I used to be a hardcore gamer. I've even been addicted to several MMORPG's (yes, including WoW). I cured myself from these addictions about 2 years ago and quit gaming altogether, so I could concentrate on school more (and my extinct social life). I've switched from Windows to Mac a year ago, that put a lot of games out of reach anyway.
Sometimes though, I felt a little craving for a nice simple game that wouldn't kill my social life again. I have found it in Open TTD. It's an open source version of Chris Sawyers Transport Tycoon(the guy also developed Rollercoaster Tycoon). The game is pretty old, hence the 'crappy' graphics (which I love).
Basically, a bunch of nerds used the binary code of the original and added a lot of spiffy features and add-ons that form Open TTD. For example, there is a Dutch Train set available which enables you to build dutch trains, trams and stations. The goal of the game is to make profit by setting up transport services for passengers, raw materials, goods etc. This can be done by train, ship, plane, bus or tram. Especially the routes you build for the trains can become pretty complex. As you build (from 1950 to 2050) the towns grow into cities and your transport vehicles can modernise. Trains go from diesel-powered to electricity to monorail to mag-lev. The best function that has been added in the open-source version is the ability to set up a multi-player game. It is really fun to play with friends.
Another reason why I like this game is that it can be played with little attention. If you want to build the most advanced trainsystems you should focus, but if you're doing some reading (studying) you can just let the game run and check up on it now and then, build some new trains and continue doing whatever you were doing.
The website Open TTD has all the info you need if you would like to play the game. You don't need to be a nerd to grasp the concept of the game. It's also not hard to make profit (just start with 2 airports). It's just plain fun :D
