Mobilityware "Freecell" on Android

[VidThreeNorth]

Mobilityware "Freecell" on Android

"Manipulation" is a word that some people can find upsetting. It gets tied to conspiracy theories and such. But it is almost synonymous with most human activities. It is another way of looking at influence. If you say "please" or "thank you", you can look at that as "manipulation" or just being polite. As far as I'm concerned, it is generally not worth getting worked up about.

Now this is, maybe, an interesting case. It is "entertainment". And it is a case I cannot prove, because I am not going to go to the effort. If you want to, then that's up to you. What I have here is just "suspicious".

I have played a lot of "Freecell" over the years. I find it an almost perfect pass-time. It is something I do to "turn-off-my-mind", if that makes sense to you. Specifically, lately, I have been playing Mobilityware's Freecell on Android phones, and I noticed something. I started keeping some stats, and I thought I was getting better at it. It seemed to be getting easier. I was playing "Random" games, and my scores were getting a bit higher, and the games a bit shorter.

Then I tried another brand of "Freecell". I tried "random" games again, and I noticed it was harder. My suspicion is that Mobilityware is manipulating me by scaling the games to match my ability (sending me easier ones rather than true "random" games) in order to keep me playing. I'm including the stats of my latest game so you can see whether it is likely that I am right. I think that, having played over 1,900 games, I might actually be right about this.

Do I really care about this? Considering that it is not costing me anything but my time, and I do generally like playing the game, no, I don't. I just think it's interesting. They do make a bit of money by keeping me interested in their game, by sending me advertising. About the only caveat I have about this is that you cannot use the stats to judge whether you are improving at the game if they are "secretly" sending you games that match your ability. So for example, you cannot say that your brain is getting "stronger" just because you seem to be getting better at this game. That is a bit sad. Anyway, here are my latest stats:


2022-0730 03:12
Game #
[This game Score 6732, Time 05:49, Moves: 099]
Level 353 [1000 per level] continued
Games Won 1933 (100%)
Games Lost 0
Shortest Winning Time 3:34
Longest Winning Time 191:18
Average Winning Time 11:10
Fewest Winning Moves 85
Most Winning Moves 990
Average Winning Moves 115
Wins Without Undo 1259
High Score 10,219
Average Winning Score 4,931
Current Winning Streak 1933
Longest Winning Streak 1933
Level 353
Total 340,275
to Next Level 915