Intervention

Jan 13, 2009

Hi, my name is Beth, and I'm a gamer.

Last November . . . that is, November 2007 . . . I was between adventure video games having recently finished something and finding nothing new that peaked my curiosity. So, I decided to try Sims 2 since it was on sale AND came with an expansion pack.

I honestly did not think I would play it for very long, couple of months tops. I get tired of the micro-management strategy games after a while and hardly ever go back. I didn't think Sims 2 would be any different . . . but I didn't realize there was AUTONOMY with these little pixelated, daft characters. Just over a year (and every expansion and stuff pack plus a ton of custom content and mods/hacks) later, I realize I've spent nearly every available moment playing this game!! I have skipped work, skipped social functions, survived for days on 3 hours of sleep during the work week . . .and just as I'm starting to get bored with it, I start looking into making my own challenges with editing software.

We all have our drug, mine is video games.

This is not the first time--I've been as 'dedicated' to other games. In fact, in college I had to uninstall all video games from my computer at the start of each semester just to remove the temptation to stay home and reach The Next Level.

So two weekends ago I held my own Intervention. Cold-turkey, lads; everything Sims-related (except the saved games folder, of course) was ininstalled from my computer. For a few days there I thought I was going to start hallucinating about The Worst Toilet In Pleasantville or Sim toddlers crawling on the ceiling . . . probably didn't help that I was listening to the Trainspotting soundtrack that weekend.

I've started doing laundry and dishes on a regular basis again, the bathroom is clean, I even DUSTED (!!!) the bookcase in the living room and took some stuff down to storage. And tonight I worked on the wallpaper and typed up some blog things.

And let me tell you, although I miss those little brainless Sims, the thought of spending four hours or more to reinstall everything is certainly keeping me on the wagon.

Hi. My name is Beth, and I'm 12 days Sims-sober. (Bugger it.)