Lost to Everquest
I lost my daughter to Everquest, it's taken her away,
Where once there was a cheery teen is now an empty chair.
It started rather innocently with something called Game-boy.
It kept her quiet in the car so what could be the harm.
I should have noticed even then, enough to be alarmed.
Things had changed a lot, it's true, since we had our Pac-Man game,
To travel and gain possessions and experience is today's players aim.
Everquest is a whole new world in a modern gaming medium,
Players talk of spells and such, or training and of zoning,
In computer generated worlds that keep on changing and growing.
It didn't mean too much to me but sometimes I'd ask questions.
On other subjects she'd responds with grunts, but about Everquest she'd lecture,
On things like levels, hit points, armor, spells and getting around,
Of tanking, manna, zones, and races, she'd be happy to expound.
Like is a half elf erudite a better spell caster than a gnome wizard?
We limited her playing time, but all to no avail,
The more we'd try to keep her off the more she'd cry and wail.
Her friends were few except on line, and there she played with many.
But on line friends can't hug to cheer, or reveal a tear,
And when good times leave, they can log off and disappear.
Was there more we could have done, to get her off the game?
Maybe intervention or counseling, would have made her interest wane,
Unwarranted, it seemed, for a happy, straight A student, who had a sense of humor,
And we wrongly guessed that over time her gaming zeal would lapse,
Only now it's clear, the decision steered us, to our tragic past.
I came into the room one day, the screen was on, EQ was playing,
My daughter wasn't in her chair, instead a note was lying there,
It said she'd found a way inside, and decided that she had to try,
She'd live the game for real you see,
And all without the monthly fee.
I looked into the screen with fear, and there I caught a glimpse,
Of a slender half-elf standing, upon a mountain ridge,
She waved at me, then with a smile, she turned and began to run,
A flash of green and speckled light I saw,
After that there was nothing, she was gone.
So if one day in Everquest you meet a quirky half-elf,
She could be called just Stacy, or maybe something else,
Please give her this message if you would, and deliver it sincerely,
Tell her that her real home waits and her parents love her dearly.
They want her back, to fill the gap, she made when she zoned out.
Please come back to us Stacy, we miss you every day.
There's a lesson that you need to learn, on it you need to dwell,
Though fantasy can offer much,
The real world's fun as well,
The real world's fun as well.