Believe me, there have been many a weekends where I have looked back at what I did and thought "that was it? I spent the entire weekend painting that unit of undead knights? What the hell was a I thinking?" By the end of the work week I'd cheered up again and was ready to do it again that coming weekend, be it painting, collecting, collating or even playing.
This obsession can take you down dark paths, especially when you get to the various forms of digital crack. Finances and space can sometimes stop a real-world obsession. In the digital world, where the entry cost is usually fairly low and the game either sits in your computer or in a game system, those gloves are off. And there is something so sweet, sweet about combining your obsessions with a digital avatar, who can play out your dreams.
I had thought that phase was over. A few years ago, I lost a winter to the online game City of Heroes. Literally -- I would play from the time I got home from work until I went to bed. Sometimes, I would get up early in the morning to grind a few experience points before heading into work. The game was a geek wonderland -- a colorful place where you could create your own superheroes and have them fight all manner of nefarious baddies. That I had a gang of friends in Green Bay who gathered at comic-game shop Rogue Traders to play made it all the more fun. We could spend an entire day deep in Paragon City, playing with our various toons.
By the end, fatigue (and the lack of a high speed internet connection for several months, followed by my conversion to a Mac) broke the spell. All the while, I experimented with another game, the much better known World of Warcraft, but it never grabbed me the same way (though game maker Blizzard, in their wisdom, makes the game work on either Windows or Macintosh machines). I'd go in, fiddle around for a bit, have some fun and then leave it behind. Last summer, I took advantage of a free trial of the game's expansion. I spent a couple weeks with the new characters, explored a few new parts of the world, and then let it go.
This fall, a new "patch" (updated software that changes the game world in big or small ways) was issued that was said to make it easier to play in the mid game. Last week, I paid my monthly fee for the first time in at least a year, unlocked the full expansion and took at a look at my level 31 dwarf hunter. I spend part of the weekend playing; and then a good chunk of the night Monday; and then before and after a show Tuesday night; and then I was up this morning, before "work," grinding away. I'm almost up to level 37 (there are 70). It is easier to gain experience now and the world is more user-friendly (having rested the character for months helped; I gained extra experience for two levels). I'm also getting worried. I've been leveling at a rate of two to three hours per, which makes some of the fun carrots that are coming up -- I can buy a mount and wear chain mail at 40! -- rather enticing. Blizzard is well known for providing carrot after carrot to keep you in the game. Until now, I haven't had the appetite, but now?
Oh no, maybe I should have a chat with the cable company.
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