There are endless ways of wasting time and endless ways to categorize them. I would not be able to describe all of them, but instead I examine a few different categorize and highlight a few of the time wasters that I am more familiar with. Some categories of the different time wasters would be video games, computer programs or websites, and online videos. I was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops the other day and noticed statistics starting to flash across the loading screen. Upon further research I stumbled upon the following article: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/callofdutyblackopsfirststrike/news.html?sid=6297079&mode=news. In this article, the game designer, Treyarch records certain statistics about gameplay. They state that 1.1 trillion shots have been fired in Black Ops. Also they declare that if you added up the all of the amount of running that players did in the games it would be equal to the distance of someone running 126,069 times around the world. The game has been out for 3 months today. It is incredible to see how much time is spent in games like these. Is life in the real world so bad? Or is life in an XBOX so good that people want to stay in one all the time? Facebook has to be one of the greatest and most commonly used time wasters of this generation. How often do you hear a friend talking about a cush job where they get to sit at a computer and be on Facebook all day? When I first got a Facebook account and heard all the hype of everyone being on Facebook all the time I was slightly confused as to what was so great about it. I can only hit the refresh button so many times with new status updates popping up before I die of boredom, but some people thrive on other people lives and what is going on in them second by second. Incidentally, Twitter is even worse in this matter. That is something that I, thankfully, was never caught up in. Twitter is the ultimate tool for gossip and living vicariously through others. And it is designed in such a way that you can share in the lives of many, many others. I simply do not like the idea that one life is not enough that we need to usurp others’ (This coincides with the computer program and online world, Second Life, which will be discussed in weeks to come). Facebook not only has the status update facet. It also contains many different flash games called applications so that when you get bored with all of the time wasting opportunities that your news feed and friends pictures have to offer, there is something more pointless that you can do. I am talking about applications such as Farmville, ESPNu College Town, Café World, and Super Poke. The list goes on and on. For these first three you are creating something in a digital nonexistent world. 
In Farmville it is a farm to grow crops, raise cows and chickens, and otherwise be a farmer, as the name states. In ESPNu College Town you build your own college campus, or several campuses including sports venues, dormitories, and academic departments. In Café World you own a restaurant and prepare and cook food. Maybe these games are an outlet for people who want to do something interesting like these things with their lives but are stuck in some other career path. However, it is far more likely that people who play these things are just procrastinating and avoiding the troubles in life. One final time waster, one that I spent hours on in high school during computer lab times because it wasn’t one of the blocked game sites is the Hell of Sand Game. I cannot think of a more pointless idea. You are not learning anything in this game. I wouldn’t really even go so far as to say that it is fun. I can find no point in it except to waste time and to put your mind to sleep and because of that I see it as the epitome of time wasting. However, I cannot understand why it is so addicting. It is a flash game where there are different ‘sands’ falling, and you can create different object to move and affect the sand. At your own risk, please try this game and let me know your thoughts: http://www.addictinggames.com/hellofsandfallinggame.html
No comments:
Post a Comment