‘Candy Crush’ – How Addicted Are You? [POLL]

Last night I started talking about the concept of internet addiction, and the fact that there’s now a treatment center where you can conceivably break your addiction.

The article points out the addiction is noted not by the amount of time spent on the net, but where the time is spent and by whom.

For instance, according to the story,

Kimberly Young, a psychologist and founder of the new program, defined Internet addiction by the consequences of Internet overuse rather than the number of hours spent online. She said there was a difference between people who depended on modern technology but could balance their online life with their offline life, and people whose obsession prevented them from functioning normally.

Young said typical Internet addicts were young, male and highly intelligent. They often struggle socially and have from low-self esteem, she said. The majority are obsessed with such games as "World of Warcraft," not social media or pornography.

One of the most popular games is “Candy Crush.”

I’m only hearing about it this past week. While at my brother’s house, one of my relatives had her iPhone in hand, and when I pointed out that she was missing out on whatever we were talking about, she said she was playing “Candy Crush” and how I needed to talk about it.

Turns out while doing the story last night, someone else calls in to say how addicted she was to the game herself.

Therein lies the rub: How addicted are you to “Candy Crush?”; and which are your favorite but addictive internet games?

And believe it or not, there are some high profile dignitaries drawn to the game as well.

For those of you who do not know;

Anyone who has ever played Candy Crush knows that it's both the best and the worst thing to ever happen to you. The Facebook and iPhone game is basically Bejeweled meets Candy Land meets addiction.

And it earns its makers millions in revenue.

Candy Crush is a "freemium" app, which means it's free to download, but users can purchase in-game upgrades for more moves, more lives, more levels, etc. Candy Crush has perfected the art of in-app purchases because you just have to keep playing.

Just last month, AppAdvice.com (H/T Buzzfeed) announced that Candy Crush developer King.com was making $633,000 per day, earning upwards of $230 million annually and making the app the #1 grosser in the App Store. But what about this month?

As the game celebrates its first birthday—it was released in September of 2012—the moolah keeps rolling in. Now, according to data at ThinkGaming.com, Candy Crush earns $850,000 per day (it's still the #1 grosser in the App Store and has held that top spot for month).
That number seems huge—and it is—but considering nearly 7.7 million users are active every day (with hundreds of thousands of new users installing it daily), it comes out to about 11 cents per user.

But we all know some people are spending more than others (plus, you can't buy anything for 11 cents. The cheapest is $.99). Also, King has gone on record saying that 70 percent of users on the last level have never paid a cent.

So who's spending all that money? It could be anyone. It could be you.

Or it could even be someone with as high of profile as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to this:

In a YouTube clip released on the eve Rosh Hashanah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has us thinking he is going to deliver another one of his stern warnings about the threats facing Israel.

But is staring down at his iPad as he's talking – the first give away something else is happening.

"We need to act wisely. We need concentration. We need to advance to the next stage,' he says in the video.

Then the screen turns to the game Candy Crush Saga and the joke is revealed. From this joke the premier turns to say that these traits are also the traits that are needed for protecting Israel.

Netanyahu ended his video with the traditional wish "Shana tova."

Not a bad way to get one’s message across, even if the game itself causes one to spend too much time and money on it.