So, when I was into drugs/alcohol, we always had one friend that represented "the bottom" of what that lifestyle would lead you to. Always doing harder drugs than everyone else, couldn't keep a job, got fucked up way more than any of us. But we kept him around because it always made us feel better about ourselves.
Was that what Boogie was for gamers? The comparative "bottom" of this dreadful addiction? As long as you didn't look/behave like him, then you still "had your shit together"?