Game is on worldwide, but mobile gaming is having a real moment. Thanks to the Covid-19 the explosion of video games and the near ubiquity of smartphones, More and more people play mobile phones. And as of a few weeks ago, that number of millions of mobile gamers included me. I got caught up in Merge Mansion.
If you spend any amount of time online, you may have heard of Merge Mansion— The Internet is flooded with advertisements for it. (It was Instagram that pulled me in.) The ads themselves are downright weird. Live one-action advertising feature Kathy Bates as Grandma running away from his niece Maddie. Another movie featuring animated Maddie made the bride shed tears (what’s wrong with her husband?) but the house burned down. As the ad continues, Maddie is saved by her grandmother, who shows her the mansion and helps her restore it. But wait! When the family was gathered together, the police arrived and arrested the grandmother. As the police cruiser pulled away, Grandma showed her handcuffed palms, which had the words “He’s Alive” written on them.Penny’s No Boat“-Style.
The actual game is a bit less eventful and full of mystery than these trailers suggest. It all started like this: Maddie’s grandmother gave her a set of keys, which were used to unlock the gates of a mansion. Of course, Maddie doesn’t even know her grandmother yes a mansion. Moreover, the grounds are in terrible disrepair and Maddie has to do the cleaning and fix everything or else the whole place will be condemned.
That’s where the video game part comes in: It uses a simple “merge” engine — like Candy Crush. You merge existing items and spawn new ones to clear different areas of the mansion and its grounds. As you unlock new areas, the story unfolds and grandma shows up to uncover new mysteries.
The promise of a fascinating, eerie mystery might be what drew me in Merge Mansion, but the familiar addictiveness of a hybrid mobile game is what keeps me playing. And frankly, it’s a bit embarrassing.
I’ve been playing this game non-stop — or at least as much as I can without actually paying to unlock features faster. I play it as soon as I wake up in the morning (it’s my new Wordle), use up all my “energy” (the tool that allows me to craft new items), let it rest until evening, and then play in a few blasts after my kids go to bed. I’m known to have tested it and used up all of my lunch reserves.
Honestly, I don’t know why this is amazing. Mobile games are design to keep you from turning them off. There’s something so soothing about cleaning up crumbling areas of the mansion. Plus the dopamine hit when I final take the object that I’ve been chasing for days is real. I’m playing directly into the hands of the gamers here, and it doesn’t feel great – but it feels great, too. Plus, I have a feeling there’s some internal toxicity at play. (Would I still be a “real” gamer if all I’ve been playing lately are mobile games?)
Instead of being embarrassed, I decided to embrace shame. Not only did I fall prey to a weird advert on Instagram, but now I’m caught up in a mobile game designed to suck real money out of me. Does it matter that I haven’t put any cash on it yet? Not really. It might happen if I play long enough. I feel embarrassed when it happens that it will eventually be real, but it will also make me happy.
That’s the problem, isn’t it? Yes, I want to play Rise of the Tomb Raider on my PlayStation, but the reality is that I don’t have the time or the luxury to sneak out of my everyday life to make it happen. Even if type The game I’m addicted to isn’t the game I really want to play, it satisfies me now and provides a convenient outlet when I need it most.
And what is the real big deal? Am I not the first to scream if someone tries to smear a mobile game as invalid? I’m just like a gamer when it comes to mining the game on my mobile device as well as when it comes to playing on my console. I shouldn’t feel ashamed of the kind of title I’m playing, and even if I did (because we feel what we feel!), I’ll embrace that emotion, instead hidden behind it.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a mansion to grow on.
