Story Play

As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve been spending way too much time playing this stupid game on my phone. I’m not sure what it’s official name is, but I call it “balls” partly because it involves bouncing balls off of blocks and partly because it’s just fun to say, “I’m gonna play balls.”

Now, one thing I stand firm on is not paying for apps and games. What can I say? I have a frugal streak. But the way you pay for free games and apps is having to sit through commercials. And for the bargain price of zero dollars, I’m willing to do so.

But it’s the commercials that bother me (not enough to pay for the game, but enough to write about it). I’m not talking about the ads for the fat-burning powder that I drink before bed and melt away to a svelte figure while I sleep. I’m talking about ads for games.  Games I thought already existed, like mansion decorating, garden tending, farm farming, fruit crushing or simple card games. Now, they have a new added element … a back story.

Before you get the keys to your dilapidated house, you have to decide if you’re going to stay with your cheating husband or walk away with your young daughter and the single suitcase your husband’s mistress kicked to you while you begged to take him back, on your knees, in the snow, while you’re hungry.

Instead of matching fruit or pieces of candy to make the whole row disappear, there’s an additional sense of urgency created by the cross-legged guy trying to cross a wooden plank atop the stacks of fruit or candy (same thing) to get to a toilet.

What used to be a simple game of solitaire has now devolved into a sick cow’s destiny somehow determined by how I play my cards. And I’m not even sure how the card play relates but there are pills, blankets, an IV and fire at steak.

While the ads have yet to convince me to download yet another time-sucking game to my phone, they do fascinate me.

As a storyteller, I get it.

Stories capture our attention (yes, I watch the ads all the way through because sometimes I wanna know if the woman is gonna stay in a threesome with her hubby’s new gal, if the man will wet himself before making it to the toilet and if the cow will become a burger).

I use stories to get people to laugh, to illustrate learning points and to give an audience something to think about long after I’m gone (from the stage, not from earth).

Stories have the power to entertain us, educate us, distract us and possibly even turn us into consumers.

Think about how you can relay an incident from your life via a story. I’m talking characters and plot thickening (or in the case of the digital cheating husband, plot sickening). Can you create some build-up and intrigue and surprise and resolution?

Give it a try and let me know what you come up with.

I’ll be on my phone waiting … and playing balls.