Gaming and I have an arrangement. In university, I learned an important lesson about myself: I play to win. Ultra-competitiveness works great in a lot of areas

Gaming and I have an arrangement. In university, I learned an important lesson about myself: I play to win. Ultra-competitiveness works great in a lot of areas of my life, but has a drawback: when I encounter a game that doesn't have an "end", I still try to win, whatever that ends up meaning in context. At university, I learned about MUDs, and they sucked me in completely. I would ignore classes, exams, friends, and if it weren't for a cafeteria right next to student computer labs, I wouldn't have eaten much; all in the quest for another level, another "wizard" (programmer) position, etc. At one point, I had completely stopped playing MUDs, and started building them. Skills were acquired, languages were learned, computing cycles were stolen, and in retrospect I learned more about group programming, system administration, networking, and social systems from a couple of years of "slacking off" than I ever did from my formal education. After two years of abysmal grades (in everything except CS), my university politely invited me to explore other opportunities for a year while I got my act together. (Which I did; I got married, launched my first startup, and went back to school. I repaired my previous damage by retaking a few classes, but then relocated for a better opportunity, and never did complete my Bachelor's degree.) So, the arrangement: I'll play any video game that has a finite conclusion or obvious play break-points. World of Warcraft is completely out of the question for me (I'm sure I'd love it), but quick rounds of FPS or racing games are fine. Mobile games are perfect for me: quick distractions with almost no social interaction that I can pull out when I have downtime, and put away quickly when something comes up. Also, unrelated side note: racing real cars is a hell of a lot more satisfying than racing virtual ones. :) ---- To djhworld's point: for me, it's not really about time management; I slice up my time pretty efficiently under normal circumstances. It's about a complete lack of self-control when gaming; competitiveness and hyper-focus on the goal win out over rational self-interest every single time. (I don't suggest that my experience is typical, but that's how it's worked out for me.)