Push the button. Get a reward. Push button. Get reward. Button. Reward.
This is every video game, ever, when you get down to the fundamentals of it. And that’s not a negative. Most games find a way to make that whole operation fun and rewarding. So much so that you may not even realize it’s happening, or even how long you’re doing it.
I’ve often referred to that as the “one more turn†technique. You tell yourself you’ll just do one more thing and then you’ll step away for a while. Except one more thing became one more thing and 5 minutes have now become an hour or more. Like seeing a movie and never checking your watch. Like sitting down for one episode of Deadwood, but watching 5. Of course we call that binge watching, but I’m not sure the same applies here since a game can be ongoing. Still, the effect is the same.
Until you find yourself sitting in front of a screen clicking a giant cookie to make more cookies.
In the meantime…Ubisoft, it’s been 2,944 days since the last Splinter Cell release (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise or VR exclusive).
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