Roller Coaster Tycoon

[Modem Butterfly]

So my partner and I are in line at the local OfficeMax on the day after Thanksgiving (I know, I know). We're next to a display of $10 software, some real pieces of crap, some old games, when my eyes fall on a copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon. "You should get that," my partner says. "You like those simulation games," So we're standin line. And we're standing. And we're standing. It's been 30 minutes, then 45, next to this display. Finally, I pick up a copy of Roller Coast Tycoon just for shits and giggles, as a reward for standing in line so long.

We go home, eat lunch, relax, take a nap, walk the dogs, go out to dinner with friends, come home, watch TV. I decide to try out my new game. It's 10 PM EST. The next time I looked up it was 5 AM and my partner was coming downstairs asking me if I wanted to come to bed or should we just have breakfast and start our day?

I. Can't. Stop. Playing. This. Game.

I can't tell you what's so interesting about it. The graphics are for shit. The interface is less than user-friendly. The music is fatuous. Yet I've played it 'til my wrist sounds like a cement mixer and I find myself thinking about how I can trick my partner into cooking dinner tonight so I can have an extra hour to play this fucking stupid game that I don't even enjoy anymore but can't stop playing.

Whew. I feel better now. Anyone else ever fall into this trap?

[TOhioLiberal]

1. Yeah...but for me...

...it's the Sims 2. I call it 'Crack in a Box'. I start playing it, and can't stop.

[Modem Butterfly]

3. I never got into Sims, but my partner did

I thought I was going to have to stage an intervention when he started insisting we eat dinner in front of the computer TOGETHER so I could also enjoy the lives of his Sims. Eventually, I found something else to distract him.

[derby378]

2. Games that had the same effect on me

Zork I
Populous
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Space Channel 5

[Ima]

5. I get hooked

on that stupid card game Spider.

[LynzM]

4. Ooh, ask Briarius about this

He played a TON of it a few years ago. I think it must somehow be physically addicting once you start playing, because I couldn't figure out what was so great about it, having never played!

Hope your wrists recover!

[name not needed]

6. Kill any of the guests yet?

}(

[Modem Butterfly]

7. Not yet

But don't think I'm not planning some manslaughter!

[lpbk2713]

8. I have Zoo Tycoon

It's just as addictive.

[frictionlessO]

9. my wife becomes a widow for about 2 weeks everytime I buy a new game

or bust out an old one for stress relief. Shes 20 yrs my senior and really doesnt get the viddy games. I tell her its something I grew up with and will never let go of. I owned Pong when I was 7 and have had every console since, she gets hers though I usually have to pull double duty on chores for a month after a binge.

As for dealing with the addiction, there is only one answer. Put several days aside for you and the game. Play it nonstop, you'll know when your starting to let go of the addiction when you get nautious and dizzy and vertigo and all the other equilibrium side effects from an overextended gaming bout. The point is to make yourself sick of and on the game. Repeat the process until urges go away...

Have fun!

[jmm]

10. I've been there.

My brother got me hooked on it. I was recently given RCT3 for my birthday but I haven't been able to get into it like I did with the original.

[AlCzervik]

11. i've seen that game several times

and now your thread makes me want it all the more. When i first got photo-shop i couldn't stop myself but the novelty wore off in a couple of months.

[cabbage08]

12. Yes

I bought roller coaster tycoon about 4 years ago and was the same way for a few weeks.