Thank Grog It’s Firday!
I wish that meant something. Firday is melding into Mernday, and Mernday feels a lot like Weedsday. The fact is, with my huge remodeling project, my regular business duties, all of my volunteer work, and still trying to play a round of golf once in a while…something had to give.
This week may be a first…where my time writing about the game, and moderating comments, far outpaced my actual TSTO game play time. But, in all honesty…that isn’t saying much, as I only checked my game twice…in seven days…and part of that was to write the DID column Wednesday.
This raises some interesting questions regarding TSTO. Am I no long an “Addict?” Did I leave the game, or did the game leave me? And what part does TSTO play in “the rest of my life?”
One of our longtime reader/commenters recently wrote in the “TSTO Open” segment Sunday, that he “lost his excitement for this game. I’m tapping through through the motions now. It seems almost pointless. Nay. It IS pointless. There’s not much gas left in this contraption. I can’t get myself to stop playing the game, but if the game servers were to crash tomorrow, and the game never came back, I’d probably be more relieved than sad.”
I was amazed that I agreed with him. But was then reminded of a joke I heard recently about the phenomenon of writing on Facebook, that you are LEAVING Facebook, and then coming back proudly to tell everyone on Facebook that “you made it through 2 whole days without Facebook.” But then reveal later on Facebook, that you had dropped your phone in a lake by mistake, and it took you two days to dry it out and get back online.
This isn’t really the same. But kinda.
The fact is, I agree with Sillyboy (the writer of the post on Sunday). There is a part of me that almost wishes they’d just pull the plug.
But then…the Family Reunion update was so damn funny (if very similar in game play) that I was more than willing to play…without rushing…and just let it unfold. I played it old school. No rushing with farmed donuts. No freaking out to get it all. I just let it play out. Like it is supposed to.
The fact is, we spend so much time these days in “Binge Watch Mode” for our lives, that we often just forget the simply joy of letting life (or our games) just unfold in the way in which it was intended. We are in a constant rush to consume it all…all of the time.
Donut farming, and amassing huge Bonus % to help you get it all faster, have indeed taken some luster off of the game. I checked back on some of Silly’s other posts, and he revealed that he had stopped farming…because he already had 5,000 donuts, and his XP was well over 1.600%. Well of course you are bored! You played too much! You BINGED.
It’s like the old Yogi Berra quote, “Nobody goes to that restaurant anymore…it’s too crowded.”
So yes…if you overplay…and binge in life, your expectations grow to levels that are unsustainable, and all sense of fun is lost.
So…yes…take a break.
It is admittedly a little of both for me. I’m leaving…but the game left me…kinda. You can’t deny that the layoff has taken a toll on the “attention to tapping” meter.
In the meantime…I am doing the same, mostly because I don’t have the idle time. I realized that Netflix has got to be wondering if I am still alive…as there are still several “new seasons” to binge watch. Why don’t I? I don’t want to spend the “Life Currency” to do so. I’m too busing living.
So…I look forward to the next TSTO update…whenever, or whatever it is. I will play it, gladly, with no complaints…knowing that like an old friend who is there after months of neglect, you can fall right back into the pattern (like my neighbors who continue to tag my town, as a way of reminding me they are still here!). And yes…perhaps absence does make the heart grow fonder. We’ll see.
Now…back to rewiring the bathroom shower light and fan. Did I remember to turn off the power?