NPC

As undergrads, friends and I got addicted to MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) - online, text-based, combat-focused RPGs which we played via dumb terminals around the campus. We weren't the only ones. There was a chap who had the sickness even worse than we did. If there was no terminal free, he'd sit and watch someone else play. MG would tease him about it...but also take pity and let him shoulder-surf. What I didn't realise at the time was that, while the rest of us were naughtily skipping classes to grind our way up to Wizard rank, he was dealing with unrelated real-world issues and, I was later told, sleeping in his car.

One day, I walked into my preferred computer room and I could feel a palpable tension in the air. MG explained that the chap's father had suddenly come and collected him, pulling him out of imaginary dungeon, busy room and university itself. We never saw him again. Hopefully everything turned out for the best.