Idle Games Are Going To Save The World Or Ruin It
In 2013, a game called Cookie Clicker nearly ruined my life. I was just finishing film school, my final project had been terminated for political reasons, and the fallout from that situation led to a breakup. I was burned out and pissed off, and I found myself slowly but surely getting sucked into the first viral idle game: Cookie Clicker, the most evil game I’ve ever played.
Cookie Clicker is so insidious because it acts like it’s small and insignificant while it grows and grows until it demands 100 percent of your attention. As a genre, idle games seem so innocent. It’s just something that runs in the background and plays itself. You can check in on it whenever you like, but you don’t have to. You’re playing it even when you’re not playing it. Idle means inactive, inert, insignificant. Of course, that’s not at all what playing an idle game is actually like.
‘You’re always playing’ is just another way of saying ‘you’re never not playing’. The problem with letting a game like Cookie Clicker run in the background is that you’re never going to be as productive as you could be if you were actively monitoring it, making decisions, and increasing cookie production at the first possible second all day, every day. Every time you look away from Cookie Clicker is a moment you’re not operating your Cookie empire at peak efficiency, and in a game where the only goal is to make the number go up, progressing any slower than the maximum speed is tantamount to failure. I had to kick Cookie Clicker to the curb once I realized it was all I could think about, but I’ve never really been able to shake off the effect it had on me.
Related: Avatar Is Getting The Marvel Future Revolution Treatment And I Couldn't Be More Disappointed
I’ve
Read more on thegamer.com
