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September 20, 2007
Geeky Addictions, by Rondesvous
My first "hit" was sweet. I tried some at a party so that I would not be a square. I was hooked right away.
Within days I was in the airport. I was sweating, hoping that the customs officer would not ask me to open my suitcase. I was muling Wii. I had the console, the nunchucks, and the sports edition with all the paraphernalia.
Nitrozac and Snaggy got me hooked. They are Wii bowling-heads (they even made a couple of cartoons about it). Now my wife and I spend our free time trying to topple one another's high scores, earn those virtual gold, silver, bronze and elusive platinum medals and generally perfect each game. Sometimes we would miss social outings. Some of my household chores would suffer too. Internet surfing became shamefully neglected.
I was fine with our new Wii lifestyle until I watched MadMoney with Jim Cramer on TV. Cramer is an investment GURU. He was talking about the September 25 release of "Halo" 3. He said that even though the game was expensive ($59.99 for the no frills edition, $69.99 for the Collector's edition and $199.99 for the Legendary edition) the gamers were addicted and would pay any price even if the economy is tanking and the gamers are losing their homes. He did not mention the internet rumors of the "Loser's" edition where you get all three for $299.99.
At first I thought "What??? Halo is whack. Wii is where it's at". Then I thought : Could I, in fact, be among the addicted? Maybe Wii is just a different drug. Maybe those Halo guys and I are brother addicts - pawns of the big corporations. I had to know, so I went on the internet to find out.
These are the signs of addiction according to Mayoclinic.com:
- Need the drug regularly, sometimes many times per day (Yes !)
- Make certain that you maintain a supply of the drug (Yes again!!)
- Failing repeatedly in your attempts to stop using the drug (shamefully Yes!!!)
- Doing things to obtain the drug that you normally wouldn't do, such as stealing (Gulp! or muling the stuff over the border????!!!!)
- Feeling that you need the drug to deal with your problems (Ohhh Nooooo Yes Again!!!!!)
- Driving or doing other activities that place you and others at risk of physical harm when you're under the influence of the drug (Yippeee! I only play on my couch)
I am not an addict. I do not play the Wii in the car or when operating any heavy machinery. I never operate heavy machinery. But I realize that I only narrowly escaped addiction. So be warned. Addiction is waiting for you. If you are weak natured never pick up the joy stick or remote or nunchucks because you may never be able to let them go.
Posted by at September 20, 2007 09:50 PM