So, the real John, whose name is James Ernest, works for SpryFox. They are a little game studio in Seattle, makers of games like Steambirds and Realm of the Mad God. They have just released a very addictive little puzzle game called Triple Town on Facebook. In reality, John and Carol are BOTH addicted to this game. So perhaps this comic actually represents John’s internal dialog as he tries to convince himself to stop playing it. Perhaps.