Exactly this. My poison in my teenage years was a small MMO with it's own development platform. Developing content for it became part of the game. I learned the

Exactly this. My poison in my teenage years was a small MMO with it's own development platform. Developing content for it became part of the game. I learned the basics of pixel art, good level design, story development and, of course, scripting from this game. It became an easel. It's interesting that I too have shifted to strategy game as I've got older. HL2 is just a nostalgia thing, I'm not partial to shooters. My biggest problem games are Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings 2 (now that I use Linux) and used to be Civ5 and Vic2 on OS X. With EU4, I got so into it I probably spent half the time watching DDRJake (who us totally insane at EU4 - took vassalised OPM Athens and recreated Alexander the Great's empire). Classics like AOE2 and Caesar 3 are a good past-time too. With treatment for ADHD, I can certainly resist a lot easier. I'm now getting more urges to program and build things, which I seemed to have lost from my youth after work grinding me down.