It Was My Decision To Get Clean: My Wizard101 Story

Fizzle after fizzle after fizzle. I couldn’t take it anymore. It was eating me from the inside out. My addiction to Wizard101 has finally reached its boiling. This is my Wizard101 story.

It all started as a kid. I had Wizard101 on my dad’s work computer. I would play it for half an hour after getting home from school. It was wonderful. Being able to keep the streets of Unicorn Way clean from any ghouls, skeleton pirates, or evil pixies brought me an indescribable sense of bliss. The bullies at school were mean, and I was too weak to stand up for myself. But in Wizard101, I could cast all the Trolls and Frost Beetles I wanted.

I gradually grew out of the childishness. When I reached high school I finally decided to delete the game. It was for kids! No teenager should be playing it, right?

When I went to college, I experienced extreme boredom in my lectures. Simply listening to the professor just wasn’t doing it for me. I had the strange urge to click on cards and use them to defeat various monsters. But what could satisfy that urge? Then… I knew what I had to do: I redownloaded Wizard101 onto my laptop.

I was sitting in my Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe lecture on a lovely day when I decided I’d take my first crack back at the game that brought me so much childhood joy. The nostalgia hit me like a Fire Cat.

There I was, once again defeating Malisatire with the help of Headmaster Ambrose. Soon I was back in Unicorn Way, facing the age-old ghouls, skeleton pirates, and evil pixies. I forgot why I ever left in the first place. I couldn’t fathom why anyone would leave such a beautiful place! 

Not long after reopening the game for what felt like the first time, I couldn’t go to lecture without playing Wizard101. The only professors I wanted to listen to were the professors of the magic schools. My grades plummeted, but at least I had pips for days.

Then, the descent began. After a few days of conquering Unicorn Way and Triton Avenue, I met my first roadblock: a paywall. If I wanted to advance to Firecat Alley, I would have to pay a whopping $10 a month in order to satiate my hunger. Was it worth it? Would I really sacrifice $120 a year just to be able to sit through lectures? No, no! That’s foolish! Why would anyone do that?!

It was too easy. Typing my credit card information into an online children’s game felt so natural. I didn’t think about it as it happened. No point in rationalizing—just do it. And there my $10 went.

But I couldn’t stop. I needed more Crowns. I needed my avatar to be the most dripped-out wizard in all of Ravenwood. And the only way to do that was to keep pouring real money into the game. Who cares? It was for a good cause, right? It was for the sake of my attention span!

After many months of playing, I received the letter from the bank: my account balance hit $0. At least I had a gazillion Crowns and all the spells a wizard could need! How dare the bank try to stop me? Who do they think they are?

I fell into a comatose-like state for a while. My actions were not my own. I felt unconscious as I racked up debt in order to buy more Crowns. I had to drop out of school and abandon all financial responsibilities in order to continue playing Wizard101.

When I couldn’t take any more loans out, I sold the clothes off my back just so I could eat. If I didn’t have to eat, I would never stop playing Wizard101. Eventually, all I had left was my laptop. Not even a shirt or a pair of underwear to shit in. It got to the point where I only had one thing left to sell in order for a meal: my laptop. But that would mean I couldn’t play Wizard101 anymore!

I fasted. I tested myself to see how long I could go without eating. My bodily functions couldn’t take Wizard101 away from me!

They found me in an alleyway. No, not Firecat Alley. Just any old alleyway. I was passed out, clutching my laptop, mid-fight with the Kraken.

Upon waking up in the hospital, the doctors said I immediately demanded my laptop, that I had pips to accumulate. They refused my demand. Apparently I started frothing from the mouth, shouting that they couldn’t take my spells away from me.

I went to rehab for many months. Wizard101 was an itch that needed to be scratched, but I fought it with every ounce of willpower in my body. I just earned my chip for 1-year clean from Wizard101. Sometimes I think about all those memories… a young me coming home from school, so excited to finally escape reality, to get away from the torture of the bullies, and to get on Wizard101. I yearn for that feeling again, but then I think about where it landed me. Wizard101 made me a savage, someone who would fight tooth and nail just to cast one more Dark Sprite. That’s not me. I don’t like that person.

Since getting clean, I’ve re-enrolled in school and have managed to keep my grades up. I’m able to once again pay attention in lecture, and the content is actually quite interesting if you listen. I met someone, too. We’ve been going on dates for many months now. I think I want to marry them. Maybe have kids. And this is all without thanks to Wizard101. I would probably be dead in-game and in real life if I hadn’t come to my senses.