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[#1]

Like many gamers, I tend to lose track of time when I’m playing a game that I really enjoy. In fact, the more I enjoy a game the more I need to force myself to watch the clock so that I can get to bed at a resonable time. There have, however, been times in the past where I have been so engrossed in a game that I found myself turning the TV off just as the sun starts to rise.

Now thankfully such an event has not occurred in a number of years. Not since 2000 at any rate – that’s when I first picked up a copy of Final Fantasy VIII. This past weekend though I was hanging out with a few friends and somehow managed to do it again while playing Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires. I loves me the occasional over-the-top, hack-and-slash action game and these guys would probably say the same.

Anyhow, we started playing the game around 7:00pm, but it wasn’t until my cell phone started letting out its low battery warning (an ear-piercing “bwak!” noise) at 3:00am did we realize that it was well past time to go home. Sure, the game has a timer built into every level. Sure, there was a clock in the room. Did any of us bother to check either one of them between 7:00pm and 3:00am? Of course we didn’t.

Naturally, “what the heck was that?” was the first question asked when they noticed the noise, and I soon wound up trying to explain my recent search for a replacement cell phone. Then, as if on cue, one of my friends whipped out his iPhone. He hit a few buttons, handed the phone to me, and said, “I think you need to get one of these.” On the screen was…a list of egg timer applications.

Not just a single app, but an entire list of them.

I sat there staring at the list of (more or less) single-use applications for some time before handing the phone back. It wasn’t until the next day though that I realized what he was trying to say: I don’t necessarily need an egg timer or to constantly monitor a clock to manage late-night gaming sessions - I just need a new phone.

[#2]

I hear you, I can get lost in gaming for hours.  I found it interesting that in the new game Aion, after 2 or 3 hours the game cuts your xp and loot drops in half if you don't log out for another 3 hours.  It actually warns you to log out.  Could this be the new "GET A LIFE" MMO?

[#3]

As far as I know most MMOs already feature some kind of incentive for its players to "give it a rest."  World of Warcraft has "rest xp," City of Heroes/City of Villains has "patrol xp," and even Final Fantasy XI significantly lowers drop rates after a player has been in a given area/region for longer than an hour.  If what you mentioned is true though then the developers of Aion are probably taking the most direct approach they can to curbing usage of the game without physically disconnecting players from the game server.