If you took a look at my most-played games on Facebook, they are of the homestead-building or city-building variety. I blame my introduction to Harvest Moon and The Sims franchise roughly 12 years ago. Something about manipulating the lives of little imaginary people and assigning them tasks appeals to me. I never enjoyed playing with dolls, but I imagine that this is what playing with dolls felt like for all my childhood acquaintances.
Unlike playing with dolls, games on Facebook don't freeze in time until you come back. I don't feel guilty if I get bored with a game like Song Pop and don't play it for a while, but I almost feel as though I am neglecting something important if I don't go back to Chefville for several days. My food will be burnt and several quests will have expired. These aren't the kind of games that you can lose, but having lots of unfinished appliances all over my imaginary restaurant does make it look that way.
I have been spending so much of my leisure time maintaining my pretend restaurant and my pretend theme park and my pretend farm that I haven't had time to try other games or read books or blog. Moderation in all things! The world won't end if I play these games for a little while and then move on.
