Tim Bray writes about playing games, or more notably about playing an MMO-game:
So, did I just waste two years of my life? I don’t think so. First off, I had some fun. Second, it’s about the world’s most cost-effective entertainment, if you divide the dollars by the hours. Third, I met some cool people.
My situation differs a lot from Tims. Mainly because I am a gamer by heart, but also that I don’t really have a family life at the moment, so I have plenty of time to invest in my MMO-addiction of choice: EverQuest.
I started playing EverQuest primo 2001. At the time I had avoided the game, because I knew what it would end up doing to me, but all it took to shatter my defenses, was a friend of mine saying he was playing it. I went and bought the game and now, two and a half years later, we both still play.
Before EverQuest I have had a carreer in Quake 2, Action Quake 2, Quake 3 and Urban Terror - not to mention the countless numbers of singleplayer games I have gone through - all of which has now taken a step into the background. Fact is that if it wasn’t EverQuest it would be something else, games are in my blood.
Do I regret being sweettalked into starting EverQuest back then? Do I regret having spent thousands of hours developing my virtual personas? No, not really, and for the same reasons as in Tims quote above. I have had and am still having tons of fun, and I know that I am part of making the game fun for other people. That is definatly worth my time,and boy, does it demand a lot of it.