Ode to Lost Gamers

He played for hours and hours mastering the game. He wanted a sense of achievement or to find a world of acceptance. Hours became days. Days became months, until all he lived was the game. 

Family would check on him and bring him food, but the real world quickly fell from under him. He could only think of the game.

He never left the game. When he was forced to connect to the real world, he only thought of the next battle, the next level, or another night with his crew. 

His crew were better than outsiders. They knew and enjoyed the game.  They had everything in sync in the game world. 

These were real friends. They wanted to be with him. They wanted to flirt and work as a team. It did not matter how imperfect he was. His character existed as the handsome leader. 

As the lines started to blur between the game and life, he started seeing himself as that character. His self esteem rose. His ego made him feel powerful and confident. That was not a bad thing, but the personality and other rules of the character also moved into reality. 

One day he woke up and those features and mannerisms were a part of him outside of the game.   His life mirrored his avitar. 

Nothing else mattered. His game life was better, more exciting than real life. The struggles and fears of real life could be completely avoided. 

His crew became his crew offline and he could still only think of the game. He had become completely obesessd. Reality crumbled as the game bled from the edges of RPG to life. 

He couldn't see it. He could no longer look at anything with a view from outside of the game. This new reality was better, less stressful, a chance to be the invincible hero in the game. 

He watched oblivious as the spaces between the worlds fell apart. He knew where he was most happy. He knew where he was sexy, popular, and witty. He had the ladies attention and he was exactly where he wanted to be. 

The lines continued to fade until one day his family came to check on him and could not find him.  

Maybe he moved away to make that new start. Everyone wanted to believe that.   In truth, he was in the game. Permanently on quests with his crew. He had purpose and friends. 

His family searched, but he could not be found. Anyone on the game reached him easily on his favorite server. The family never knew where to look. 

He completey lost his hold on reality, but he was happy. 

Then one day, they shut down the game and the servers. Those who still had a connection to reality moved back into their real lives and mourned his loss.