When you love a game so much like it’s practically your second life (pun intended), it can be really hard to admit to yourself that you’re playing too much... that you’re hopelessly addicted to the game. When that game itself is the amazingly fun Second Life, things can get kind of blurry. Thus, allow me to help you clarify the borders between healthy gaming and addiction-driven gaming, while answering your question of “When is too much Second Life?”

To answer that question, you should know that there are some warning signs you can utilize to identify the thin line between healthy gaming and addiction-driven gaming. One of the most obvious ones includes playing Second Life from the moment you wake up until to the moment you go to bed, skipping work to play Second Life, or even, if you can’t recall when the last time you had a solid 7 to 8-hour sleep. Another sure fire sign that you’re getting too much dose of Second Life is when you’ll always Second Life activities over real life ones. When confronted, the addicted player usually gives excuses why the real life events were too boring or not good enough for him/ her.

In my opinion, Second Life is not “RL” (real life) and you shouldn’t spend most of your waking RL moments doing “Not RL” stuff. By choosing something virtual over something real is a huge red flag for some underlying emotional problems as addictions usually stem from the desire to escape from facing real life issues. If you experienced this while playing Second Life, be sure to bear in mind that your actions may even hurt your marriage or cause unintentional emotional abuse to your loved ones. So, seek help when you still have your loved ones around to support you.

Furthermore, when Second Life relationships matter more than your real ones, you should definitely take a long break from the game. Second Life may be able to give you the interaction” you need, but it’s all virtual. You sure as hell don’t know who’s exactly behind that lady you’ve chatted up with. Also, if you’re so popular in Second Life, why don’t you try and translate that popularity into real life? Surely you’ve done it once, you can do it again! Not to mention, you’ll certainly need a healthy dose of human interaction as well to stay mentally healthy. Humans are built this way. By isolating yourself from whatever real life interactions you still have, you’ll feel even lonelier than before.

The most common and early signs that you’re getting too much Second Life is when the lines between virtual and reality become blurred. I have plenty of real life examples (as reported by Second Life users themselves) that may sound funny at first, but when you really think it through, you might start to find it scary how a virtual world, even one as fun as Second Life, can take over one’s life. One such example is accidentally introducing yourself as your avatar in real life instead of your real name. There are even users who went as far as referring to their own avatars like they are real people. You know you’ve too much Second Life when you start to compare your real life girlfriend, for example, to the in-game “girlfriend”.

Moreover, if you’re really into building stuff in Second Life, you might automatically try to figure out how many prims real life buildings would take to build in Second Life. Some of these “builders” may even feel that investing real money in a virtual estate in the game is more important than putting food on the table. There are even cases where seriously addicted players may spend a good hour or two trying to find that brand new outfit they’ve bought at the marketplace (in Second Life) in their real life closet.

If you’ve experienced any of these signs, take my advice and take a break from the game. Go and do something else, like another of your hobbies, in the meantime. If you need some help and support, there are plenty of resources online to help you get over your addiction to Second Life and they are all just a Google away. Whatever you do, remember to stop when you feel like or have been told that you’ve playing Second Life too much. Don’t let a game take control of your life!