Play

I'm tired, so this is going to be a short post.

I've stopped playing computer games for several years now. I used to be an avid gamer during my younger days, when I had more time. I figured out that gaming was ultimately unproductive as they were addictive, chewed up large amounts of my time and at the end of it, nothing tangible was achieved.

Or is it?

I recently purchased Civilization IV and I received it a couple of days ago. Since then, I've been playing it off and on. It's as fun as I remembered it. Due to some recent Epiphanies, I'm no longer going straight for the Conquest endgame where my hobnailed, jackbooted troops march across the map and trample all opposition. No, I'm trying to play *nice*.

I'm getting killed. The computer players now have their hobnailed, jackbooted troops at the gates of my capital. *sigh* I guess playing nice is a lot harder than I thought.

What? Oh right, tangible results from game-playing. Well, it's a subtle result, actually. I'm more alert, mentally sharper and significantly faster in problem-solving if I played computer games, even though I only started playing a couple of days ago. I guess I shouldn't be totally surprised since I vaguely remember reading about a study that gaming (or other such mental activity) helped stave away the effects of senility in older people.

Don't get me started about the whole "girls don't normally play computer games" bit. Given my history, I know I'm a bit of a special case but regardless, we do play and play quite well at that, thankyouverymuch.

I'm going to keep playing interesting games, I think. I've a little more self-control now so I shan't be playing to the wee hours of the night like before, not all the time at least. I've also got kids to feed, so that places a natural limit on how many games I can buy. All in all, as a mature gamer, I think I'm in a pretty good spot.

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to wipe Napoleon's smile off his face with a little help from my Redcoat units. Even if they lose, I still think they show better fashion sense in their uniform colours than the French units, which is ultimately what matters since it affects what makes it into the history books. Bet you can't remember what the French soldiers wore back then. I rest my case. So there.