A computer can predict what I do.

This is perhaps the most frustrating game ever. It's called MindReader and the goal is to fool the computer by randomly pressing a 1 or 0. Meanwhile, the computer is trying to "read your mind" and predict whether you're going to press 0 or 1.

The first one to 100 wins. I've played 5 times and I haven't even been close to winning. In other words, the computer has successfully out-predicted me 5 times in a row - and by huge margins.

The computer uses math; specifically a "Context-Tree Weighting Method", which the programmers call "adequate". The computer uses math to read my mind and predict what I'm going to do next. Even when I try to be unpredictable, the computer still wins.

This scares and amazes me. It scares me because it shows that I'm not so unique after all. I can be predicted. It amazes me because this knowledge can be used to predict how people will react in certain situations. It takes the uncertainty out of behaviour.

The most interesting thing is that the computer predicts my next move even before I've consciously made it. The 2 or 3 seconds of my brain's reasoning is totally useless. I should just have a computer make all my decisions for me.

In the end, it will have chosen what I would have chosen most of the time anyway.

I just want to play video games all day.

Actually, what I want to do is book a week off work, send Jake to daycare and send Cindy to her job. I want to open a beer, shut the blinds of my house and turn on NHL 09 on the PS3.

Then I want to play it for 8 hours a day. Full out for one full week. I want to create a new season in dynasty mode and be the coach, gm and player for 25 seasons in a row - doing draft picks, trades, plays and of course playing 80 game seasons.

Why? I have no idea. I guess it stems from being a kid and loving hockey. I guess part of me never grew out of it. I could just lose myself in the simulation. I could neglect cooking and cleaning and child-rearing.


Just become this self-destructive video game dude. When it's over, I'd like to brag about how I did in my season. If I won the Stanley Cup. My various team member stats.

My wife would be impressed. She'd say, "I'm so glad I married a man like this! He knows how to have fun!"

My son would be impressed. He's sign, "My Dad is one of the coolest guys I know. He loves playing games and one day he'll teach me how to play PS3 hockey."

My boss would say in a letter of recommendation, "Mr. Johnstone displayed outstanding initiative and competence."

It's a win-win, all round.

Facebook is a game whose goal is to collect "friends".

Someone wrote a good description of Facebook on a message board and I thought I'd build on their idea. Basically, they said Facebook was a large, multi-player game; the goal of which is to collect "friends".

I agree and would add that the goal is actually to increase your "prestige" level by "getting in people's face". You do this in two ways:

1) You collect "friends" - this is the game's currency.

2) You update your profile, post photos, add features - these actions remind people of your existence.

When you do both of these things, you increase your prestige by "getting more in people's faces". That's the goal of Facebook. It's to compel a community of people to care about you.

Most of the work we put into the internet (creating a blog, updating a web page) results in little or no feedback. (For example, I average approximately 0 comments per posting on this blog.) But if I were to do this on Facebook, I'd score huge prestige points.

So Facebook is a way to get people to care about you. The game works because it's a form of symbiosis. You "win" through "cooperation" with the other gamers (the other people on Facebook). It's in their interest to add you as a friend because you also add them as a friend. They increase their prestige and you increase yours.

Similarly, this is the same reason why we should wish other people in the world get rich and make a lot of money. When other people get richer, we get richer too because they buy more of our stuff.

Facebook is a giant game of mutual co-operation. The more you give, the more you get back in return.