The makers of this entertaining but lightweight desktop diversion have really hit on an ideal formula: By constructing a game based on lampooning the randomness, shallowness, and unoriginality of today's workplace, they have freed themselves to release a game that is as random, shallow, and unoriginal as what it's lampooning. Hey, so what if one of the ten included "games" has no real ending. That's typical of the open-ended assignments in today's culture. So what if many of the games blatantly rip off classics like Space Invaders, air hockey, and Donkey Kong... people in the workplace steal ideas all the time. It's all part of the joke!
There is a rough structure to Dilbert's Desktop Games. It is your job to succeed in seven of the ten different activities to earn parts that will upgrade Dilbert's Game Machine. Once you've succeeded and the machine is functional, you get to... print out a certificate! (typical of corporate America's pattern of under-recognizing a job well done). The games range from quite entertaining (the Donkey Kong-like Techno-Raiders, where you try to move from level to level, gathering donuts, while avoiding contact with coworkers) to downright stupid (The Final Word, where you stamp classic Dilbert sayings like "This has long day written all over it" onto your computer desktop, then print them out). For the most part, though, the games are just what they are advertised as: fun little diversions to waste some time while you're at work.
While Dilbert's Desktop Games doesn't take itself too seriously, and therefore needn't be judged too harshly, it was kind of disappointing given the innovative, cutting-edge, and ironic humor of the actual Dilbert comic strip. It's my bet that Scott Adams, Dilbert's brilliant creator, was nowhere to be found during the writing of this game, and therefore has learned an important corporate lesson about blindly licensing out his product.
