History Main / PlayingGamesAtWork

->''"That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."''

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease All that [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment needs to be said]] is that it is indeed TruthInTelevision.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease All that [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement needs to be said]] is that it is indeed TruthInTelevision.

* In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', you can hear Bradford complain about someone doing this in the Situation Room:
-->'''Bradford:''' Are you really using our tracking terminal to play ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}''?! I at least hope you're going for a Military Victory.

* In ''VideoGame/InvisibleInc'', the first heist has the team break into an executive's office and hack his workstation to get data needed to plan future heists. The game has several descriptions of the workstation that it rotates through, one of which notes that the executive is in the middle of a game of Solitaire.

-->-- '''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]''' - ''Film/TheAvengers2012''

->''That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did.''

NoRealLifeExamplesPlease All that [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement needs to be said]] is that it is indeed TruthInTelevision.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode, "The Signature", at the town hall where the Wattersons, Granny Jojo and Louie sort out their {{Relative Error}}s before Richard's dad Frankie would possess their house, they go through an long and tedious process of lampshadedly [[ObstructiveBureaucrat slow bureaucratic transactions]]. One transactions has them seeing an employee playing Solitaire and surfing through an {{expy}} of FaceBook.

* Before multitasking became as feasible as it is today, many older PC games had a function hotkey for either instantly quitting the game or switching to another program, often colloquially dubbed the "Boss Key."

They may be a SurveillanceStationSlacker. Often doubles as a FunnyBackgroundEvent. Compare PiratesWhoDontDoAnything.

* ''Film/TheAvengers2012'': After [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] comes aboard the Helicarrier, he gleefully points out that one of the bridge deckhands is playing ''{{VideoGame/Galaga}}'' at their desk. Shortly after the scene ends and the heroes leave, the deckhand turns their screen back to ''Galaga'' again.[[note]]The line was [[ThrowItIn an ad-lib]] by Creator/RobertDowneyJr, and later while editing, director Creator/JossWhedon found a shot of a deckhand extra looking shifty, so he edited ''Galaga'' onto their screen.[[/note]]

* In the cinematic trailer for ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', a guard at the museum can be seen playing ''[[VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft Hearthstone]]'' on his tablet instead of [[SurveillanceStationSlacker monitoring the security cameras]].

->''"That man is playing ''{{VideoGame/Galaga}}''! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."''

''"That man is playing ''{{VideoGame/Galaga}}''! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."''
-->--'''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]''' - ''Film/TheAvengers2012''

!Examples

--> '''Mike''': Red queen on black king.
--> '''Jerkass''': Yes, I know. Do you mind?

-->'''Dilbert:''' ''[[BrilliantButLazy One month to build the product]] and five months to play {{VideoGame/Doom}} on my computer.''

-->'''Bradford''': Are you really using our tracking terminal to play ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}''?! I at least hope you're going for a Military Victory.

Often doubles as a FunnyBackgroundEvent. Compare PiratesWhoDontDoAnything.

* In the cinematic trailer for ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', a guard at the museum can be seen playing ''[[VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft Hearthstone]]'' on his tablet instead of monitoring the security cameras.

The most common choice is ''TabletopGame/{{Solitaire}}'', which is frequently used as a visual cue for the audience that the character is bored out of their mind and has nothing more interesting to do. A good reason for this might be the fact that the UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows systems (the older ones, anyway) come bundled with Solitaire and a couple of other games, meaning that it is, or at least was, one of the few games that could be played on a computer without installing it first and regardless of Internet connection.

The most common choice is ''TabletopGame/{{Solitaire}}'', which is frequently used as a visual cue for the audience that the character is bored out of their mind and has nothing more interesting to do. A good reason for this might be the fact that the UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows systems (the older ones, anyway) come bundled with Solitaire and a couple of other games, meaning that it's one of the few games that can be played on a computer without installing it first and regardless of Internet connection.

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* Non-adult example: In the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episode, "Suspended", after Arnold and Harold get suspended from school, they go to the public library do some research on an appeal to the school's constitution. However, only Arnold does any actual research on his computer, as Harold is seen playing a ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}''-like game on his computer, until an unamused Arnold sees it and shuts the computer off.

* In the ''VideoGame/SamAndMax'' series, the Shambling Corporate Presence plays "Mimesweeper" when accidentally sent to Santa's workshop, and again when he's sent to his proper office in Hell.

'''Indices:''' ComedyTropes, INeedAnIndexByMonday (subsection Recreational Opportunities), OccupationTropes (subsection Other Work-Related Tropes)