Addictiveness: the SOLUTIONS thread

[ManicStarSeed]

When my computer crashes, I know it is time to go to bed.


Serioisly though, a timed session utility would either work reall well or piss me off by letting me know that time flies by.

Mss

[bongo]

Originally posted by ManicStarSeed
Serioisly though, a timed session utility would either work reall well or piss me off by letting me know that time flies by.

Mss

Unless properly done an utility like that would have an enormous potential for pissing people off.

*bleep* You have now wasted 234 hours 45 minutes and 23 seconds on civ3, may I suggest a bath? *bleep*



If anyone have heard of such an utility feel free to inform the rest of us.

[metalhead]

I'd say, find something more addictive, like sex or heroin. You'll forget about Civ in no time!

[Changmai Beagle]

Serioisly though, a timed session utility would either work reall well or piss me off by letting me know that time flies by.

An early game (WWII: War in the Pacific) did have this feature. That meant I generally had to wait until my family was not nearby to turn off the game - otherwise they knew exactly how many minutes had been 'wasted'

[Lucarse]

You know you've been playing civ too much when you walk into a store and pick up a candy bar/pack of crisps and say 'i'll give you Incense for 3 bars per turn....no? take this offer or suffer the consequences!!!...'

[Trifna]

Originally posted by ManicStarSeed
When my computer crashes, I know it is time to go to bed.


Serioisly though, a timed session utility would either work reall well or piss me off by letting me know that time flies by.

Mss

May I propose you Linux or Mac? So you wont sleep for weeks if you're lucky

[Lucarse]

Yeah, how many times have you said
'i'll play the next couple of turns till 11pm then go to bed'...
suddenly you realize its 1am!
This happened to me last night i lost two hours man!.. girlfriend woke up and was pissed!.

[The Puny Celt]

Seriously, Civ addiction is a major issue that can cause real health problems, breakdowns in relationships, even loss of employment. I've written to Firaxis several times in the past suggesting there were parallels between their product and cigarettes. To avoid costly litigation I proposed that the game should come with an anti-addiction safeguard - a beautiful young woman. And when you played for over 2 hours she would call out in a husky voice, "Why don't you come to bed now, Puny Celt".

So far Firaxis have ignored my suggestion. But perhaps if we got together a petition...

[Explorer579]

Self-control timer - A simple solution

Here is a solution. Before you start a game, you have the option of telling the computer how long you want to play and how long you want to rest afterwards. You put the date and time. After you reach said date and time, the computer will not let you play before the amount of rest time has lapsed! This should work for me. It will piss me when time is reached, but I will pissed at myself and not at Fyraxis!

Example:
Set date and time: 11/272002 11 pm
Set rest duration: 8 hours

As I start playing at 8 pm and set it to stop at 11 pm, at 11 pm there is no way i can play more turns before 8 hours lapse (that is 7 am)! The game will stop after the end of the current turn or even suddenly in the middle of a battle!

That would be an agreement with the self. Fyraxis has nothing to do with it.. but providing the tool..

Creating security mechanism so I would not be able to break the addiction sefl-control will be challenging for Fyraxis. Rebooting should not reset it... Not even reloading, reinstalling, or restoring backup!

[bongo]

Interesting thought but the only way I can see it work is if you use some kind of online-service to control the time settings. It's just too easy to fool the computer by adjusting the clock.

[Trifna]

Re: Self-control timer - A simple solution

Originally posted by Explorer579
Here is a solution. Before you start a game, you have the option of telling the computer how long you want to play and how long you want to rest afterwards. You put the date and time. After you reach said date and time, the computer will not let you play before the amount of rest time has lapsed! This should work for me. It will piss me when time is reached, but I will pissed at myself and not at Fyraxis!

Example:
Set date and time: 11/272002 11 pm
Set rest duration: 8 hours

As I start playing at 8 pm and set it to stop at 11 pm, at 11 pm there is no way i can play more turns before 8 hours lapse (that is 7 am)! The game will stop after the end of the current turn or even suddenly in the middle of a battle!

That would be an agreement with the self. Fyraxis has nothing to do with it.. but providing the tool..

Creating security mechanism so I would not be able to break the addiction sefl-control will be challenging for Fyraxis. Rebooting should not reset it... Not even reloading, reinstalling, or restoring backup!

Could be BTW, Fyraxis is written "Firaxis"

bongo: It's not necessarily a need to make it unhackable. Even if it can be hacked, voluntarily limiting is still something good.

PS: Never thought this thread would be revived after going THAT weird.

[Explorer579]

Originally posted by bongo
Interesting thought but the only way I can see it work is if you use some kind of online-service to control the time settings. It's just too easy to fool the computer by adjusting the clock.

Actually it can be easily done by using one or a combination of hidden files, time last used file, registry, text encryption. I have done it before.

But again, as the next comment suggests, don't make it very complex. If the user wants to learn how to delete hidden file, decript, edit registry, etc. then this guy is really addicted and it is better to serve him than risking him going crazy!

[Explorer579]

Re: Re: Self-control timer - A simple solution

Originally posted by Trifna

PS: Never thought this thread would be revived after going THAT weird.

It is a real problem and I have not seen a real solution yet. I just hope somebody at Firaxis read these messages.

[bongo]

Unless you have an external timesource one reboot and a clock adjustment is all it takes to make the computer think you have been away for 8 hours.

[Trifna]

Re: Re: Re: Self-control timer - A simple solution

Originally posted by Explorer579


It is a real problem and I have not seen a real solution yet. I just hope somebody at Firaxis read these messages.

Yup, that's why I started this thread...


bongo: Of course I guess you could change your clock, but these things generally have their liability based on the user's will to keep an exterior life. Many solutions cannot be better and therefore are simply better than nothing (like now). About the clock, isn't there a clock in the BIOS?...