For better or worse... (i'm of the opinion that it leads towards worse) I haven't played videogames all that often lately. However, I have odd memories of experiencing the same sort of feelings that are addressed in this article from back when I did. The most severe case I had was when I was obsessed with creating my own world maps for Duke Nukem 3D. I remember looking around classrooms and my home intently to figure out which vents might be good for secret passageways and whether walls were "real" or "false". I even got so obsessed with looking around my own home that I spent about a month creating a level that was pretty much a replica of my house. Except for the secret passages, false walls, and dozens of dancing cheerleaders that were hidden in my ceiling.

The same goes for when I was rehauling BorisFX.com this time last year.. I was knee deep in Photoshop 7.0 for 10 hours a day and I'd get into bed and start thinking about using filters to change the texture of my ceiling and dying to make it 75% transparent using the layer menu.

I very much need to get into a technology-heavy type job again. I feel like a part of me is missing without it these days. --