Carrot, meet stick. Stick, meet carrot.
I swear, this “Fable” game is doing wonders for my productivity. My inherent guilt will not allow me to simply slag off work and play–I’m generally pretty concientious about working through the day, which you have to be, if you work at home, because if willpower weakens, it provides a chink wherein the Demons of Slack will poke you savagely, and then you’re screwed–so I am working like six kinds of dog to get stuff done, whereupon I can play for an hour, then back to grindstone, get enough done, play for an hour…etc. This makes me realize that I obviously do not work hard enough under normal circumstances, because I have managed to jam a day and a half worth of work into a single morning. I have finished a Digger, laid out a Digger, finished a cover, updated a rough, and gotten about half of another fairly complex painting slapped in. Also, I vacuumed.
See? Video games are good for you!