Huh. I've been gaming for as long as I can remember. Back on my 286, friends used to come over and we'd play Decathalon. Yes, it was 2 colors (blue and white) and yes, it was just stickmen. But god damn, it was a great game, lol.
As I grew older, my first real online game was Warcraft II (though I played Warcraft I, there was no online play). Then came Starcraft. Wow, Starcraft owned me. I was in High School at the time and during the 4 years, some friends and I would cut school to go home and play (the real sad thing was I live on the Queens/Long Island border and I went to school in the Bronx. Just going to and back from school took hours). When Broodwar hit, oh man, I think I'd average about 200+ cuts a year (if you stayed til 3rd period, you were marked present at school, but cut periods 4-9. But present in school = no absent card mailed to your house. =])
When I got to college, I played Broodwar/Counterstrike. When I started going out with my girlfriend my sophomore year, I basically dropped gaming, playing about an hour a day at most. This is also when I got better grades (started college with a 1.45 and 2.45 GPA my freshman year). When she graduated, WoW came out. It destroyed me. Within the first 3 months the game was out, I had about 32 DAYS logged (that's right, 768 hours). I played hardcore, averaging about 6-12 hours a day, sometimes pulling 20-35 hour sprees.
This lasted until my last semester senior year when I quit WoW alltogether. But game addiction doesn't end that fast, at least not for me. I just replaced WoW with Warcraft III/DoTA. I think I played DoTA for a good 6-10 hours a day, but no crazy sprees. Even after I graduated, I still played alot of DoTA. It wasn't until I got my job that I started to cut down, not because I found it less enjoying, but because if I stayed up too late, I'd be too tired at work, lol. Growing up sucks.
I've known I have a gaming problem for a while now. My girlfriend always told me I did. But I didn't realize it until one night while I was trying to go to sleep, it came to me. I lied alot to my girlfriend to play WoW, lol. I'd tell her I had alot of homework to do over weekends and that I had to go back to school to do it, but instead, I was going back to raid dungeons in WoW with e-friends... That woke me up pretty quick and I quit the game the following day. I'm surprised she's still with me (4+ years and counting, I got my fingers crossed =] ).
Funny thing is, no one complains about how much you play when you pull good grades. My dad used to be on my ass in High School becuase all I did was play games and hang out til the wee hours of the night. I had like, an 84.XX average in HS. But in college, not counting my freshman year, I pulled decent grades while playing WoW hardcore (ranging from 3.4-3.8). What's the harm in playing that many hours when you do fine in school? (I know, some people want a 4.0 and nothing less, I'm not one of those people)
When Starcraft II comes out... I don't know if I'll be able to continue working.
