Chumps Online

City of Heroes closed down, and it sucks. I never thought I'd find another superhero MMO that I'd be obsessed with, until Champions Online. This game has completely taken over my life. For the last two weeks, I've done literally nothing but play that stupid game in my free time.

It all started after City of Heroes announced they were closing. I was pretty upset! I had played that game for 8 years and created my very own superheroes and played as them for hours on end. I should note, that after 8 years, the initial addiction wore off about about 2 years. Since then, I played on and off and managed my life accordingly. I played for quite a bit when the announcement to sunset City of Heroes came out, but then took a 3 month break from playing.

Then, something clicked (or broke) in my head, and I became obsessed. If I have a day off, I will literally get out of bed, play Champions Online, and then go to sleep. On my best days, I'll get a few levels on my hero, as well as brush my teeth and shower. I can't even image what my bad days will be like. I'd imagine it'd start by making the wrong decision between doing one more "Alert" mission and going to the bathroom.

To give you a bit of an idea as to how obsessed I am, here's a few sad things that should be listed and not given too much detail:
1. I played all day on Superbowl Sunday and I didn't even get to watch the puppy bowl.
2. I've payed real-life money to the game just to re-pick my hero's powers at least 4 times. 3. At work I spent a large portion of my time being excited over some new gear I was going to unlock in the game that night.
4. I regularly participate in costume contests in the game and get mad at stupid categories.(Like categories where they make you find a partner with a similar costume and compete as a duo. Seriously?! What the hell! People like to plan for these things!)
5. I'm excited to be in one of the most popular Supergroups in the game (Red Academy).
6. I've regularly gotten frustrated because I can't decide which of my heroes to play.
7. I got really upset when 5 different heroes on different occasions told me that my hero looks like Invisible Woman just because she's blonde and wears blue and black.
8. I've reluctantly changed the colors of my costumes so they wouldn't say that anymore, then changed them back to be defiant, then changed them again because I didn't want the game moderators to think I was copying her and then to delete my character, and then changed the costume all together.

That definitely got worse toward the end.

As I'm writing this my husband's playing next to me, and I'm super jealous. He's been just as addicted too. I'm glad he's in my life for tons of reasons, but one in particular is that I have someone to make me feel guilty about this obsession. Sure, he's just as addicted as I am and has never once suggested we do anything else, but I still have a desire to function like a human being because of him. He motivates me to be a better person on a daily basis, even if that just means brushing my teeth.