Gaming

So... I played "Burger Island." I think the fast food companies are funding the dissemination of this one. Yup. I found myself totally addicted to putting pickles on cheeseburgers. There were these little boxes that popped up in the corner of the screen, illustrating instructions for each of the four orders I was expected to work on at any given time. The instructions were all in pictures. When I finished a level, I could buy a new recipe i.e. for spiced fries, or veggie burgers. Reminded me a little bit of the more complicated games -- the ones based on role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, where you earn points by performing tasks, and then you're allowed to buy more stuff (abilities, weapons, etc.) with the points you earn.

I've done a little gaming with my many geeky friends, and the thing that struck me most about the recent trends in gaming is the freedom with which you get to try and try again if you fail. I grew up playing games on my family's little atari console (space invaders and pac man!) and you got three lives and that was it. And, of course, the complexity of the games has increased dramatically. And the incremental rewards... much different from the way things used to be when you put your quarter in the slot at the arcade.