Life is either a daring adventure or nothing

Computer games of today are so much different compared to those that I played when I grew up back 15 years ago. When I was in Secondary School days, the Internet had only slowly begun coming into trend, and back those days, the fastest available Internet speed around was via the 56K dial-up modem using the household telephone line. Surfing the net was a dread due to the slow congested speed and by the time one gets to read through all his emails, one season of English Premier League would have already gone by! (exaggerated)

When teenagers play online computer games today, they are literally spoilt for choice! From the fantasy games like World Of Warcraft and Cabal, to the cute-looking 2-Dimensional games such as MapleStory. Teenagers typically get glued to the screen for hours just fulfilling in-game quests and virtual landscape explorations. This scene is vastly different in my 'dinosaur' time - the Internet wasnt' so well developed yet and thus not to mention the idea about games. My computer then was black screen with green lines and the only noise it makes is "Teh Teh Teh!"

However, back in those days, I was very much drawn into playing a different kind of computer games. In fact, I was so hooked that my whole world would just orientate and revolved around that game. I was 'addicted' to the arcade game - Virtual Striker, a soccer game where it could be player vs. computer or player vs. player. I spent most of my free time and the arcade center and was almost like the P.R of the center. Even the center manager would recognize me and treat me a can of Coke from time to time!

However, this 'addiction' was so potent that it brought me to a point where I isolated myself from my friend for almost a year and even almost got kicked out of school because of declining school grades!!!

Look at me now.... 29 years old, enjoying a good and fulfilling career, happily in love, and family doing well. How is it possible that I've got a history of computer gaming addiction? What actually happened???

It all started back in Secondary 3 where I was ..... (to be continued)