It's official; my addiction to online gaming has been curbed, and I couldn't be happier.

I'm not entirely sure when the transition happened, but somewhere along the line my gaming habits changed with the PS3. Prior to this generation, my tastes were fairly specific to role players, survival horrors, and the odd adventure game if it contained any elements of the two afformentioned genres.

But then I went online.

Over the last two years, primarily spent gaming on my 60gb backwards compatible PS3, I found myself logging online, and within minutes, recieving requests to play this or that, beit from close friends or just random gamers I'd met on various forums or games. Now, in no waydo I hold any ill regret towardssuch friends and requests, but somewhere along the linesa transition had takenplace; I was now playing what others wanted to play, as opposed to playing what I wanted to play.

Sure, thesocial dynamic of laughing and gaming with friends can be very entertaining and has certainly led to many a good night.Personal highlights of mine include countless games of "Call of Duty Modern Warfare" with my local friends, andsome hilarious romps through RE5 with GS user "Akhorahill", as we laughed and teased each other about the nature of our countless deaths.

Now, I don't regret those moments whatsoever, and I have fond memories of them that will remain cherished, but now, when I turn on my PS3, I find myself ignoring 99% of game invites. I'm honestly burnt out and sick of the "online experience." Theres just something to be said for turning on your console, putting in the game YOU want to play, and relaxing with a single player experience that you can sink into. I've found myself keeping my status "offline" and even gaming on my older PSone and PS2 units, even though I own a fully backwards compatible PS3.

The other aspect is the trophies. A few of my friends are fairly effective trophy hoarders, and I found myself trying to keep up with them, lol, in a vain effort to remain "competitive" in a trophy race I didn't consciously realize I'd entered. Sure, if I really like a game, and I'm going to play it a second run anyhow, I'll do my best to collect the extras I missed, but my appetite for trophies has drastically subsided.

Upon a recent reflection, it occured to me that with the time I'd wasted online with multiplayers and replaying games just to get one last trophy, I could have been playing some of the RPGs and Adventures I've been longing to play as they sit on my shelf unappreciated as of yet.

So I'm taking an Online/Trophy hiatus. I will not be answering the call of duty for a while, nor will I be trophy hunting. I will however, be finally giving proper due attention to the countless stories and adventures awaiting me on my shelf.

Long live the single player experience.