So what your saying is that I have to adapt to the world? Well, I'v felt like I am not compatible with this reality since I was in grade school. How can I expect to magically change my thoughts after having them for 20+ years?

I enjoy it. It makes combat feel like there is more power behind each attack. Also, I really enjoy watching my character animations as he executes a skill. It is a nice change from the spamy WoW combat.

I'v started taking medication for depression and anxiety in the past few months and have started seeing a therapist as well. However I continue to believe that I am just not cut out for this reality and that is why I constantly want to escape it.

Deeper issues like what? Social isolation, lack of social skills, social anxiety, depression? Well, ya, I have those. No clue how to fix them either. I just started taking a medication and seeing a therapist but I'v had these issues for as long as I can remember (before high school at least).

Then what is the best thing? To "suck it up" and "deal with it"? I am asking for suggestions. I know it is not "normal" to constantly escape into fantasy, but I have no idea how to deal with "the real world" 24/7.

I'll be the first to admit that I use games as a way to escape life. Before I discovered video games I escaped my life through books and TV.

MMO's give you a false sense of friendship and commeradery that humans in general need.

I quit FFXI and WoW after a total of 8 years between the two and still did not have any motivation to do all those things.

But why is video game "addiction" treated in such a lesser way then other addictions? Why is it considered "normal" to work 16hrs a day or watch 5hrs of TV at night but spending that same amount of time playing a video game is looked down on by so many people.

Exactly. The only issue is that being addicted to work is considered "good" while being addicted to video games is considered "anti-social".

I met my best friends on FFXI. We have been friends for years and have gotten together IRL a few times and it was great. We started playing FFXIV together and it has been like the good old days of playing FFXI.

I'll start one. Play it for a while. A little momentum starts up. Once I reach level 10-20 or so, I suddenly realize that this game is sucking me in, and that if I allow it to it will be difficult to retreat from. I stop playing entirely.

Yes, I felt a bit guilty about staying logged in. However, when I saw a friend get kicked because his internet went down for 10 min and could not log in for over 24hrs any shame I felt got covered up by the "I better not let that happen to me" feeling.

I did feel guilty, but was dam'd if I would let a 4 day weekend go to waste by logging out on Friday and not being able to log back in all weekend.

The worst part of having maintenance last night was that I actually had to log off. I managed to stay connected since Thursday night with no issues.

Torchlight 1 was released on console.

Only Torchlight 1 was released on console.

Diablo is a third person action game, the perspective just happens to be locked at top-down isometric view.

Those are not exactly hard to figure out. A hammer = a repair NPC. A bag = vendor. Chocobo = chocobo porter.

Final Fantasy XI was very successful in both East and West markets. It is still getting expansions to this year (10 years after launch).