Zombie Cliche Lookout: Multi-Tasking
In recent years, a lot of (mostly virtual) ink has been spilled over the ineffectiveness of multi-tasking. Granted, most of the experts that are discussing the subject are focusing mostly on office workers, rather than desperate survivors in the midst of the zombie apocalypse, but I think the idea still applies. People are just more effective when they’re focusing on a single task at a time. Starting and stopping to switch between multiple tasks is mentally intensive and ultimately slower than simply tackling one thing at a time.
Of course, when there’s a small army of zombies banging at the door, focusing on a single task might not be possible. Case in point: multiple zombies are streaming through a broken window. Obviously, you’re going to want to block up the broken window, but at the same time, you’ve got to worry about the zombies that are already inside. This is where it pays to have other people in your group.
About this Episode:
A commenter recently pointed out something that our survivors are doing that just doesn’t make a lot of sense. In case you missed it, he pointed out that we had two people working in the foyer, where there was only one point of ingress, and already a temporary barricade. On the other hand, only one adult was in the living room with its much bigger windows, and no temporary barrier. The result? Zombies get in.
I wish I could say I did this on purpose, but I didn’t. The distribution of workers happened fairly organically, probably much like it would in real life.
Discussion Question: Minor Idiocy
Based on the totally unplanned idiocy above, what sort of related dumbassery would you say that you or your group could potentially fall prey to?
Please note, I am by no means suggesting that any of you are dumb; just that we all miss things and make bad decisions from time to time. In hindsight, we can’t believe how we managed it.
Typo alerts:
“that are discussion the subject” discussion–>discussing 😀
“army of zombie banging” zombie–>zombies 😉
“no means suggestion that” suggestion–>suggesting 😀
Only a few typos today, but I’d think Dave’s spiel chequer is trying to give him slightly incorrect hints on the tenses for discussion and suggestion! 😀 I’ve no idea how he missed the plural of zombies though! 😉
Man, two different instances of mistaking ion for ing? Jeez.
Also, there doesn’t really seem to be a mouseover text for this episode, just the title and episode number! 😀 I’d write “God this piano weighs a ton” or “Hey I found this piano where do you want the music set up?” 😀
Oops; I’ll get one added.
I liked this episode. I can see that the zombies are flooding the room and one of them even got hold of Ted. Clark stepped into the action by trying to push a piece of furniture against the hole, but in the last panel, you can see a zombie turning around, preparing to head towards Clark, so I fear for his safety too.
I suppose that I would often fall for the idiocy of falling asleep (I can’t stay up all night, I just can’t), getting trapped, taking risks to escape zombies resulting in injuries and perhaps a few other minor things that every survivor should do if they want to survive (verify all zombies are dead by applying a second blow to the head, not making a fire with high flames to avoid getting detected, etc.)
I’m the same way with falling asleep. When I was younger I used to be able to stay up no problem. These days, it’s rare that I stay up past ten.
When inexperienced people nail boards over points of ingress but don’t secure them to studs.
Totally forgetting to secure a room nobody’s in (eg. the bathroom window, the tiny windows high up in the basement which are actually at ground level outside, etc).
Excellent point about the forgotten rooms; that’s definitely something I could see doing.
Also, I find it interesting that both our stories have hit this point at the same time (I’m all uploaded through July). Last update had my undead breaking into the pub and causing panic; this update has the survivors barricading themselves upstairs. Haha!
Hah, that’s really cool. Also, I’m super jealous about your scheduled comics. I wish I was that prepared.
I write out scripts in long arcs, and then I shoot and assemble many weeks’ worth in one go (usually if I have a three-day weekend off from work). WordPress lets you schedule posts in advance, so I just get them all in there and let the chips fall where they may (which is also why I post new strips on holidays, because I’m not actually doing it, lol).
That’s the smart way of doing it. I used to keep several weeks worth ready to go, but somewhere along the line I got lazy.
Well, I might get so caught up in moving a piece of furniture that I forget Im holding a firearm that could make quick work of the zeds already in the room and buy me a little more time to re-zen the furnishings.
Seriously, the most common form a dumb-assery I see in both myself and others, is focusing TOO much on the immediate threat and ignoring it source. We can make fun of Clark for pushing a dresser while Teds in danger, but hes cutting off the flow of zeds before he deals with the ones already in the room as opposed to dealing with a constant influx and eventually being overwhelmed.
BTW, Im expecting one of two events here. Either a freshly zombified cameraman is going to pop out of the bedroom at some point and take out a major character. Or, when things look lost, the same cameraman who has yet to turn will storm out of the bedroom and sacrifice the little life he has left in order to somehow turn the tide. Just saying
Excellent, excellent point at focusing on the immediate threat rather than cutting off the source. I do that at work far, far too often.
What is going on with the layout of the site? Did you change it or is it just messed up on mobile now? And idiocy for me would be leaving the window open probably. I do it all of the time…
I updated it, but it is very much a work in progress.