I consider myself a fairly hardcore gamer. Although I was somewhat older than most when I was first exposed to gaming, as soon as I held that Dreamcast controller in my hands, I realized I had found something that would forever sink its hooks deep inside my tender flesh. I've played pc games, I've played the consoles, I've even sunk hours into various flash games online. And yet, like so many others who wear the badge of gamer, I tend to hide it away from most people, well aware that a nearly thirty year old who spends large chunks of time immersed in fantasy and virtual worlds is looked upon as somewhat odd at best, and hopelessly immature at worst. So, like most gamers, I keep quiet about my hobby around those who do not share it.

However, you can't hide from your significant other. Although she attempts to feign interest in this particular world, it is somewhat less than difficult to see that while she does love me and always will, video games are more of a necessary evil she must suffer through nobly. That being said, I have always believed that gaming is an insidious hobby, quietly biding its time so that it may search out your fleshy underbelly and strike, dragging you shrieking into its grasp. While she has so far managed to evade this fate, her fate was sealed as soon as she heard the opening strains of the PuzzleQuest theme. Downloading the demo was enough of a taste to make her hunger for more, and now, I lean back on the sofa with a tremendously self satisfied smirk on my face as I watch her in her fifth hour of play today alone. The symptoms are all there: the wide eyed stare as she leans forward in her seat, bloodshot eyes darting over the screen. The hungry glances toward the controller during the brief span of time that we manage to tear her away to eat, sleep, and work. Waking up early on the weekend to discover that she has crept downstairs before the rest of the house has awoken, turned the volume down to barely above mute, and plunged into her new addiction yet again.

Now, maybe she understands.