EQ is a dark master with the power to ruin lives quite easily.
I know I've watched back around 2001 several real life friends lose jobs, fail out of school, lose friends...all so that they could order their lives in a way that allowed them to play EQ every day. I don't think it is all that rare.
EQ personally caused a great deal of stress in my personal relationships.
It is a hobby that few people outside of the gaming world understand, and they subsequently have little patience for those caught up in it. There were times when I felt (in hindsight, I certainly don't envy anyone with real chemical addiction) that it would have been easier to explain to folks that I was an alcoholic or drug addict then to explain that my work performance was suffering from late nights spent raiding in a video game.
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