Playing Games

With winter setting in, most of the outdoor activities are curtailed, and in the vacuum the computer games rise.

Supposedly, you can tell a lot about a person by their games. Or, better still, how they respond to them.

Dad finds brightly-colored puzzle games that allow his brain to defrag while still mildly problem-solving, or possibly reflexive play. No characters, no storylines - just seeing the information and responding to it. Considering that he's usually pulling long hours (what is it with winter hours and people wrecking computer code more often?) during these months, anything to unravel the knots in his brain is good.

I play vampire games and horsie games, both of which I consider rather frivolous, but tap into a side of my imagination that I don't let play anywhere else. The POINT is that they're frivolous - I'm usually studying or something equally responsible and less silly. Getting to run around and be a vampire is completely irresponsible.

Elizabeth's interesting, because she's hailed by most of our friends as 'the most frightening' or 'the scariest' of the three sisters. She plays games about raising and training brightly colored adorable little animals. She will squee about how cute they are. She will drag you in and SHOW you how cute they are, and how many possibly color combinations they can have, and all their achievements.

She will also nail my ears to the back fence if she ever finds out that I've mentioned this. :)

Somebody in this house was into Mafia Wars for quite some time. I came into the kitchen, in search of egg nog, to hear her declare that her bull was ready to rush. "Or I could pet him. Or rotate him."

I consider this. If he's about to rush, petting him is probably not a good idea. Maybe in the game it calms him down. Or maybe if you turn him, he rushes into something else, like the neighbor's toolshed. I make eye contact and ask for clarification. "Your bull is ready to rush?"

"Brush. I can brush him!" she responds brightly. "Or he can be petted, or rotated."

Dad comes in at this moment. You can tell by the look on his face that he's really hoping she isn't talking about him. Being the only guy in the house, anything that uses the male pronoun has the potential to be him. He goes over to her to investigate.

She smiles up at him. "I'm playing Farmville!"

"You're playing what??"

"Farmville is for people who are too wimpy to play Mafia Wars. I've been resisting for months, but..." more rambling that I only half-listen to in my investigation of the refrigerator.

Her next comment reveals that Mafia Wars may not have gotten all of its hooks out of her mind. "I'm trying to grow weed to sell to the Russians!" Somewhat put-out, she continues, "So far I've got poinsettias."

I am at this point holding onto the kitchen counter, because I'm laughing too hard to stand without aid. Again, this is not Elizabeth who's playing. Selling weed to the Russians would be EXPECTED out of the middle sister in any game. Her character's actions in D&D nearly warrant the sale of tickets for each game. This is simply what Mafia Wars does to your brain, I guess.

"What?! If you're going to have a farm, it should at least be productive!"

My dad leaves, shaking his head. Back to Bejeweled.