Being a veteran FPS player, it’s hard to hang up the old knife and sniper rifle. After being convinced by family and friends that I needed to take a step back from shooting people in the head with a virtual gun, I was sent (banished is more like it) to the glamorous country of Paris.

With my laptop taken from me, my online options became very limited. I wandered around online gaming portals like partypoker and started playing some serious poker. As it turns out, I’m a natural at being aggressive, having shot people just for being in the line of fire multiple times, it does set a tone for how you do things. Playing poker, as it turns out, is more than just taking another man’s money; it’s also about strategy and making the right decisions when the cards are stacked up against you. Poker teaches you the perfect balance between being aggressive and being passive and learning to apply both to confuse your enemy to win multiple hands. So this forced moratorium on shooting games had given me a fresh outlook on how to do things. I enjoyed the scenery Paris had to offer and tried to visit as many notable places as I could. While I still occasionally sneak a peek at what’s new in the world of FPS at GamesRadar and occasionally look at cool looking guns at WorldGuns, I enjoyed my short vacation on shooting games. It’s too bad that I didn’t get to meet any French women; I still haven’t learned how to deal with those yet. But I’m sure I’ll get there eventually.

So after getting back from vacation, I surprised everyone by not immediately going through my usual routine and going online faster than you can say “Frag it!” Having a good balance between life and play has made me a better person (at least to other people). I still play poker on a regular basis as I find the mental challenge stimulating and I believe it improves my overall shooting game. It also helps me unwind physically while still keeping my mind sharp and alert. I find myself using less bullets and my strategy has improved from the usual storm-the-front-with-guns-blazing routine. Apart from that, my team mates appreciate that I don’t shoot them just to kill the guy in front, anymore. It is true that to appreciate something, one must take a step back and look at it from a different perspective. Yes, the art enthusiast in Paris has gotten to me.

While I still see myself shooting noobs in the foreseeable future, it’s comforting to know that my horizon is not so limited as before. Before my Paris tryst with poker, I loved FPS games; now I love what they bring to my life. I’m glad there’s a distinction now.