Theme Week Blood Elves: Roleplaying Disorders: Substance Dependence Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

As I said in my last post on the subject, bloodthistle and magic addiction are quite prevalent on Azeroth, and have real-world analogues in terms of effect. Bloodthistle is probably most akin to amphetamine, given its stimulant/crash-like effects on stats, while magic addiction has less obvious parallels. Given the little that we know about the effects of an actual magic high, the main cue to determining effect is in the effects of magic withdrawal on a person.

Of course, we have a very obvious sign of how magic withdrawal affects the addicted – the Blood Elves and, perhaps more aptly, the Wretched. Now, for reference, the effects of amphetamine withdrawal are:

fatigue

dysphoric mood

vivid, unpleasant dreams

insomnia or hypersomnia

increased appetite

psychomotor retardation or agitation

While the symptoms of opiod withdrawal are:

dysphoric mood

nausea or vomiting

muscle aches

lacrimation or rhinorrhea

pupillary dilation, piloerection, or sweating

diarrhea

yawning

fever

insomnia

Now, of these lists of symptoms, the ones that seem most consistent with how the Blood Elves and Wretched are portrayed is the latter; clearly, the Wretched are in physical pain (muscle aches?), seem tired (insomnia?), and are thin and weak (a combination of insomnia, diarrhea and nausea?), and Blood Elves are certainly known for their dysphoric moods.

If we therefore take the assumption that if magic withdrawal is like opioid withdrawal and extend that so far as to assume that a magic high is like an opioid high, we can get a better idea what addiction as a whole would be like.

The key problem really comes here in that most symptoms of withdrawal aren’t things you really want to roleplay. While certainly sweating, insomnia and increased appetite can be roleplayed reasonably well, most people won’t want to actually roleplay diarrhea and vomiting. No one will blame you if you don’t roleplay that – or at least, I certainly won’t.

Ways you can get that across, however, are by referencing weakness and weight loss. I’m sure we all know that when we have gone through a bout of illness that involves, ahem, a lot of waste leaving our body in some fashion, we feel weaker than usual, are dehydrated, crave sugars and salts, and (if it goes on for some time), lose weight. These are all signs you can mention or roleplay to imply that there’s something physical going on to do with the withdrawal without actually having to roleplay the awkward or disgusting parts.

There’s not a lot to further say on the issue, so this ends up being much shorter than I’d expected it to be. On the other hand, talking about vomiting and diarrhea really does put a damper on having anything to say afterwards.