Yours portly is running on fumes, and it’s totally self-inflicted.   I usually go to bed around 9:30 or 10 PM for a 5:45 AMish wakeup.  Lately, I’ve been staying up until midnight while still dragging out of bed.  It’s not because I’m losing myself in composing or writing (as today’s ultra-self-indulgent post demonstrates); it’s because I’ve been playing Old World.

Since moving to the new house, my commute is forty-five minutes one way.  I teach lessons most days until about 5 PM, after which I spend about thirty minutes updating my budget, prepping for the next day, and catching up on all the e-mails and comments and such I’ve missed while in afternoon classes.  By the time I get home, it’s already after 6 PM, even later if I have to get groceries.  Then it’s whatever chores and such I need to knock out around the house.

But the bug of late-night gaming has hit hard with Old World.  After everything is done and I’m finally unwinding for the night, it’s around 9 PM.  That’s a dangerous time to start playing an immersive 4X strategy game, because what starts as “I’ll just play for an hour” turns into three hours.  Sometimes “just one more turn” will morph into another thirty minutes of playing, as that “one” turns evolves into four or five (I’ve figured out that a turn in Old World, even in the midgame, takes about five minutes).

I’m currently playing a game as Carthage, one of those ancient civilizations that fascinates me.  Carthage starts with the semi-legendary Dido, the first Queen of the Carthaginians, and she enjoyed a glorious reign in this current game.  She reigned for so long, her son ended up in prison and her granddaughter took the throne.  The Carthaginian people have abandoned their heathen ways and converted to Manichaeism.  They’ve also fought an extended war against the Vandals.

For anyone that has ever played a 4X game, these kinds of “stories” that unfold are a large part of the fun.  The sheer amount of RNG in Old World (enough that the game throws fun curveballs, but no so much that it feels like an unfair crapshoot) gives rise to some intriguing choices.  That imprisoned son, the original heir to the throne?  He inadvertently blabbed about state secrets; to avoid looking week and losing legitimacy and the respect of the noble families, I tossed him in jail.  That came up as a random event.

So much of the fun of the game, too, comes from the court politics.  That also accounts for why each turn takes so long—after moving units, I’ve got to figure out who the current monarch will attempt to influence; which trade mission the ambassador will engage in; who the newly-eighteen-year old royal family member will marry; who the chancellor will imprison of influence on my behalf; and where the spymaster is heading to next (or which troublesome noble might get a knife in the back).  That adds so much depth, the kind of the thing I’ve always wanted to see in a Civilization game.  Old World delivers that experience.

All things in moderation, though.  Last night I got in bed at 7:30 PM (!) and I feel like a new man after getting a decent night’s sleep.  I’ve got to wean myself off of Old World—right after I finish this current Carthage run.

Happy Friday!

—TPP