Blaugust #11: That one game you just can't shake

So most of the people I know have that one video game they just can't shake.  No matter what comes up in life, or game wise ... they always find themselves going back to that one game.  Mine is very similar to a large number of other people but it is World of Warcraft.  I have had an account since Vanilla and I quickly got addicted.  Not to the point where I was skipping school/work/social life to get some time in but I definitely spent a lot of my free time in the world of Azeroth.

I played constantly for a few years as Burning Crusade came out and I got really into PVP.  Running battlegrounds like it was NOBODY's business.  I particularly liked Alterac Valley and Arathi Basin.  I had a very detailed strat for AV that I would run daily, a bunch of people from my server knew me by character name and when I'd log on, they'd be messaging me to see if we were going to run a pre-made or not.  This had me very happy to play the game on a daily basis, my presence mattered to a group of people.  This is probably a large reason why Burning Crusade was my favourite expansion.

When I moved away to College, I started working at EB Games and that's when Wrath of the Lich King came out.  I didn't really have much time for WoW at that point, but I did play casually with a group of classmates.  They took the PVP player in me and turned her into a RP player.  I went from running Arathi Basin nightly to raids and questing.  This was much the matter into later expansions while I was just busy with life.  The group of people I hung out with at the time (school, work, etc) all played and we all played as a group.

While I started out as Horde (because, let's be honest, horde fucking kicks ass) the people I started working with at an EB Games in ANOTHER city wanted me to roll alliance, I was curious, as by this time Worgens were released and I really wanted to experience the class.  So I did, I made a few Worgen as well as Draenei.  Eventually though, I made the switch back to Horde, I just couldn't leave my roots behind.

I keep going back for every expansion, and there are moments in time where I really miss it... but with going to University full time and having a SO as well as friends and family, I just don't have the time I use to in order to dedicate to this game that used to be my life.  I will continue to keep up to date with the game and the lore itself but there are limits.  I will put my school life and social life before the game.  I'm not saying that those who play don't do that, I am just saying that I don't have time.

World of Warcraft will always be my favourite game, hands down... I just wish I had more time.  Do you guys have a game you just can't walk away from?  Something you've invested so much time in that keeps drawing you back, no matter how much time has passed?