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....
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.
ReplyDeleteOh, 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!
ReplyDeleteSince then I have learned that I cannot have it in the same house as me...
DeleteAw, 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!
ReplyDeleteYour sister is welcome to befriend me on facebook, if that's where she plays....
DeleteThis makes me want to try playing Candy Crush . . .
ReplyDeleteI 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. :)
ReplyDeleteAfter 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.
ReplyDeleteBahahaha! Nicely stated, Charlotte! =) I haven't played for fear of addiction--but everyone else I know is crazy about it!
ReplyDeleteMy 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)
ReplyDeleteHappily for me, I have no other devices to tempt me!
Delete