MMORPG's, Do you ever truly quit?

I am making this post because right now I am playing Final Fantasy XI for the Xbox 360 while sitting on my bed. How could I be playing the game if I am writing this blog post? Well lets just say I am currently waiting for a "Notorious Monster" (in short, an enemy in the game that often drops rare and exclusive items) to spawn. I killed him an hour ago, but I still have another half hour to go before he spawns again so I can have another go at trying to obtain his weapon drop for my Puppetmaster, which has only about an 8% chance of dropping form him once he is killed.

This is a day on FFXI, but I am sure other MMORPG's are similar in their brutal ways of holding you captive in their world, even if it often feels more like a second job than a video game. You see I have been playing FFXI since it released on the PS2 back in 2004 and currently nearing 4,000 hours of play time. Granted I have taken many breaks over that time, but that brings me to the point of this post....do you ever truly quit MMORPG's? I realize that some people overcome their addictions to this genre of games, but I am sure they are few and far between. There is just something about obtaining that rare armor piece you worked weeks over to have on your character that keeps me coming back, or leveling up just one more time to get that awesome magic spell.

Getting back to the "breaks", there were many times where I convinced myself I was completely done with the game, never to return, but I always ended up returning to the game because I would get these random cravings to play again, which was usually caused by a new expansion pack or version update. In fact the last time I "quit" was a few months ago, vowing it would be the last and final time I ever played the game, and look at me...back on the game yet again. I am not sure if this will be my last venture into the world of Vana'diel (FFXI's world), or if I will quit and return again a year later.

People often ask me if I play World of Warcraft, and I tell them no because I tried the demo a few years ago and realized I would get sucked into its world, and the only way to avoid becoming addicted to WoW was to completely avoid it. Thankfully I have remained WoW free all these years, because I can guarantee you if I played WoW I would very likely never have started videos on YouTube.

Anyway I gotta get going, the monster should be spawning in a bit, I must be prepared! Do you have any similar MMORPG stories? What is your take on becoming "addicted" to a game like this?