Report Indicates Workers Play A Lot of Games On the Job

A report released by casual gaming mecca PopCap Games indicates that white collar workers play games constantly throughout the day. The study indicates that as salaries and titles improve on the organizational chart, the amount of gameplaying in a given day increases substantially. "Considering that the casual games market is around 200 million people, PopCap estimates that the executive crowd is very much into casual gaming, with about 80 million 'white collar' workers playing. 24 percent of the 'white collar' employees said they do play at work, and that number jumps up to 35 percent for CEOs, CFOs and other senior executives. 98 percent said that they play casual games at home too." What's your favorite on-the-job casual title?

Comments

My prefered game?

[Anonymous Coward]

First posting.

Re:My prefered game?

[Kaenneth]

I actually found that mildly amusing.

Re:My prefered game?

[calebt3]

The parent post is not off-topic, he is saying that his favorite game is to try being the first person to post in /.

For most executives..

[QuantumG]

What's your favorite on-the-job casual title? Their secretary. Oh, sorry, "Personal Assistant".

Re:For most executives..

[Anonymous Coward]

For most executives..

What's your favorite on-the-job casual title?

Their secretary. Oh, sorry, "Personal Assistant".

Ah yes, playing Doctor, House, Post Office, Dicktation, Hide the Wienie; some really great old office games, however the new rule set can be a bit of a difficulty to work with.

Re:For most executives..

[Fizzl]

Heh, what's with labeling secretaries as "personal assistants" nowadays? I'd much rather be a secretary than "personal assistant". The latter sounds like someone who helps the CEO poop and pushes him around in wheel chair.

Oh...
I get it...

Re:For most executives..

[greedyturtle]

Ahem... Administrative Assistant - there's nothing personal about it.

Favorite game? Slashdot.

[wcspxyx]

The end guy is tough.

Re:Favorite game? Slashdot.

[MikeFM]

I can never get past CmdrTaco.

Re:Favorite game? Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a hard time beating the ACs.

(Captcha swear to God is camped.)

Re:Favorite game? Slashdot.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd have posted sooner, but I was playing a game.
Oh shit, here comes the bos@*&}($#*(^>}.NO CARRIER

Game playing by profession

[ajs]

I know that in my line of work, playing games during the day just isn't workable for the most part.

Basically, any game that I can't put down for 4-6 hours while I do real work, and come back to for 5 minutes would be useless. PBM games might be workable.

Re:Game playing by profession

[vux984]

You might check out Solitaire.

Its installed on 90% of PCs by default and has been the white collar time waster of choice since before most PCs were connected to the internet.

Re:Game playing by profession

[Zashi]

I work in the Superlab (server testing) at IBM and part of the job is slacking off. We go through testing cycles and sometimes we're slammed, and sometimes we have nothing to do. Even when we do have something to do, 20% of it is setting stuff up and the other 80% is waiting on what we set up to finish running. I try to make good use of my down time, reading pertinent materials, writing useful scripts, but there's only so much one can do. Is it really all that terrible I read slashdot while I wait for a server to reboot 500 times?

Re:Game playing by profession

[ShatteredArm]

I understand the argument, but it does not account for reality.

Some of us simply do not have anything to do. If you agree to pay me for 40 hours per week and just don't give me any work to do, it's your own fault. That's why I'm typing on Slashdot as we speak... I'm waiting for signoff and access to the platform.

It's nice in principle to demand eight hours of solid work per day, but in reality, there are occasions where there are only six or seven hours of work to do, or over the last week or so for me, zero to one.

Re:Game playing by profession

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason you hate people and the reason your business is a failure are probably the same reason

Re:Game playing by profession

[rk]

"I don't hire ANYONE that has ever claimed unemployment, unless they have a REALLY good explanation and can deliver it with a straight face."

WTF does one have to do with the other? I guess you wouldn't hire me, then, because I've drawn a whole six weeks of unemployment (3 in '91, 3 in '01) over the last 20 years of my full time working life, which in total didn't add up to the amount of taxes I've paid this quarter alone. I sympathize with you on someone stealing from you (even trivial stuff), but wow.

I suppose, given that you seem to have minarchist libertarian to anarcho-capitalist sympathies from what I saw in your journal entries, that you regard taxation as theft, and by extension, drawing unemployment as theft. Fair enough, but I recommend reading Dr. Walter Block, a dyed-in-the-wool Austrian economist as there ever has been, who would probably see it more as reappropriating what has already been stolen.

Re:Game playing by profession

[happyemoticon]

It sounds like you are a micro-manager who just wants people to look busy. My thinking on the subject couldn't be more different.

Ideally, their work translates into your money. If Alice completed the same amount of work as Bob at the end of the day, and they have the same job, with the same pay, what does it matter that Alice shopped for shoes because she finished early? As long as Alice is discreet about it, her slacking has no effect on your bottom line. Efficiency should be rewarded, not punished. Either give her more work and a raise or simply turn a blind eye to it and hope Bob learns a thing or two.

The exception, of course, is if one has no way to evaluate their productivity in an objective sense. Then, in my opinion, one is are unqualified to manage them. Yes, it's an art; not all business is reducible to some integer quantity of work done. But subjectively evaluating workers is pointless, because you are not paying them to look busy.

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

Hey, I understand that... but ask yourself this... when you return to a job site (contracting) and find half your guys flicking bottle caps off of empty beers... and they are already starting to stagger (so the "didn't affect me" excuse doesn't work) then you wouldn't fire them???

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

Actually I have a REAL problem with "hourly" billing. My time is worth at least a pound of GOLD per week. Whatever that translates at in the local currency, I don't need to be paid in gold... cash is easier. If I get less than that, I see it as a loss on the financial side. If I do a job, I would sooner be paid PER task accomplished, than per hours wasted. This way, the price can be set to the importance of the task, instead of to how many hours are wasted or not in doing the task. This also frees up time that would be wasted twiddling thumbs, for doing more useful things... hell even writing a book would be better.

Try to present this pay for production system to "workers" and they will go nuts... how DARE you try to bring up a system where only production is paid, and idle time is either used for other endeavors or idled away (despite the little socialists screaming that the capitalist "oppressors" are "stealing their labor", when you try to pay them ONLY for production, they go NUTS!!)

During my short time working for others, I found only ONE company where I was paid per project accomplished. I was happy as a pig in slop, though some "co workers" were very upset that they barely made a hundred bucks in a week, but I decided to experience other working jobs... and worked "per hour" and found it was disgusting. There is little incentive to finish early, or finish well. When working for others you're always working to pass the hours, not really trying to FINISH the work and finish it WELL. There's no reason... there's always more employers. As opposed to working for yourself, when you have EVERY incentive to do a good job, and do it fast. After all, every hour as a self employed man is either productive in funds or goods, or productive in relaxation, without any fear that "someone will catch you slacking off".

I could go on with a long list of my personal accomplishments, both before and after graduation, or with the fact that I found school to be a bore, blah blah, but in the end it comes down to this. I took responsibility for my life, and it worked out fine... without having to worry about poverty. That is all there is to it.

Re:Game playing by profession

[ajs]

My work desktop, like my home desktop, is Linux, and doesn't include a solitaire version in the default install. However, I was speaking more about the sorts of games I like to play. Something turn-based might work, but I'd never go back to it. Typically, I just browse Slashdot when I need a mental break. That works just as well.

Re:Game playing by profession

[vux984]

And I was just poking fun. :)

Solitaire and minesweeper have been THE staple time wasters in offices accross the globe since windows 3.0 was inflicted upon the world.

I just brought them up because they fit your criteria exactly -- probably one of the (several) reasons they were as successful as they were.

Re:Game playing by profession

[Shados]

"unless they have a really good explanation and can deliver it with a straight face"

Considering you only drew 6 weeks in 20 years, I'm damn sure you can fulfill that requirement rather easily. So whats the problem?

Re:Game playing by profession

[ShaggyIan]

Remember that in many IT fields, W-2 employees are basically paid for their ability to fix broken things in a hurry. I've always said that if a break/fix person has a lot to do, they probably didn't do something correctly in the past.

For construction, and most other jobs, contract outsourcing along the lines of what you're talking about would likely benefit everyone involved, and increase productivity.

My current (W-2) employer has told me to my face that they would rather pay me to sit in my chair "just in case" than let me be at home on call. I typically use the time to learn new skills. It probably is related to the television aversion to broadcasting, well, nothing (literally, not figuratively).

Anyway, I agree with you that pay for performance is almost always preferable, but many a youngster these days thinks they are being paid for their time, not for their production. Personal accountability really seems like an afterthought these days.

Cheers!

Re:Game playing by profession

[ErikZ]

It's because if someone claims unemployment against him, he'll have to pay a portion of it.

He's just being cheap.

Re:Game playing by profession

[fortunato]

You, sir, are the reason why corporate America sucks. They made a movie about you. Its called "Office Space." You should watch it some day. I manage a team of 4 people. In the real world there is seldom a constant stream of real work to be done. There is always down time and waiting around for tickets, for other teams to catch up, etc. For you to even make a statement like this pretty much pushes your opinions into the realm of unreality. When stuff needs to really get done -- there is a fire to be put out -- my guys are all over it like flies to honey. But on the other end of the spectrum are the times when there are no fires to put out. Everything is running fluidly and perfectly because we put in the extra effort to make sure that things run that way. We scripted things that could be automated, we set up autonomous systems that will alert us if something important goes down, we set up automatic backups of critical infrastructure. Frankly, once all that is in place there isn't a whole lot to do unless someone needs something special for a new project, or there is some unaccounted for chain of events that cause the aforementioned fire. This is what we are paid to do. To keep things running smoothly and perfectly the majority of the time. The reason people get paid for their jobs is because they can do their job WHEN IT MATTERS. All the other times are irrelevant. The only thing you show here is that you are a poor manager and I feel sorry for anyone that has to call you boss.

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

Yep, I jumped out of the IT field a couple of years back, when I realized that the only IT guys that actually do work are the contracting IT guys. The others are nothing different than insurance policy. Feel free to judge me as you will. I'm just finally venting all the angst I've been building up from socialists claiming they know what is best for everyone.

So yeah... call me an asshole, call me a bad boss. Most of the guys I hired for jobs in the last 3 years have been all too happy to work for me. I pay better and I treat them like men. Of course that's something that isn't taught in school anymore. After all, they had to ban kickball and tag because it "hurt children's self esteem". They drug half the schoolchildren in America for things that half a century ago were termed "growing pains" or "boys will be boys".

There are things I don't do, that bosses at places that paid for me to sit around DID do.

-I don't accuse my men of ANYTHING without proper evidence.
-I don't reward them for doing what they're supposed to. I pay them for that.
-I don't leave them UNrewarded when they perform above and beyond the call of duty.
-I don't short them of opportunities to grow. If they want to learn something, I don't stand in their way.
-I don't lie to my people. I tell them exactly what to expect. Its what my old man did for me.
-I don't insult them. If they're lazy, that's not an insult.
-If it comes down to firing them, I'll damn right tell them why.
-I do not sabotage their future career chances, even if they're not what I'm looking for. Unless they steal.
-I don't condone stealing... or lying. When their third grandmother dies... that calls for evidence.

And I'm not "corporate" America. My current business is not a "corporation" as you are accustomed to. I don't trade with the permission of the "help" of the government and as a result it is not governed by their laws and regulations (it is, however governed by the simple rules that once existed between all who contract but have long been forgotten by the sheep of today's society). I make my own way, fix my own problems. I don't have dissatisfied clients... because I pick my clients closely, they're not the only ones interviewing during meetings. If I don't like them, or don't feel they'd suit my business well, I don't take them on, long ago it was called "smart business", nowadays its not even a chapter in the economics classes... (those classes subscribe to Keynesian mythology anyways). In exchange, doing business is a pleasure.

And as for the secretary in question... *I* (normally had my father been around it would have been his call in those days) fired her because she was still on the phone on a personal call, and the books weren't done and she had received more "leniency" over personal business than your crew probably does. It was the end of the day. I should not, after coming in sweaty and tired, have to clean up and do the books, I don't pay people so I can do their work. That isn't why I, or my father, or my mom or any employer would hire a secretary. We, and you, hire them to keep the office running PROPERLY. Same reason you and your particular crew are hired. If the owner came in and saw you sitting around while there's a virus raping the network and deleting or corrupting client files... I can guarantee you'd be fired in about 30 seconds and an outside contractor brought in for fixes.

****As an aside, when we had nothing to do at my IT biz, we played Quake 3 :) Had a client who had us install a Windows 2003 server, and all he did was run Unreal Tournament off of it. Quite a fun place to contract to. I billed him an hour once, because he had me coach a new guy on how to play.

Re:Game playing by profession

[nonos]

Hope you are not writing this comment from your office, else, you would have to shaft yourself...

Re:Game playing by profession

[Anonymous Coward]

Years ago when I was in grade school, I had a job helping unload trucks into the warehouse. A full semi would come in and three of us would lift everything out onto pallets. This was heavy, tiring labor. Once the truck was empty, you had between 5 and 15 mins before the next one would appear.

I got fired a couple weeks later because I was "loafing around". See, instead of catching my breath I was supposed to go find something to do, help out another worker or sweep the floor. Funny, the other people in the warehouse didn't come running over to the trucks to help unload them.

That old boss sound like this asshat's attitude.

Re:Game playing by profession

[WidescreenFreak]

Wow. You're the kind of closed-minded, micro-managing busybody that personifies the pointy-haired manager in Dilbert. I can only imagine how low the morale must be for anyone who works for you. Let me guess. You're also one of those who think that somehow we're only capable of performing our job if we have a shirt-and-tie and that somehow we lose 50 IQ points the second that we put denim on our skin, right?

To think that a person must always be 100% productive, 100% of the time is short-sighted and arrogant. What should matter are the results, not the amount of hours put into those results. Time spent!=Quality of work. I'm fortunate (although after seeing your rant I might say "blessed") that my managers have been the kind who are more concerned with getting the job done and done well, regardless of whether it requires eight hours a day or two hours a day. As long as they know that the job is getting done and that they can rely on me to stick around after hours if necessary, they're satisfied. It's called "trust", something that you apparently are unaware of. For that, your servants ... er ... "employees" have my sincerest sympathies.

Re:Game playing by profession

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't trade with the permission of the "help" of the government and as a result it is not governed by their laws and regulations (it is, however governed by the simple rules that once existed between all who contract but have long been forgotten by the sheep of today's society).

Sounds like the Mafia, you did say you were in construction...

Re:Game playing by profession

[SuiteSisterMary]

Several years ago, I was implementing Microsoft SMS on a small business network, and I wanted to try out the license enforcement feature. Basically, install a piece of software on every computer, tell SMS you have X number of licenses, and it will let X copies run; somebody else tries to run it, and they got a little window asking if they'd like to wait in line, so to speak.

So, I tried it out on Solitare. Told it that there was one license for sol.exe, fired up a copy on one workstation, then tried to fire it up on another, and sure enough, got the popup.

A minute later, one of the executive VPs comes over to my desk, demanding to know why he can't run solitare. He liked to play it while on boring conference calls with vendors, things like that.

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

My office is wherever I open up my laptop :) I own the place, any money I make or don't make is my own problem :) Anyone that works for me has THEIR money set aside :)

Any other questions?

Re:Game playing by profession

[EmperorKagato]

Mod parent up he's on a KILLING SPREE

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

You get brownie points. That was the best and most thought out put down I've ever received. It was also ignorant as can be, pointing out that you didn't even read my posts before attacking me. You get the actual "closed mindedness award".

Actually no... I have great disdain for uncomfortable clothing. I wear jeans and shorts and do most of my office work on the road now. I can do almost everything from running my own IT, to building a house from scratch. Only thing I'd hire you is something I don't feel like wasting my own time for. I find that hiring people is HEAVILY discouraged by government regulations. Last time my father ran a half million dollar project before retiring, he found that overtime taxation cost him almost 50 grand every week. Suffice it to say that our estimate did not include the heavy taxation that the locals and feds imposed on our workers for being well paid. We had to mortgage the office building we owned just so we could pay your precious "social cost". We also had to fire several people in order to make ends meet. Thank your taxation authority for that. I'm not going to make all my workers suffer in order to achieve the greater good. I started this business to prosper by my efforts, contractual, mental and physical. I am not about to sacrifice the prosperity of the truly good workers for those who are just a tax liability on me and my assets. Until you actually DO business as a small business, and then try to go big and hire more people, you don't realize how hard the government makes it to compete with its sanctioned monopolies.

As for your quality versus quantity argument... did you read my other posts?
That is exactly what I argue for. That payment should follow production... production in my book (as my other posts should've enlightened you to) refers to quality AND quantity. I don't refer to communist production. And I prefer not paying for what doesn't benefit me, just as YOU should not pay for what does not benefit you. I would prefer you to stay at home and learn a second craft, art, trade, whatever, than to stay at the office, and be bored to death mastering solitaire.

Then perhaps you would learn what I've learned.

It sounds to me like your managers are just like me, only they don't tell you. I would personally prefer to keep my guys at home, taking care of their families and getting to know their kids... EXCEPT when there is work to be done, and just pay them out of the proceeds of the work, instead of paying them to waste time at work. First thing I learned working for myself was how to structure my time so I can get maximum ENJOYMENT out of it. When its work, its work, when its not, then I don't take my work at home with me.

And if you KNEW me, you'd know I'm hands off, but I'm a vicious inspector after the job is done. If I have to redo it, then you're not coming back to work the next day. If I'm pleased with it, you stay on the crew and are well compensated. And it matters little if you're man or woman, I'll as soon keep a girl on the crew as a guy... since I don't screw my office people, or my field people, sex doesn't get you promoted. If I need to hire a professional for sex, you can guarantee that I'd hire someone that is paid per job, a contractor, so to speak.

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

Why not attach your name and email to that thread, I'd love to actually send you paperwork on how to do it. If you want to do legitimate business, without enforcing government oppression, instead of screaming for socialism, start a business and run it the way you want, with the people you want. That is what this country was SUPPOSED to be about, but the vast masses cry a river that the government won't employ them and tax those "evil" businessmen more.

Cry me a river.

Re:Game playing by profession

[greedyturtle]

Every so often there's a question to Slashdot from a system administrator who's trying to figure out how to explain to their bosses what they do all day to get paid. Nailing down that quantity is harder than hammering in a rubber nail... with the proper hammer design, board media and time, it can be done, but it ain't always very feasible. (Hammering it into Jello always worked pretty well for me though...)

Again, it can usually be done, but it's usually a whole lot easier to just pay someone hourly or salary and be done with it. It's a lot easier to make sure people aren't slacking than to define when they aren't. Because like pornography, we know slacking when we see it... which is usually when someone is checking out pornography.

Re:Game playing by profession

[greedyturtle]

Not jumping on Daed here, because he values skill and ability.

The problem comes when all the people you 'want to hire' are white men. Convenient for me, not so convenient for some other people.

Re:Game playing by profession

[Anonymous Coward]

I was being disingenuous, actually. Everyone knows the Mafia relies on government favors to get by (local government).

Honestly, though, I doubt that you are correct about the paperwork. You just haven't met your Ellsworth Toohey or your Wesley Mouch yet.

The nail that stands up will be hammered down.

I thought I was free once, too, but they got me.

Hopefully, you'll stay under their radar for your whole life, but if not...

Re:Game playing by profession

[Quikah]

Pay for production causes other issues.

I did an internship in an Aluminum foundry one summer. Mostly did QA work. All the guys that worked in the permanent mold side were paid piece meal. They would prepared the mold, close it, then took a big ladle of molten aluminum from the furnace and poured it in. Bypassing the safeguards was a big issue (you had to press 2 buttons to close the mold, preventing you from losing a hand, half the guys would turn that off and close the mold via a switch). 2 people had serious accidents when I was there. One did lose a hand, and subsequently lost the best paying job in the place (can't poor with one hand). All because they wanted to bypass the extra 2 seconds the safeguards added. Management didn't care cause the guys were putting out a lot of product.

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

Ditto, I'm white (no secret), but I've hired Mexicans, without a second thought (some of those boys work ten times harder than whites, they just need direction, but the work ethic is impeccable). If they work, I keep'em, if they don't, I fire them. Same as with blacks, asians and whiteboys. I discriminate on quality and quantity of work, not on the color of skin.

I'm straight but I wouldn't hesitate to hire a homosexual either. So long as he/she knows that if I fire him or her, it ain't cause I don't like who they make out with... that's a personal issue they should take care of in their personal problem.

I have always been an "equal opportunity" employer and firer, so to speak. I give everyone who is good enough a chance to do their best. If their best isn't at least as good as my worst, I don't need them.

Its like choosing clients for your business. If you take just anyone... then you get what you deserve. Some good, some bad. If you're established enough, get picky, it will serve you ADMIRABLY in the end. Most big big service companies end up having a preferred client list, and the only way to get on it and do business with them, is to be invited to it. This is not something small timers will know of, but I've had the opportunity of doing business with two such companies and from the businessman standpoint, it is a JOY. (Course if you get careless, anyone will skin you alive, its the nature of existence itself.)

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

You ever hire someone with "glowing" recommendations and find out they REALLY suck but their previous employer was scared of a defamation lawsuit so he said nice things about the guy?

Then you can't get rid of him because you'll pay his unemployment? Yeah I'm cheap. That's why I didn't have to go bankrupt.

Re:Game playing by profession

[Zer0Her0]

"You ever hire someone with "glowing" recommendations and find out they REALLY suck but their previous employer was scared of a defamation lawsuit so he said nice things about the guy?"

Isn't that what the interview process is for?

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

An interview will NEVER prove how skilled a man may be. A guy may be able to talk the talk, but not walk it.

You cannot find out what someone knows until you put them out in the field, and let them show you their skills. An interview has never shown me a man's character or his skill or work ethic. Sure they can lie to me all day long, with a straight face. But once I get someone out in the field, I find out what they can do.

Everyone IS created equal... but that doesn't mean everyone remains equal throughout life. Some choose to lag behind, others pull ahead. Those are choices we each make, and we should be unrestricted in making those choices. Failure IS an option, just as success is an option. As are all degrees of each in between the extremes.

Re:Game playing by profession

[ErikZ]

Give me a break. You were given free training in a high demand field during the boom years.

You remind me of the guy who thought anyone who couldn't get a job in the IT industry was incompetent. He got this option because he bumped into someone during the dot-com years and they gave him the training and a high paying job.

Tell me this then. What do you do with someone who's previous employee gives him a horrible feedback? Do you just assume he's telling the truth? Or that you may have a highly skilled person sitting in front of you that didn't get along with the previous boss?

And everyone is not created equal. They're seen as equal under the law. That's it.

Re:Game playing by profession

[DaedalusHKX]

Give me a break. You were given free training in a high demand field during the boom years.

Interesting. My father always tried to teach all his workers. They always tried to steal from him. The ones that DID NOT were the ones that kept their jobs and were well paid. Period. When I learned this stuff I paid my very own, very hard earned cash.

Suffice it to say that when a guy tells me "I can make 35 bucks an hour in DC doing this", I said, okay, rent in DC is twice for a dump what you pay here for a nice apartment... fine, either get going to DC right now... go there to make twice the money, but if you intend to spend the rest of the day on this job site and actually get paid from this company's funds, I expect you to get your boots off the table, get out of the trailer, and get back to work.

Tell me this then. What do you do with someone who's previous employee gives him a horrible feedback? Do you just assume he's telling the truth? Or that you may have a highly skilled person sitting in front of you that didn't get along with the previous boss?

Employer? I presume you mean employer. I've never put out an add in the paper "boss needed, good employee reviews required"... As I've said... I make decisions based on what I see, what I read, and what I hear.

The same way, I don't buy what everyone's selling. Not everything is quantifiable... a remarkably bad review warrants further research, especially if the guy seems competent or honest during the interview. In the end, if I want someone, they'll prove if they're worth it or not during their trial run. If they're worth it, they stay. It isn't that hard to put into practice.

You know, you remind me of myself during my "be a socialist" attempt... I tried hard to stay hateful, and angry, and a member of the "oppressed and downtrodden victim" class. It was my only year of full time college. Surrounded by other "oppressed and downtrodden" college students. And you know what I discovered? It took EFFORT to stay angry and not get up and clean house. In the end, you can stay down, and stay upset that others are winning... or you can examine why you're fighting over the same piece of cheese... and find another. Believe me or not, there is LOTS of cheese in this world... and all the rats in the race are all fighting over the one piece hanging in front of them. (And the totalitarians make sure that they each get a fair cut, after the dividers get THEIR bigger cuts first. But god forbid that all the rats notice that there is plenty of other cheese outside the maze. That'd leave the totalitarian government rats without their choice cuts.)

TradeWars

[Anonymous Coward]

I personally keep my terminal open and have TradeWars running with a keep alive script. I can either run a script to get something done with minimal interaction, or just check it ever now and then to make sure i'm not getting attacked.

One of the best benefits of this is if anyone walks by while i have it in focus it doesn't look like a game since it's just a bunch of text.

Fun stick.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Report Indicates Workers Play A Lot of Games On the Job"

And how many of them use a joystick?

igowin

[wozza96]

a freeware version of "the many faces of go" http://www.smart-games.com/igowin.html

Google Earth Flightsim

[nadamucho]

Now, thanks to Google, I can be distracted at work playing a flightsim and be a shortcut key away to looking up driving directions when the boss strolls by. SHWEET!

Re:Google Earth Flightsim

[morari]

I always liked the "hide as clock" key combination that the old Materia Magica client had...

My primary desktop at work is Linux

[Anonymous Crowhead]

So the answers is "None". Iagno, ataxx and same gnome got boring years ago. And klotski? Horribly borken.

Re:My primary desktop at work is Linux

[SynapseLapse]

Linux has this neat feature called a "package manager" where you can get new games! /sarcasm. Actually, in all seriousness, look into ScummVM for linux along with the freeware copy of Beneath a Steel Sky.

Which games are played?

[whtmarker]

Solitare, freecell, hearts, and minesweeper were 1,2,3 and 4 of the top ten.

Re:Which games are played?

[Presence2]

I still whip out solitaire when I'm in a dead spot at work, usually while waiting for someone else to catch up. Fully sanctioned LAN parties with with old school Starcraft (plays well on non 3D accelerated desktops) are also not out of the question during *very* slow days or after a major milestone has been reached.

Re:Which games are played?

[nijk]

I play nethack!

It's perfect for my work because the colored ascii on top of the black background is very similar to my AutoCAD interface. It would take a second glance to notice I'm sacrificing monsters for artifacts instead of creating building elevations and sections. ;-)

This is news?

[amaupin]

I used to work in an office with a crusty old guy whose only job appeared to be watering the plants all over his desk and playing Windows solitaire. We called him "boss."

Sadly I got addicted to the casual game Jurassic Realm about a year ago. Still play it at home occasionally.

I only played it at work a few times. Honest.

When I needed a break.

And no one could see my screen.

Re:This is news?

[rtb61]

I would think that pretty well describes what the meant by white collar workers(sic), corporate executive types who lack any real intellect to play challenging games, just basically sitting at work killing time, until somebodies else's idea drops onto their desk, that they can then claim credit for, once of course somebody else has actually confirmed that it is a actually a good idea.

I shudder at the thought that there are now sufficient of them out there to be considered a worth while marketing segment beyond the accepted pretty but stupid upper management variety, the proud offspring of the rich and greedy.

Game playing by posters.

[Anonymous Coward]

"And people wonder why Americans can't keep jobs. Sure some are good workers and get shafted, but the majority just need a place to slack off and get paid."

Hmmm, auto mechanic slack off. Hmmm, janitor slack off.

"I have no respect for any scumbag that gets paid 16 to 30 bucks an hour, and slacks off."

Would you respect me more if I told you I made below minimumn wage and slacked off because you were a cheap bastard?

"But see, I include a nice clause with my "employees". I don't hire ANYONE that has ever claimed unemployment, unless they have a REALLY good explanation and can deliver it with a straight face."

You mean like after 9/11 or Enron?

Re:Game playing by posters.

[DaedalusHKX]

Never paid my employees below standard. Always paid more. But I was also demanding. I pay well, and am just as willing to fire anyone that doesn't earn it.

Hell I used to buy lunch for my boys on construction sites (I was a teen at the time, working at my father's company), out of the petty cash box. I kept some good workers, but had plenty of scum too.

Those that worked, I was glad to pay well, and if they were willing we even used to discuss things that would help them further themselves financially, without gambling stocks or other paper crap shoots.

As for your 9/11 or enron request... I have to ask. Why would I "have" to hire people without business sense? People that didn't save up, don't deserve my help. If you're going to invest in stocks, instead of holding real assets, and then complain when someone else calls your bluff... (which is what the stockmarket is) why bitch at me for refusing to hire someone with bad financial sense. Once I started being very selective on whom it was I was employing, I had no more assholes working for me, only people whom I could rely on, and to whom I could give raises to without feeling that I was wasting cash and would have to mortgage my home in order to pay their salaries.

In fact, for my old employees, I used to save up as much hard cash as I needed to be able to pay their salaries for a year... I bet most of your big companies don't do that... and aren't willing to do that.

Besides I got my start by saving up... as did my old man. We had to deal with elitist scumbags too, and then we ended up signing their checks :)

Re:Game playing by posters.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hell I used to buy lunch for my boys on construction sites (I was a teen at the time, working at my father's company), out of the petty cash box. I kept some good workers, but had plenty of scum too.

So, you got to manage a construction site not based on your experience, but because you were daddy's boy? How's that hypocrisy tasting?

Re:Game playing by posters.

[PresidentEnder]

There'd be something seriously wrong with not hiring a good manager, especially on construction, just because he was your son.

Re:Game playing by posters.

[DaedalusHKX]

No... I worked on a construction sites I didn't do "management" until I was almost 20. Only "management" section of work I had was catching those who stole equipment or materials. I got really good at it too. I think its called "loss prevention" nowadays.

He would even deduct stolen tools from my paycheck. And to top it off, he'd cut my pay to zero for the day if he was displeased with my work ethic... that was our contract. The crew worked 8 hours with overtime... I worked alongside. If he felt unhappy, I went home broke that day. He wasn't unfair, but he made me earn my pay. You got an allowance as a kid... I got my old man laughing when I brought it up. Said "that's why so many Americans can't work... because they got allowances".

And that was the last time I brought it up.

As an upside... "daddy's boy" passed the class A contracting license exam by 18, and could've passed the journeyman and master tests for electrical, plumbing, HVAC and gas fitting by the time I was 18 (had to wait till 22).

Daddy's boy my ass.

Re:Game playing by posters.

[lxw56]

I salute you. My company's owner pays below standard and fires anyone who screws up just a little. Of course, he can't keep good employees, but he gets along ok with the felons and drug users he has right now. I guess I could give him some kudos for employing the less desirable who otherwise would be out of work...

Re:Game playing by posters.

[DaedalusHKX]

Thanks man... look, I know I seem to be vicious and aggressive, and those things I am... when it comes to business, I do what it takes to win. That being said, I've never treated those I work with any differently than I'd treat myself. That's why I used to buy the lunches when they did well (those 5 bucks subway/blimpie/quiznos subs add up quick). I love the camaraderie on a good crew, but I hate thieves and scumbags. You get all types, and sometimes they really are people who got a raw deal from "society". I don't mind getting some folks who actually "change". Its not something that's unheard of.

Who knows, if I hadn't been robbed during my anti-gun socialist phase, I might have succeeded at believing that I could be a member of the administrati, living off the welfare of the state theft machine (tax revenue). However, after seeing how quickly the cops can show up to a robbery... I realized that its everybody for himself, and if we can make life better for a few through OUR own voluntary efforts, then good. But it cannot be forced upon us by others. That's called socialism... and in other times it was called tyranny.

I've experimented with all of these things... and I found that a true free market is the ONLY thing I approve of.

(But damn it was fun seeing my father's face when I used to spout that "evils of capitalism" crap to him. This being your classic self made businessman (and an escapee from communism)... he started from veritable nothing and ended up wealthy... he did it twice, once under communism, running a black market farm operation, for which the state in question declared him a "public enemy" and "capitalist oppressor", despite the fact that during a time when production was crap due to socialized standards, and collectivization, his little farm in the middle of nowhere was feeding EVERYONE that worked there, AND produced enough to sell at the local markets. After he was "shut down" he got pissed, told the heads of the "party" (the societal planners in the area) to go sodomize themselves, and then packed his bags and left for America. When he arrived here, he found that leaving all his cash back home was a bad idea. But after being bounced around a bit by the "job market" he saved up some cash and bought a van and some tools. Within a few years he had a fleet and paying with cash for new cars. Was it easy? No. Was it rewarding? Yes. Did he feed some of the people who used to tell us to "go back where you came from"? Yep. Was he meaner than me, and ten times as tough? Yes. I still respect him, even if he's an old geezer now. Because his unwillingness to bend his knee to any ruler is what gave me my unwillingness to be broken by some lame "societal planners". It really is all how strong you are, how clever you are, and how unwilling to submit you are. Everything else follows nicely. (The sheep will always tell you that you're "cheating the system". Ironically you're actually USING the system that they themselves designed and voted for.)

Its like shopping for cars... There are those who pay sticker. There are those who go into massive debt to do so, and there are those who know how to shop for cars, new and used... and how to haggle. I remember my first car... a Buick... paid my old man almost 1000 bucks for it. (Yes, he didn't "give" me the car, he SOLD it to me :) He bought it at 600, so he made a profit on it too... And I took damn good care of it, because it was MINE... I worked for it. It wasn't just property, I also had control over it (proper paperwork). He never passed up a chance to teach me a lesson. He truly is a damn good father. (He also taught me that profit (financial and personal) is a MUCH greater motivator than spankings or "allowances".)

So I salute you back, and I hope that if you decide to run a business, you study up on the old law of contracts, and learn how to do business. And then KEEP all of what you earn. After that, direct it in whatever endeavor you prefer. It is your call, and your

Re:Game playing by posters.

[JSchoeck]

What a sad childhood you had. You have my pitty, in all sincerity.

Re:Game playing by posters.

[DaedalusHKX]

No need. It was fun. I've seen and done things most people only see in movies. Thanks for the attempt though, but there is no need for pity. I enjoy everything I do, even arguing on this board (as pointless as trying to sway socialists to take responsibility for their own lives can be).

Re:Game playing by posters.

[flamearrows]

Actually, you have my pity because of the attitude your father has instilled in you. There has to come a point on the road to success where you need other people to help you, even if it's just taking their or someone else's money. Hard work and so forth may limit the necessity, but it will never completely erase it.

Re:Game playing by posters.

[DaedalusHKX]

You must've misunderstood what I've said.

Let me put it as someone I once knew put it to me.

"It isn't that I don't appreciate help when I'm down. It is only the fact that I don't demand help when I'm down, nor do I expect it. I don't ask that someone else be forced to help me, but if someone willingly does, then they have earned my respect and appreciation."

I accept help from private men and women, I just don't accept it from the government or its helpers. I've seen entirely too many strings attached to those contracts, and unconditional acceptance hinges on the mere "taking" of the carrot they hang in front of you. I've played that game once, and never will again.

You know what they say right? "Fool me once... shame on you... fool me twice... shame on..." You don't fool me twice with the same pattern of tricks.

Re:Game playing by posters.

[flamearrows]

The only strings in contracts are the those that you agree to. Personally, the difference between what it is possible for me to earn (as a law student) and what is necessary to live within an acceptable distance to my university is entirely funded by the government. To refuse to accept that money out of principle is absurd.

Re:Game playing by posters.

[DaedalusHKX]

Well you don't "receive it" you ask for it. I refused to ask for it. Isn't really that simple? I don't like paying taxes, because I receive no services for it, so after my first year, and learning about the downsides to being in debt to the government via student (or any other loans) I decided not to play that game, and instead finished my college work part time, over the last few years.

Its a preference thing, frankly speaking. You can live your life how you want, and I live mine my way. Simple enough eh?

Nethack / Roguelikes, too

[Anonymous Coward]

Nethack & other Roguelikes (ADOM, Angband + variants, Dungeon Crawl, etc.) are also great for a sysadmin type. No one knows what the hell you're doing.

That said, I work a late shift when there's no one here. Thumb drive + Visual Boy Advance (GBA emulator) is a great combination. Of course, save states are slow, so I store them on the HD here in a temp folder and have a batch file to update the copies on the thumb drive. That way, I can migrate my game back and forth from home.

The other nice thing about emulators with save states is that you can leave the game at any time. Just close the emulator, do the real work you're paid for, and when you have free time again you open up from the save state and continue like nothing ever happened. MUCH better than most games and the boss doesn't seem to mind so long as I'm always ready to drop it instantly to do real work.

Because it gives me an incentive to finish my real work quickly and properly (lest I have to do it over), there's even an arguable business benefit given that I wouldn't have a hell of a lot to do in all the quiet times, anyhow. Not having many problems, after all, is the sign of a *good* sysadmin.

I play solitaire when I should be working...

[Anonymous Coward]

greenfelt.net, to be precise. It's cool because it runs in the browser so you don't have to install anything. Just fire up your browser and kill a couple hours...

-David

I get paid to play games

[Centurix]

It involves typing loads of stuff really quickly, then to earn points, what you type does something special. And then, someone judges your typing by 'testing' how special that something is. If that something special does what the piece of paper says, then you get a pat on the head and maybe a biscuit. You could play it for hours, sometimes you get on a roll, sometimes you bomb. They even have people called 'project managers' who make sure the gameplay doesn't get out of control.

Slightly related (perhaps)...

[Anonymous Coward]

I run adult (porn) web sites for a living, and have for the past 4 years. Our busiest traffic days are week days, with Mondays being the busiest. Weekends always see a large drop in traffic. The busiest traffic hours are also during "standard North American work hours". Between 11am to 7pm EST. A huge peak between 4pm - 6pm and a very sharp decline around 8pm or 9pm.

I'm assuming most types of web sites probably see the same thing. I certainly notice fewer comments on /. stories during the weekend. If I had to make any guesses I'd think that people are often stressed at work and so they resort to slacking off be it playing games or surfing the Internet ... or jerking off.

Dwarf Fortress.

[Darlantan]

Grab it at http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
An interesting title where failure is, while not always fun, at least usually pretty interesting. Google 'boatmurdered' for an example. Not for you overly graphical sorts.

Arcade..

[Anonymous Coward]

I manage an arcade so playing games is almost expected, at least if it isn't working "correctly". The job is a pain in the ass, but it is a fun environment.

IRC

[TheSpengo]

Well, I usually don't play games during work, but I must admit I almost always have IRC on. ^^; Now, I don't chat all day and not get work done, but I do alt+tab into it from time to time... yeh, I'm an IRC junkie.

That's called the Work Jerk

[spineboy]

To pass the time at the office.

The nice thing about open source games

[DaleGlass]

It's that you can make a text client for them to log in and chat, even if nothing else works.

I don't do that myself, but I've heard people discuss it.

Recursive

[Databass]

In theory, my favorite game to play on the job is Miss Management. It's a game about people working in an office space- and your objective on some stages is to help your employees get in a certain amount of video game time in during working hours!

In practice I don't play a damn thing at work because I work for the Navy and it's a lawful order not to play any games at work. And we're at the same base the NSA is at here so I know they ARE watching.

(You can play Miss Management at http://www.playfirst.com/game/missmanagement)

End guy?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd like to get to the end guy, but I'm a long way off.

How do you get past kdawson?

Re:Kdawson

[Anonymous Coward]

Run around with a gimp and deny evolution. If that doesn't work, tell those pesky kids to get off your lawn.

Re:AC

[Anonymous Coward]

Cold weather will make them useless. Also, they're main attack is running away from you in masses, since they're cowards. That's when you whip out your fantastic Troll disguise kit. Trolls seem to attract them, as they're all geeks, and that's as good as they think that they can do.

On second thought, what am I giving advice for? I'm an anonymous coward. Why should I teach you my secrets?

Can You Guess Who?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gotta be "Guess Who?". A perfect game to play with your coworkers.

Re:Can You Guess Who?

[DangerSteel]

We play "Guess Who is quitting this week because they are tired of the BS". We have more turnovers here than the Pillsbury Corp. It's a very difficult game but much better than "Guess who just took hostages"....

DS

[mwvdlee]

I have a DS here next to me. Whenever I need to wait for something (like a batchjob, since I'm doing mainframe programming) I play for a few seconds then get back to work.
Would you believe the pace of my work has actually increased because of this?! I think it has something to do with not getting into a boredom induced paralysis.

Emulators

[dkrussian]

Let me clue you in on the best choice of action for work-games: the emulator. The reasons are endless. 1. Insta-pause anywhere in the game. 2. Resize game screen to just about anything. 3. Combine with awesome alt+tab action to keep that roaming boss behind your back at bay. 4. They run on just about anything (work rigs rarely include so much as decent ram and processor, much less some sli video card action) 5. With some pimp turn based titles like Final Fantasy Tactics and other RPG's such as Crono Trigger, it can be pretty easy to jump in and out even if your desperate alt+tab does NOT leave time to pause. 6. it goes on Of course this is best for rpg addicts such as myself, doesn't quite work for fps guys, but playing an fps with the boss staring you down doesn't seem wuite viable...

Legal Game playing by employers.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Considering you only drew 6 weeks in 20 years, I'm damn sure you can fulfill that requirement rather easily. So whats the problem?"

And people shouldn't have to show receipts or present their papers. Sometimes the problem is that a precident is being set that shouldn't be. He indeed may be paying unemployment to the state. That doesn't mean he's paying what the previous employer paid, and it's none of his business anyway. Nor can he legally discrimminate against anyone who has collected unemployment in the past, so there's no point in asking.

I would post an insightful reply

[andi75]

But I'm busy farming primals...

Browser games for the win?

[shoptroll]

I dunno. I usually spend time reading and posting in forums for games I play. Although I usually log into Kingdom of Loathing on occasion to check up on stuff when I'm bored or having trouble with a problem and need to put it on the back burner to simmer for a few.

Sometimes you just need to take your mind off the task at hand and do something else for a few. It seems to work.

Favorite Game at Work

[gaffle]

I work as a database developer and spend a decent amount of time sitting around with a putty SSH open. I like to play a windows port of Rogue at work. It looks little different than the command line terminal I have open most of the time anyways.

Go

[MeditationSensation]

I play on the Dragon Go Server. It's easy to just spend a minute or two here or there without a big commitment.

http://www.dragongoserver.net/

try FreeCiv or TuxRacer

[Green Salad]

Both are classics.

A game in Emacs...

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting as AC to protect myself... There's a text-based adventure game embedded in Emacs that you can play and it will totally look like you're working. I've been playing it all the time in my more tender years.