Games for Lunch: Chore Wars

In a nutshell: Kyle and the Quest for Cleanliness
12/31/2008 2:36 PM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 2

Developer: Kevan Davis
Publisher: Kevan Davis
Release Date: July 2007
System: Web browser
ESRB Rating: N/A
Official Web site

0:00 Even though it's not strictly a videogame, I've heard a lot of good things about this as a fun way to keep up with household tasks. I'm hoping it can motivate my wife and me to actually keep up with our chores.

0:01 "Honey, can you help me with a Game for Lunch?" I ask my wife, Michelle. "I guess so ... what is it?" she replies. "It's called Chore Wars," I reply back. She already sounds incredulous. "Are you serious?"

0:05 We start by paging through the FAQ together. Michelle: "This is very silly." Me: "I think it could be fun." Upon further reading, Michelle repeats: "This seems very silly." Uh oh ... I'm already losing her!

0:07 With Michelle off to comb her hair (seriously), I create my character: "Kyle, the Chore Destroyer!" I pick a handsome, princely avatar and some of my top chores from a list: vacuuming, taking the bins out, and making phone calls.

0:09 Michelle is off to water her plant. "You should create a character first, so you can get XP for your watering," I say. "It's OK, the plant needs love," she replies. Seems she doesn't need the in-game motivation like I do...

0:10 I start our party, calling it "The Land of Orlazurek," a play or our last names. I can use a list of 15 pre-generated "adventures" (much more exciting than "chores"!) or create my own list of chores. Let's start with the 15 common ones at least and go from there...

0:13 We get rid of gardening and grass-cutting "adventures," since we don't have a garden and/or lawn. I have to ask Michelle about ironing, because I sure as heck never do it! "Yeah, I do it sometimes," she says. Who knew? "Maybe this will encourage you to do it more!" I say.

0:18 While Michelle signs up for her account, I create a new adventure that's specific to us: "Straightening Up." The game suggests assigning experience points based on how many minutes it usually takes. I say it should be worth 30 XP. She says only 15. We compromise at 20 and make the adventure give small bonuses to dexterity and concentration.

0:19 I send Michelle her invite code. "You're a Shaman, huh?" I ask. "Apparently," she replies. Apparently the avatar picture she chose makes her a Shaman and me a Warrior. "It looks like you," I say. It really does!

0:21 Michelle is amused by my self-imposed "Chore Destroyer" title. We tweak the preset adventures a bit: Cleaning the bathroom gets 15 extra XP because it's "especially disgusting," as Michelle accurately puts it.

0:24 There's a bit of haggling over grocery shopping, which I usually end up doing. She wants it to stay at 50 XP. I say it should get extra because I have to lift the heavy bags and unload everything and suffer through the grocery store's Muzak. She gives it a 10-point bump.

0:25 She grins as I read the game's preset description of taking out the trash: "Disposing of a single sack of unwanted rubbish or cursed magic items." Maybe this could win her over yet.