Artist David Choe Was Hooked on "Warcraft 2"

I was talking to you a little bit about the video game stuff, right? Yeah, yeah. When I was in my mid-20s, people couldn't wait for Warcraft 3 to come out. It was like the new shit coming out. I remember. Right, they're like, it's gonna come out and they delayed it and it finally came out. And I didn't have any money then and I got Warcraft 2. And Warcraft 2, the interface for the kids out there listening, it's like God interface, like your little peasants and paladins and you're moving them around where Warcraft 3 is more 3D. What the fuck, I'm explaining video games. And I got on there and because the entire world was waiting for Warcraft 3, no one was playing Warcraft 2. So I was the god of Warcraft 2. You know when you go on online games, you get a game really quick? This was back in the, this is like 20 years ago. So wait, I'm 24. Yeah, it's like 20 years ago. So I'd get on the game and I'd be waiting. I'd start a map and I'm like, who wants to play? And I'd wait and I'd have to wait for people to join. My career was just getting started. I was in a wonderful relationship with this woman that I dated for seven years. My life was like on the up and up. And this thing completely took over my life. Have you ever seen this documentary called Web Junkies about the internet problem in China? I haven't seen that, but I'm aware of the problem. It's a documentary from 2014 and it starts with a kid just crying. And they're like, why are you crying? And so China had declared PC rooms, internet, video game addiction, a national emergency. So they said it's okay. We set up these centers and you could either poison or drug your kid and just drop them off there, or you could lie to them and tell them they're going to a camping trip and then just drop them off there. And then they stay there for 90 days because that's, and it's like a prison and these, the start of the movie. Yeah. Look at the kid crying. You see that? Wow. So, so they can't stop playing video games. They can't stop watching porn. They can't function. So this thing in the movie at some point, I'll spoil it. They escape like, like from, uh, this is a documentary. Yeah. It's a documentary. They escape from the madhouse at one point. Like the kids, you know, they form a plan and they, where do they go? They go to the PC room down the street. They just can't help themselves. They can't stop. So. Wow. It almost looks like a independent film. That's why I asked if it's a documentary. No, it's a documentary. The way they've shot it is very interesting. Because for me, you know me, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do any of that. But I fucking, I've been to over a thousand AA meetings and I don't drink. What people, why do you do that? I'm like, cause I can't stop porn. I can't stop video games. I can't start, stop gambling. And I know that they have meetings for that too, but they're harder to find. They're more shameful. There's less people. And if I go to AA room and I'm talking and there's a guy speaking about how he got clean from alcohol, I just listened to him. And every time he says alcohol, I replace it with porn, video game. And I, and I, and I'm like, and not just that, I'll do that in a last case ditch scenario, but I'll, I'll, I'll go to all the meetings. I go to all the fucking meetings. And so I'm sitting on Warcraft two and I'm, and I'm, something's missing from my life and my rage and my anger and all my, my addictions and my, my mental illnesses are coming out in this Warcraft game. And I find this map that's perfect. It's a small map and it's called paintball and it's just, everyone dies. Everyone has one hit point. So one hit and you're dead. So it's more like a, like a chess speedball game. So the games don't last more than 15 minutes. You have one peasant, one paladin and one wizard. And I killed at that game. I killed every, and within five minutes, you know, like the way it goes, you bring down a blizzard storm and you build a cannon tower or whatever, and you know, if you're going to win and this is before the five minutes, because it's a fast game. Everything moves fast and you don't have to wait for the wood to chop. It's really fast. And never fucked with those games. I didn't have the, this was before the earpieces. So within five minutes, the game is sort of on auto. So you know, it's like who can do the things the fastest. Then I start talking shit. I'm going to skull fuck your parents, you dumb motherfucker. This is a kid like, and I'm like, like all, you know, the way people talk, like all their demons come out and these, and I'm playing kids and they're like, why, what is the skull fuck? And I'm like, I am a horrible person. And then one day I was the king of this map. Like in this one area in my life where my art career is kind of going good, but not really. And I don't know how to be in a relationship and I'm just sort of lost in my mid twenties. I don't know who the fuck I am. In this game, I am God. I'm God. Like, and I'll go out and I'll be checked out. I'll be out with my friend. How many hours a day you play in this game? I'm not going to lie. It would be like all day. I'd be like, Oh, I got to go work. And so it was the first time in my life. 10 hours a day. No, no, no, no. 12, 16. Like 18, 18 hours, 20 hours a day. So I would play this game and I would lie. I started lying. I started lying to my friends about what I was doing. And when I was out, I'd be checked out. They'd be talking about, Hey, what this new thing, we're going to go here. And I'd be like, I storm, I storm, you know, it's like. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.