I can only recount my experience with FFXI, which in its original form was designed to be a tremendous time sink. It was hard an unforgiving and the amount time

I can only recount my experience with FFXI, which in its original form was designed to be a tremendous time sink. It was hard an unforgiving and the amount time spent there was measured in years for me. I stopped when I noticed I basically cut off just about everything else in my life and I started to call in sick to camp specific mobs. It is a different kind of addiction. It is psychological and, in a sense, a lot harder to break as the social component keeps you there. What worked for me is just realizing that I can't go on like this forever and a cut off was necessary. I am not sure it is healthy, but I still participate in some events for other MMO type games ( races in POE for example ). It is hard, competitive and since I am not a top player, I end up satisfying my jonesing for a while. I guess I like punishment. That said, the older I get, the more I see games as a distraction. I don't think it is a waste, as I do remember that distraction got me through some tough moments in life, but.. there is a time and place for everything. In short, I can't really give a generic advice. People are different. See what works for you. As an anecdote, I logged into my old FFXI account last year out of boredom. It was no longer the same. All the friends have moved on, difficulty and system changed beyond what I found acceptable; it was a nostalgia trip. I played for a week or so and I never renewed since.