You know, you read the boards and see the spewing of game angst and think “are these really my fellow hobbyists?” The hardcore seem to jealously guard their hobby and the “right” way to play.

I have plenty of money for my hobbies (I probably should pick up a more expensive one) but my time is extremely limited. Full time career. Wife. Two small children. I play a couple nights a week, after the kids are in bed. Maybe 8 hours a week.

I will never see the “end-game”. Hell, I’ll get kicked out of any high-end guild for lack of participation. The guilds I’m part of are slow moving “help each other out” guilds. If one of my friends gets high enough and wants to go raiding, they quit and join some other guild.

I was on Tallon Zek in EQ1 and solidly did not enjoy it. Those with the TIME had all the advantages.

Hmm, maybe I should join the SOE Exchange servers.

And easing off of the hardcore gamer thing is definitely nice, but the problem for me, and it sounds like for you, is that the rest of your friends/guild tend to leave you behind. It is even hard to chat with them since they are hardcore questing and aren’t even really able to talk. That’s one of the killers for me really.

We play about the same way, for me when the baby is actually asleep and the wife is otherwise occupied. Yeah, it seems like a lot of time, but I’d rather be interactive to some degree here than eating my brain away with the TV, so it seems okay most of the time.