At what point did gaming stop becoming a addiction and start being a hobby? 
 
I have working with games for the past 13 years and have had many great experiences that stand out to this day.  I remember Red Alert being released and all of the hype around it.  Mass cue's in-store of people trying to get there hands on the 1st copy, also remember going to the joint launch of Quake 2 and Heavy Gear and getting to meet a couple of the ID guys and being a total fan boy.   
 
Back then I had money to burn and would buy a couple of new release games a weeks and only play them for an hour before it would collect dust on my shelf.  I have a HUGE poster collection of everything I could get my hands on, 100's of game shirts and cardboard cutouts. 
 
I can't seem to remember at what stage I start throwing them all out and watching my money and buying the games I knew I would play and get a good life out of.  Perhaps it was women that turned my addiction, or just a coming of age. What ever it was it happened without me ever noticing. I can't say i really miss those days but I can say I miss that kind of Freedom to buy whatever I want and play when ever I want too.   I miss staying up late and saying "Shit" out loud when you saw the sun coming up and you had to be at work in 3 hours. 
 
I have no conclusion or advice for anyone, just me writing about my loss of an addiction.