2. Tetris
The classic workplace distraction, one can only posit a thought that the global banking crisis was able to fester because somebody was desperately trying to beat their high score. Tetris is so simple a game that it is pretty much the perfect business model for its designers. For those of you who haven't played this game yet (although it is likely a few have it open while they read this), the objective of the game is to fit blocks of different shapes into the grid as they fall from the top of the screen, and with every full line of blocks completed they disappear. The game only ends when a block hits the roof. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Its simplicity is its genius. There are no time limits, no power ups, no finite amount of lives. It is just a man or woman in front of a computer screen for as long as their eyeballs remain intact placing an endless stream of blocks into the best places. When you have revision to do, some coursework, a project that is due the next day or a presentation that you are not completely finished with, Tetris is the easiest way to distract yourself, and waste your entire day. The addictiveness has the tendency to sneak up on you from nowhere. You say to yourself that you have an essay to write, but you'll just stick on a game of Tetris for a minute. And then the first game ends, then you try and beat your best score. Then you beat it, but now you have a new record to demolish, not to mention the records of all your friends and everybody who's played it online. When you finally turn your head to the clock, it's 2:30 in the morning, the essay is still a blank document and you still carry on playing. The addiction has gotten even worse than when Tetris was purely a video game. It is now available at will on the Internet, on the desktop of computers, and onto mobile phones and iPads. This will lead to some of the longest times you will ever spend on the lavatory. The grand master of video game addiction has been hard to shake off, but now there is a current video game trend that has the potential to tear real human relationships apart.