Ah, good sir I know the feeling of suddenly realising it's not a game
Playing Assassin's Creed for 5 hours a day before trespassing on a half-finished building site was just -tempting- fate, as in mid air jumping from around 12 feet over a pit full of stacked metal fence panels it occurs to me that "Wait, if I die here I don't respawn..."
Similar feeling as I was sneaking about industrial railyards full of stray dogs while thinking about Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, the week before.
So few gamers know the pleasure of going out and experiencing something closer to the real thing, the comparison with the relative blandness of our simulations teaches us to appreciate reality, while the experience of the true sights, sounds and feelings of the outside world enriches our ability to immerse ourselves back into our silly games when we go home to curl up with a bowl of mint ice cream and bandage our festering dog bites...