i spend entirely too much time staring at screens. yeah i know thats the cool thing to say now, and lately, rather than forcing myself to set the phone down or close the laptop, i've been trying to look into why i do what i do online, the motivations behind, the rewards i get, and apply these to search for opportunities in life that may be more beneficial that fit these reward systems i find online. this may take awhile to, (i really want to say "unpack" here just because it;d amuse me, but i fear you may think im taking myself seiously) work through, so i decide im going to think on the biggest time waster on my phone.... games.
there are three main games i play on my phone, and another 2 on the tablet we have perched on our elliptical machine. The games i play on my phone that suck the most unproductive time, are not ironically classified as "idle games." The games i specifically lean towards for the past 3-4 years, that hurts to say, are Office Space and Adventure Capitalist. Office Space has me hooked the hardest. Daily challenges, up-gradable character cards, random loot chances, weekly challenges. it doesnt sound so great on paper, nor does it really bring that much joy to play, but i am addicted. why?
Office Space, fasioned after the 2000-ish film of the same name, hits all the buttons that get me obbsessed. it makes me feel like missing one day of play would set me back exponentially. this is even more true on wednesdays at 4pm, (3pm when we arent on day light savings) which is when the weekly challenge starts. Now, getting in early is important, as every reset of the game multiplies your bonuses exponentially. so, just like i've learned with compound interest, the earlier you start, the better off you'll be in the end. I honestlly will plan my wednesdays around it if i can. There are also 24 hour challenges that reset at the same time of 4pm everyday, including a free epic loot roll. These tactics all succesfully feed my fear of missing out and the addiction to this dumb clicky game with no tangible real world rewards for the huge chunk of time im spending on it. Is the free entertainment worth the cost of my time?
what do i get if it is not the entertainment value? in other words, what can i learn about myself from the way i behave towards this type of game? I like challenges. I like long, arduous, grinding type work with benchmarks of progression along the way. I recall back to playing world of warcraft when i was younger. When it originally came out it was a long, slow, kill the same thing thousands of times over to gain xp. there was little glory, it was lonely, boring, but i couldnt stop. once in a while someone random online would congratulate or notice and make a comment to you. I used to think thats the reward i craved. years later when the creators took out the long, monotonous aspects of the game, and leveled the playing field for lack of a better term, it got uninteresting to me. Without anything to differentiate myself for my months (years?) of actual screen time from players who had maybe casually jonined more recently, i totally lost interest.
so, back to my current addiction, there is no interaction between players, there is a leaderboard for events, but my name in annonymous. the rewards are inconsequential. the journey, as cliche as it sounds, is the reward. ok, ok, ok. what line of work, or what activity, that can benefit either myself, those around me, or both, could i be doing to hit the same reward systems in my head? In gaming, farming is a term used when a player has to do the same task over and over to gain xp or an item, like killing the same goblin king time and time again until he drops a neccesary item to continue the game. So, naturally, my mind wanders first to farming. like, farming farming. put a seed in the ground and watch it grow. Ive played the tape, and i dont think it translates. what are other tasks, that require focus, dicipline, commitment. I think of sports, anything skill based, i think of things that have benchmarks, or levels, like ranks in boy scouts, or the karate belt system maybe. these might be more beneficial in a healthy, long term lifestyle sort of way.
What about financially, what careers follow this sort of model, of climbing a clearly defined ladder and hitting different titles or salaries along the way? Maybe trade jobs, specifically where you must put in a certain amount of hours, or prove skills learned as a gateway to the next rung on the ladder, such as many unions who use apprentice, journeyman and master. What do you do once you are a master though? Start a new career? i need an end goal that seems attainable, but in reality, is not. I need something that gives me a sense of hope, but not a chance in hell.
video games wack. ill continue tommorow
there are three main games i play on my phone, and another 2 on the tablet we have perched on our elliptical machine. The games i play on my phone that suck the most unproductive time, are not ironically classified as "idle games." The games i specifically lean towards for the past 3-4 years, that hurts to say, are Office Space and Adventure Capitalist. Office Space has me hooked the hardest. Daily challenges, up-gradable character cards, random loot chances, weekly challenges. it doesnt sound so great on paper, nor does it really bring that much joy to play, but i am addicted. why?
Office Space, fasioned after the 2000-ish film of the same name, hits all the buttons that get me obbsessed. it makes me feel like missing one day of play would set me back exponentially. this is even more true on wednesdays at 4pm, (3pm when we arent on day light savings) which is when the weekly challenge starts. Now, getting in early is important, as every reset of the game multiplies your bonuses exponentially. so, just like i've learned with compound interest, the earlier you start, the better off you'll be in the end. I honestlly will plan my wednesdays around it if i can. There are also 24 hour challenges that reset at the same time of 4pm everyday, including a free epic loot roll. These tactics all succesfully feed my fear of missing out and the addiction to this dumb clicky game with no tangible real world rewards for the huge chunk of time im spending on it. Is the free entertainment worth the cost of my time?
what do i get if it is not the entertainment value? in other words, what can i learn about myself from the way i behave towards this type of game? I like challenges. I like long, arduous, grinding type work with benchmarks of progression along the way. I recall back to playing world of warcraft when i was younger. When it originally came out it was a long, slow, kill the same thing thousands of times over to gain xp. there was little glory, it was lonely, boring, but i couldnt stop. once in a while someone random online would congratulate or notice and make a comment to you. I used to think thats the reward i craved. years later when the creators took out the long, monotonous aspects of the game, and leveled the playing field for lack of a better term, it got uninteresting to me. Without anything to differentiate myself for my months (years?) of actual screen time from players who had maybe casually jonined more recently, i totally lost interest.
so, back to my current addiction, there is no interaction between players, there is a leaderboard for events, but my name in annonymous. the rewards are inconsequential. the journey, as cliche as it sounds, is the reward. ok, ok, ok. what line of work, or what activity, that can benefit either myself, those around me, or both, could i be doing to hit the same reward systems in my head? In gaming, farming is a term used when a player has to do the same task over and over to gain xp or an item, like killing the same goblin king time and time again until he drops a neccesary item to continue the game. So, naturally, my mind wanders first to farming. like, farming farming. put a seed in the ground and watch it grow. Ive played the tape, and i dont think it translates. what are other tasks, that require focus, dicipline, commitment. I think of sports, anything skill based, i think of things that have benchmarks, or levels, like ranks in boy scouts, or the karate belt system maybe. these might be more beneficial in a healthy, long term lifestyle sort of way.
What about financially, what careers follow this sort of model, of climbing a clearly defined ladder and hitting different titles or salaries along the way? Maybe trade jobs, specifically where you must put in a certain amount of hours, or prove skills learned as a gateway to the next rung on the ladder, such as many unions who use apprentice, journeyman and master. What do you do once you are a master though? Start a new career? i need an end goal that seems attainable, but in reality, is not. I need something that gives me a sense of hope, but not a chance in hell.
video games wack. ill continue tommorow
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