2500 Hours of Civilization
I’m not prone to addiction but a damn computer game got me close. Thanks to Steam, a game platform for PCs, I know I have spent roughly 2,500 hours of my life playing Sid Mier’s Civilization. I don’t mean to present that as some sort of world record. Plenty of people have played for far, far more (perhaps for a living). But no other game I have played comes close to approaching quadruple digits in terms of hours played. Why is that the case for me?
Perhaps the world’s most successful strategy game franchise, Civilization (or “Civ” to those who play) is notorious for its addictive gameplay across all editions. Many players, including this author, have deluded themselves by saying “just one more turn” - it is a turn based game - over and over until they have played far longer than intended. Until past their bedtime. Until the sun comes up. Until the sun goes down. Until you get the point. They just released the 7th entry in the series. I probably won’t buy it. Probably. The premise of the game, first released in 1991, is to “build an empire that will stand the test of time”. You pick an historical civilization like China, Egypt, Rome, etc. and lead them from ancient times through the millennia to the present age and beyond. You explore, settle, make war, build wonders, and drop a few nukes until you satisfy one of the game’s victory conditions - or one of your opponents does first. In my case, the game certainly stood the test of time, even if my empires didn’t.
Between the 5th (2010) and 6th editions (2016) I’ve played almost 2500 hours.
I also played Civ 1, Civ 2, and Civilization: Call to Power, but that when I was a kid and time didn’t mean anything. And Steam wasn’t around to keep track.
Was that time wasted? Let’s go with: it depends on how you look at it. And look at it you can, all neatly quantified next to the game title and the button to launch the game. With this time, I could have learned an instrument or vastly improved my jumpshot. I could have run 625 marathons (at a 9 min/mile pace). I could have spent more time with family and friends. Ouch. On the other hand, that big number could have been spread out across a number of other leisure activities that are equally isolating and don’t serve or improve anything, and I would not have realised that time was spent that way. Thank goodness - I would not like to know how much time I’ve spent scrolling on my phone. But here, with this raw data of time played, is an opportunity to reflect I would not otherwise have. I spent almost 100 days of my life playing Civilization. What did I gain from that experience? What did I learn? Let’s live an examined life for a sec.
There’s a decent amount of real world history built into the game. It would be difficult to play it for as long as I have and not learn a thing or two. Thanks to Civilization, I know that Seondok was Queen of Silla, and her reign led to the unification of the Korean peninsula. Things like this can sometimes help in trivia. Also the nature of the game is strategic. If you’re playing at the highest difficulty (I do, are you impressed? No? Ok) there’s a significant amount of forethought and planning that needs to go into every action in order to maximize efficiency and give yourself the best chance to win. Now, I could go ahead and extrapolate on how that can teach you about management, or B2B marketing, or whatever business speak buzzword is in vogue, but this isn’t a linkedin post, so do that on your own time. I think the most potent lesson I learned from Civilization is this:
Set a timer. Set a timer. SET A TIMER.
Civ sessions can easily get out of hand in terms of length. The game is slow paced. You’re covering thousands of years of made up human history here. Exploring the world, building an empire, establishing governments - this shit takes time. Not as much as in real life, but plenty for an almost omnipotent, immortal ruler of an entire culture of people. There’s a gambling like aspect to it - not in the way the game works, there aren’t any microtransactions and I haven’t spent any money on this game other than the price to buy it - in the sense that it makes you think you’re always on the cusp of getting a reward. Not a big score, but one just big enough that you’re willing to sit through 4 or 5 more turns to get. And once you do get it, there’s a fun little dopamine hit. But what’s this? In a couple more turns I’ll be able to…and then it’s 3am and you have to get up at 7 for work.
The only way to counter this is to set a timer and stick to it. I’ll be honest. It wasn’t that effective at stopping me when the timer went off, but it would wake my brain up and remind me that time is indeed passing. It’s so easy to get sucked in, and that can be a great escape from reality, but such things should be enjoyed in moderation. With the annoying alarm sound comes a tiny dose of shame to offset all the small doses of dopamine I’ve just been taking. And that awareness and shame eventually gets me to wrap up a session sooner rather than later.
I found that this method can be applied to other activities with maybe even more effectiveness. Timers work to make sure you don’t spend too much time playing and being unproductive (god forbid! In our capitalist society?). This method also works the other way in the sense that it helps you make sure you devote adequate time toward chores, projects, exercise, or anything else you might put off in favor of relaxation. Need to do some cleaning but feel daunted by the amount? Just set a five minute timer and promise yourself you’ll do at least that much. Five minutes is manageable. Once you get going and shortly keep that promise, you have the option to surpass it and overdeliver, or you can call it a day without any guilt and little bit of cleaning done.
I use timers in both ways now. I try to not go overboard though. It’s nice to help keep myself honest, but it’s not about policing my behavior at all times. Think of it as just living intentionally. Not a bad lesson to learn after spending hour after hour bombarding my enemies with Hwachas.