Online Friends

In my first post I talked a bit about online friendships and dismissed them as being mostly shallow and meaningless. I want to say that I did make a few friends through my game that I've kept in touch with and who do mean a great deal to me. One especially has been very supportive of me in my efforts to get "clean," and is herself, I think, slowly trying to get away from the game.

One of the things that makes Toontown so attractive to women my age is that most of the adult players are, well, women my age with children. Just a bunch of women (and some men) hanging out, being goofy, laughing and joking around. It's fun. Most other adult players understand that you might sometimes have to bolt from the computer to check on a crying child, or that you have to leave right now to pick up your kids from school, and will cover for you, no matter what's going on in the game.

I had a lot of fun playing and really enjoyed many of the friends I had in the game. If I had been able to limit myself to playing only when I actually had the time to play (maybe 5 hours a week instead of 25!) I'd still be playing.