Computer Games

I know computer games are very popular pastime for many people and for some it could be a obsession for life. There is also a big industry around it. Recently I was introduced to a new game called 'Age of Empires'. It is a simple strategy game in which you build your empire over thousand years using various resources such as food, technology, army etc. I enjoyed playing it, although for some reason I could not get obsessed with it. May be I am simply lacking the winning spirit that is oft spoken about.
I tried the 'Civilization' game and was able to progress with lot of engineering advances over few thousand years, but apparently failed to build good military in all occassions. Imagine, if I had been a leader of a tribe, maybe we would gone in history as most advanced nation with no recorded achievements. :-)
Somehow I could not get myself attracted towards the computer games. I know it has its own following. The earliest one 'Pacman' (DOS PC fame) to present day 'Age of Empires' have engaged gaming enthusiasts over a period of time. I once studied Game Theory in college, making assumptions about people behaviour based on rationality and common knowledge is a primary constructional pattern for many games. Of course modern day PC games have lot more graphics and really intelligent engines. This obviously leads to the personal pride issues, such as winner of Game X and winner who has reached level Y in certain game.
Strategy games differ in terms that more than killing enemies or navigation of fast bikes these games require the players to think beyond what is obvious. For some it might be challenging (well no offense but for some, even chase is a challenging game !), but in essence it is simply hierarchical thinking by infusing some rationality in it. Arguments can be made in favour of both sides. Some game enthusiasts would argue that they have better hierarchical thinking abilities than rest. However I know for a fact (er..well the people I know who play these games, i.e. 4 for now) that so called 'game enthusiasts' eventually download the 'cheat codes' for the game and simply try to win the game. (Time for philosophical thought of the day: Is modern society forcing this attitude in people, to win at whatever cost?)
At one point of time I thought having knowledge of Game Theory and nuts-n-bolts of these games would kill my enthusiasm in playing these games (which I now realise has done some damage...), but observing people downloading the 'cheat codes' makes me think that probably I was right in staying away from these games all along.
a. I have no obsessive compulsion disorder to win a game.
b. I have not wasted my time on PC games (well, I have wasted my time on lot many other things.. but not PC games)
I see many college kids playing these games on internet. I wonder how many of them would care about the Game Theory or the engines of the games. Maybe I am just getting too old.

Parting thought, real complicated games are the easiest to design...:-)

Internet Surfing

How much time one should spend in surfing the internet? This is not typical question of how much time you should spend at your gym or with your family and is not about spending "quality time together". This is simply question of how much internet time you can afford. Another day I was reading the blog of Grady Booch on IBM DeveloperWorks and I was impressed with the amount of research he does on internet. That is definately not possible unless you spend at least a few hours on internet and browsing the sites. Agreed, Grady Booch probably has more brain than average human beings and possibly could remember more things over a period of time (which is an understatement, he has been around for very long time and is not dead yet !).
I generally like to use office internet for surfing (saves family 'quality time') and speed is much better. Unfortunately, I do not get much time in office to do it. At home, like many other 'infotech-savvy' Indians, I use the VSNL dial-up (yes we live in caves and use lap-top batteries to start the fire! Talk about spread of technology to developing nations...). Now surfing internet on dial-up is really a time consuming affair. Finding ordinary information such as PDA based GSM cellphones, can easily become an hour long operation with dial-up. (and we are not counting Mrs. Kulkarni, whose looks make you feel you have been days in front of computer).
This simply rules out real valuable research on internet, like for example, most viewed porn site, which could take probably more than couple of hours. I recently decided to put at least 3-hrs every week on internet to various research and keep myself up-to-date about what is happening around the world e.g. what is largest selling lingerie in United States for this X'mas season. (For the record : That goes under heading of research in retail industry and web-site performance in peak shopping season). In any case I never managed to spend so much time on internet so far. For many it seems futile exercise to browse through huge junk information. For some it is a hobby (or area of interest). I saw some profiles which contained internet surfing as a hobby on Blogger.com. I hope these people are either unmarried, have lot of 'research' to do or simply spend lot of office and/or college resources on internet surfing. For me spending more than an hour on internet is 'moksha' for a week.

Adding to the Insignificant

Internet is an amazing thing. There are multitudes of ways by which you can create information junk and in most cases almost free ! I always think about advancement of technology and pure insignificance of the purposes we use it for. SPAM is a good example. Why on earth average people would pay money to some doubtful business sending them unsolicitated mails is simply beyond me. On the other hand e-mail as a technology has affected our lives a great deal. Recently I came across a study where telephone companies were complaining about loss of revenue on telephone booths in India. Nobody seems to need them anymore ! E-mails which can contain voice attachments, e-mails which can be read in your local language, e-mails which work even when your local post office is not, e-mails seem to have replaced average communication media. So many advances in electronic communications have also lead to large scale spread of hoaxes (RAND Computer picture in 1954) and related urban legands. It is amazing how e-mails and web sites could spread information with lightening speed in the world. Few years ago in India there was a hoax of God idols in temples drinking milk; within one day the rumours spread throughout the world and Indian people world over were rushing to the nearest temple to confirm this. I also saw few web-sites which were anouncing news per temple in India every hour. This all sounds very strange (and to some extent stupid) now, but in the abscence of internet, I doubt if this hoax would have spread so much.
Well this is first Blog and going with the theme I will keep adding the my thoughts and other junk information to this wide world of insignificant information (including my picture while we are at it)