[MiS]

Playing games constantly, like any other leisure, would be bad in huge doses. A testament to this would be around when I started gaming, back in middle school; I only played handhelds and casual Tetris on a cell phone, which wasn't all too bad at first. However, I found it harder and harder to back away from them during my free time, until it got to the point it started topping over other priorities I should have been doing (practicing an instrument, cleaning, even studying). It got to the point where I even used them as a form of escapism from the real world, shying away from confrontations and the like. By the time I graduated high school, I was almost a full-fledged introvert and recluse.

However, when I started college, I'd gotten a huge wake-up call when I realized that I couldn't squander my time as much as I did before, and removed/sold the majority of anything gaming related to my life. I still play it on occasion, but mostly as a social thing with friends. I've found my free time to be more, well, free. And somehow, it's actually reduced the amount of stress since I've slowed down on them.

That's not to say I'm completely against it. Some of my best friends I've met because we shared interests in gaming, and I still keep in contact with certain groups or people that I've played with before.