You should obviously set your desktop background to "cat"

July 4, 2017 8:44 AM

Need a break from needing a break from work? Spend a little time being productive in It Is As If You Were Doing Work, a free web-based game about doing work in an office job.
posted by cortex (27 comments total)

Courtesy those nice folks over at Rock Paper Shotgun, I suppose I should note.
posted by cortex at 8:45 AM on July 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

“So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.”
~ Peter Gibbons, Office Space
posted by Fizz at 8:56 AM on July 4, 2017 [16 favorites]

There's more than a little irony in a game that (judging from the screenshots) simulates old-style windows applications but won't run on Internet Explorer.
posted by yhbc at 9:00 AM on July 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

This is okay, but after a certain point you stop getting promotions. Ohhhhhh.
posted by eeek at 9:03 AM on July 4, 2017 [27 favorites]

Trying to keep up with the email and document 'typing' feels like a surefire way to develop an acute case of RSI.
posted by jedicus at 9:39 AM on July 4, 2017

i agree, jedicus, it is a very realistic sim
posted by indubitable at 9:49 AM on July 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

This gave me an incredible olfactory memory back to an early job pecking away at a grimy computer in the depths of a garment factory.
posted by amanda at 9:49 AM on July 4, 2017

it me.
posted by infini at 9:50 AM on July 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Your mind is your kingdom.

World like you don't need the money.
posted by NoMich at 9:59 AM on July 4, 2017

Not that I want to work on 7/4, but I used this for like 3 seconds, until it crashed FireFox. And now I can't get it back up. So, I guess, chapeau site, for stopping me from working?



but really I'd like to get back to work so I can eat
posted by alex_skazat at 10:02 AM on July 4, 2017

I "type" by leaning on the space bar, bonus it also activates the first choice on popups which usually makes them go away.
posted by idiopath at 10:12 AM on July 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

i keep diving in and then getting bored and quitting a few minutes later. just like real jobs!
posted by mittens at 10:19 AM on July 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

oh god the constant interruptions and aeronautical lingo are giving me flashbacks to my last office job

A+++ work
posted by indubitable at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Of course, the hardest part is playing Breakout.
posted by ckape at 10:26 AM on July 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

It's really only missing the annoying coworkers talking loudly about sports and/or TV shows or gossiping obnoxiously.
posted by darksong at 10:37 AM on July 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

You could simulate that by putting on a podcast that you don't like.
posted by ckape at 10:41 AM on July 4, 2017 [16 favorites]

I had it reset on me and I was back at intern ... too real
posted by one4themoment at 10:44 AM on July 4, 2017

ps you can "work" during break if you constantly change your display
posted by one4themoment at 10:54 AM on July 4, 2017

This is more stressful than my regular job.

Why am I still playing?
posted by bunderful at 11:08 AM on July 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

Well, that was a healthy dosage of red mist.
posted by Metro Gnome at 1:34 PM on July 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Extra difficulty: Play this while this is on in the background.
posted by Space Coyote at 2:49 PM on July 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

Beautiful.

So, who's up for a general strike?
posted by eotvos at 3:15 PM on July 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

Today I filed expense reports. No, like, actually.
I'm pretty sure my error rate wouldn't be much higher if I filed them the same way I type emails in this game..
posted by nat at 5:19 PM on July 4, 2017

I couldn't get any farther past it wanting me to select "Go" and then it wouldn't do anything. Fuck this shit.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:45 PM on July 4, 2017

Holy crap this is depressing.
posted by miyabo at 8:20 PM on July 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

My performance went up dramatically after I realized that you can elect to finish older tasks, instead of dealing with new ones immediately and generating an ever growing pile of half-completed work.

This game has real lessons to teach you.
posted by CaseyB at 9:47 PM on July 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

There's more than a little irony in a game that (judging from the screenshots) simulates old-style windows applications but won't run on Internet Explorer.
Did you try IE 5.0?

My performance went up dramatically after I realized that I could ignore newer tasks and keep on typing until I made CTO. Not much fun after that. Seemed like the workload went down the more I advanced.
This game has real lessons to teach you.
posted by MtDewd at 8:20 AM on July 5, 2017 [2 favorites]