I believe there is both personal responsibility on the part of the player (“It's just a game, I can quit anytime” and “I can play this game without paying a cent.” I did, and I have) AND on the part of the game designer. If you manufacture cigarettes, sure, anyone with enough personal responsibility can prevent themselves from getting hooked. Or, you can simply choose to NOT put nicotine into your cigarettes in the first place, and preemptively prevent it altogether for everyone.

It's worth noting now that in the months since this was written, several items were introduced to the game that can only be bought with mojo.

“Furthermore, We Rule is the *only* game that has ever given me the item (mojo in this case) FREE with every level up.”

This is true. It was actually a brilliant move on the part of ngmoco. Drug dealers use a similar tactic to great success. You can't get hooked on something you've never tried at least once.

I have a few games that do the real time check up on it thing. We Rule, Zombie Farm, and Godfinger. And yeah, if I don't check back in time, my crops wither or my gold rusts or whatever. So what? It's a game. On my phone. I don't have a job and it's currently the summer so no school, so I'm playing my games pretty regularly on my free days. But I don't feel the need to play them. When I'm out with friends, when I'm spending the night somewhere, when I'm on a trip, whatever, I'm not thinking, OH MY GAWD MY MAGIC CAULIFLOWER IS GONNA WILT. I've spent weeks away from those games because I had better things to do with my time.

The fact that you said you were constantly worried about your kingdom even when playing with your kids or trying to sleep I think says more about you than it does the game. It's a game.

In the end, in my personal opinion, it comes down to the person much more so than the game. Almost anything can be misused and abused. You have to make the decision.

I currently play/manage several “free” games on my iPod that *offer* in-app purchases that make the game faster/allow better upgrades/etc. I have never, and will never spend even a single dollar for the optional stuff. Furthermore, We Rule is the *only* game that has ever given me the item (mojo in this case) FREE with every level up. And they have NOTHING in the game that *requires* mojo to purchase.
If I can't “attend” to the game for some extended period of time — I just don't… there's no one forcing you to plant crops — the fields can sit there empty. My husband usually only plants things on weekends, not during the work week when he knows he can't deal with harvesting the crops, etc.
Also, when it came time to “hire a friend”, I just went to the plus+ network and added a friend from the leaderboards. I also figured out that at the ngmoco forums, there were tons of people looking for a friend. Later my hubby saw me playing and dwnld it to his iphone. True you get in-game $$ faster if you do the social part of the game, but after the tutorial is done, you can remove the “friend” and just let the businesses do their thing.

Personally, I like the real-time aspect of this game. It works for me.

The fact is that there are people in the world who *allow* themselves to become so engrossed in a game that they are not living their life, taking care of their own or their family's needs or become obsessed with thoughts about the game. There are other people who recognize that a game is taking up to much of their time and stop playing. And then there are people who realize from the get-go that ANY game is just that, a game, and that their life does not revolve around it.
I fall into the last group, as do a lot of people. It's a choice. ANYTHING you do can intrude in your life if you let it.

The point is there is absolutely NOTHING in the gameplay of We Rule that has to take over your life. You *can* effectively pause the game by just not planting anything, and then exiting the app. It's easy.

Also, much praise for being ethical in gaming! A game could be considered “a series of choices in real-time;” but in this case, the game is engineered to keep you continually checking back, or risk failure…

Man, there are so many levels to this! Well-written and well-done!

The author obviously has a weak constitution. Be a grownup & realize it is a game & not some sort of malicious plot to ruin your life.

Anyway, I am off to sell my 1st born so I can buy some more mojo!