Conformists, Non-Conformists, Tagging, Digital Hugging…and Other Points of View

I am going to start with making a disclaimer…undoubtedly one of many in this post…which should alert some of the more “literal” in our readership that they may not agree with everything I am about to write. That’s OK. I am simply letting you know , before I make you upset (which is what most disclaimers are really all about. Right?)

And to that point, I am of the age when most of the commercials on the evening news (remember the evening news?) are for pharmaceutical wonder-drugs that will cure what ails me…but whose disclaimers are actually several times longer than the actual “meat” of the commercial copy.  You know the ones. “Two pills daily may help your painful hammertoes!” followed by, “not guaranteed to fix hammertoes, may cause swelling of the joints, redness of eyes, painful ear growths, loss of hair, projectile vomiting, leaking orifice condition, and possible death in some cases.”

This post will not cause any of the above…but COULD cause rising blood pressure in a large number of “Star Sensitive” players.

Here’s why…

I’m A TAGGER…and love being tagged!

For those of you not familiar with street slang…”tagging” is the same as applying graffiti  to something…usually with spray paint…or in this case, a digital tap to the buildings of a friend or family members that are “tag-able”.

Yes. I understand that in the REAL world, tagging is selfish, destructive, and a horrible inconvenience.  I know. I have huge flocks of wild turkeys who regularly “tag” our yard, driveway, and house (who have also come to know the wrath of my BB gun). And, I’m sure that some of you would love to shoot those who tag your town with a BB gun…but can’t, because it really is just a game, and doesn’t really mean squat in the big picture of life.

But, I get it…if you get tagged, or tag enough, you COULD lose half a star in your Conform-O-Meter…and that would be awful!!  I mean, who doesn’t want to tell the world that they are a “Conformist?” and got there by showing the world that they are not only Conformists…but also Gluttonous, Lazy, Socialists???!!!

I get it. They are STARS…and every good child knows that earning a star is good. Right?  Except when one of those stars if for being Lazy…
In·do·lence – noun – avoidance of activity or exertion; laziness. (And yes…the EA/Gracie programmers are making fun of you for caring).

Are you starting to see the ambiguity of caring about “righteousness?”  There is nothing worse than someone who is self-righteous (says the old man lecturing people about righteousness).

And, while I digress…I think you get my point, and why I just don’t give a rip and a half about whether people tag me or not.

In fact…I LOVE being tagged, because it takes time to find buildings that are tag-able. And, most important, it leaves a calling card from the person who has tagged me.

Let us not forget (for anyone who has heard this story and forgotten…you could be suffering from the side effects of the hammertoe meds) that I STARTED THIS ENTIRE TSTO CHAPTER OF MY LIFE…because my grandsons got me to play, and liked tagging my town. It was how we let each other know across the miles that separated us, that we were thinking of one another.

In fact…my grandson Zach, who recently turned 12, has come BACK to TSTO after a layoff of a couple of years…and now tags me, and I him, just to let one another know that we are still alive (me, more than him…as he is too young to take hammertoe meds).

It is like giving one another a “Digital Hug.”

Zach’s New Town…he’s just starting again…

Add to this, that some of my longest standing neighbors, who have now become friends, tag me regularly. I smile every time I see it…because I know they are thinking of me, and took the time to hunt down my elementary school, which is now waaaaaaaaaaay off in a far-flung part of my Springfield.

But, the longest standing, and random of my long-term friends/neighbors, is a woman (at least her player icon is female) who has been tagging my town RELENTLESSLY for years.  She became a neighbor when I first started writing for Addicts in 2013…remained a faithful tagging friend through all of the years at TSTOFriends…and is now back here again at Addicts.  Her screen name is tjbmurph, and she is almost ALWAYS the first to tag my town after an Event is over, and we are able to tag again.

When she didn’t this time…I panicked, and thought that maybe she had quit the game.  But, nooooooooooooooo… even better…she hit the Qaud-Fecta of annoying (to those who are easily annoyed), she had everything in the air that could possibly fly, flying across her screen.

If you think that some people are picayune about tagging, those folks pale in comparison to the people who hate things flying across the screen. Again…not surprisingly, I LOVE making things fly. As I wrote about a couple of posts ago, my friends, neighbors and family need to know that Norbert is going to be flying in my town, almost perpetually from now on.

But that is nothing compared to TJB. Nothing I say. And I doff my aviator’s cap in respect!  She had Norbert, the News Helicopter, the Alien fairy, AND SANTA all flying across her screen this morning when I checked.  I LOVED IT!! I started laughing, and couldn’t stop for a solid minute…(before my hammertoe meds kicked in, and I got dizzy).

Look…people…what I am saying here, is that the world is a crazy, divided place.  There are so many horrible reasons to keep compartmentalizing everyone…and building walls and fences and special clubs and ways to divide us, that adding another one about tagging or not tagging is just one more sign of “Sad” to me.

We are ALL players of the same game. It is a digital, padular-device-game that has no real bearing on real life…UNLESS YOU LET IT GET TO YOU!!

I understand… Some of you will never “get it.”  Some of you allow the game to be the “One place that you can control in a world that is seemingly more and more uncontrollable.” It is a scary place. No doubt about it. And if you are steadfast about “no tagging,” that is your choice.  But, like those who choose to be “exclusionary” in other aspects of their lives…they won’t be friends and neighbors of mine.

I am a non-conformist. I have earned my “Stars” simply by playing so long, and having more than 9200 items in my game (see? I ignore the rules!!), that the Star Algorithm gives me a Five Star rating, even if I am a TAGGER!

And let’s face it…the world is better BECAUSE of the rebels…the non-conformists…and those who paint smiles on our faces with their choice to be different. Right?

Here’s to a sky full of flying stuff…cascading over a town of tagged buildings.  I am better for knowing you… your attitude exudes the REAL definition of FREEDOM!

Here’s to the non-conformist in all of us…

If you want more of my “non-conformist side”… (I know you miss my rants. Or not. LOL.)  Check out CrankyOldGuy.com