Monday, October 3, 2016

Whatever Happened to Pong? Or You Gaming Kids Get Off My Lawn


Admittedly, I’ve never been one for playing games.  Even board games or card games.  I blame my childhood.  In my chemically dependent home, the only time we played games was during enforced family time. Victory and defeat had long-lasting consequences.  We took it seriously:  Our problem is we don’t do things as a family! We’re playing this together!  Isn’t this fun?  Why are you crying?

In my twenties I had a brief flirtation with Trivial Pursuit. I won every time. Then I lost.  Where did the fun go? 

For my current Intro to Social Media class, I played Trivia Crack through Facebook. I played it on my lunch hour on my work PC. Perhaps it was because of my earlier relationship with Trivial Pursuit but I found the questions extremely simplistic.  I missed one out of the first fifty and then an ad came up.  Is that the punishment for getting a wrong answer?   I don’t think I’ll play this game again. 

I have used Duo Lingo and was surprised to learn that it was developed using gaming theories.  It makes sense.  I like Duo Lingo and enjoy using it on my smartphone when I’m stuck in a waiting room somewhere.  It feels like I’m making good use of my time instead of wasting it.  It’s game-like but actually teaches you something. Unlike Trivia Crack which seems to me designed to make you think you’re smart.

I get the invitations: Candy Crush, Farmville, Angry Birds.  With my carpal tunnel issues from decades of working on computers, I’ll put the controller/smart phone down and read a book.

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