I was introduced to Candy Crush by a friend during the school summer holidays. It’s such an addictive game! But now I’ve deleted it from my Xperia. Here’s why I’ve stopped playing Candy Crush, maybe you should think about stopping too.
First off, I have to say, I’m not one really for playing computer games. I got a new Sony Xperia earlier this year and the first thing my children wanted me to do was to download a whole series of games, from Cut the Rope and Angry Birds to more obscure ones (as far as I was concerned) such as Minecraft.
I did download a few but to be honest hardly ever played them. I only resorted to them if I was perhaps waiting to pick my husband up from the train station or maybe waiting for my appointment at the Doctors or Dentist.
Life changed though when I was ‘encouraged’ to download and have a go at Candy Crush.
The friend who introduced me to the game was staying for a couple of days and from the time she introduced me to it, to when she went home, I had already managed to notch up a number of levels, I was up to something like level 27. I felt really pleased with myself.
Once I downloaded the game so too did my children and my husband on their various electronic devices. Very quickly they seemed to become totally obsessed. It was ridiculous. To the point my husband said too much time was being wasted and he was going to delete his – I think he completed a few more levels between saying this and actually doing it!
The children decided that they didn’t want to use so much of their allocated time for playing games on Candy Crush so they too deleted theirs.
I was stubborn though and thought as long as I control usage I’d continue using it. As my brother suggested I could play it whilst having a cup of coffee, as he does. I thought this sounded good and as long as I limited my usage to the 5 lives you get in a time block all would be fine.
I managed this for a while. Mind you playing over a coffee was a bit of a problem as I don’t usually stop and sit down for one so I instead I’d play it before going to bed.
Gradually though I found myself picking up the phone to have a few goes at other times during the day. I was becoming more addicted. I wanted to get to the next level at all costs it seemed.
How to get through Candy Crush levels without spending money.
To help you succeed at a level you can buy ‘boosters’ such as a hammer to help. These cost you but they do propel you through a level more easily. As they cost is relatively low it’s very tempting to buy these ‘boosters’.
At various levels you also have to ‘buy’ your way through to open up the next set of levels. You can do this by spending money, asking a friend for lives or undertaking challenges.
I didn’t want to spend money, even thought it was only 69p. I didn’t want to ask friends either. So I decided to undertake challenges.
Basically with these you have to clear the equivalent of a level but once you have succeeded you have to wait 24 hours before you can undertake the next challenge. You have to do 3 challenges to unlock the next set of levels. Clearly King, the makers of the game are hoping that you are so addicted you can’t wait this time and so spend the small amount of 69p to get you through.
I wasn’t swayed (albeit I came close!) and I’d suggest you shouldn’t be either.
So why have I now stopped playing?
My time on Candy Crush was going up. Any spare time I was playing it. Previously I would pick up a magazine or a book, but these were now just gathering dust. I was feeling frustrated that I wasn’t reading and yet I couldn’t get out of my head the need to try and complete another level.
I was now on level 60. Not even close to the 300+ levels that some people I know are on – wow that is impressive!!
I worked my way through to level 70, reaching that a few days ago. I really was battling with myself now. On the one hand what was the point of spending so much time playing. On the other hand I desperately wanted to get to the next level.
I couldn’t complete level 70 very easily and found myself looking online for Candy Crush cheats! What I found didn’t really tell me anymore than I’d worked out for myself.
In my opinion there’s minimal skill in the game, perhaps a few techniques to employ. I think it pretty much falls down to luck, which candies do you have available to you and where are they positioned.
After using another 5 lives trying to complete the same level I came to my senses.
My life was being ruled far too much by a GAME!!! I decided I’d delete it from my phone. It felt surprisingly difficult to do, like I was disposing of something I really loved – perhaps more a love/hate relationship.
I did delete it and I’ve been Candy Crushless for nearly a week now.
I feel liberated. I’m not ‘wasting’ so much time, I’m not being tempted to spend money on hammers or such like or unlocking next levels. I’m not spending time looking up cheats help. My mind is not permanently thinking about when I can get a few minutes to have another quick game
I am being me again. I’ve time to read my magazines and get back into my books. I’ve been reading Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom since early August and until last week had only managed to get through a few pages. I’m now well over half way and thoroughly enjoying it.
And what’s more I find I can focus on other important matters, like a house move that’s imminently coming up.
I might even get back to sorting out the personal finance matters that I wrote about in an earlier blog which, for perhaps obvious reasons, I haven’t yet tackled. How can playing a game be more important than sorting out these things?
I appreciate others may feel that playing these games isn’t a waste of time, however, for me, I think it pretty much is. That said I did mostly enjoy my time playing. I feel though I’m now back on track with how I want to spend my time.
If you play Candy Crush, or any of these other so-called ‘freemium’ games, do please share your experience. Is it like mine? Are you still playing? Dare I ask, what level are you on?