RIP, Overdrive

Overdrive was one of those online games by social network-gaming giant Zynga. I was not interested in any of these at all until one day, one of the Playboy Playmates or pornstars I'm friends with on MySpace sent me one of those unsolicited requests for another of the game -- Mobsters, I think. I wanted to impress her, with thoughts in the back of my mind that this would lead me to getting laid. Instead, I got caught up with the act of mouseclicks being used as "fighting" and "performing jobs" such as running moonshine over the county line and killing a snitch. This is Dungeons & Dragons updated for the Internet age.

I don't know if have fun with these games. Not only do I "play" Mobsters, but I also "do" Mafia Wars (for facebook as well as MySpace), and for some damn reason I'm on this gardening game called Green Planet. Still don't know how to play that. I don't even think I should call these "games." Clicking on a mouse and being told what is happening is not what I consider a "game." It's an "activity," and yet I can't help but check on it. I don't play it -- I tend to it. It's the equivalent of taking care of a plant; if you don't make sure it gets enough food and water so it grows, it'll die. And I don't want it to die, so I head back to my mob guy in Mobsters and Mafia Wars and fight and loot and contract kill so my player gets better, even though it's a pain in the ass a lot of the time and I don't really derive any enjoyment from it.

Another way I know I got attached to these mindless games came through around Christmas, when Overdrive announced that it was going to end on the 25th of January. I got into Overdrive because joining and playing it was a requirement for completing one of the jobs on Mobsters. It was a street-racing "game," but I always found it hard to do its jobs and improve my standing because I never was able to get other people, really or imaginary, as part of my "crew," and therefore was never able to do the tasks that required more than a crew of myself. (You can purchase other "Mafia Members" for Mafia Wars, and Mobsters is rigged so that if you master a job, sometimes you'll receive a mob member so you can start working on tasks with your increased group.) I grew disenchanted by Overdrive because of its limitations, but I still cared to check up on it once in a while.

And when I saw that Overdrive was in its last month of life, I had that mindset whenever someone is told he or she has one life to live: I did as much as I could in my time left. I had millions in my bank, most of them on a fluke: I "challenged" some guy with a crew of about 320 to a "race" because some player put a bounty on him. I lost, like, 300 energy thingies (energies?) to 1. But this guy probably only had 1 energy thingy left because I knocked him out, and therefore got the bounty. Anyway, there was no reason to keep it in store, so I took it out and bought up as many car washes and residential properties (the only two pieces of income-generating real estate I could buy because I was by myself).

I also had 16 "favor points" left, which is currency to buy other things, like dummy street racers and this thing called "Nitro," which is a boost that helps you with races. Four of those points for fifteen minutes' worth. When you race somebody at the "track," there is a list of people you can challenge, and almost all of them have triple-digit crews. No matter; I bought some Nitro and challenged, and lost, to as many of these people as I could before I was completely out of energy and had to wait for it to recharge. And I spent my last four "favor points" on their slot machine game -- spin and you may win a prize. I got nothing.

I was sad to do all that I could have done overnight Monday (early Tuesday morning), but Overdrive didn't leave me with anything left, so I said a silent goodbye and clicked it off. Then, late Wednesday afternoon (I think maybe it was Thursday afternoon), I saw that the Overdrive icon was still there. Just out of curiosity I checked it. I could still play! So maybe Overdrive was getting a reprieve. So I did as many tasks as I could and raced as many times as I could and banked all the money I made from those and my real estate properties, just like I usually do.

I left Overdrive hoping/thinking it'd be up for the foreseeable future. But, either overnight Thursday (early Friday morning), Friday afternoon, or overnight Friday (early Saturday morning -- I feel really bad for not remembering the exact day and time), I clicked on it only to see a message that said the "game" had been discontinued. I reached only Level 63 (I think), never even reaching the jobs that waited for me Internationally (I think) upon reaching Level 70. If only.

I am sad. Farewell, Overdrive.