I play computer games. I play a lot of computer games. Recently I've been playing Majesty, which bills itself as the "Fantasy Kingdom Sim". It's your basic save-up-and-manage-resources-while-creating-buildings-and-heros-to-fulfill-quests game, with a twist. You can't order your heros or people to do anything. You can, however, set rewards for the accomplishment of certain tasks, and then the natural greed of the heros will sometimes cause them to do what you want them to do.
Anyway, while playing this game, as usual for me, I like to keep playing long after I have finished a quest. I like to explore the limits of the program - what will happen if I create only Wizards' Towers, filling the entire landscape with them? How much money can I make before the game stops me or crashes? How quickly can I make money? (I've noticed that have a few fast-food restaurants helps with that!)
I've done similar odd self-quests with various other games I've played - Angband, Civilization, Command & Conquer, Master of Orion, Pool of Radiance - you get the picture. In most cases, I die with a lot of stuff - stuff that could have saved my virtual behind if I hadn't been so busy saving the goods for a rainy day. "Oh, I don't want to use one of my twelve scrolls of Stone Skin against this monster - what if I run into something really nasty?" This thought is almost inevitably followed by a strangled scream from (the real) me, as my character is chopped into little bits. Guess I should have used a scroll after all.
Lately I've been trying to use some of my scrolls before it's too late - and hey, it is working out pretty well. Even if I run out, I'm really no worse off than I was before, because I was too busy hoarding them to get the benefit of owning them.
Now if I could only get my characters to use some of these potions they've saved up...
You can respond to my ranting here.
Rant-astic!