Gaming to escape (duh!)

Recently I've come to the sad realization that I play games way too much.  While it's been obvious for a long time, it's not something that Ive wanted to let myself admit to.  It's like finally coming to grips with your crack addiction or trying to pry your lips off of a bottle that has become entirely too comfortable in your hand.  And it wasn't family or friends that made me see the light, it was actually one single game that has eating away at me for over a year.  Not surprisingly, this game is World of Warcraft.

If you've kept up on my blog, you'll know that I've been going through some trying times over the past year or so.  Actually, it would be safe to say that the past couple years have been fairly rough for me personally.  Finally, I'm starting to feel a bit like myself again, and I'm displeased with how much WoW I play, and how much real life I pass on actually living just so I can have one of my characters learn a new spell or grab a rare drop off of some monster.  Now, I don't consider it all a loss of time, as I've met some folks and made some friends that I might not have if I hadn't given the free trial of WoW that I got a shot.  A few people in my guild have become a daily fixture in my life, and I think that they are harder to walk away from than the game itself.  Some of these friends have been there for the darkest period of my adult life, and others have helped me get past that period and given support when I didn't have anyone in "real life" doing it in the same way.  I don't think that any of the people in my guild will realize how important they were to me over the past few months (year?) nor will they ever know how much they helped.  If any of you guys read my blog, I thank you from my heart.  You guys and gals rock.

The anonymity of the internet allows you to be more honest and open than you might be able to be with those in your daily life.  I was able to tell my tale and have people reply without influence from other people involved in my daily drama.  I could lend an ear to others when they needed to vent, and it made us fairly close without really having to go through much together to get there.   I think the same sort of closeness occurs in Halo clans and the like, but I really think that WoW (and possibly other MMO's, as I haven't tried any others), but I think that competition and testosterone get in the way of letting it happen as quickly and completely.  Alas, as usual, I'm starting to stray...

Escape is an obvious reason to game.  It's interesting to me though that it's something that I do with my male friends as a casual activity.  Some people watch TV to turn off the brain, some people have poker nights to get the boys together, yet others watch sports almost as a religious experience.  I am a gamer.  When I get home, I fire up 2o2p, see what's going on, log in to WoW, and set my mind on neutral.  It's how I relax, it's what I enjoy and I don't see that changing in the immediate future a huge amount.

So, if I don't have my mind set to give up gaming, wtf is the point of this post?  While I don't see myself dropping my WoW account (now at least), I do see myself focusing more on things that are important to me in "rl".  I want to work on my photography, I want to work on my writing, I want to see more of this world than that of the one Blizzard has seduced me with.  I want to reconnect with my XBL friends, as a few of them were around to help me get by as well, even though I was off exploring and losing myself in Azeroth.  Most importantly, I want to focus on taking care of myself, which I've made claims to do, but never followed through on.  I hope to be a new man (slightly smaller in size) when the LAN comes, and I plan on being in Chicago if I can afford to go