I ruined one of my roommates

Ok, so I have to tell this story. I have 4 roommates in my apartment, 2 of which are engaged and getting married in the next couple weeks. That leaves 2 others. I won't name names, don't want this getting back to people. Needless to say, none of them are really "gamers." They don't own any game systems or anything really. Well, one of my roommates isn't dating anyone right now and so he is home a little more often than the others. We have been able to get to know each other, had some good chances to talk, because of it. I'm in the apartment a lot, he is too, etc. Well during these chats he has asked me about my stand on gaming, church stuff and the whole nine yards, get to know me as an individual. He personally has dabbled minimally but generally has avoided video games and what have you. Cool. He's a great guy, very duty oriented and keeps busy, stay productive. Early to bed early to rise kind of guy. Great person. We go running together in the mornings.

Anyways, so we chat about games, and get to know each other. One day he mentions how he had heard about a game called "Portal" from his friend, and was interested to check it out. Well, cool, I brought my xbox with me to San Diego and brought The Orange Box with me, so i had the game.

So yesterday (Monday) I bring out my xbox for him to check out Portal. When I say this guy didn't know anything about games, I mean nothing. I had to make sure to explain the various parts of the controller, where is the start button, what are bumpers etc. Ok, thats understandable, not everyone has played xbox before, its cool...

So he seems to start getting into things, starts playing the game, learning the controls, getting a feel for everything. This is around 8pm. Thats cool, I sit back and play some WoW and chat with Nancy have a good evening. He progresses on, learns how the game works and seems to be enjoying himself. Great, someone who has discovered there are good games and fun things to play. Well, 10:30 rolls around and i'm getting tired. He is still playing, but I get ready for bed. I sleep in the living room, so I fall asleep watching him play out a few more levels. I think to myself as I go to sleep, wondering if he will know how to turn off the xbox, and fall asleep.

Well, I sleep somewhat restless, and around 2ish I wake up and notice the TV is still on... and my roommate is still playing Portal. I glance up and I see the dreaded look... hes totally absorbed into late night zombie mode... just staring at the screen. If you have ever played a game late into the night, you know what I am talking about. I start feeling bad and my mind starts racing.

"What do I do? Do I tell him to go to bed? He's hooked... and doesn't know how to stop. I only know how this will end... do I just ignore it and let him face his first late night gaming spree. I know exactly how he is going to feel in the morning, i've been there before, except I know what I am getting into when I do it. Maybe he doesn't want to lose his progress, or doesn't know how to turn off the xbox... "

I decide on letting him keep playing as he chooses, maybe he wants to stay up but mention how to turn off the xbox and that it auto-saves his game.

He still kept playing till 4 or 4:30 am... 8 hours straight of gaming. The next day we chat while i'm at work and he mentions to never let him play any of my games again, then goes off saying how he needs to do something productive and not feel like a waste.

While he attributes the whole ordeal to lack of self discipline and wishing I had mentioned more clearly to stop because the game saves... I still feel like I have given him hard drugs or something. Its kind of amusing because its... very storybook-ish, but at the same time... man...

So yeah, I ruined him... I forget how I have grown up with gaming and these things are 2nd nature... I'm used to finding break points and deciding to stop. I dunno, what an interesting experience