I had a very productive day. I worked on my job for a whole hour. Far more productively, I helped Stangor kill and kill and kill, plus the two of us got much Resource gathering accomplished.

HOLY SHIT, these «video game» things I’ve just now discovered are HABIT FORMING!

I was able to quit cigarettes, speed, all manner of central nervous system depressants, but I frankly don’t see much point in living outside the video game except for the bare minimum, enough to keep the power on.

It is getting on Wei’s nerves. She falls asleep at 3 am but wakes up at 7 am to find me still running Stangor, in headphones. Apparently just hearing the controller emit the occasional buzz is driving her nuts. And she says I twitch violently while playing, shaking the bed.

So today Stangor hunted all day instead of all night. He prefers day in his world and I am able to give that to him, but in this case it was day in my world too.

Stangor has finished all his initial Quests and unlocked a whole new series of quests, landscapes, characters and ever-larger monsters and weapons. He is also rich as Midas, unlike me, because his environment apparently can be looted forever as long as he is industrious. Often he goes to the Deserted Island just to kill and kill and kill (and collect hides and ores and other resources) — JUST FOR THE MONEY. He is paid pretty well even for monsters that are not very hard to kill.

We are now seeing new monsters that are a little more difficult to slay, and more dangerous. Stangor has to carry a lot of food and medicine with him if he expects to kill big monsters, especially in the water. A lot of it happens underwater so Stangor has had to learn this strange way of swimming while fighting and also keeping a constant lookout.

The fighting is not so hard, but needing to keep a lookout while sharpening blades or consuming potions between monster attacks is making it all increasingly complicated.

It’s not all dinosaur-like foes now. There are also some giant bugs, as well as a type of man-sized slug that lives in caves. This huge slug is dreaded by both Stangor and me.

When Stangor goes upon a Quest — necessary to keep the world from getting boring — he has a time limit, usually 50 minutes in Stangor-time, which is subtly different from «real time» in our Narrative.

Today his first Urgent Quest was to kill six Ludroths, which are somewhat like oversized crocodiles. They can expel an annoying projectile unless you stay to one side of them, hammering away. Easy to kill on land; much trickier underwater. Stangor barely made it out today with his life. He was down to his last First Aid Pack and there were three Ludroths going at him all at once. However he did manage to kill the sixth Ludroth in time. This earned him an audience with The Trader, a seaship captain who will give Stangor valuable weapons in return for warm furry hides and rare bug guts.

Well I guess I better get back to «work.»

It’s interesting to reflect that not two months ago I was just like most old people. «Video games? They make my hands hurt, they run up my blood pressure, and worst of all I never win.»

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU START WINNING?

It’s JUST like gambling or narcotics, or sex addiction. Don’t kid yourself, dear old-person reader. If it could happen to me, after all these years of resistance, it could happen to anybody — and much easier than you may think.

I spent the last hour «working» — supposedly..

The whole time, I wasn’t there. Not really. Mentally I was in Moga Woods, slaying monsters. I was thinking ahead: «What tools and supplies do I need to make sure I have with me on my next sojourn?»

Another part of me was thinking, «How can I break down Wei’s resistance? My wife has only been Wei D’Or two or three times. In the game world she is still stumbling around like a very old or young person, not yet fully in control of her limbs, nor with any reasonable sense of direction and motive. She isn’t ENJOYING it yet, not in… that WAY. It’s like the heroin is still making her puke. How can I get her to do that ONE NEXT HIT that will change her from allergic to addicted?»

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I ukene fremover presenterer Imagonem en serie gjesteblogger fra Ærverdige Ivan Stang, skriftlærd og radiovert for den internasjonale Church of the SubGenius. Pastoren deler her den oppbyggelige fortellingen om sin gjenoppdagelse av dataspillenes vidunderlige verden med oss.