Friday, November 29, 2013

Nearly Mindless

Why is it that nearly mindless computer games are so engrossing?

Even if I'm not particularly enjoying a game of computer solitaire, I still want to play it rather than grade or any number of other more or less useful things I could do, many of which are way more pleasant than grading?

What is it about these games?

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:33 PM

    Me, too!

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  2. Anonymous1:54 PM

    This is why none of my computers have any games on them.

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  3. I've thought about this more than once (during my 20th game of solitaire). Maybe the pattern-solving itch in our brain is getting scratched?

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  4. I know! I've started setting a timer for ten minutes. That amount of time I can justify for a break but not the 40 minutes I've sometimes spent on Bejeweled Blitz.

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  5. Me too! I use the parental controls on my computer so that it's much harder for me to actually get to the game, so I have to make a more conscious decision... I used to just not have games on my pc but there are so many out there on the internet that can be played online that that isn't enough any more.

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  6. There was a NYT Magazine article on this very question a while back: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/magazine/angry-birds-farmville-and-other-hyperaddictive-stupid-games.html?_r=0

    which I remembered enough to be able to google the link, but not enough to tell you the answer :). My current addiction is the phone version of Ticket to Ride, I'll confess.

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