Producer Steve Says Goodbye to an Old Friend

Today was a pretty sad day for me.  For the last few weeks, I have been struggling with a pretty difficult decision that I knew I had to make, yet I kept putting it off because I didn’t have the courage to do it.  I couldn’t get this old friend of mine out of my head.  No matter what I did, there it was...that constant reminder.

A few months back, I became really hooked on Words With Friends.  In case you’re unfamiliar with the game, which you’re probably not, it’s basically Scrabble.  Whether playing it on your phone or Facebook, there’s really no escaping it.  I’m a very impatient person, so as soon as I’d play a word, I’d just sit there and stare at my phone until my opponent made a move.  Surely they had nothing going on in their life (like me) and would immediately make another play, right?  Wrong.  This was bad.  Really bad.  So bad that I just started playing as many people as possible so I would constantly have games going on.  At the height of my addiction, I think I had 17 different games going on at once.  I’m not very proud of that.

As I sat in the studio this morning, I looked down at my phone and saw the same notification that had been staring me in the face for about a week now.  It was my move.  It was time to cut the cord.  So I did it.  I deleted Words With Friends.  And for that, I am a happier person.  I was tired of that stupid little tone every time it was my turn, yet I couldn’t bring myself to stop playing.  This was the only way.

Have you ever had a game addiction like this?  What was your method for giving it up?

-steve