Open Mike: The Strange Career of New York Mike

"Open Mike" is the off-topic, anything-goes editorial page of The Online Photographer. It appears on, um, Wednesdays.

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We have a saying in my community group that goes by the name of "The Serenity Prayer" (originally written by Reinhold Niebuhr):

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

I say it to myself at least once a day....

Sometime last Spring, I began playing a certain computer game. I got into it by accident, from an online advertisement. It was an online pool game.

I quickly identified the things about it that are unrealistic, i.e., different from real pool on a real table. So I looked around for a more accurate pool game, and—also quickly—discovered that there are a few, but they're not as much fun or as satisfying; so I concluded that the inaccuracies are purposeful to make the game less accurate but more fun.

I could have stopped when I noticed I was playing a bit too much and getting a little compulsive about it. But I didn't. Here's what roped me in: I discovered that although it's called "Eight-Ball Pool," there's a nine-ball version too. Nine-ball, in case you don't know, is a game in which nine balls are racked in a diamond shape. The person who breaks can play on if he pots a ball. The balls must be pocketed in numerical order, lowest number first, and the person who sinks the highest-numbered ball, the nine, wins. There are a few further rules which I won't bother to explain. What this means is that you have to strategize on each shot where you want the cue ball to end up, not only to make the next shot easy but also to enable you to go on and do the same thing with the ball after that. It's generically called "pattern play." Professional nine-ball players will map out the entire table before they even take their first shot; they might be aiming at the one, but they'll already know that the problem transition is, say, the six to the seven.

Although I'm a halfway decent eight-ball (or "stripes and solids") player, I had always been kind of scared of nine-ball. I just wasn't sure of my ability to learn pattern play. I had never really tried to learn it. So I figured that, even with its distortions, playing the virtual game would be a good way to learn some of the basics of pattern play. So I started playing the nine-ball version almost exclusively.

In the app, you drew opponents from all over the world. Mainly from the Arab world, Pacifica, and Asia. As an American, "NY Mike" (my handle) was in a minority.

To my surprise, I turned out to be...a bit of a monster at it. You can't win every game or anything close to it, not only because you can't avoid bad luck and off days, but because of a thing called a break-and-runout: that's when the opponent gets the break, sinks a ball, and then sinks the rest of the balls on the table. You lose without playing a single shot. I certainly did that to opponents enough times. Even after thousands of games, my winning percentage was more than 65%—very nearly two games out of three. I did encounter people with higher winning percentages, but very seldomly—and most of those people had played far fewer games than I had. In all that time, all those games, I only encountered one guy who I thought was clearly better than me. He beat me three out of three, playing fast and looking good doing it.

Pool, real or virtual, reflects your moods. If you're rested and feeling good, you play well; if you're crabby and tired, you'll get beaten again and again. I did have losing streaks. But when I was on, I was hot, baby. There were days when I could do no wrong. I had long winning streaks into double digits dozens of times, and twice amassed winning streaks of more than 20 games—very difficult to do (and requiring some cooperation from luck) because of the aforementioned runouts. When I would encounter very good players with very high winning percentages, I wouldn't avoid them at the earliest opportunity to protect my winning percentage, I would try to entice them to play more games with me. When I managed to overcome a deficit and win the series it was very satisfying.

You pay "coins" to play the game, and you get more coins when you win. If you run out, you have to buy more with real money. I never once had to do that. I started out with the same small amount of coins every player gets (a few thousand, I forget...) and ended up with more than fourteen million. Again, nowhere near a record, but then, I didn't play large stakes games because I wasn't doing it for the "rush" of betting, I was doing it to learn pattern play. Whenever I did play high stakes games I did well.

There's one young guy from some foreign land (India maybe?) who is a star at the game—he makes YouTube videos of himself playing and makes money from them. He's extremely skilled and I'm not saying I was better than he is...but the only time I played him, I beat him.

Curiously, though, I noticed something else by about halfway through the Summer...even though I wasn't working particularly hard on the blog, I never seemed to have any time for anything. What was up with that? I just figured maybe I was a little depressed. The thought passed.

I really enjoyed playing the app. For months it was my favorite thing to do. Not only was it a diversion, but it had the added satisfaction of what psychologists call "mastery." That is, you enjoy doing things you're good at, so you do them more. True, mastery is a developmental phase that naturally occurs in two-year-olds, but whatever!

Shocking!
And if you had asked me how much time I spend playing? I would have said that I play a little in the morning and a little in the evening, maybe half an hour and an hour, with occasional longer sessions. No big deal, right? I was just doing it to relax, for entertainment.

Wrong, blue-chalk-breath. Take a look at the profile below, captured near the end of the strange career of NY Mike:

I usually just checked this pane from time to time to check on my winning percentage. But finally, I noticed something—the game keeps track of how many games you've won out of how many you've played.

Hmm. Well, that's an opportunity to mine real data. I then played ten games, timing how long each game took. Then I took a low average. Then I sat down and did a little arithmetic.

And...hole-lee cow!! I was stunned to discover that between early March and early September I had played the game for the equivalent of nearly thirteen weeks of full-time work. That's over three months out of about seven. I was spending roughly 20 hours every week playing an electronic game on my phone! I was, very clearly, wasting waaaay too much time. Way too much.

Grant me the...
That's when the serenity prayer came into play. I had always paid the most attention to the first line of the prayer, the part about accepting things I cannot change; I do have a tendency to worry about global-village, big picture issues, over which I have no control whatsoever, and I need to continue to work on giving that bad habit a rest. But suddenly the second line of the prayer came into play:

...Courage to change the things I can.

Yes, I was proud of my record. Yes, I had amassed a lot of points. Yes, I enjoyed the game. But I'm a writer, and I have little enough time to write as it is. I have real work to do. I have people who contribute money to me for heaven's sake! I have an obligation to them.

It took me two weeks, but as soon as I realized how much time I was wasting I knew what I had to do. I hated to do it. I knew it would register as a loss. I knew I would miss it. I decided to wait until after my trip in September to help care for my elderly mother who has dementia, because I knew I'd have a lot of time to fill during that week. But on the last day of my visit to her in Cambridge, I said the Serenity Prayer to myself about five times, emphasizing the line courage to change the things I can, and deleted the app.

Whew.

Haven't played that game (or any computer game) since.

NY Mike R.I.P.
Well, it turned out to be easier than I thought, because I was clear about the decision. After about a week or so, I stopped missing the game. Although I'm still a little appalled at myself if I'm honest, in retrospect I don't feel too badly about it. Although TV viewing is declining, the average American adult still spends almost five hours a day watching TV, plus another hour and a quarter interacting with their smartphones. And I don't watch TV. Don't have one. Haven't had one for almost four years now. Even based on the shocking real data, I spent less time playing the pool app than most people spend watching television. Recently we learned that the President of the United States watches "four to eight hours" of TV every day. He has a job he's supposed to be doing too, and even he watches TV more than I played pool on my iPhone.

But you gotta be careful...our time on Earth really is short, and to be fully yourself you need to take an active role in your life. Do something positive. Try not to waste time. There are things you can't change, but there are things you can. God grant us the courage.

And hey, it served its purpose. I'm no longer scared of pattern play. If I ever get to own a real pool table again, I have a feeling I'm going to get the hang of nine-ball just fine.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Ben: "There are plenty of huge time sucks out there. I also don’t watch TV, but during the fall of '16 I spent plenty of time following election coverage online. More than I’d like to admit, though I don’t think more than most of us did, on average. Anyway, after the election I decided that it was too much.

"During the day I am mostly at home, so I figured that rather than spend my downtime reading news on the Internet, I’d do something more challenging and more enjoyable, and in January I took up the piano. What a fantastic decision that was! It’s been almost a year and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I don’t feel out of the loop, and I do spend some time on the web, but much less, and I find that not only am I more productive in the time that I am in front of the computer, but I actually enjoy my downtime now. :-) "

Geoff Wittig: "Great post, Mike. I compulsively played PC-based military simulation games for a stretch, about 10 years back, mostly modern armored warfare. Many of the observations are the same. The most accurate simulations were not necessarily the most playable. I did however find them far more satisfying because the realistic physics and limitations meant tactical errors led to defeat, and no amount of skill could unrealistically overcome massive numerical inferiority.

"But finally after a year I stopped playing, because I belatedly recognized how much time it was burning. The 'mastery' I was cultivating was less than useless in the physical world. Nowadays I'm much happier working to refine my technical and perceptual skills in oil painting. This literally has no upper bound, because the better I get, the more I recognize skills requiring improvement. It's a real, physical skill-set that sharpens my perception of the world around me. It also extends my interactions with fascinating people, as I paint with other devoted amateurs and participate in plein air competitions. For me that's a huge benefit, as I'm quite shy by nature. I'm also finding that it is changing my photographic vision, hopefully for the better. As my painting compositions get cleaner and sparer, my photographic composition is going in the same direction."

Peter Conway: "As Seneca said a couple thousand years ago, 'It's not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.' Guilty as charged."

Rodolfo Canet: "I hate videogames with all my heart, and so this is one of the very rare TOP articles I decided no to read. But, eventually, I did. Now I've just sent it to my two sons for reading it and think about it. Thanks a lot, Mike."

Comments

[Mark]

An addictive personality can be terrible but also wonderful. The knack (or, perhaps more likely, luck) is to align your addictions with things that matter.

[Stephen J]

Mike that was a great read, but it got me thinking...

Maybe I spend far too much of my time reading interesting photography and political blogs.

To say nothing of my boring comme..........

[Eric Rose]

I have seen more careers/lives ruined by electronic app addiction than anything else. Some of these apps offer up gambling sites, games, porn and believe it or not, productivity applications. Internet forums are another additive thing. I see some photo forums where members rack up over 20K posts in just over a year. The pleasure centres of our brains are easily enticed and enslaved by electronic devices whether they are TV's, notepads or smartphones. Smart marketers know how to tap into these triggers. Not everyone is susceptible but enough are to make it a great business model.

[David]

There exact same reason I don't own an xbox, playstation, or any other game console. I'd loose myself in it.
(Now, time to stop reading blogs and get back to study...)

[Ben]

There are plenty of huge time sucks out there. I also don’t watch TV, but during the fall of ‘16 I spent plenty of time following election coverage online. More than I’d like to admit, though I don’t think more than most of us did, on average.

Anyway, after the election I decided that it was too much. During the day I am mostly at home, so I figured that rather than spend my downtime reading news on the internet, I’d do something more challenging and more enjoyable, and in January I took up the piano.

What a fantastic decision that was! It’s been almost a year and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I don’t feel out of the loop, and I do spend some time on the web, but much less, and I find that not only am I more productive in the time that I am in front of the computer, but I actually enjoy my downtime now :)

[Mark Sampson]

Bored, I was reading this post and your second-last paragraph got my attention. Closed the computer, got up, went out with the 4x5, and found, and made, two good photographs in late-afternoon light. So I got the message; thanks! I needed that!

[Fred Haynes]

It's amazing how these 'devices' can take over your life!
If it's not gaming, it's the constant news feed. I don't have a phone, but I do have a I pad, and I have it in my face half the day! Especially when weather is cold and nasty. I know it's not healthy, but I do it anyway.
It's good you caught yourself.
I don't recommend throwing it out, but we have to limit ourselves.
One more observation. I like to shoot street pictures, even though I'm somewhat shy about doing so. It's gotten easier in the last couple of years, because everyone is so preoccupied with their smart phones!

[Steven Burgess]

Wonderful post, Mike. I really enjoyed reading it on my phone, which I check every evening to catch up on various websites ... like TOP. Although to be fair, your posts are often educational as well as entertaining. And I don't think I spend more than an hour a day checking. I suppose pool could be viewed as educational too. It certainly teaches about angles of incidence and reflection.

[david Lee]

I never got hooked on video games or computer games, but I lose way too much time on the TV and on the nternet. I have half read books all over the place and it makes me feel real bad. Just started reading "The Red Haired Woman" by Orhan Pamuk by the way. That one is keeping me away from the TV at least...

[Patrick Dodds]

Substitute "online pool" with "online scrabble" and that's me. Now, where's that serenity prayer?

[John]

When I get sucked into a game, I cannot stop thinking about it and its patterns. I play Bejeweled and I lie half awake seeing colorful lines. I play a word game and I’m forming words in my mind all the time. Even real chess played a few times leads me to see the world and my life in chess moves. Thus, I’ve become ruthless at deleting games or not playing chess when I recognize a thought pattern creeping in. Luckily, I suck at word games anyway...

[Gordon Lewis]

I can relate to your situation, Mike. Although I never had much interest in online games, avoiding Internet time-sucks is difficult for those of us whose livelihoods depend on spending hours every day online. It's similar to the plight of people who are susceptible to overeating: You can't simply stop eating, so you have to take on the considerably more difficult task of self-regulation.

[Speed]

"Jeez! It's three AM. I have to get up for work tomorrow."

Me, just after my final long Flight Simulator session.

[aaronL]

As my main obsession is reading photography blogs of which TOP is by far la crème de la crème, I'd beware of encouraging too much change.
Some addictions are too good to give up.
AaronL.

[William Whitaker]

I know I'm guilty of spending too much time on the computer... as I'm doing now, reading TOP and chasing links.
Just sayin'....
But the reminder of the Serenity Prayer alone makes it easy to justify.
Thanks Mike!

Still struggling with the wisdom part,
Will

[Bryce Lee]

Black holes are developed on a computer:
Spending time looking at YouTube sites, and then wishing you were physically younger and yet as mature in mind as at present.

Looking at photographic sites for some small bit of inspiration, The Online Photographer at the top of the list.
And realizing all those sites available to you; on a computer, now connected to an internet now based entirely on profit (thanks to the US-based FCC).

One other small point, at least from my end of things; so many of the few sites i visit are involved with activities I did once pursue and enjoyed. And now can not do any of them, or any thing similar.

So motorcycling and wearing the protective gear for same; photography and all that it entails as my physical being discourages the use of a photographic device; I have no vertical balance; so need to hold on to any stationary object to even make a photo. To be young and physically able was wonderful in retrospect; to not be nimble able, now is my sad future reality.

[Chris C]

I have a motor racing game where I have clocked up over 60,000 miles over the last few years. That's about 50% more than I've driven in my real car in the same period!

[JohnMFlores]

Timely post, Mike.

I was big computer gamer as a kid but gave them up because I had no self-control. But every once in a while I fall into one.

I just fell into a smartphone game as a way of connecting with my godson. I'm part of his "clan" and we play a bit together and text each other about it. But I play it way more than I'd like to admit. "Just one more game" is an oft-repeated thought.

I tell myself that I should spend my time on more tangible things like running, writing, and photography but when I'm feeling existential, I wonder if more tangible activities are in fact "better." My adult niece and nephew play another game and have teammates from around the world. They have, in effect, a virtual community, which is kind of cool.

Where am I going with this? I don't know, but now I gotta go and play that game. Just one more game.

[robert e]

A painfully familiar story! I've had to delete a couple of problematic phone apps over the years. Both "losses" were surprisingly easy to deal with, after the brief initial misery. I haven't owned a TV in a long time, but the fact that TV has come to the internet is trouble (not to mention the internet itself, but that's another story).

The one-week abstinence program is something that would probably work for many people, and for a variety of wasteful habits.

[Simon Griffee]

Videogames, like any other thing, can be abused, and many, especially those made for mobile phones, are designed to encourage addiction (as is Facebook’s interface).

They are also a nascent form of art and I encourage people to give them a try and let their children play and make up their own minds.

Carl Sagan, in his Pulitzer-winning book, The Dragon’s of Eden, p.p. 153–154:

As a result of Pong, the player can gain a deep intuitive understanding of the simplest Newtonian physics — a better understanding even than that provided by billiards, where the collisions are far from perfectly elastic and where the spinning of the pool balls interposes more complicated physics. This sort of information gathering is precisely what we call play. And the important function of play is thus revealed: it permits us to gain, without any particular future application in mind, a holistic understanding of the world, which is both a complement of and a preparation for later analytical activities. But computers permit play in environments otherwise totally inaccessible to the average student.

Three good games I played with friends this year on PC:

• Grand Theft Auto 5
• Plunkbat
• Arma 3

Three good games I played by myself this year on PC:

• Nier: Automata
• Witcher 3
• AssCreed Oranges