So I was cruising one of my favorite comics, www.marriedtothesea.com (in connection with www.toothpastefordinner.com) and came across this following gem, which is the topic of discussion for this article:

It blatantly says what I believe is a very good warning.  All too often we as gamers, myself included, become consumed by our hobby.  Hell, I know I love to read about games, talk about games, write about games, and most importantly play them... but something we must all come to terms with is it cannot consume our every waking moment.  To be well rounded individuals, we need to have and develop other interests, to foster a thirst to find out that which we don't know, and to boldly go... well, outside. 

I know the responses this will garner will be defensive ones, people commenting that they have other interests.  That's not what I'm looking for or talking about.  Many people deny it, but I think gaming out of every other hobby is most likely to harbor addiction.  And I know a good portion of people on pwned.com have all been there at one point or another.

For me, it was when I was 16 and Everquest was gotten for me for my birthday.  I played my every waking moment away, and when I wasn't playing I was thinking about it.   So I don't write this out of hypocracy, because it's an important message I learned long ago and one I feel needs to be passed along.  Gaming should be like everything else, in moderation.

It's also worth saying that you are, in fact, NOT your XBL gamer score.  It doesn't make you any more of a gamer just because you managed to rack up a good 10,000 points.   You are NOT the amount of time spent playing games your xfire module shows.  You are NOT your forum post count.   These things, in the great scheme of life, do not define who you are.  All too many times I've seen people ridiculed for low XBL game scores and accused of not being real gamers.  It just doesn't matter.   All too many times people get caught up in these things, striving to define themselves by them, replaying games just for the chance to unlock another 10 points in some obscure acheivement.    And out of that, a life consumed by a singular activity is born. 

So game on ladies and gents, keep writing and keep talking, keep going to those awesomely awesome events.... just remember to do so in moderation.