(Either that or spend real money to buy "gems" that can be used to spur production. It's hard to build up quickly, because you have to carefully husband your resources. I liked clearing the obstacles and setting up my gold mines and building defensive walls. And I have this iPad at home and you can only play so much Sudoku or Solitaire and, well, one thing led to another. but the kids were clearly enjoying themselves. "No, Dad," they told me, "this is just kill or be killed." They hated the way I'd played the one computer game of theirs that I had attempted (a few different incarnations, over the years, of Sid Meier's Civilization) - "your turns take 45 minutes," they'd complain, as I built railroads and cleared forests and negotiated trade routes.
My kids regarded me with that pitying look reserved for hopeless cases. "Can't you grow and prosper by trade or diplomacy instead of warfare? Must everything end in violence?" "Can't you peacefully coexist with your neighbors?" I asked. I watched and I wondered: Who would be goofy enough to waste their time on nonsense like this?Īt a family gathering I found out: My sons had all downloaded the game and were happily destroying each other's villages. Then came the MLB playoffs and the commercials - hundreds of them, thousands of them - for this stupid game. It's Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley, in case you're at all curious: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings / Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Seriously? I admit I had to look it up in order to get the words right, but I at least remembered that this slogan was meant to evoke a famous poem. The gentleman at the left was featured prominently in most of them: Gaze into my mustache and despair! read the caption on the poster. I'd seen the ads in the subway for some time prior to the baseball playoffs this fall.
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