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>It is kind of sickening to think about how much time is lost to crap like this. That's rather judgmental re: leisure time. Are you sickened by the time "lost"

>It is kind of sickening to think about how much time is lost to crap like this. That's rather judgmental re: leisure time. Are you sickened by the time "lost" by people following or playing sports, or reading novels, or watching movies?

neilk 17y ago
We can make judgments about leisure activities just as we can about any other part of life. Playing sports, reading novels, and watching (good) movies can all make you a healthier, more reflective person, while being intrinsically entertaining. Even WoW, while it has some disturbing aspects, has the wonder of exploring a fantasy world, online society, and some strategy. I don't play Farmville but I don't know of anyone that argues it's time well spent. Players don't even seem to be having "fun" by any normal definition. At best, it exploits social rewards to make you conform to the game makers' agenda. Perhaps it's closer to fashion than recreation; where you're on a consumption treadmill that's largely controlled by others. Without the consolation of having nice clothes or looking any better.
- robryan 17y ago
  You would have to think farmville would have a high churn rate to, I played it casually for about a month before I realised there was little point continuing. Even some of the most dedicated amongst my friends eventually stopped after a few months. If anything the achievements in the game seemed to keep people coming back, even though some of them were just arbitrary large numbers of things done. I don't think it is really a fun game at all which makes me think how successful a similar game would be if someone got the fun factor right, something like a civ for facebook or something.
  - duck 17y ago
    Yeah, but I think what we would consider fun would pretty much kill a game like Farmville in terms of popularity. I am only guessing... but your typical gamer is not playing Facebook.
  - roundsquare 17y ago
    Unfortunately, fun usually involves the possibility of failure and trying to overcome it (at least with video games). Having a high chance of failure would probably ruin the games popularity.
duck 17y ago
Nope, just apps/games/sites like Farmville (i.e. click games or maybe trance games?). As neilk said, the end result is not really 'fun' or learning. I know for a lot of people it is just something to pass the time, but there is so many other things that are productive like reading/watching where you either learn or feel something. Maybe the easiest way to sum it up - I would not be sickened by anything that someone would enjoy telling me about. Tell me about a movie or book you like. Tell me about the the chess game you lost. Tell me about the five miles you ran. But if someone told me they clicked 20,000 times and enjoyed telling me that, I would call bull.
- adriand 17y ago
  > I would not be sickened by anything that someone would enjoy telling me about. This is actually an excellent test of the quality of a leisure activity and one I'd never considered. "And then, I clicked on the OTHER square, and a pumpkin grew THERE, too!" I just can't picture that.

neilk 17y ago

We can make judgments about leisure activities just as we can about any other part of life. Playing sports, reading novels, and watching (good) movies can all make you a healthier, more reflective person, while being intrinsically entertaining. Even WoW, while it has some disturbing aspects, has the wonder of exploring a fantasy world, online society, and some strategy. I don't play Farmville but I don't know of anyone that argues it's time well spent. Players don't even seem to be having "fun" by any normal definition. At best, it exploits social rewards to make you conform to the game makers' agenda. Perhaps it's closer to fashion than recreation; where you're on a consumption treadmill that's largely controlled by others. Without the consolation of having nice clothes or looking any better.

robryan 17y ago
You would have to think farmville would have a high churn rate to, I played it casually for about a month before I realised there was little point continuing. Even some of the most dedicated amongst my friends eventually stopped after a few months. If anything the achievements in the game seemed to keep people coming back, even though some of them were just arbitrary large numbers of things done. I don't think it is really a fun game at all which makes me think how successful a similar game would be if someone got the fun factor right, something like a civ for facebook or something.
- duck 17y ago
  Yeah, but I think what we would consider fun would pretty much kill a game like Farmville in terms of popularity. I am only guessing... but your typical gamer is not playing Facebook.
- roundsquare 17y ago
  Unfortunately, fun usually involves the possibility of failure and trying to overcome it (at least with video games). Having a high chance of failure would probably ruin the games popularity.

duck 17y ago

Nope, just apps/games/sites like Farmville (i.e. click games or maybe trance games?). As neilk said, the end result is not really 'fun' or learning. I know for a lot of people it is just something to pass the time, but there is so many other things that are productive like reading/watching where you either learn or feel something. Maybe the easiest way to sum it up - I would not be sickened by anything that someone would enjoy telling me about. Tell me about a movie or book you like. Tell me about the the chess game you lost. Tell me about the five miles you ran. But if someone told me they clicked 20,000 times and enjoyed telling me that, I would call bull.

adriand 17y ago
> I would not be sickened by anything that someone would enjoy telling me about. This is actually an excellent test of the quality of a leisure activity and one I'd never considered. "And then, I clicked on the OTHER square, and a pumpkin grew THERE, too!" I just can't picture that.