From the time that Zynga's popular social games made their way to Android and iOS, I've been playing them off and on, among several other mobile games. In fact, over the last month or so, I've become almost obsessed with mobile games. After Google announced the Play Store and I snagged a couple awesome Android games, I've had a bit of an infatuation with them.
Social games like Words With Friends and Hanging With Friends are especially fun to play with, well ... friends, and I play them with a handful of family members, too. Being turn-based, they're easy to play as a couple minutes of free time come along and, unless your friends are incredibly impatient, in leisure. It's a fun and simple way to pass time with a little friendly competition to boot.
What started as harmless fun, however, has quickly turned into a time-consuming chore. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy playing all of the different games with my closest friends and even a couple readers and Twitter followers. And I'll probably start playing different games as Zynga and their counterparts churn out more mobile, turn-based multiplayers of pastimes. But I have learned rather quickly that I am going to have to get my game playing habits under control.
Like all of Zynga's games, the industry's most recent hot potato, Draw Something, comes with the ability to connect your account with Facebook. That way, you can easily find all of your Facebook friends who are playing Draw Something and vice versa. Originally, I was in a hurry when I created my account and figured I would leave Facebook off for the time being and see if I really like the game first. I later realized that I would have to create another account to connect my Facebook account, so I did.
That turned out to be one of the worst decisions I have made in recent history, but it took a while for me to realize it. Initially, nothing major happened. I found the friends I was looking for and started drawing things – pretty horribly, at that. Overnight, though, games started flowing in. I woke up to 20 or so new games. That was a little over two weeks ago, and they're still trickling in. The problem (and it's really my own fault) is that I have a hard time turning a challenge down. I enjoy playing games like these, especially with all of my friends. However, they all like playing, too. And many of them have a lot more free time than I do.
As you would expect, along with all of the new games that are continually piling up, I'm getting behind. Last night, I dedicated an hour and a half to catching up on as many Draw Something rounds as I could. Not even touching Words With Friends or Hanging With Friends, I only made it through about 75 percent of my ongoing Draw Something games. Totally drawsome.
What's worse is that I have to do this almost every night – only putting a dent in the stockpile. While I still enjoy it, the fun is quickly wearing thin. People keep nudging me, reminding me that it's my turn. And when I do play, they fire back almost immediately. It's a shame because I honestly used to enjoy it a lot more. I just can't keep up anymore.
What about you, readers? I know a lot of you play Zynga games and Draw Something (which is now, technically, a Zynga game). Does the number of games piling up in your "Your Move" box ever overwhelm you? Is it beginning to feel more like a chore than a game for you, too? Or do you welcome the never-ending flow of turns?