I was never ashamed of telling people I played it. I enjoyed playing the game, just because its not to everyones taste doesn't mean you should be ashamed of it. Its a well made game just that it is a real time stealer.
To get anywhere decent you have to put a lot of hours into it, and it becomes rather addictive which the social side of it only enhances i mean i believe my longest stint playing it was around 26 hours?
I just finally decided there are others things that i want to do and by not playing that game anymore I could do most of what I want to do =p
I think its a similar sort of thing but more orientated around PvP battles and i don't believe there are any monthly payments either which seems alright to me! =p