Many people love to hate Facebook. I don’t share their disdain, nor do I share their addiction to the social networking site. I’m on Facebook but I don’t spend a ton of time on it. I use it as a tool, enjoy catching up on the occasional inanities of life and saying something I find cute or even profound (but that I’m sure comes across as bothersome and simplistic).
But the hatred I do share is for these web based games many of which are Facebook connected. Although I know full well the utter meaninglessness of building a massive army of fake ancient or medieval warriors and then attacking other fake soldiers on battlegrounds I can’t even see – it doesn’t stop me from spending massive amounts of real time building my fake fortresses.
To paraphrase myself from a blog I wrote five years ago, Artificial Achievement, we seek notoriety and achievement, but the lasting achievements take too much effort and resilience. After getting knocked down and discouraged it is far too easy to settle for the artificial achievement that video games promise. Or to ridicule and/or mock what others have achieved. Either way many of us forfeit real achievement for fleeting fame and then hate ourselves in the morning because of our compromise and brokenness.
Oh, who can rescue us from this search for signficance in cyber space? Seriously, I need to know. Just post the link to the app or game that will give me real achievement and signficance. And while you do that I’ll prepare the deed for the sale of my ocean front property in Arizona.
That ocean front in Arizona, is it sand or pebble beach? I found this cyber game in which players rule island city states, and worship mythical gods from ancient Greece. Occasionally you meet someone worth the time to write, but for the rest, there is no rescue among those also washed upon the shore.