Next-gen home-wrecker: Online games

Online games are fun and all, and those who have never been addicted to anything in their life could never hope to understand what it feels like to be totally immersed in a virtual world. In a report titled “Online Gaming Isn’t Just Child’s Play,” CBS described the harrowing story of how a former Final Fantasy XI junkie escaped the habit that tore her family apart.

Johnson, a mother of two teenage boys, says she was hooked to Square Enix‘s online adventure and embarked on a four-year quest to self-destruction before she finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired. The aftermath was a divorce with a husband who was more addicted to the game than she was.

“My children would come up to talk to me and I’d say, ‘wait, wait, Mom’s busy. I’ll be done in a minute Â… just give Mommy another minute,'” confesses Johnson. She said she was averaging about 50 hours a week in game time, leaving little time for everything else.

The last straw was when she and her husband quit working to have a more game-driven life. They laid all their expenses on their credit cards and waited until everything blew up in a glob of rage and financial trouble.

Right then and there, Kay crushed the game discs and ended her involvement with gaming. She says the reminders of game companies to “have a life” cannot be more futile.

Via CBS News

Online games are fun and all, and those who have never been addicted to anything in their life could never hope to understand what it feels like to be totally immersed in a virtual world. In a report titled “Online Gaming Isn’t Just Child’s Play,” CBS described the harrowing story of how a former Final Fantasy XI junkie escaped the habit that tore her family apart.

Johnson, a mother of two teenage boys, says she was hooked to Square Enix‘s online adventure and embarked on a four-year quest to self-destruction before she finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired. The aftermath was a divorce with a husband who was more addicted to the game than she was.

“My children would come up to talk to me and I’d say, ‘wait, wait, Mom’s busy. I’ll be done in a minute Â… just give Mommy another minute,'” confesses Johnson. She said she was averaging about 50 hours a week in game time, leaving little time for everything else.

The last straw was when she and her husband quit working to have a more game-driven life. They laid all their expenses on their credit cards and waited until everything blew up in a glob of rage and financial trouble.

Right then and there, Kay crushed the game discs and ended her involvement with gaming. She says the reminders of game companies to “have a life” cannot be more futile.

Via CBS News