No violence here

It’s heart-warming, and makes one more optimistic about the future of our race, to come across a video action game, widely popular since 2004, in which the competitive element is constructive rather than destructive. In this game, no-one gets hurt or even mildly annoyed: you simply have to roll a sticky ball around picking up people, buildings, umbrellas etc, and see who can make the biggest lump of stuff. It is called Katamari Damacy, which translates as something like “clump of souls”, and there is a Quick Time trailer of it here.

Its basic mildness and delicacy is illustrated by the fact that it has inspired spin-offs of much interest to knitters and crochetters, a group of people who may be competitive but always in a gentle and tolerant way which hardly ever involves small arms, explosives or knives. Here, for example, is a picture of a knitted Katamari ball hat; there are many websites which show you how to amaze your friends by making or even wearing such things.