Can usually report anonymously so this shouldn't be an issue. If there's no mechanism for that then yeah I'd consider keeping my mouth shut if it doesn't involve me directly (like the body is in my home somehow).
The problem with this is when the convo goes beyond the initial common phrase. The response is likely to go more in depth. Then you're stuck nodding awkwardly, laughing awkwardly or just fudging it further... Awkwardly. Personally if it's a sport I'm not into I'll just admit that and explain why. The conversation will usually naturally move on and you won't seem phony.
I guess, but only if you assume elderly people are dumb enough to believe that a thing with no free will paying attention to them means something other than "no actual human wants to pay attention to me."
I guess some elderly people have cognitive decline and might buy this, but I respect elderly people enough not to bet on it.
Fundamentally, in my opinion, you cannot alleviate a human's need for the regard of other humans by substituting a non-human thing whose entire raison d'etre is to step in where it is economically inefficient to put a person. The actual message sent to a human being when you try to pass off an "economically efficient" non-human caretaker or "friend" to them is unmistakably "You do not actually matter to other humans."
I don't think it's that the elderly are "dumb enough" to believe that their robot companion is human... it's that there may be some benefit of even that artificial simulation of companionship compared with having none at all.
I'm sure they know they're not talking to a human, but maybe, even on a tiny subconscious level, if they get even a fraction of that companionship in a simulated way, it is presumably better than the alternative.
Recounting memories from your youth with a robot is not as enjoyable as sharing them with real friends, but maybe it's slightly more engaging than being stuck in a nursing home bed all day by yourself watching TV.
Thanks a lot for the great suggestions!
I agree — both are solid ideas. The tap-on-number-to-reveal-safe-tiles feature is on my list for a future update, and I’ll look into switching to tap-to-reveal / long-press-to-flag for smoother gameplay.
Appreciate the feedback!