Gaming Addiction: What's Your Story ?

Who knows me knows I'm an addicted gamer. Every time someone asks me why I do not play WoW, EVE Online, Guild Wars 2 and other MMOs, I simply have to admit to them that I have an addiction problem.

Last MMO I really got into was FFXI. Probably not the best MMO and that was just fine because it helped me quit it. Before that, I played UO, way back. That is when I realized I spent several months trying to become a master blacksmith, a feat I would have probably mastered in real life... or at least I would have gathered skills that I would still have today. Last one I tried is EVE Online with a free 60 days trial. I almost bought a subscription to bypass the trial restriction. Glad I didn't.

The first few days, I was thinking of what I needed to learn. Browsing the Internet to get info was not the problem. Bringing my laptop to work so I could send in a few actions once in a while was. Soon, I was checking my ship every time no one at work was looking. That is when I had to drop it or I'd probably get fired soon after.

Addicted a day, addicted for life.

While I am a gamer, I found ways to deal with it while restraining myself. One of the major parts of it is repairing consoles for the challenge, sometimes pushing it by experimenting hacks as well. Those are skills that are kept for a lifetime. Now you can throw rocks at me for killing the game industry, but that's not the point. At first, I didn't have any budget for games, so I either let my console die, or I'd get some games' ISO and review them on different sites.  My goals were, and still are, mostly experimental as it led me to find out a lot about consoles themselves. For my soul's sake, I have two PS3s, one untouched, one rebuilt from 2 defective ones. I buy my games, and sometime twice so I can play with my spouse (ie LBP, GTA). There, I could easily use the "I bought the game once, I hacked it for my second console" argument... but I don't.

Those skills though are really helping me out, and eventually others. I barely spend more than 100$ on my consoles because I can't afford the risk of getting a console listed as "broken".  My last risk was with yet another PS3 (I don't even have that much TV home). I expected to pay 50$ for a PS3 Slim with a broken Bluray drive. I planned on using this console to try the hacks that are out there. Well, first thing, I popped an old game... it read it. That debunked the dead drive. It did not read any other BlueRays, movies or games. I wanted to clean it up, unfortunately the security screws are a tad smaller than the "phat" PS3's. So I tried flipping it on the side to make gravity work for me. Maybe, the problem was just hair in front of the laser. Miracle, everything worked flawlessly. Someone just sold a working PS3 for 50$.

So now I'm at 3 PS3 consoles, 1 PS Vita, 2 NDS Lite, 1 Wii with broken video, 1 working Wii (that one I just got for 40$ as well). That is not to mention any first and third party peripherals and accessories.  Do I have enough ? I don't feel like it.

Subscribing to PS Plus helped me get a few games for free every month, is it enough? No. What I like is to compare gameplay mechanics, stories, art style, features, multiplayer experiences... If I could get paid (enough) to play all day, I would. I would play My little Pony just as I would play Halo 4 just to check it out, the gameplay, the inspiration, the maket it targets, how it does on each platform, why it's even a game...

The thing is that games inspire me. Not only the games, but the whole industry. I wanted to tell you about this addiction because I think many of you share it and sharing a passion is always liberating.

So what is your gaming addiction story?