Idle, incremental, and clicker games, are they good or bad for people who obsess about things? Can an online game like Cookie Clicker help you beat the worse (less physically healthy) habit of chain smoking? Maybe. Luckily, I'm not a smoker so I can't test out that theory.

But, I thought I would post about my habit, limited obsession, mild addiction, with idle games. They probably are not healthy but, I do wear out some of my obsessive compulsive energy madly making progress while knowing it really doesn't matter at all. It also doesn't bother anyone, and its been a little secret I've kept hoarded to myself, until now.

What are idle, incremental or clicker games?

Any simple (usually fairly uncomplicated) game in which you increase your score in whatever format: points, gold, cookies, cows, candy... anything. I don't think any of these games have an ending. They just keep going with new additions, features, and fluff. Like so many Facebook games, you work to get stuff but you actually have nothing. Little image files you don't own, no copyrights. Why would anyone play such games, you might wonder. Try one and see. But, don't get addicted to it. Be careful, it sneaks up on you.

How about a list of Idle and Clicker Games to Become Madly Focused and Obsessed With:

• Cookie Clicker
• Candy Box
• Adventure Capitalist
• Crusaders of the Lost Idols

I know there are others. I've played others. These four seem to be the ones I've stuck with, or come back to and stuck with again, and again. At least two of them are also on the Steam site. Most of them are free to play, or to start playing.

Idle, incremental, and clicker games, are they good or bad for people who obsess about things? Can an online game like Cookie Clicker help you beat the worse (less physically healthy) habit of chain smoking? Maybe. Luckily, I'm not a smoker so I can't test out that theory.

But, I thought I would post about my habit, limited obsession, mild addiction, with idle games. They probably are not healthy but, I do wear out some of my obsessive compulsive energy madly making progress while knowing it really doesn't matter at all. It also doesn't bother anyone, and its been a little secret I've kept hoarded to myself, until now.

What are idle, incremental or clicker games?

Any simple (usually fairly uncomplicated) game in which you increase your score in whatever format: points, gold, cookies, cows, candy... anything. I don't think any of these games have an ending. They just keep going with new additions, features, and fluff. Like so many Facebook games, you work to get stuff but you actually have nothing. Little image files you don't own, no copyrights. Why would anyone play such games, you might wonder. Try one and see. But, don't get addicted to it. Be careful, it sneaks up on you.

How about a list of Idle and Clicker Games to Become Madly Focused and Obsessed With:

Cookie Clicker

Candy Box

Adventure Capitalist

Crusaders of the Lost Idols

I know there are others. I've played others. These four seem to be the ones I've stuck with, or come back to and stuck with again, and again. At least two of them are also on the Steam site. Most of them are free to play, or to start playing.

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons in the late 70's with my Dad as the Dungeon Master and myself, brother and sisters as the players. Now and then a friend would be over and join in the game. But, it was a lot more complicated to join in than a game of cards or Monopoly or any other board game. So, usually having people join in wasn't so great. By the time we explained the game and set up new characters for them, it would be about time for them to go home to their own family.

By the early 80's my Dad was no longer playing and I was the Dungeon Master. I loved drawing and creating maps. I'd never admit it to my brother and sisters but I did rearrange the original map as they wandered along through it. How can you not give in to the temptation to move things around when the players seem to blunder along and miss the best stuff you had put there for them to find? Not all of it was bad. Most of it they could have survived.

I never knew Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) was supposed to be for boys. It never occurred to me that being a female Dungeon Master was unusual. It was a lot of fun. I was glad when I could take over from my Dad. He was far too strict about following all the rules. We never seemed to get the game off the ground while he was in charge. I was less rule abiding. We skipped several steps from the player guide but we all got into the game. Not just the game play but really enjoying the adventure and using our imagination.

These Days...

In writing about women playing Dungeons and Dragons I've found that we don't really stand out so much as we once would have. Women are mixing in like any other game player. There aren't many resources geared to women playing D&D because that kind of exclusivity just isn't important any more. Except, it is still nice to be a girl and feel different from the other grunting, sword carrying, usually taller and less curvier players.

I wonder if women playing D&D dress up for it in costumes. It would be fun but could bring out more of the differences between players rather than keeping the spirit of the game and just having a lot of fun as part of a group of adventurers risking life and limb at the whim of the Dungeon Master.

Essential Dungeons and Dragons Game Play and Resources

• Wizards of the Coast

• Dragon*Con

• What D&D Character Am I?

• Live-action women's Dungeons and Dragons show - Boing Boing

Dungeons and Dragons for the Women Gamers

• Dungeons and Dragons | Pinterest
• Girls and D&D | Dungeon Bastard
• The 10 Hottest Ladies of Dungeons & Dragons - Topless Robot
• Dungeon Divas: Dice, Women, & Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures
• People them with Monsters: Familial D&D Adventures with the Girls
• Guttersnipe: Girls Do Play D&D | Fantasy Magazine
• Girls in Geekdom: Dispelling the Myth | Ask the Dungeon Master
• Introducing D&D to Girly Girls | GeekDad | Wired.com

Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set

I miss the old red box. A cosmetic thing but still... it was such a great shade of red. But, it is great to have an update to the starter set. I wouldn't pass it up

Tribez is a colourful, friendly looking city building game you can play as a mobile application or on Facebook. The game starts with an overgrown area which you build up into a village. As it grows you build houses, get more people and get to hatch dragon/ dinosaur eggs which become the guardians of your village. They run around over roads and grassy areas but always seem to know just where the next torch carrying savage will show up. The torch guys are bigger than your people and they will light your buildings on fire.

The game evolves with you buying more territory, completing quests and getting access to better buildings, resources and services. It's a simple, little game where you are the world ruler you always wanted to be. Tribez is world domination for people too polite to actually go out there and ransack and pillage.

I Play Tribez on Facebook

On Facebook the game has been simple to play, start up and keep playing. I did not have to pay for anything, unlike some games on Facebook which become impossible to make any progress in unless you pay for upgrades and extras. I did pay for extra credits because I am enjoying the game and I like to support game developers so they are encouraged to keep working on new games and new ideas for existing games.

With Tribez I am the City Planner I always wanted to be

For both Tribes games I love playing with the layout of my village, town or city. I think I spend more time moving everything around and rearranging them all than I do actually collecting money from the houses and making sure all my little people are busy at work. I set them pulling weeds, chopping misguided trees that grow in all the wrong places and removing all those stumps and run out of food. Then they don't want to get back to work and I have to let them grow more food again (or harvest some bushes and trees).

Tribez Wiki

Tribez does give pop ups and nags while you are playing. But, what Facebook game doesn't do that? I don't find them too much of a distraction.

One new feature of the game, which I paid for, is turning all the characters into women instead of bearded men running around pulling weeds, mining rock and tending the town bars. I like having women in the game. It would be nice if there were women and men, but the Amazon village is fun to play.

You can also pick up your characters and drop them into the game again. I just do it for fun sometimes. They never mind but it makes me laugh. In some other life I was probably a petty tyrant.

Tribez Castles is New

This past week I discovered a new version of Tribez. This one has castles. It isn't so different in game play and overall the city building is still the main thing. However, in this game the combats require more of your participation. One downside of the new game is a lack of space to build everything. I am managing to work it out but I would prefer to have a town layout with more open areas.

I Was Addicted to Tetris on my Home and Office Computer

Maybe you never played Tetris, the original game from the USSR, created by Alexey Pajitnov and released on June 6th, 1984. Tetris was a simple game.

You match different shaped tiles as they came down. Each time you built a level across those tiles would disappear. You needed to keep your tiles building a solid shape as the new tiles continued to drop down. No one ever won a game of Tetris because the game just kept going until you lost. But, the key with Tetris was how long you could keep up the juggling act. How many levels could you get through before your unmatched tiles became too high to allow you to twist and turn and fit in the new tiles coming down.

Tetris began attracting new versions pretty quickly. You could play several free online games long before there were websites like Yahoo!Games, Facebook on Kongregate. Tetris came before any of those by several years.

You Can't Stop at Just One Level

Once you begin a game of Tetris (after you have some practice and get to know your way around) you will find it hard to actually stop playing. The game is simple and yet not at all easy. It can be frustrating as well as addictive. I have had to stop playing Tetris to answer the phone when I was working at an office. I lost that game, not because I wasn't doing well but I just couldn't stick with it. I may have had my highest score ever that day... if it weren't for the phone, having a job, rent to pay and all of that stuff.