American Settlers: Aside

NOTE: I was going to append this to my previous post, but I realized instead it should stnad on its own.

To those of you just getting started wtih Oregon Trail: American Settler, let me say this: Don't bother.

If you'd rather not follow that advice, then listen further: Start right now building as many infirmaries as you can and in those informaries start building as many needles and mortars as you can, because you're going to need them.

Here's another thing: Does no one else work in these towns? Yeah, yeah, I know. I can get "friends" to come do chores in my town. Go online and get your friends helping, that's how you build a community! Whee! I don't mean that. I mean in-game, does no one else work in these towns? I'm so busy running a sick ward that I've got crops rotting in the field and taxes/revenue going uncollected because very energy bit i get is going towards making medicine. And you know what: They're all going to die before I can get to them all.

[Insert here lesson on how I finally figure out the social gaming aspect and how this is supposed to teach me that It Takes A Village to Raise A Child ® and that the game is a microcosm showing how the liberal/progressive meme of working together with others is supposed to be beter than the conservative do it all yourself/get bootstrappy meme.]

Stuff that. It's just a game. And if they want to inject politics into this kind of thing, then give me the option of kicking some fannies in order to get some of the other denizens of this little pioneer village to do some of their own damn work for a change. Because the truth behind social gaming is not the concept of getting everyone to cooperate so that two plus two can equal five, but so more people get suckered into these games and thus boost the publisher's numbers and the possibility that some idiot will actually start making in-app purchases either to save a dying village or to help a friend.

So tant pis pour cochonnet.