A few years ago, I found myself caught up in the hype of Diablo 2. People at work had a shine in their eyes when they mentioned it, so despite me not normally liking computer games, I joined the fun, and really had a great time in the end. On a Thursday night, glass of wine in hand, I would don a cheap miked-up headset and join our four person group for three hours of agressive plundering. On other (Note: not all) nights I played on my own, through all the difficulty levels, hoping to find rare or unique armour. Kim played it too, so we compared experiences and it didn’t feel too much like I was ignoring her in the evenings. So, when I ran into Ash at Michael’s wedding (at which we bought the couple a World of Warcraft boardgame as a present), I knew he would be doing his best to convert me to his year-long WoW obsession. I had heard rumours that HE PLAYED IT EVERY WAKING MOMENT, and was by now a highly thought of Guild Leader or something. It scared me that if I got as obsessed with it as Diablo 2, other things in life would suffer – like the near-nightly dog walking and piano playing. I already have to be coaxed/bribed with a nice bottle of white wine into watching any movies, and my night-time reading has dwindled to 15 minutes. A home made pizza, exotic beer and games night of Texas Hold-Em on Friday at Ash’s with some of his friendly WoW buddies convinced me I was in high-nerd territory. They couldn’t help but recite crazy stuff they’d been up to the evening before online, WHEN A PARTY OF 40 STORMED THE MOLTEN CORE – whatever that is. I went home and logged onto my $2 14-day trial WoW account (available from Dick Smith’s at Northland) and setup Dutchareweep, a Dwarven Rogue on the Alliance faction. I played a little more on Sunday. Kim is level 4. I am level 5. Help! 
A sample image from Google.