HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - Robin Williams has given up most of his addictions -- the drugs, the partying, the excesses -- but he admits to his new and maybe strongest addictions yet -- the Internet.
In a one-on-one interview with Zap2it, Williams confesses to being a computer junkie, unlike many celebrity friends who are terrified of the Internet and chat rooms.

"I'm not afraid of it, I'm actually kind of addicted to it," says Williams while seated at a Beverly Hills hotel while promoting his new film "One Hour Photo."

In the Fox Searchlight film, interestingly enough, he plays a low-key stalker type of guy who obsesses over a family. He knows that such things could happen to him, so he's careful and he never reveals his true identity to other cyber-friends.

Williams, while he was traveling on his recent comedy tour, which became a hit HBO special, says that his computer hook-up was important while on the road.

The 50-year-old Oscar winner, who won Best Supporting Actor for "Good Will Hunting" confesses, "I play games, I'm not going to lie about it, and when you play online against someone else, it's the best. Especially when you're playing against a 12-year-old kid who's been playing the game for a year and knows all the secrets. I'm fascinated by military games."

He says that a few of the people he's met playing the military games are just too involved and do scare him a bit.

Some of his favorite sites include weird auction sites and game sites, but he never checks out fan sites about himself.

"That's like bobbing for razors, that's really bad news because you'll find great things and horrible things. I did it once," Williams admits. "You'll find people who love what you're doing and people who despise what you're doing. That's the Web, that's the gamut of all personalities."

His favorite games include First Person Shooter, and Half-Life, and War Craft 3.

"There are a million games and there are mods with these games," Williams says, getting into the lingo. "The mods are taking these games and basically redesigning it and doing it on their own thing. There's a game called Half-Life and these guys made up a total different take on it using the engine to make a World War II engine called Day of Defeat with Germans and Americans doing kind of like a Normandy beach type thing. But these guys made it on their own and the company basically kind of gave them their blessing."

"It's amazing. It's a world. It has it's own mythology, plus clans and groups," Williams says.

Quite familiar with the most popular games, Williams adds, "They start off with a kind of primitive version where people were off wandering around conducting quests but now with Morrow Wind and Never Winter at Night and Dark Age of Camelot, people are in there creating characters and building up the characters to the point where if they build up a character with enough points they'll sell it on ebay.

Then, Williams pauses, and recalls his addiction for addictions.

"Just as long as it doesn't become like," he gulps, "Well, because it's video cocaine, it can be as addictive as anything in this world with computer widows."

Williams warns, "You have to limit it though because it's addictive because of this world. I guess the worst case scenario was some kid who killed himself because his character died. You have to go, 'Wait a minute. This has gone way beyond the limits of a game.' "

And then, Williams dispells rumors that he poses as a 6-year-old girl on some chatrooms.

"No, that's not true," he smiles coquettishly. "I was never Samantha."

This interview was taken and published August 21, 2002. Mike Szymanski www.zap2it.com