The War Hasn’t Increased My Playtime, It Has Simply Replaced Everything Else I Do

People keep asking whether the war has changed how much I play. I want to be very clear: it has not. My playtime is exactly where it has always been. What has changed is everything around it.

Before the war, I logged in after dinner. Now I log in during dinner. Dinner has moved to my desk and then, after some negotiation, into the game, where I eat bread in a pot bunker and tell myself it counts.

I have not missed a single shift at the front. I have, however, missed a dentist appointment, two birthdays and most of October. I am told October was lovely.

Some people ask whether it is worth it. I say of course it is. This is about principle. This is about sovereignty. This is about making sure that a man I have never met does not take a farm I have never seen, in a region I could not have found on a map two weeks ago.

My family has been supportive, in the sense that they have stopped asking when I am coming out of my room. My other responsibilities have been placed on hold, which I prefer to think of as a strategic withdrawal.

When this war ends, and it will end, I will go back to normal. I will see the sun. I will speak to people out loud. And then, if history is any guide, the next war will start, and I will tell everyone it has not increased my playtime.

It hasn’t. I checked. It is still 24 hours a day, same as always.