The NY Times Magazine has an excerpt from a book that pairs photo-portraits of online-games (Second Life, City of Heroes, WOW, Star Wars, LOTR, etc., etc.) with their avatars. Most of the pictures in the magazine are just funny or interesting, but this one broke my heart.
It’s a picture of Jason Rowe, born 1974. He has no occupation and he’s played Star Wars Galaxies 80 hours a week since 2003.
You have to click-through to see the photo. It provides a very visceral understanding of why some people would play these games for so many hours. Most cases aren’t this extreme, and I’m sure some an unhealthy addiction. This one might be that too. Anyway …
His avatar’s name is Rurouni Kenshin.