Idle Games - How Games Scratch Your Multitasking Itch - Extra Credits

Games that ask the player to do nothing more than wait while numbers increase have seen a surge in popularity. They fill a developing modern need for activity, giving players a window in their browser they can compulsively check while cycling between other interests. The fact that they ask for so little makes it easier for them to fulfill a multitasking impulse, scratching the player's itch to feel like they're accomplishing many tasks when their main focus (like listening to a lecture or working at their desk) requires them to sit still.
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♪ Intro Music: "Penguin Cap" by CarboHydroM

♪ Outro Music: "Crystal Potion" by posu yan

[extrahistory]

If you're looking for examples of "idle games, " here's just a few:


Feel free to suggest your own favorite idle games in comments!

[alijahb]

3:45 "Like we're always never not doing something."
Fuck that took me a minute to process.

[IQuickcz]

The feeling when you realize you were listening to this video while building a level for your game xD

[thegamingram]

So I guess the new question is.... how many idle games can a person play at once?

[bearbiter]

Listening to Extra Credits' vids while I code ~

[jozroz]

And 5 years later, going on 6, it's a goddamn epidemic...

[NepNepYT]

This was 5 years ago.. now im sad. We need an updated 2020 video

[pinkwings]

I'm also a big fan of the sense of humor that idle games have. I open up the tab, get a good chuckle from whatever happened while I was away, click some buttons, and move on. AdCap's over the top Cold War Capitalist vibe and Cookie Clicker's eldritch horror undertones always have something new to be amused by as the game progresses.

[armaniac]

"Do Nothing 2015, Now with less"
OMG finally, how long have we been asking for less! Best E2 demo ever!

[jimoneil]

To put it incredibly simply. Is satisfying to get pretty colours for doing nothing

[raconvid]

I come from 2020 to say, there are now many idle games on the App Store.

[Immatreee]

This video helped me understand my obsession with the idle elements in oldschool Runescape, pretty interesting stuff

[wabschall]

2018 and steam now has a host of downloadable idle games, kongregate is full of em. The time to idle is here

[DoNotFeedTheSquirrel]

Progress quest is and always will be my favorite idle game. It's a really clever and really funny breakdown of MMOs with a lot of attention to detail, I.E. getting tons of spells, but only upgrading a small handful of them, because those are the actually useful ones.

[KasaiYuppa]

you have unleashed a curse on hundreds of thousands,
the curse known as cookie clicker lives on to this day,
i am here ~4 years later

[HiperLoveli]

I'm one of those who can't work without a podcast or someone talking in the background. Thanks to that I have "heard" all of your episodes at least 100 times each (maybe more)... Some more than others. I mean... I know every single line of my favorite ones...

[moosetwin]

"I think many idle game designers will start naturally move their games towards the unfolding games we talked about earlier this year"
This prediction was spot on, and it has become so much of the genre that even the idle game subreddit is a merge of idle games and unfolding/unboxing games (r/incremental_games)

[notabigfanofgoogle]

Fun to see how this has changed. More and more idle games are available for download and are being played. I see idle game callouts pop up all the time in the corner of my screen when my friends start playing them on steam.

[kevgmei]

A Dark Room is a semi idle browser game, and a game I recommend.

[Knosferatu]

Absolutely spot on. I'm more amazed that you could articulate this phenomenon than just noticing it.