“YES!!!” I do a fist pump in the air to declare my awesomeness at Majong. For those of you who don’t know what Majong is, it is a computer game for old people, like me. It’s a speed tile matching game and I have been playing it since 2003. I play twice in the morning, and usually a couple of times after dinner and, maybe again before bed. I’m not addicted or anything like that, but I do have an app for it on my tablet. It’s just part of my routine. And I ROCK at Majong! First of all, I don’t actually know whether or not I’m any good at all because I have nothing to compare it to except my own scores. Secondly, no matter how good I think I am, I don’t get anything for being good. No pat on the back, no gold stars, no plaque on the wall,.. nothing. No one ever says “How’d you do at Majong today?” Because no one cares. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a game that I play all by myself. I pretend that it keeps my brain sharp and test my eye hand coordination but really.. it’s a time waster. I’m not sure it’s fun. I just do it. If someone ask “did you have fun today?” Playing Majong doesn’t come to mind as an answer to that question. I know you know what I mean because you play Angry Birds. So do I. But I suck at Angry Birds. How do I know? Because sometimes I hear people talk about getting 3 stars and clearing the whole board. I almost never get 3 stars and when I get 2.. it’s because of playing the game about 8,000 times. Eventually, all the pigs die. I don’t know how. But being good at Angry Birds doesn’t get you anything either. And no one cares. Angry Birds is also a time waster. A new study indicates that 64% of all online apps are games. We seem to enjoy wasting time. Oh we could sit on the couch and watch TV but no one likes a couch potato. So we play mobile games and it feels like we’re doing something, kind of like fishing. Fishing is where you sit on the bank of a body of water and put a worm on a hook and drop it in the water. Then you just sit. Maybe drink a beer, have a smoke but really just sit.
We play games as a distraction from our everyday thoughts. We find ways to relieve stress by disengaging. And that’s ok. But let us not kid ourselves. There is no merit in video/on-line games. Although you may feel that you are putting your strategic mind to use… there are probably more productive ways to do so. Now maybe you engage in on-line games with other people thereby adding a social element to whole thing. Well, they would know if you were any good compared to the other people who are playing. I don’t subject myself in that kind of pressure. I like thinking I’m really good at something without being tested. Still, even if you are playing with other people, you’re not really doing anything but killing time. And that’s ok too, as long as we don’t try to defend our absorption in a make believe world.
We have always played games. We have always found ways to entertain ourselves. And we have always played to win, even if it’s only beating ourselves. We can congratulate ourselves for a job well done. But our games have taken on a new world of instant video streaming, anywhere, any time. Maybe we have succumbed to the void of constant mindless gaming only to look for that gold star that doesn’t seem to come from anywhere else in our lives.
So anyone ever beat 2min 28secs at Majong? I think not!
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