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I awake to the sound of tapping of the keyboard and clicking of the mouse. Before I even open my eyes, I know the sight I am going to see. It is an online game. This game has managed to completely entrance my roommate.

I have to use the word "entrance" because the effect the game has is like witchcraft. He can think about nothing beyond how he is going to gear his character and where to hunt today so that he may get his level before he can't stay awake anymore. From the moment he woke up, till the moment he passes out for the day, he will be connected to the computer.

When we started our rooming arrangement, he was attentive and was able to hold a conversation beyond video games that he was playing at the time. A conversation about life, politics or religion, he could easily entertain with wit and wisdom. Nowadays, all I hear about is what level he is and what awesome magical gear he has.

Besides, his conversational de-evolution, there is his inability to keep track of time. "Just a moment," turns into three hours later. He takes his food in by the computer for the mighty warrior that his cartoon self is can't be neglected for enough time for him to eat like a semi-normal person with his friends or family.

Is this not addiction? Does he not realize how much of his life he is missing? Will he notice when I am no longer his roommate?

His addiction to this game has tainted everything. He has no priorities to real life, no sense of time, no exercise, no conversation and no real friends. This game has cost him his ambition to engage in real life.

This addiction is no less severe than alcoholism as they are both ways to escape dealing with the real world and issues at hand. On the bright side, he can't hurt anyone in his addicted state. He really only hurts himself. However, his friends and family wonders when he will unplug and join them.

All he holds now is fiction in his hands with the misunderstanding that he controls his own destiny.

Learn more about this author, Joy Reasoner.
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