How do you know you have been playing too much?
When you get up in the morning and some of your to do's for the day are buying "Oil" to make "Plastic" to make "Dolls". This happens to me. I make this mental list of things to do for the day. Write emails to some colleagues, meet with my boss at 4pm, call the phone company, make sure I have enough "Precious metals" to make your "High-grade steel". All of a sudden, the tasks in the real world become conceptually indistinguishable from the task in the virtual world of IT. Someone mentions the world "Cutlery" and that reminds me of the "Precious Metals" that I have not yet bought and I MUST before I ran out.
I was in a supermarket, doing some late evening shopping. Looking at the shelves, trying to remember what I needed. "I need eggs," I think. But then I freeze. Do I need eggs for my fridge or "Eggs" for the "Breakfast" I sell in my "Cafes". Shopping lists, todo lists, all become one in the mind of the avid TI player.
I completed a survey recently about online games (the one that is linked in this forum). There, they ask (in other words) whether you bring your own personality into the online games. But they fail to ask the other, perhaps more interesting question, of whether the game is affecting the way you think about your everyday tasks, for instance on how your keep household inventories.
I also find that I develop some affective dimension towards the industries that I decide to nurture. I know that at this stage in the game it is better to sell "Wheat" than "Breakfast", it is better to sell "Steel" than "Tricycles". And yet, and yet, I keep on doing it. Because the cafe and the toy shop are part of my mini empire and I like them.
I have only been playing this game for 20 days. I do not know how long I will last. I would like to ask my fellow players (suppliers, customers, competitors, all of above) whether they also have thoughts to share about how they think about the game when you are not playing (e.g. while you are on the metro) and whether thoughts of the type "I wish people would sell more milk" or "I hate that the price of Cotton is so high!" pop up during your everyday life.
Thanks and my apologies if this is out of the scope of the forum.