Friends, I stand before you today as an object lesson, a broken shell of a man driven to the brink of ruin, consumed by an uncontrollable lust for immaterial wealth. It's too late to save myself, but I thought some good may yet come of this terrible state of affairs if I were to share my sad and frightening story with you.
For the last week or so, I have been completely obsessed with a game I ran across on the internet. It's called Geoguessr - some of you may know it, since it's been around for a couple of years. It's a simple game, available for free on-line, and it's fun, challenging, entertaining, even educational, and very addictive.
The idea behind Geoguessr is that you are placed in a semi-random Google street-view scene somewhere on the planet - it could be a taiga forest in Russia, a lonely highway in Montana, a walking path in Taiwan, or even a hardware store in Germany. By navigating around in street-view and paying close attention to what you're seeing, you gather clues that will let you make a guess as to where you are - you mark the game map as close to your initial starting point as possible. There are no rules, really, and a lot of different ways to play the game. If you want, you can use Google, Google Maps or anything else to do research - I even once used my keyboard character utility to copy Cyrillic letters from a sign and Googled them for a translation. Digging around on the internet can help you make a good guess, and the better your guess, the more the game rewards you.
Each game consists of five rounds, and each round is worth 5,000 points, leading to a maximum possible score of 25,000 points. I love this game, and I found myself wondering how it had seized my attention so compellingly.
I'm going to stop here and ask you, my fellow AR member: Did you spot the clue? Do you see the problem?
It's the damn POINTS!! This stupid game gives you points for doing stuff.
Apparently, 5 years on ActiveRain has turned me into some kind of salivating lab animal. I have been conditioned to react positively to any incentive involving points. Any incentive - not just on AR, where the amassing of points has serious meaning and social and professional consequence, but anywhere, regardless of the true worth of the endeavor.
I'll ignore my obligations, squander my time and wealth, and engage in meaningless point-seeking behavior at the slightest opportunity to increase a point total. I am addicted to points. I eat, sleep and dream points. I'll do anything for points. And it's all AR's fault.
And what about you, dear friend? You could be at risk too. Look inside yourself. Ask yourself some hard questions. And seek help before it's too late for you. As for me, as soon as I finish my current game of Geoguessr, I'm meeting with my attorney to find out if I may be entitled to compensation.
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