I’m addicted to Temple Run

I am certain that Temple Run was created by the Devil to stop you from doing anything productive with your life.

Ever since I discovered Temple Run, I became an addicted, crazy person. I’m not even sure why this game has become popular or why myself and others have become so addicted- it has been downloaded over 170 million times worldwide on an iphone and android.  I'm a casual gamer so I rarely play games- but there is something about Temple Run that has me completely immersed and I know im not the only one. I found that when I sat down to play, I ended up playing for hours on end. I tell myself “just one more game, I’m so close to getting a high score” etc etc and then two hours later i'm still playing it! Quite ridiculous really. It ended up affecting my Uni work, and social relationships because when people try to talk to me, I was too busy concentrating on getting a high score.

The game isn’t even that great too- all you are doing is running away from monkeys, collecting coins, going left, right, up and down and jumping. That’s all. Perhaps it is the ease of the game that has attracted so many people- the use of a thumb and moving the phone left and right is all you need to do to conquer the game. The more coins you get- the more things you can buy that can help you achieve a higher score. Or perhaps its because there is no ending- you are running endlessly as far as possible. You can carry on running forever if you didn't die and that is a dangerous thought.

This video explains it all about temple run and its addictiveness.

WATCH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwRQTLOXCtI

It’s this lack of self-control that Walker talks about in one of the readings last week that is the core to addictiveness. He says a gaming addict may sit down to play for an hour, but they won’t be able to stop (yes!). They miss school or work because they are addicted. Perhaps I’m not that extreme, but there are a lot of gamers out there who prioritize gaming over schoolwork, relationships etc and that to me is the broad definition of an addict. It is also interesting that he claims that playing games is like taking drugs, because you are escaping reality, and hallucinating just like when you take drugs. In some ways, it is true because people continue to engage in behaviour when they know it is problematic. Obviously there is a big difference in escaping reality with a game like temple run played on a smart phone, compared to playing a game like World of war craft on a big TV, with multiple players. However, the problem is defining what an actual addict is. If people are trying to escape reality via videogames, then maybe we need to find the core of what the problem is and why they are trying to escape reality. In the end though, we are all addicted to something arent we?

So I deleted Temple Run when I realized how bad my addiction got (I tried to play it driving and convinced myself that any spare time I have is time I could use collecting coins). Now I have deleted this game, I spend seamless amounts of my spare time I now have scrolling through a nonsensical face book newsfeed and pointless YouTube videos. Ironic.

Then Temple Run 2 came out this year, with better graphics, new characters, the ability to drive a cart and ride a flying fox looking rope.

Back to square one.