And then it occurred to us: Who better to explore those issues than the gamers themselves? Why not cut out the middleman and let you, our readers, speak for yourselves? Seemed like a good idea to us, and we hope you agree.

Each week we publish letters sent to us regarding previous issues and highlight particularly interesting forum posts. If you'd like to comment on an article directly, send your letter to editor@escapistmag.com.

"As the years slipped by, children were born and the makeup of the group changed, as friends moved away and others moved in. ... We refocused on meeting once to twice a week, and children were taught to sleep regardless of whose house they were visiting, and not to eat the dice (though one father did fish a D6 out of a diaper) or the Magic cards, and the gaming went on."

Jana Stocks chronicles the adventures of a group of friends who've grown up gaming.

"A friend in my workplace has recently bought The Orange Box and can't wait to play it. His wife is going away for a week, and he plans to get stuck in as soon as she goes. "Why wait?" I suggest. He looks embarrassed and mumbles something about how it would just be easier to do it while she's away. I say nothing in reply and feel an inward empathy."

Mark Patience describes the terrors of being an adult playing "a child's game."

"'Gamer' is what sociologists and marketing experts refer to as a lifestyle. In this respect, it's similar to being a soccer mom or a goth or a sports fan."

Jonahtan McCalmont examines the life of a non-gamer gamer.

"My girlfriend gets a call from her brother telling her he won a Wii at a Men's Journal promotional party. She puts me on the phone with her brother, and my excitement overcomes me as I start bombarding him with the best Virtual Console selections, if would he like to borrow Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and how the Wi-Fi was a pain to set up. But I sense I have gone too far; he is just acknowledging my enthusiasm out of politeness, and I rein it back in."

For Tomohiko Endo, videogames are a shame-worthy obsession.

"We take this expertise and travel from game to game, dancing on the razor's edge between bravery and insanity as readily as we breathe and watch anime. We greet the end of each day exhausted, retiring to our race car beds so that we may game again the next day, an unceasing cycle of pain and misery. Will Team Butts ever abandon its foolish pursuit of victory? Only when its members are long dead, far too deep beneath the Earth's surface to receive a decent Wi-Fi signal."

Bob Harris is a member of Team Butts, everyday gamers who play games everyday - badly.