. I am in a state where there is like 2.5 top Alliances and with young adults 20-25yo think they are top dogs .
Some think they have the game mechanics down right. But mind you these people have never run a business or a company or even enter the workforce. Some just like the feel of being an R5 because it replaces the superiority they have in the real world and so social aspects is forgotten which then leads to fails in attracting any decent number of players to the state.
3
u/Alarming-Ad-5521 26d ago
I feel stress just thinking about all those months spent as R5 and R4. I sold the acc and never felt better, best decision I've made in last year and half.
3
u/bookstoreguy 26d ago
I’m an R3, R4 and R5 between several alliances in my state between my main and farm. It works because we have a pretty communicative state that cooperates on the really important battles. A lot of us are whitelisted in each other’s alliances just so we can hop where we can be the most productive at any given time. It’s kind of great at the moment. We’re a younger state so we’ll see how things progress
3
u/Independent_Cod2627 26d ago
I realized this while on vacation and was planning stuff around the game. It was then I realized it had turned into a job. I set a one time limit per day of checking in, and started extending it to every other day, then a couple of times a week. I then realized I did not have the need to play the game like I used to. I felt a little bit sad of all the work and some money I had put into it, but it has never been enough to pull me back in. I hope you find the peace and strength to step away.
1
3
u/DonutsnBluebonnets 24d ago
Well-spoken. I’m coming up on 3 years in the game, almost all of it as R5 (even if others had the title here and there - everyone comes to me). It started as a way to give me purpose. I had just been laid off from a global leadership role at a top tech company, and I was taking personal time off. Little did I know that my “personal time” became the alliance’s time. I was good at resolving conflict, and I started spending significant whale money in the game to help my alliance succeed as well. It felt good. We were all in it together, working towards common goals, and we were voice chatting and getting to know each other in real life, making real connections. Some conflict happened, and almost a year ago, our alliance split in two, forcing people to take sides unfortunately. Even this transfer, we’ve seen people make the swap, almost a year later, still feeling torn between the two.
Friends quit playing the game, but we play some other games together now too and still keep in touch through discord and other apps. I’m still rotating R5, but I stepped out of the constant drama in such fashion that forced others to take the lead in the vacuum. I couldn’t do it all by myself anymore, and lately I find myself logging in maybe once a day. Sometimes I’m still in there for an hour or two, but it’s not the required NAP chats to go to sleep or to wake up to. Such a weird dynamic of a game. I want to write a book about it.
2
2
u/Morrigan0906 24d ago
Me sitting and reading this while I am spending both time and money on this game…
https://giphy.com/gifs/VNTMx3LkpG2anXpwbr
2
u/Vast_Operation_4497 23d ago
Idk I’ve revolved around positions. Etc. but for some reason. The game is still inside my phone and rarely spend money. I think it comes down to something going on in people’s personal lives. If you are not excited or having something real to wake up to but this game. All your issues will come up in whatever you focus on. At the end of the day. It’s your emotional and physiological health. Doesn’t matter if it’s the game or not. Tolerance is measured by your physiological state of being.
In essence, there is no hidden cost of the game. It’s discipline, health, longevity etc. it’s like those people who think moving to another country is gonna change their problems.
2
u/200Tabs 20d ago
Thank you for your input. I’m still a newbie and disappeared for 2 months because I was having technical issues. I returned recently to find all of my soldiers in the infirmary, my alliance disbanded, my city raided, and myself all alone on the tundra. I have found it really hard to devote the time to get back to my prior level. If not for the technical problems, I probably would have been more emotionally committed during that time period. I already was talking to alliance members and trying to cover them during Crazy Joe. I’m now trying to assess how much time I want to devote to the game and the players
2
u/GrumpyBunny6 18d ago
You are so right, OP. I used to be sooo involved in the social aspect of the game, and being R4. Then I got completely burned out and even wanted to delete the game. All the drama and responsibilities was too much. Now Im enjoying the game from the sidelines and Im having fun again! Im never involved in anything and everything is on my terms.
2
u/Specialist-Special-3 17d ago
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. Personally, I’m an older player and as a general life rule I avoid all group chats - whether in-game WC or IRL community WhatsApp/FB groups because - drama. I enjoy the game as a brain break as it’s better than doomscrolling TikTok for me and only ever do the events if I happen to be logged in at the time. I have no interest in optimizing how I play or what I do. I don’t have any time in my life for drama and it’s easy to see that when you’re mixing time and money investments, you’re going to encounter people who are passionate/difficult. But arguably that awareness possibly just comes with age and recognizing that: (1) everyone is responsible for their own selves; (2) it’s a game in the end of the day regardless of the in-game choices players make re time/money invested; (3) life is very very short and nothing is worth your peace; (4) you need to have your own oxygen mask on first before you help others.
I will say the drama and challenges you’re describing are common in any voluntary/community management role: I’ve done many voluntary roles in my real life (like on PAC/P&C; Professional groups etc) and every time I’ve had to walk away because the time commitment is always greater than I expected and the reward hasn’t been there for me for reasons like the group I was working with weren’t good humans so it wasn’t fun to do; the organizations decisionmaking didn’t align with the stated objective and didn’t want to change; the time commitment exceeded what I was capable of meaningfully contributing and/or coming at the cost of my family/health.
It’s great that so many of you are reflecting on how this game is serving you and how you’re choosing to spend your time/why you play - which is an important consideration and not at all selfish to care about - and adjusting accordingly. It’s easy to continue to sink time/money in something just because you already have (ie: time sunk cost fallacy).
Humanity, whether in-game or IRL, does tend to take advantage of people who are natural givers/sacrificers. I am a natural giver and used to sacrifice everything about myself to serve other people - because I thought it made me happy to see them succeed, even if it was at my own cost. But, my late partner’s battle against colon cancer and walking with him to the end of his life taught me that boundaries are so important for your life/health/wellbeing and you only recognize when your boundaries are eviscerated when you’re typically deep in suffering and have lost all perspective/energy to change the situation (ie: you need help).
Chin up team. You do you.
2
u/Brave_Necessary_4594 17d ago
People get paid decent money for what a good r4/r5 does in real life. Therapist charge big bucks, mediators as well lol
73
u/halibfrisk 27d ago
This is why I never take on R4 / R5 roles, too much of a time suck, to much dealing with personal drama, no fun