2/18/14

Why Candy Crush has been a force for good in my life

Round about the end of last September, I happened to read a tweet from Liz in which she shared the happy news that she beat a level of Candy Crush.   I had not heard of it before, and assuming that if a game was good enough for Liz, it was good enough for me, I started playing.....I have just now beaten level 400, and have sent out a call to my Candy Crush friends on Facebook to help me advance to the next level.

It would be easy to say I was addicted to the game, and to say that I had wasted hours of my precious life on something pointless.  But this would not be fair--Candy Crush has actually added lots of point to my life.

For one thing, I have been perforce been on Facebook a lot more.  I had been dismissive of it, and not bothered, but I have truly enjoyed reading the things my friends are sharing!  I feel Connected and Warmed.   And because my Candy Crush friends and I help each other out, I feel a sense of kinship with them, a sense of friendly camaraderie that brightens my day.  When a friend I haven't seen in real life for decades sends me a game life, I smile; when I friend I've seen more often does, I'm reminded of happy times together.   It is because of Candy Crush that I finally uploaded a picture of myself into my Facebook profile...

Candy Crush is also encouraging my children to Think of Others.  If you are one of my game friends, and wonder why I send lives so profligately, know that it is not me, it is my boys, sitting by my side as I play and bound and determined to generously spew forth lives at every opportunity.  And they do sit by my side/breathe down my neck lots, making it Quality Bonding Time as we sharpen our minds together on the challenges of making the stripped/wrapped combos.

And the fact that I play Candy Crush makes me unlikely to resent my husband's preoccupation with his own on-line games, thus strengthening our marriage.  After all, we are playing in the same room.

Still, I am rather glad you only get five lives at a time.  I will never forget the summer I lost to Civilization....

11 comments:

  1. This the younger of Charlotte's children. I am not the one breathing down my mother neck; that is the elder brother. Also, it is mostly me requesting my mother to send her Candy-Crush friends the fictional game lives.

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  2. Oh, I love this post! And I'm rather envious you've only lost one summer to Civilization. I don't want to think about my own addiction to that game (version 4, with Leonard Nimoy's voice narrating everything). I still play it several times a month. Eeek!

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    1. Since then I have learned that I cannot have it in the same house as me...

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  3. Aw, I'm going to send this to my sister! She plays Candy Crush constantly and always shrieks DON'T JUDGE ME (which I'm not, but she is sensitive), so I bet she would love to hear its praises sung in this manner!

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    1. Your sister is welcome to befriend me on facebook, if that's where she plays....

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  4. This makes me want to try playing Candy Crush . . .

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  5. I have never played this. I went through a Facebook game stage, but mostly ignore them now... So, I am going to pretend I am not curious about this game. :)

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  6. After Farmville I've pretty much stuck to things like Candy Crush. I remember coming to the baffling conclusion that I was getting far to stressed about Farmville for any good to be in it. Candy Crush has been a nice break from work--and since there are only five lives at a time I rarely play for more than a fifteen minute interval. (I'm somewhere in the 340s I think). I did sink into computer online games on a crazy level when I was depressed back in 2005, but since then I only dabble in Civ or the fancier games. Candy Crush keeps me from losing zounds of time a day to things I'll regret later.

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  7. Bahahaha! Nicely stated, Charlotte! =) I haven't played for fear of addiction--but everyone else I know is crazy about it!

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  8. My husband and I are avid addicts of Candy Crush. While I typically stick to playing in ten minute time frames, I also know that I can play 10 top 15 lives in a sitting, you just need to switch which device you are playing on.... (phone/ laptop/ kindle/ ipad)

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    Replies
    1. Happily for me, I have no other devices to tempt me!

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