Video Game Epidemic

My heart goes out to all the MMO widows (and widowers, too..  all three of you).  There has to be something that can be done.  I see video game addiction becoming more and more prevalent.  I have to say, I'm probably one of the pioneers in being a recovering game-a-holic. The first thing that must be done is to make the problem public.  I keep seeing on the discussion list wives, girlfriends, mothers, etc talking about being embarassed by their significant other.  That needs to change.  I'm not saying be proud of his problem, but proclaim it.  Not only will you "bring his dark deeds to light" and possibly cause a change, but you (along with countless others assuming they too are sharing their stories) will raise awareness in your communities and possibly prompt studies by research institutions and maybe people will begin to start some sort of 12-step program for video gamers. I know video game addiction is a growing problem.  When I was in school, playing video games was a hobby reserved for nerds and geeks.  Now I see children with handheld video games they never look up from.  I'm old enough to remember the joy of a child looking at me from a distance at the grocery store or some other public place and waving merrily.  Now, they're just glued to their Nintendo DS.  It seems like every guy I talk with about hobbies who's around my age (late 20's) admits to playing video games more than he would care to admit. For guys (and children), it used to be the television.  But if mom or wife could actually get their attention, they could snap out of it and do their chores or come to bed.  Video games are getting more and more immersive.  You don't live vicariously through the actions of characters portrayed on TV with video games.  No, you control your character.  You are the master of your fantastic fate.  Who needs sleep and dreams when you can LIVE it as long as you like in a virtual world?  Video games now are much more open-ended.  No longer is there a final boss to beat and end credits.  Instead, there are "persistent worlds" and "replayability" so that the game, the immersion never ends.  There aren't even commerical breaks to give one an opportunity to look around and see that it's bed time or to get up and load the dishwasher.  It's worse than a drug because there's at least doses with drugs.  With video games, it's like having your drug of choice on intro-veinusly (on IV).  It doesn't stop until you turn it off.