I still remember being introduced to Facebook games. I was visiting my friend at a Howard Johnson's and we were goofing around on Facebook. He says "You need to start playing this game, Mob Wars. I need friends to get me more _____ (credits/tokens/fake plants, etc.)" "Sure, okay" I thought I'll sign up and help him get his little fake machine guns. Over a year later, I had a full-blown addiction going. I would lose sleep, use my breaks at work, and just pretty much donate my life to clicking those little fake plants, making fake food, running a fake bakery for fairies, putting fake mob hits on strangers, raising fake zoo animals, feeding fake fish, digging for fake treasure, running a fake pawn shop... What the hell? I finally decided I had to pare down this addiction. First to go was Mob Wars; it had certainly lost its appeal. Farm___ whatever it was called also left. I still had a couple of fake restaurants and the fake digging for treasure to keep me busy. As things became buggier and buggier, I left one of the fake restaurants go. The other one closed itself down because even the company got tired of the game.
I still play the treasure game (Treasure Madness), but I don't get too caught up in it. I don't lose sleep over it. I like the little mini games while I'm digging and it's something I can poke at while I'm watching TV or whatever. There are little quests, etc. and I'm in the mindset that if I get the quests completed then good for me, but if not it's no big deal.
Once the last restaurant game went to heaven, they transferred a bunch of credits to a Sims game. I've never really played any of the Sims games, but a few of my friends had liked them (on game consoles). I figured I'd give it a try. I'm still not letting it control my life, but one night I did lose control and spend $20 on "credits" which I regret. I'm so annoyed at myself for doing that. What was I thinking?!!??!?!? I could have bought 1/3 tank of gas, a nice meal, some drinks... but no, I bought tokens for a virtual game that is virtually stupid. You can't really save your receipt and go back for a refund on that can you?
Why are we (or some of "we") entertained by screen clicks? I know I'm annoyed by the game posts filling up my feed. I miss seeing posts by real friends instead of the friends I've added just to have game buddies. These are people I'll never know; some of us don't even speak the same language. Some of the accounts are set up for people's dogs, babies, hamsters, etc. just so they can have more accounts to send themselves these virtual treats back and forth more often.
As a society that has become numb to movie plots, violence, and the basic suffering of others, why are we so amused by randomly clicking a screen in the same spot? I don't get it. I don't have a cure for it, but I'm trying to wean myself from it. Maybe if there was some kind of tangible result it would make more sense. Even if I win a t-shirt after my millionth click...I wonder how many t-shirts I would have by now?
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