Is it fun or a gaming addiction?

So the Question is: Is it fun or a gaming addiction?

Well, that's complicated.  If you spend more of your personal time playing than living, I think it's safe to say that's an addiction.  Everyone that plays has some form of a real life, no matter what their circumstances.  So if you are neglecting your real life, the real people in your life, your relationships, your job or family and not practicing some type of moderation then it's time to re-evaluate where you stand.  There are lots of players looking at the game and wondering where their time went and whether zynga really cares that they are driving players off in droves because of the excessive everything.

A simple thought is this: If Mafia Wars causes you stress in any way, it might be time to think about if you are playing a GAME or addicted.

For the addicted who know they are addicted and still enjoy it, I'm offering an anti-stress kit below.  For those that are still not sure, see the list after the anti-stress kit so that you can contemplate where you fit in on the addiction scale for Mafia Wars.

In the past jokes have been passed around as status posts on fb that are similar to the list below.  In this instance, these were created by me (in humor) so that you can see how many you identify with to determine if you might just be an addicted Mafia Wars player. 

• It’s safe to say you are probably at least mildly addicted to playing mafia wars if you can identify or relate to more than say, 5 of the following:
• You have logged into the game more than twice a day to make sure you have built from your properties
• You know what speed building is and have tried it more than once
• You have “Mastered” a Spam Event all 3 times
• You have or have had more than 3 tabs open with all tabs running a different script/bookmarklet in the game
• You know what Chucker is and the first thing you think of is not a tv show about catapulting pumpkins
• You *care* what your “worst item” Attack/Defense stat is
• You know what a Mock War is
• You have completed/collected all the items for every collection
• You have completed all of the jobs in every available City
• You have maxed out your property upgrade on every property in every available City
• You have contemplated whether to use battlefield, assassinator or slayer
• You know what a Secret District is
• The Don’s Gift doesn’t sound like a present from your friend named Don
• You have seen more guns on your computer screen than in a movie
• You know what the maximum gift collecting limit is and don’t like it
• You can only help 25 friends in this City per day means something to you
• 5 part property max is an all too familiar message and you think it bites
• Beg for parts
• A farm account has nothing to do with playing Farmville
• Boss fight can can be individual or as a family and does not mean you might get fired
• Arson buff is not someone who is good at committing arson
• You see another “new” property and think :sigh: then check to see if any of the items you can build will come with more than 6 skill points
• You suffer from Event Fatigue
• You have a list of things that you try to accomplish every day within a GAME
• You like friends that return special parts more than ones that send Mystery Shipments
• You have over 10,000 animal feeds
• You know what re-vaulting means
• You know the difference between a Leader’s Reward and a Helper’s Reward
• Congratulations!  For being a loyal player you have been rewarded with…is a message you try to remember to receive every day
• 3 free spins means something to you
• A mission is something you try to complete not something you read about a military doing in the newspaper
• You can only help in 5 wars = annoying
• You have ever had RGB or PFR on your wishlist and know what those letters stand for
• GC = a trading commodity and you have traded for something
• Stolen Ice means something other than an ice machine getting robbed and you are annoyed by that message
• When you hear “The beast” you in no way think of a Disney movie
• Tediously checking your player updates and posting capos on group walls is something you have done
• You have bought, with real actual money, RP
• You have more than 2 accounts for the sole purpose of anything related to mafia wars
• You have had a bad experience with zynga customer service more than once
• Unframe has nothing to do with paintings hung on your wall
• 
  

Mafia Wars gifting scripts

I was contacted today by someone wanting to know what gifting script I used to send the weapon parts out when we do weapon parts giveaways for Mafia Wars players. Obviously I don't send out thousands of weapon parts manually; I want my wrists to make it another few years, at least.

Since the original Chucker hasn't been updated in awhile that I'm aware of, I've been using Scruffy's mod of Chucker, linked HERE. I'm not sure how often it's updated, as I've been using it mostly just for sending weapon parts, but it's certainly more up to date than the original. It also features stats such as how many of the items you own, how many you are actively using, and how many you can gift away.

Spockholm also has one called the Gift-a-Nator that I've used a few times, you may want to check it out. It can be found on their Beta page, linked HERE.

Scruffy mod - Chucker

During a discussion of Arun's Chucker on the Mistyfied Mafia Wars fan page, Mari Lajunen posted a link to Scruffy's Mafia Wars Bookmarklets and recommended Scruffy's Chucker mod. I had never actually heard of this site, so I checked it out and found not only a Chucker mod, but mods of other scripts as well. I'll check them out later, but I did use his Chucker and liked what I saw.

If you're someone who makes use of Chucker, you may like Scruffy's Chucker mod, as it breaks down what loot you have by how many you own, how many are active items that you are using, and how many you can give away. It otherwise works just like original, but I suspect many may like the additional information offered in Scruffy's mod.

Thanks for the tip, Mari!