So what does it take to find a safe haven for a gamer like me? A place where I can go to play games without an immense amount of competition, no need to invest any money - and hopefully no risk of addiction? Honestly, I don't know if there is such a place. It seems that most of the gaming websites out now are getting more competitive and are requiring more from its visitors than ever. Nowadays you have to register for most of them - and what's next, a social security number?



There are plenty of ways to waste time. I consider myself an expert at doing it, though I am sure I am not the only one. There are some days when I get right to work and I can work through the day with no problem. However, there are other days when I find myself looking for a way to play game online so that I don't have to work. I don't mean to do it, but some days I am just restless and need to do something else with my mind. It's not very productive, but there are times I think it might just keep me sane.

There are plenty of places to play online game, and when you find one you like, you may go back time and time again. What can be a problem for some is the way these games work with your computer. Some might ask you to download something, and if you are on a site that seems trustworthy, that might not be a problem. If you need the software to play online game of any sort, you have to download. However, if you aren't sure about the site, see if you can find the game somewhere else.

You may also have to worry about how fast and new your computer might be when you want to play online game sites. If you have just stared your computer up, you may find that the game will load quickly and you won't have any problems. For some unknown reason, things on a computer will shut down on their own, and you may have trouble loading up a game that you normally play. While this can be confusing to you, you should know it is common. You should close down your browser and open a new one. If that doesn't help, you may have to restart your computer. It's a pain, but it usually fixes the problem.

Feeling defeated by the new "retro" gaming world, I tried a few sites that have some very exciting games to see if I could fit into the new mold. For example, I gave a few weeks to Boxerjam.com. It's a great site with plenty of games (especially my favorite: 8-ball pool). But as you can imagine, shooting pool online is very different than shooting it in real life; there's a lot you have to get used to, like holding a stick with a mouse and hitting the cue ball accurately when you're viewing the table from above. Since it took time to get used to it, I found myself losing regularly and placing low among my peers. This hurt my self esteem and prompted me to cancel my membership, only to go back to the smoky lounges in my neighborhood for pool entertainment.

Next, I learned about a site called King.com, which also has a boatload of great games, including one of my favorites, Deal or No Deal. The game is so fun and addicting that I found myself entering new tournaments every few hours - not good if you have a family, a job, or any life at all offline. Instead of getting my work done, I was literally finding new tournaments to enter that resulted in virtual prizes - not a trophy being sent to my house, not money - just a virtual prize. After realizing what I was doing I had to put a block up to stop myself from going to the site until I thought I'd kicked my addiction.