stochastictrebuchet

Task failed successfully

Morning: fugue state. Feel as if I’ve been slingshotted into a separate plane of time where the hours of the day feel drawn by random.

Evening: alert, focused. Each minute feels precious. Backlog of ideas overflowing. Dread having to go to bed at a time that feels ‘normal’.

A term I learned just this year: chronotypes. Basically, the preferred timing of the wake-sleep cycle varies among humans. Easy to imagine how that might have been useful from an evolutionary perspective: always someone to keep watch while the rest sleeps.

Eh, I get it. There’s an overwhelming abundance of choice that’s growing faster than the average time it takes to form a connection with any one game. Why deal with the FOMO and misbuys if you know what works for you.

That doesn’t stop me from purchasing way too many (non-refundable) indie titles on the Switch, though. And I’m glad to say some of those feel like they’ll keep me hooked for a good while.

Still, nothing can ever top my love for one classic game in particular: AOE 1 (definitive edition). Why? (It’s unfair to the rest.) Years ago I used to play against my dad over LAN. It’s some of the most fun we had together. Standing outside while he took a smoke break mid-game, I’d explain how I was about to wipe his whole civilization off the map in ways he couldn’t possibly imagine. Sometimes when I miss him, firing up AOE lets me feel closer to him again.

All this to say, nostalgia is a tough bar for any new game to beat.

Bit-co-NECCCCCCCCCCCCT

Preferred prior experience: Midtown Madness (100+ hours), GTA (100+ hours), or comparative driving simulators.

One of the points the article makes is that people boost such content despite knowing it’s fake because it confirms what they’re ’feeling’. Want to feel outrage? Here’s an image that will let you and others feel that. Truth? Irrelevant.

In short: it’s the ‘facts don’t care about your feelings’ crowd doing what they do best: recasting reality as a jumble of vague feelings.