This week was another in which I feel I’ve been able to look back with more awareness as to how I am spending my time. In particular, it’s my difficulty in switching tasks. I found this through reflecting on a problem often seen in video games, the one more turn syndrome.
Just One More Turn
There’s a phenomena in video games that’s referred to as One More Turn Syndrome. It gained popularity through the Sid Meier’s Civilization series. Essentially, it’s the practice of continuing to play for an extended period of time, after consecutive expectations to stop in just one more turn.
For context, in the game you run a world civilization and develop it through scientific advancements, political decisions, colonial expansion, and of course, conquest. A given turn can have a number of events. You maybe have a new scientific advancement, a new city is built, or even a country declares war on you, among significant other possibilities. One more turn is all that’s needed to sort out the current situation, then you can pick the game up again at a good point.
I found myself in this one turn cycle earlier this week while playing the game, Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop. I streamed the game as part of my Indie Monday series on Twitch, and felt the need to keep playing after closing it out completely. There are far from the possibilities than Civilization, but there are a ton of progress bars and options to work on all at once. Each of these acting as a carrot on a stick to just keep going for a little bit longer.
Beyond Games
Reflecting on this habit, I see it in a variety of areas in my life. There are times I stay online at work after the day ends to wrap up one last problem, then an email comes in I can tackle really quick, and so forth. As well as many other areas that are far less responsible.
Streaming services have designed their platforms to take advantage of this. When was the last time you were about to close up Netflix when the next episode count down began, prompting the thought, “I can watch another.”
This isn’t always a bad thing, but when other responsibilities or expectations arise, it’s important to be able to shift from one task to another.
Solution
If one more turn syndrome was easy to avoid, it wouldn’t have the reputation. There’s something about chasing that carrot that keeps you from recognizing just how much time has passed.
As of now, I’ve tried and failed to implement the simplest of remedies, a timer to stop. After it went off, I still told myself, just let me do this one thing and that’s it. Another hour or so passed, and I realized that method just did not work.
There are some alternatives, one I’m curious to explore is scheduling the computer to turn off at a given time. Using a timer as a warning that it’ll occur soon. While not built in for gaming consoles, a timer plug can do the trick.
I wish I could say I was able to stop and start when I set out to, but willpower is tricky thing. The best way to have strong willpower, is to not have to use it.
Trying Out Before Buying In 