I used to love playing Mafia Wars on Facebook. I would spend a straight 12-hour playing spree clicking on the mouse doing jobs, beating rival gangs, and marvelously robbing other mafia players who are probably half-way around the globe playing in the comfort of their rooms somewhere in the United States or Europe maybe. The last time I checked the stat on my profile, I did jobs for 31 consecutive days. I would not dare say that I got hooked on playing the game but it was a swell of a time just easing my way up the ladder from the bottom where I usually get whacked and robbed by other players up to the point that there hardly any player attempting to beat the crap of me because I did my out-of-the-game strategy of recruiting more mafia members.
As I write this, I already have a couple of series of posts breaking down the macro-programming of the game. I don’t mean I tinkered with the program code of this successful and popular game of Zynga, but rather I was able to make a whole picture of the game and what are the effective ways on how to get on top of the game particularly if you are playing as a mogul in the game. After I wrote Mafia Wars: Strategy and Perspective, I felt that I was ready to leave the game since there is no point to continue when you know how it works. This realization was even more reinforced by the fact that Zynga removed the robbing option in the game. Right now, my playing time is solely focused on the effort to take my daily earning revenue from my properties which I use immediately to buy more properties.
Last night, after two days of taking time off from visiting my Facebook account, a member of my Mafia family had sent me a link to his blog where he wrote about the danger and the waste of time in playing online/offline games.
Now, with my nature of always trying to see the glass of water as half-full rather than half-empty, I dare say that this mafia family member of mine has a point. You will surely waste your time playing the game one way or the other. Yet, I want to give the perspective that there is no time spend wasted in any effort that you toil yourself into. This perspective though can only be understood and fully appreciated if you will learn the practical or spiritual lesson of an alchemist.
Alchemists usually try to turn raw metals into gold. And this should be the state of mind that we have to imbibe within ourselves. As a rejoinder to the blog post of this mafia family member of mine, there will be a time when he will discover that all the effort, time and sacrifice that he did for playing the game has a use for him. It can either be for practical purpose or even spiritual purpose.
Nevertheless, that time will come. The structure of this ‘reality’ we live in is strange and cannot clearly be defined so I will just say that the wind of mystical force can blow unexpectedly to your benefit.
Do I still find excitement in playing the game? A little. But gone are the days and sleepless night when I would intensely hunt down rival mafia players to ice and rob them. It is time to move on and take care of some basic needs and responsibilities.
But before I do that, let me take first my revenue earning for the day so I can buy a mega casino to grow my mafia empire.
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