Yup, I have a similar story - I had my own company in 1999-2001 when I got addicted, and basically EQ was a contributing factor to losing it. Not the only factor, since the IT biz tanked at the same time, but without EQ I think I could have pulled it out of the nosedive. I didn't care all that much, just to get that EQ fix. After I shut the company down, I sold the customer base and went to work for another company. Because the post-Y2K economy was flat I had little to do, was working from a home office, so I boxed EQ for a year til I had to in all good conscience get a job where I wasn't getting paid for nothing. I quit EQ til the Progression Servers, and spent a lot of time there but managed to keep the addiction relatively benign.
With P1999, I've been keeping my play time to 2 hour sessions max using the timer. This has been working well, and if I treat myself to an occasional raid or long session at night after everyone has gone to bed, not a big deal. But, I have lots of other stuff going on, and getting that 2 hrs in more than a few times a week has been challenging, which is a good thing - it means other stuff takes priority, and thats a good thing.
So, my advice is limit your sessions to a set time, and get some outside interests that require your presence on a regular schedule and don't miss them. Don't try to keep up with people who can afford to devote many of their waking hours to EQ!
Regards,
Mg
|