Jamie Returns

Jamie took a break from his blog for a while but now he's back and, as usual, perceptive in a way I wish I could (consistently) match:

[on Packrat and World of Warcraft]

Both of these games are insanely popular because they have the balance of monotony and reward down to a science. They pray masterfully on my obsessive tendencies. They deserve to be studied for their resounding success at drawing me and the multitudes like me, hour after hour, deeper down the rabbit hole.

But at their hearts, both games are glorified slot machines. Worse, they're slot machines with the last psychological barrier, the stream of quarters lost one by one, removed. There is no money being wasted, only time, and it's much easier to ignore the minutes falling away because I have, ostensibly, so MANY of them to my name.

Welcome back, friend. We missed you.