keep-calm-and-pretend-to-work-hard

Some days, one doesn’t have the will to work. However, it isn’t always possible to sit around and slack off. Especially with the boss around. However, it is possible to provide the illusion of working while actually engaging in other activities. More importantly, stricter workplaces may attempt to block proper entertainment websites, so one will have to get crafty about things.

Naturally, these solutions work best if nobody can see your screen. Although a couple may managed to escape detection by people who aren’t paying too much attention.

Build with Chrome

Google Build with Chrome LEGO

One of our many browser based games, although this one may one work as a disguise for designers. Build with Chrome is essentially a stripped down Lego game. It does, however, resemble 3D modelling software. Clutter it up a little with some extra toolbars in your browser and you have a reasonable disguise for building spaceships and castles without your boss suspecting anything amiss.

As a game, it is essentially a simplified Lego Digital Designer. Which was a service that allowed users to build virtual sets and then order the physical thing. The service was discontinued in 2012, but it appears that the code behind the designer is being put to good use. Although, once you’re done with Build with Chrome, the Lego Digital Designer is still available for download from the Lego website.

 

The Wiki Game

The Wiki Game

Wikipedia is a massive storehouse of information, and is readily accessible by even the most strictly controlled networks. It also provides plenty of links to get lost in, so if you run the risk of learning about the Crimean War while researching Moore’s Law. The entire point of the Wiki Game is to follow hyperlinks from one subject to another. It’s a race, so the shortest path usually wins; and you compete with strangers online.

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However, for those less inclined to blitz past massive articles looking for possible links, there is always the option for playing it solitaire style. Just choose two random topics and see how long it takes you to reach connect the two. You might even learn something along the way, and if someone asks what you’re doing you can claim its research.

Also Moore’s Law > Gordon Moore > California > Mediterranean Climate > Central Asia > Russia > Crimean War.

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

Hitchhiker's Guide

Based on the comic science fiction series by Douglas Adams, this game is a throwback to the text based adventures of old computer games. It’s on this list because text based adventures involve a lot of typing, which makes one look extremely busy as long as nobody can see what you’re typing.

This particular game was set aside from the others because it is currently hosted on the BBC Radio 4 website. Which makes the URL extremely discreet for messing around. After all, how much slacking can a person do on BBC Radio? A great deal apparently, the site hosts at least two versions of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy game; with a new version scheduled to go live at the next anniversary of the radio show.

GeoGuessr

geoguessr

Pretending to be busy with GeoGuessr might be a little harder than the others. The game itself is extremely simple. Players are shown a random location from Google Street View and asked to guess the location of the area. Points are awarded based on the geographic accuracy of the answer. It isn’t that easy due to the fact that 90% of these streets appear to be located in some temperate forest in the middle of nowhere.

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That being said, it might be a bit hard to disguise your slacking due to the large images of random locations showing up on your display. It gets worse when you pore over every detail in the picture trying to figure out where it was taken, like spotting a street name in the reflection off a store window located at the corner of the screen.

Arena.XLsm

Arena

This is the only game that is not browser based, but it is also the most stealthy. Arena.XLsm is a full blown RPG written to run in Microsoft Excel, and nobody is going to be too watching the guy with an Excel sheet open too closely. It’s big too, with over 2000 enemies appearing in random encounters, four different endings, eight bosses, and 20 unique items.

As expected, graphics are bare minimum; which gives it an almost nostalgic feel. Like playing Nethack all over again, except everything is running in real time. The most impressive thing about Arena.XLsm is that it was made by a chartered accountant from Canada in his free time. Which probably means that this game was created as a high sophisticated method of slacking.