He wants to live forever, have the option to escape to outer space or an oceanic city-state, and play chess against a robot that can discuss Tolkien, because these were the fantasies that filled his childhood imagination.

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In the country, on terra firma, a doctor of good family could play cards and chess with well-born friends, and supervise his gardens and the collection of rents from his tenant farmers, all the while staying clear of the infections summer brought to Venice.

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For the first time on Facebook, Idle Worship provides players with synchronous play: the ability to interact with other players in real time, as opposed to the old chess-by-email systems employed by the majority of social games.

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