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Until the moment he relapsed, things were going well for Joe. His vegetarian food stall business was really starting to take off. Despite lockdown, November 2020 had been even busier than the previous year. More importantly, it had been two years and eight months since he last played a video game.
Then, in December 2020, things started to unravel. One of Joe’s colleagues tested positive for Covid-19, shuttering the food stall and sending Joe into self-isolation. At home, worrying about the future of his business, Joe’s mind drifted towards video games. He downloaded Steam, opened up
Medieval II: Total War and got as far as the loading screen. At each step he told himself that – as long as he didn’t start playing – he hadn’t relapsed.