I used to play Everquest. I would describe myself as addicted: I would play so late I had hours less sleep than optimal several nights a week, get up for work tired, go through my work day tired, drive home on the motorway nodding off to sleep (Sometimes I’d have micro-sleeps and swerve. Dangerous!, I must have been crazy!) but as soon as I got home to EQ, I’d suddenly be alert enough to play until the wee small hours again....
I was like that for… over a year, which couldn’t have been good, even discounting the risk of killing myself in a crash.
After I stopped playing EQ, (I got forced to quit by circumstances) I played several other MMORPGs over the next few years, culminating in WoW. None of them got me anywhere near as addicted as EQ—maybe my mental immune system had learned to protect me? I dunno, but I do sometimes wish for that ‘high’ that kept me playing EQ with that intensity, even though I know that it would be bad for me.
I don’t know if there’s a lesson or a moral in that, but like I said at the top, it is at least a data-point for you.
A data-point: Me.
I used to play Everquest. I would describe myself as addicted: I would play so late I had hours less sleep than optimal several nights a week, get up for work tired, go through my work day tired, drive home on the motorway nodding off to sleep (Sometimes I’d have micro-sleeps and swerve. Dangerous!, I must have been crazy!) but as soon as I got home to EQ, I’d suddenly be alert enough to play until the wee small hours again....
I was like that for… over a year, which couldn’t have been good, even discounting the risk of killing myself in a crash.
After I stopped playing EQ, (I got forced to quit by circumstances) I played several other MMORPGs over the next few years, culminating in WoW. None of them got me anywhere near as addicted as EQ—maybe my mental immune system had learned to protect me? I dunno, but I do sometimes wish for that ‘high’ that kept me playing EQ with that intensity, even though I know that it would be bad for me.
I don’t know if there’s a lesson or a moral in that, but like I said at the top, it is at least a data-point for you.