I had a small stint with the game Cookie Clicker and lost far too many hours obsessing over the intricate game systems and optimizing the game. Firstly, this made me realize just how far I was willing to go to make an arbitrary number go up. Secondly, it got me wondering how mechanics from idle games might be used to motivate more fruitful pursuits, such as writing.

Notes

Idle games seen as a narrative system is an interesting framing. Through mostly passively spectating a world, the user gets to fill in the gaps and create a story of what is happening and why.

Why is it that in Cookie Clicker your grandmas eventually start turning demonic, and how does that help you produce more cookies?

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