A problem with casual games

Design: Me and MS Paint, Background Image Credit: ausdroid.net

There seems to be a certain style of casual game on the rise and I don't like it. Games like The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Clash of the Clans and Tiny Death Star and no doubt many others all share a similar formula: a free download, a game that 'plays in the background' while the app isn't open, tasks that take an inordinate amount of real time to complete, and in-app purchases of some form of credit that allows you to hurry these tasks along. The game tends to introduce you to this mechanic rather deviously in the opening tutorials, and essentially leans on your impatience being greater than your control over your pursestrings.

The other slightly wicked psychological trick they exploit is the sunk cost fallacy. The sunk cost fallacy can be simply explained as "I can't stop now otherwise I'll waste all of the time and money I've invested". This type of thinking can be useful, for instance to guilt yourself into hitting the gym after buying expensive gym gear, but most of the time it's detrimental logic. Games like those mentioned above do this by getting you immersed in the game quickly; your first few tasks are simple and they often 'help you out' by giving you free credits (be them Donuts, Imperial Bux or some other in-game currency) to hurry tasks - indeed, hurrying tasks is encouraged. Once you are on your own, you have already invested some time in playing. This is where the free credits you've been using stop being given to you and, if you have more dollars than sense, it becomes easy to justify a few bucks for a more enjoyable experience. The problem is that this cycle can quickly become ingrained behaviour.

While I appreciate that game companies are profit-driven and are seeking new business models to generate revenue, does this particular model have to be one of them? Arguably it sacrifices what could be a good, engaging game (a Simpsons-flavoured Sim City, a Simp-City if you will (I'm so sorry), or a Star Wars-themed Sim Tower) for the unapologetic and obvious grab for your wallet. Admittedly in this day and age where people demand almost everything digital for free (I don't pretend to exclude myself) there is a cost of losing customers by charging a price for a game, but there is also something unpalatable about thinking that people playing your games are just that, consumers to be captured in the market rather than building a community of players.

What do you think? Are in-app purchases the new frontier of casual gaming, or just a blatant cash grab? Let me know in the comments.

The Ouroborus

Design: Myself and MS Paint, Ouroborus image credit: quigleyscabinet.blogspot.com.au

Perhaps as a form of escapism, I've been really into fantasy lately. I've started watching Game of Thrones, I'm reading The Wheel of Time series and I've been playing Dragon Age: Origins. Anyhow, I noticed a curious similarity between the latter two. There is an item in Dragon Age that, apart from the material (black iron vs. gold), matches the description of the 'Great Serpent' ring worn by the Aes Sedai (read: sorceresses) in Robert Jordan's novels. I would have liked to find the book quote actually describing it, but as I am listening to audiobooks it makes it rather more difficult to find.

Image credit: dragonage.wikia.com

Both of these are reference to a mythological symbol known as the Ouroborus (Greek for tail-devouring snake, though it is also sometimes portrayed as a dragon). The Ouroborus, much like the mythical Phoenix that rises again from its ashes, symbolises the cyclicality of life and death - the endless process of creation and destruction. The Ouroborus has been used in many different cultures across the world, from ancient Egypt and Greece, to Norsemen and in Hinduism. If I had more time to research, this post would be more than just a summary from Wikipedia.

It is mentioned that the Ouroborus could be "interpreted as a Western equivalent of the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol". This also interestingly relates back to Robert Jordan's books, as "the ancient symbol of te Aes Sedai" is "a circle separated by a sinuous line".

Image credit: wot.wikia.com

The Ouroborus is also referenced by a few of the bands I listen to:

If you know about any other mythological symbols, let me know in the comments.

The problem with being an economist

Ah, economics - the dismal science - it's given me a way of looking at the world and understanding part of how it works, it's given me a set of tools to look at complex problems, and it's helped me develop my critical thinking and reasoning skills. There's a certain sense of satisfaction I get from trying to find rational behaviour, and being able to explain why something counter-intuitive might be rational behaviour. For instance, lately I've been talking to some of my friends about why deferring your HECS debt for as long as possible sometimes makes sense.

But, there is a problem with being an economist, and it's probably the reason why it's called 'the dismal science'. Being trained in economics internalises a fundamental concept known as 'opportunity cost'. Opportunity cost is what you give up or forego to do something. Applied in an economic sense, the opportunity cost of investing your money in one place is that you give up other investment options, or that you forego easy access to your money. There are many opportunity costs to every decision that you make. The reason that this becomes problematic, for me at least, is that opportunity cost also applies to time.

The time spent doing one activity, say writing this blog, comes at the cost of the time foregone to undertake another activity, say playing drums. This causes me no end of internal questioning - "is what I am doing the best use of my time?" - and unease when I am not doing something - "I should be doing this or that". Admittedly, this line of thinking has it's pros. It's probably the reason I am a motivated person, and why I have managed to achieve what I've achieved. But it also has it's downsides. For one thing, it's incredibly difficult to shut it off. If I do anything, even if I enjoy what I'm doing - say playing video games - I can't help but be overcome with guilt that I've indulged for too long when I could have done other things, like cleaning the house, reading, taking the dog for a walk, spending time with Jess, going for a bike ride, listening to music etc. etc. etc. But likewise, the same applies if I do any of those activities in place of the first one. This is part of the reason that one of my resolutions for this year was to practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the discipline of being right in the moment. To invest yourself fully into whatever you are doing (and just as importantly - not doing) right this minute, without your mind racing down endless to-do lists. Admittedly, it sounds very 'New Age'-y and a bit hippy, but many problems caused by mindless doing. Mindless busywork, where you become stressed because there's always too much to do. Mindless eating, which leads to weight and health issues because you miss signals of satiety from your body. The list goes on.

We're all confronted with a shortage of time and because of this there is an emphasis on making the most of it. We've all seen the 'Live each day like it's your last' and the 'Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today', but in my opinion these sorts of platitudes are toxic. We're swamped with the idea that productivity is the greatest pursuit of all - "if only this were easier, then we'd have more time" - but the fact is like the 'hedonic treadmill' as soon as we become more productive, we find other things to fill up that time. We can hope that we fill them with more leisurely activities, for instance I'm writing this blog to the whirr of my Roomba, but I'd hazard that most of the time we don't. Partially, this has to do with increasing our standard of living, but as standards of living rise, so do our expectations. What was once good enough is no longer good enough - there are many examples of this: house sizes have increased dramatically, and are inhabited by less people now than before; public schools provide a good education for all, but most parents would probably prefer to send their kids to a private school if they could afford it.

I find that I sway between two minds - one tells me that time is short, that every minute should be put to it's best use, that I should be productive; the other tells me that there is plenty of time to accomplish the things I want to do, so long as I keep chipping away at them. To be honest, I haven't quite resolved this quandary myself - but I have at least identified it as an issue to be worked on. My apologies there isn't a nice, tidy resolution to this post - but hey, that's kind of like living in the real world, isn't it?