https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/jan/12/would-you-play-a-video-game-for-500-hours

Modern video games boast longer and longer playtimes – but does the idea of spending hundreds of hours on a game make you feel excited, or exhausted?

In the winter of 1996, I almost lost my job because of the acclaimed management sim Civilization II. I was supposed to be reviewing it for the video game magazine Edge, where I was a fledgling staff writer. But I got so hooked, playing it was all I did for three weeks. During that period I ate, slept and drank Civilization II. At the end, I handed in my extremely thorough two-page review: the only thing I had submitted for the entire issue. I was supposed to be writing 25 pages a month. My editor was … displeased.