The December holiday season is a time for family, festivities, food and gaming; lots and lots of gaming. Tis the season when those binge gaming sessions kick in, as schools close and a lot of people are on leave from work. Some games can be very addictive and eat up massive chunks of your precious vacation time, to the point where without even realizing it, its January and it is time to go back to work or school. Addictive games aren’t necessarily the latest hyped-up AAA title or exclusive to one specific gaming platform. For me, the two most addictive games I have ever played is World of Warcraft and the mobile game Clash of Clans.
World of Warcraft
Let’s get a few things straight, I absolutely adore Blizzard Entertainment’s franchises and I have played every one of their games to death since the first Diablo. World of Warcraft stands head and shoulders above the rest as the Blizzard game that I have played the most. I started playing shortly after The Burning Crusade expansion was released and became addicted for roughly six years. As far as addictive games go, this one is up there with the best of them.
The amazing musical score, large open areas, the vast amount of interesting lore and just about everything else makes WoW extremely addictive and in my opinion, still the best MMORPG there is. Even though I gave up the addiction years ago, to focus on work and studies, WoW kept calling me back.
I missed the game so completely that for months all I could think about was leveling up a new character and fishing in the Dalaran fountain; and then the Legion invaded Azeroth…
With WoW’s siren call being just too strong, I gave in and stared playing again, and soon realized that I wasn’t addicted anymore. In fact, I now think that Legion is nothing more than a well-disguised grind that simply never stops; but I might talk more about that in a future article. That same grind is still one of the reasons why the game is so addictive; there is always something left to do.
However, the one thing that truly made WoW a game I couldn’t let go for years isn’t any specific feature or aspect, but rather the people I played with. The Guild I was in during The Burning Crusade and the people I met throughout the years kept me playing for much longer than I should have. The game taught me so much about teamwork, responsibility and made some life-long friends while we fought against the odds, taking down raid bosses and grinding for weeks on end with very little sleep to help the guild progress. That’s just a few reasons why World of Warcraft is one of the most addictive games ever.
The social features in WoW is, without a doubt, the reason why the game was so addictive for me. I might still binge on WoW this December. There are already talks of an Azeroth fishing trip later this month. It’s not about leveling up those artifact weapons and getting the best gear possible, but rather the social aspects that keeps me going, which brings me to a game that literally kept me going.
Clash of Clans
In case you didn’t know, Clash of Clans is a mobile game developer by Supercell. One of my close friends always kept talking about the game but I didn’t really take notice, because I rarely find mobile games all too entertaining; unless of course it is one of the top five mobile games that everyone should play. Clash isn’t in our top five and rightly so. It’s not one of the best mobile games ever developed and it even has quite a lot of micro transactions, which I have always despised. However, what Supercell did manage to create is one of the most additive games ever.
Earlier this year I went in for surgery, which meant I couldn’t work or sit in front of my PC for a couple of weeks, so with much reluctance, I installed Clash. The game helped me cope with my injury. I could still game even while sick in bed, which was simply fantastic.Since then, I have been addictive to Clash for the last six month; I just can’t let it go.
Maybe you’ve heard a friend or colleague open the game on their phone at less-than-ideal times or did it yourself. That’s because the game calls you back for more and there is always something extra to do.
For those unfamiliar with Clash, it is basically a base building game where you can attack and destroy other players’ bases for three different types of currencies. Everything you do in Clash takes time, for example upgrading a tower to level 11 will take eight days and you have a limited number of builders at your disposal. Each time you upgrade building or research upgrades for your troops, their stats increase and you get a little visual upgrade.
To progress in the game, you need to attack often, looting other bases. If you have a competitive personality, you will likely attack several times a day, but training troops for an attack also takes time. You can play the game for years without ever maxing out your base.
The competitive aspect coupled with the fact that you always have something to do that shows you real progress makes the game extremely addictive, but it also shares one important aspect with WoW…friendships and the people you meet.
The game’s name is Clash of Clans, so it is probably obvious that there is a “clans” feature. You can join a clan and meet new people, chatting about the game and participating in clan wars. Players share strategies, help each other by donating troops and plan attacks on the enemy clan. The clan I am in right now isn’t the best, but someone actually created a WhatsApp group for our clan two days ago, which just makes playing the game even more exciting. I don’t just log in to attack anymore, I log in just to chat to some clan members and see how the war is going.
I just can’t stop playing Clash and I am fairly certain that I will still be playing the game in 2019 and beyond, if the inevitable kitten or robot uprising doesn’t destroy humanity before then.
What is the most addictive game you have ever played and will you binge on it this holiday season? Let us know in the comment section below.
