Yellowknife (July 28/06) - The Frostbyte Cafe on Franklin Avenue opens at 9 a.m. Mondays to accommodate Yellowknife's cyber community.

As you sit down, the smell of coffee wafts by and if you look around, you may see somebody roaming through another world.

Les Girrior roams the world of Azeroth in World of Warcraft at the Frostbyte Cafe, downtown. - Kevin Allerston/NNSL photo

Patrons are usually playing a massive multiplayer online game like World of Warcraft (WOW) or Everquest. Marcel Charland operates the cafe and plays WOW himself from time to time, which can be an occupational hazard.

"But I do it for work, running this place."

Charland says that even with a recent update to Everquest - one of the all-time great online games - WOW is still more popular.

Later Monday, around 1:30 p.m., Les Girrior came in. He and Charland ordered some lunch and made an afternoon of gaming.

"I play games because it is better than real life," said Girrior, who puts in about 34 hours a week strolling through the world of Azeroth, a realm in WOW.

He has been playing since the release of the game in November 2004. While Girrior says he is not the type to miss work for video games, he has put in many sleepless nights.

"I stay up too late every night. Usually to about three in the morning."

But he says he is not addicted, just committed.

When he isn't playing the game he plays bass for a local rock band and works at a photo shop.

He used to play the game a lot more, but with work, he had to cut back. He plays about four hours a day - a little more on weekends.

"You learn what the best bang for your buck is for caffeine products."

Across town at internet provider SSI Micro, William Ingarfield and Tim Froehler each know a little something about gaming.

"There are friends I've had who have called in sick or booked a day off to play," says Ingarfield, who manages the store.

"I dabble in it, but nothing too wild."

The attraction of videogaming is to break away from reality while still communicating with people through the game.

Gamers are among a vast online community where players team up and complete goals that they could not achieve alone.

They all say one of the main attractions of the game is that element of friendship.

Froehler, who works as a technician at SSI Micro agrees, saying he has friends who have met people online and hitched up in real life.

He has no real problem with kids spending a lot of time in these games although sometimes, they can withdraw from their family.

"Ten years ago that kid would have been in front of the TV," he says.

"People waste their time in so many different ways," Ingarfield says, "from books, to online, to TV."

But they all seem to agree that there are worse things people could be doing.

"I could be out getting high or starting trouble instead," says Girrior.