I had always played video games casually - LAN games of Counter-Strike, drink some beers, have a good time with my friends. But around the summer of 2003, something changed. My friends started playing World of Warcraft when it was first released.
Not only were they playing a lot, they were also trying to recruit me into the game hardcore. "Dude, you gotta play this game. It's the best game ever created."
And I was always like, "no, no, no. Not me dudes." Those guys were nuts about this game & back in 2003 I was headed into my sophomore year of college, and I was an extroverted dude. I lived to go out, drink beers, and meet tons of people. That's what I loved to do.
And then we went back to college after summer break, and it was Fall in the Pacific NW, and it was raining, and it was probably a random Tuesday and I had nothing to do. I was bored. My friend said, "Why don't we go down to Gamestop and pick up WoW for you!?" I had responded with a "no" to that about 100 times, and for whatever reason, this time I responded with "aight, I'll play the game." Went and bought the game, installed the game with like 4 or 5 different disks (before anything like Steam guys..), and started playing. It was a problem right away.
I pulled an all nighter. Maybe slept 2-3 hrs during the day the next day, and then was back at it. I was "behind" my friends who had already been playing for months, and I was addicted immediately.
I played for ~1 year.. maybe 1.5 years, and then Blizzard announced they were releasing the first expansion.. and something clicked in my head. All that time I had spent grinding for the best level 60 gear is going to be meaningless once this expansion goes live. And they are just going to release another expansion after this one.. and then another. And it's never going to stop. (I was right about that one.)
And then I made the best decision I probably ever made as a young adult. I straight up quit WoW cold turkey.
I didn't play video games for 15 years after that. Focused on my career. Moved to a new state. Built my life up.
And then Twitch and Fortnite got big, and for whatever reason, I decided to buy all the components and build my own gaming computer again. This was probably 5 years ago, when I was then around 32 years old. I can only imagine the lengths I went to to shut my subconscious up about buying that rig... knowing deep down what I was headed into.
I fell down the gaming rabbit hole again hard with Fortnite. And then WoW Classic was released and I became a straight degenerate again. But, I've always been something like a functioning alcoholic with my gaming. I somehow am able to hold my relationships and career and life together while binge gaming (with something much like a fraying shoestring).