Monday, June 22, 2009

Games People Play

I hate to admit this but I am totally addicted.  I can't seem to stop myself.  At times it seems to take over whatever it is I'm supposed to do because I can't get away from its call.  I am stuck on Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.

I'm not the only one.  I have a long list of my friends who play as often as I do.  They seem to have the same hangup as me.  My father-in-law is completely stuck.  He has theories as to the best strategy, the time you are most likely to get a high score and why my sister-in-law seems to get better scores than all of us each and every week.  

It extends past the good old Blitz as well.  My wife plays FarmTown.  She even set up a farm for me that she runs, so that she can continue her own assault on farming prowess.  The object of the game . . . I'm not really sure other than growing more things and selling them in the virtual economy.  

Last week Blitz was down.  You would have thought the world had come to an end.  Suddenly a whole new crop of games starting popping up on my notification screen.  They were the store brand version of the name brand product.  Same ideas and concepts but they seemed to lack that same addicting feel.  

I wish I could say that this is just an oddity among my family however, it seems to be something that afflicts all users of electronic media in some way.  I remember growing up with pong, super breakout and pinball, the 2600 and on and on.  There was always a game that I could never get away from.  I also did not fall into the trance for very long.  I preferred being outside playing football, baseball or basketball.  I also grew up in a time when parents simply let their kids go off and "be back by dinner".  

As I watch my son (totally addicted to screens--doesn't matter what) and my daughter (no addiction at all--will simply walk away) grow up I have to wonder if this is something that will have a negative impact on them.  I realize that it matters more that we are involved parents and that they also learn to cope with the periods of unstructured time that many of us don't know how to take care of as adults.  

I'm hooked and I don't care.  I still went for a walk, a swim and played tennis with my kids today.

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