Line #53 Main/PlayingGamesAtWork


1	->''"That man is playing ''VideoGame/{{Galaga}}''! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."''
2	-->-- '''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]''', ''Film/TheAvengers2012''
3
4	Many people tend to decide to play games at their jobs, at least occasionally. For people who spend their workday at a computer, this can take the form of secretly (or not so secretly) playing a video game.
5
6	The most common choice is ''TabletopGame/{{Solitaire}}'', which was commonly found bundled with older UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows systems. This is not only an indication that the character bored out of their mind, but they don't even have the means or the energy to download or install something cooler, or their work computer does not allow foreign programs to be downloaded without administrator permission, which they most certainly cannot get. Later Windows machines require you to download games yourself, which might lead to something a bit more involved like ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' or surreptitiously playing a phone game like ''VideoGame/AngryBirds''.
7
8	The person playing may be a SurveillanceStationSlacker. Often doubles as a FunnyBackgroundEvent. Compare PiratesWhoDontDoAnything.
9	----
10	!!Examples:
11	[[foldercontrol]]
12
13	[[folder:Advertising]]
14	* One British press recruitment advert for a management consultant company challenged the reader to spot how you could tell a lazy colleague was lying when he said he was too busy to help you. (His monitor screen was reflected in the window behind him, showing that he was playing Windows Solitaire.)
15	[[/folder]]
16
17	[[folder:ComicBooks]]
18	* In ''ComicBook/{{Paranoia}},'' unactivated clones pass their time in a small, dark room playing games against each other before being called to duty. Unfortunately, they can guess what the others are thinking since they all share the same thoughts.
19	* In issue #227 of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', while TheTeam is infiltrating the Egg Base, they move into view of a security camera. Luckily, the SurveillanceStationSlacker in charge of it is playing an (unidentified) game and thus doesn't notice. Later, when one of the two [[DualBoss dual bosses]] of the base discovers this, she says that [[NotSoAboveItAll if he's going to slack off, he needs to at least beat her high score.]]
20	[[/folder]]
21
22	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
23	* In ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie'', the director of the Honex Industries can be seen playing a hexagon-shaped Solitaire at his computer during Barry's motivational speech at the end. Justified in that at the time, the honey production was shut off and the bees had nothing to do.
24	* In ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'', when Hiro leaves a police office after unsuccessfully trying to convince a bored policeman about a supervillain being on the loose, a game of Solitaire can be noticed on the policeman's computer screen.
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
28	* ''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]]
29	* ''Film/The400Blows'': When Antoine is locked up at the police station for the night, the police officers on duty are seen playing a dice game.
30	* In ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation'', Benji is briefly seen playing ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' at the CIA and flipping screens when anybody important comes where they could see.
31	* In ''Film/OfficeSpace'', lead character Peter Gibbons, having taken a more casual attitude towards his job following his hypnotherapy session, is at one point playing Tetris on his office desktop as his PointyHairedBoss Lumbergh comes in.
32	* Dante from ''Film/{{Clerks}}'' closes his store early so he can host a hockey game on the roof.
33	* ''Film/OceansThirteen'' has a clerk playing Solitaire rather than working as part of the long chain of humiliation for the hotel reviewer.
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
37	* ''Series/NightCourt'' had an episode where the staff is filmed for a documentary crew. In the intro, Mac shows off his computer and says that he can easily bring up a file by pressing a button. He presses a button to demonstrate and brings up a game of ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''
38	* In the first episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Gus is doing this when he's introduced. Shawn notices immediately due to his hands being on the keyboard in the proper position for playing a FirstPersonShooter.
39	* In ''Series/TheOfficeUS'':
40	** Dunder Mifflin Scranton employees, particularly Creed, can be seen playing games like Solitaire and Hearts on their computers as a sign of their apathy towards their jobs.
41	** Stamford branch employees spend a lot of time playing ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' on their work computers and take it very seriously. Jim's lack of skill at the game causes a lot of tension.
42	** Dwight, fighting a bout of depression, spent an episode playing ''VideoGame/SecondLife'' at his desk. Also, when he created Mega Desk while Jim was away on paternity leave, he dedicated one section for gaming between sales calls.
43	** Stanley spends most of his days drinking coffee and solving crossword puzzles.
44	* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' introduces the mobile game and ''VideoGame/CandyCrush'' {{Expy}} ''Kwazy Cupcakes''—spelled "Kwazy" with a K and, oddly enough, a ''backwards W''. Gina quickly gets addicted to it, and when she introduces it to Capt. Holt, even ''he'' gets addicted to it—{{Foreshadowing}} of his characterisation in later seasons as a gambling addict.
45	* In the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode riffing on the film ''Film/TheUndead'', Mike mentions that before he was sent to the Satellite of Love, he had a really good temp job where he mostly ate bearclaws and played ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''. He has no idea why he got fired, though.
46	* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In "Kill Screen," Mac overhears Adam and Danny speaking excitedly, goes to investigate, and finds them playing ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar 3''. Adam explains that it's part of their case: the motive was someone hacking the game in a tournament to make the winner's [[HitBoxDissonance hit box twice as big as it should've been, while simultaneously reducing the opponent's box to half its size.]]
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:NewspaperComics]]
50	* One ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' strip has Mike tour his software company, and happen upon one of Kim's hires playing solitaire. The testy fellow claims he's developing a new paradigm.
51	-->'''Mike:''' Red queen on black king.\
52	'''Jerkass:''' Yes, I know. Do you mind?
53	* [[http://dilbert.com/strip/1995-01-22 This]] ''{{ComicStrip/Dilbert}}'' comic.
54	-->'''Dilbert:''' [[BrilliantButLazy One month to build the product]] and five months to play ''{{VideoGame/Doom}}'' on my computer.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:VideoGames]]
58	* Before multitasking became as feasible as it is today, many older PC games had a function hotkey for either instantly quitting the game, switching to another program or covering up the game with a fake spreadsheet, often colloquially dubbed the "Boss Key."
59	* 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.
60	* 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]]. Hearthstone can be found on various tablets and monitors throughout the maps, mostly at research stations and consoles where important work ''should'' be conducted.
61	* In the ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' 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.
62	* In ''VideoGame/TheDarksideDetective'', examining Officer Murakami's workstation at the precinct house results in [=McQueen=] remarking that Murakami has achieved a new high score in "whatever he's playing" (and Dooley complaining that he's never going to catch up when [=McQueen=] keeps making him ''work'' during work hours).
63	* In ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'', on rare occasion you can stumble across some office worker's abandoned workstation whose monitor has a game of Solitaire still opened.
64	* In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', you can hear Bradford complain about someone doing this in the Situation Room:
65	-->'''Bradford:''' Are you really using our tracking terminal to play ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}''?! I at least hope you're going for a Military Victory.
66	* During the opening cutscene the PlayerCharacter of ''VideoGame/SunsetOverdrive'' is casually gaming on his phone instead of cleaning up the concert, as is their job. What makes this interesting is that the game they're playing is...''[[RecursiveReality Sunset Overdrive]]''.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:{{Websites}}]]
70	* "Can't You See I'm Busy!" was a website with games specifically designed to look at the first glance like normal Office programs, allowing one to play them without being detected (as long as nobody is looking at them too closely).
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
74	* 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.
75	* 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 Website/{{Facebook}}.
76	-->'''Nicole''': We're here to get a marriage licence!
77	-->'''Employee''': Uh uh, one minute. [Clicks on his computer, {{beat}}]
78	-->'''Nicole''': Are you playing solitare? [Employee still clicks] I can hear you [[TheInternetIsForCats watching cat videos]].
79	-->'''Gumball''': [hears a 'ping'] What the?! That's the sound of [=ElmorePlus=] Messenger!
80	-->'''Employee''': [[BlatantLies No, it's not]]. [[superscript: [[HashtagForLaughs Hashtag...]]]]
81	* Mordecai and Rigby from ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' tend to slack off on a very frequent basis, much to the endless frustration of their boss Benson. This ranges from playing video games to getting distracted with other activities when they're supposed to do their jobs. Their professional procrastination tends to cause about half the conflicts in the show, which often leads them to go on crazy misadventures trying to fix the resulting problems.

Context Main / PlayingGamesAtWork