I used to play a medieval MMORPG game about 10 years ago.

I didn't play it for as long as you played your game, but I emersed myself in it for hours and hours a day. When I was at work I could hardly wait to get home to play it, and on my days off I played it pretty much all day long.  I did that for about 4 years.

About 2 years in, my best in game friend left the game, and while I continued to play it just wasn't the same without my friend to hang out with. Also, so many game changes over a short period of time affected the characters I played and my playing style in a negative way, that a lot of the enjoyment that I used to get from the game started to diminish. Yet I still played within the narrow scope that my playing style allowed me to.

By the time I stopped playing, my mindset had started to change. I began to come to the reality  (like you seem to have), that I was wasting time in the game instead of spending it.  Those 2 are completely different.

To waste time is to throw it away. Which is what I ultimately realized I was doing.

Once I came to that realization it was pretty easy to quit the game.  Sure I missed it but not as much as I thought I would.  I think I stopped playing in 2004. I uninstalled the game from my computer and left the game community.

Between the time I stopped playing and now, there have been some times where it has crossed my mind to start playing again.  During the LoTR movies, it was particularly bad!! But not impossible to resist.

In the spring of 2010 I was doing some intense house cleaning and getting rid of clutter. I came across the game. I thought about putting it back on the shelf "just in case", but a few minutes later I scratched up the CD and placed it in the trash box. It's now somewhere in the landfill site.

Why did I scratch the CD before throwing it away?  Well, I always do when throwing out a CD that has anything on it.  Plus if I'm honest with myself I have to admit that part of me didn't want someone to get their hands on the CD and possibly hack into my old account and mess with my beloved characters.  I know it's stupid, but I am still very attached to the characters I created in that game.  I came to love them because each represented a different part of my personality.

Will I ever go back to that game or another online one? Nah!  I realize that I am attached to memories....ghosts. And that's ok.

I hope my own story will help inspire you.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi