Surrounded by sketchy architecture threatening to fall at any moment, Guy Dangerous barely escapes the grasp of the monkey hordes following closely behind. One slip, one wrong jump, a swipe in the wrong direction and the monkeys will attack leaving nothing of Guy Dangerous or the player’s pride.
Since Nokia first offered the game Snake on a phone in 1997, cell phone games have transformed with new technology into advanced forms like Temple Run and Angry Birds. According to realityisagame.com, Temple Run became the number one top grossing app on Jan. 7.
“Like Temple Run, Snake gets progressively harder making people want to beat their high score,” sophomore Marrisa Baumgartner said. “They’re very tactful, and once you start playing a game that gets progressively harder you want to be better at it and beat your high score. I have a lot of friends who are severely addicted to Temple Run and play for hours on end.”
Freshman Quai Smith-Sims joins the 55 percent of gamers who play games on their phone according to theesa.com.
“I play everyday,” she said. “I play after school. I guess I play so much because I have nothing else to do, if I’m not texting anyone.”
However, not everyone depends on games alone for entertainment. Baumgartner said she does not play games often.
“I’d say I play games as a last resort,” she said. “I don’t play that often because I put school work and other activities before playing games.”
The cell phone gaming world dramatically increased in population in 2008 when Apple made apps available for people to buy. Snake was first made available to users through calculators and phones. Giving iPhone users easy access to countless of apps, 25 billion apps have been downloaded since Apple opened the App Store.
“I think I started playing games when I got my phone because it was mine,” sophomore Sarah DeShurley said. “It was just mine and I could play whenever I wanted. It was right there.”
In addition to the availability of games, Smith-Sims said the popularity of smart phone games branches out from already addicted gamers.
“People are attracted to smart phone games because they hear other people talking about it,” she said. “Then they just try to figure out what makes it so addicting and then they play and become addicted. The next game will be something that just keeps going on, they just change it a little bit.”
Guy Dangerous sweeps around the corner. In an instant he stumbles clumsily over roots. The monkeys that have been upon him for the past 205,000 meters pounce, leaving the gamer with nothing to show for their hard work. While a player’s gaming experience ends abruptly with a swipe to turn left rather than a tap to jump, there is always another chance to fulfill the gamer’s addiction.