It happens more often than I’ve realised. I go through this phase where for no real reason I can put my finger on I become completely disenfranchised with a game. That spreads to gaming and then pretty soon I’ve sold my PC, consoles, peripherals and games and I’m sitting thinking, yeah man, I should have done this sooner.
A couple of weeks in, I get a few phone calls from some friends asking if I’m on for some Bad Company 2 or if I’m into getting into a WOW raid, or that there is a LAN coming up that they think we should all attend.
I explain the circumstances, the calls stop, then I think I could probably just pick up an Xbox 360, a couple of games, I won’t spend that much time on it, it’s cool. As the hours start creeping back up, I start thinking, actually, that LAN event sounds like it might be a good laugh.
Within a month of kicking the habit, I’m back on the bandwagon, in about the action like I never left and wondering why I decided to get shot of everything anyway. I’ve done this five times over the past twelve years; the process feels like a cathartic and necessary thing that I have to do.
Speaking to a friend about it, she explained to me that the process that I’m going through is most common with addicts; people who want control of their life back over something they feel they are compelled to use, often go through a process of separation. So by that explanation, I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’m an addict. Which sucks. But now I know if I want to kick this habit all I have to do is stop playing games with my mates, stop buying games I love and stop spending time with people who share the same interests. Sounds easy enough. I heard that people on heroin get methadone to get them off the hard stuff; I wonder if the government has a similar programme for gamers. Free hardware? Access to the latest titles on medical grounds… I think I’ve stumbled upon the jackpot here.
Free Nintendo 3DS from the NHS, I’m sure that will sort me right out :p
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.