For years I had only a vague idea of what World of Warcraft was.  To the extent I thought of the people who were caught up in it (or other games like Grand Theft Auto or Halo), I pitied them.  I couldn’t fathom why people would choose to waste their time like that, how anyone could prefer staring at a screen and pushing buttons  to all life’s other options. But a couple years ago, all that changed …  and I’m still a little mystified about what happened to me.  I’m a grown man.  You might not know it from a distance, but it’s true.  How did I get caught up in an online fantasy game? It was winter in Chicago.  That was part of it. …