A Line full of Halos

As I was surfing the BBC web site, I stumbled upon yet another story about the launch of the X-BOX game Halo 3. Apparently, the game sets the record for the most money earned in a day, not only by a game, but by an entertainment product. It made more money than the opening of Spider-man 3.

The lines (or queues, if you live in the UK) were horrendous, yet again. Some hard-core gamers started to line up 14 days before the release. By the way, I was always wondering where they go for a pee or a wash.

Anyway, my issue is not with their bodily functions. Perhaps they carry big buckets. What I fail to understand is this universal excitement. The same thing happened during the release of the i-Phone, the Wii, the last Harry Potter book etc. What drives people to spend several days in front of a shop in order to spend money? If they are so eager to get their favourite toy, why don't they pre-order it on-line? Why can't they wait for a few weeks to get it? So what if they are not among the first. It is not like they are getting free money.

I have never seen a queue (sorry but I lived in the UK too long) of people to donate money to a charity or do something good for the community. Perhaps it is evolutionary. Perhaps, the queuing culture dates back to a time when we were hunter-gatherers and had to hunt for our food. We had to wait hours for the poor animal to pass by and be killed by our spears. The end result was excitement and survival.

However, we are not hunting for food anymore. (Granted, some still do but let's face it, hunting is not universal anymore). We do not remove the skin of the animal and use it for clothing. We have evolved passed that point. It is time to forgo practises which make us look like our ancestors. It is difficult, but it can happen. For instance, we tend to use plates and cutlery for our food (unless we eat lamb chops, yummy). We have developed technology which should have set us free from prehistoric practises. Instead, we have adapted our behaviour to fit our technological marvel. We do not wait to kill an animal with our spear and bow. We wait to kill digital bad guys with our laser weapons, instead. WELL DONE; and let me not start about Second Life. That virtual fak with 10 avatars was simply great. (Who said that evolution is just a theory?)

Since I am onto the subject of queuing I have to comment on the British culture. What the heck is going on with the Brits? They would queue for everything. They will form a queue even if there is nothing to wait for. Seeing other people in the line is enough to join them. If you do not believe me, try the following experiment next time you visit London with a few friends of yours. Choose a random building and form a line in front of the door. Presto, soon enough the Brits will stand behind you. You go to a bank with several open tills. If, for some reason a couple of people wait in front of one of them, everybody else will keep queuing at the same line. The other cashiers will have to 'beg' for customers.

At least the lines are usually non threatening (unless it is cold and gamers develop frost bites).