5 ms·

Looking back on more than 20 years of playing videogames, in hindsight it is the social moments that stand out vividly. Staying up at a friends house glued to w

Looking back on more than 20 years of playing videogames, in hindsight it is the social moments that stand out vividly. Staying up at a friends house glued to whatever console. Lan parties. And then eventually the migration to networks like steam. The teamwork. The shared surprise, failure, and success. The bonding that games facilitate with other people. That's the beauty of videogames to me. I think we need to see a shift in the current paradigm of games. The biggest AAA games are increasingly optimizing for addictiveness, treating players like they are a statistic with a wallet. I'm starting to entertain the thought that games (the current generation, think fortnite and LOL) are a net negative for society. Sapping time, attention, and interest from people who would otherwise be engaging with reality and their peers in ways that would make their lives richer. And it really pains me to say that, as an avid gamer for many years.

ahelwer 6y ago
Video games have won! It's time to emerge from the defensive bunker that they must be "productive" by improving your creativity or problem solving or reflexes or whatever. They're a form of entertainment on par or even beyond movies, shows, etc. Time spent enjoying video games is no more wasted than when enjoying those other forms of media, although it is true some video games demand much greater time investment (the entirety of Game of Thrones is only 63.5 hours in length, for example, which is easily surpassed in length by many popular single-player games). I do think things like LoL are a huge drain on some people's lives, though, honestly.
- wpietri 6y ago
  And that huge drain is related to the addictiveness that cdiamand was talking about. I haven't heard of Game of Thrones ending relationships, but I know WoW has caused divorces. I'll leave out the people I know personally, but stories are legion. E.g.: https://www.olganon.org/node/20104 https://www.olganon.org/node/20104
  - topkai22 6y ago
    A "game of thrones" divorce sounds like quite a bloody affair.
friendlybus 6y ago
Addictiveness and monetisation don’t remove the social and human benefits from the games. Factorio is crazy addictive if you let hyperfocus on optimisation take over your play time. Buying cosmetics doesnt kill social dynamics. The opportunity to abuse gambling mechanics is drying up quickly fortunately.
ThrowawayR2 6y ago
> "Looking back on more than 20 years of playing videogames, in hindsight it is the social moments that stand out vividly." Personally, it's the griefing, bullying, and general bad behavior that stands out most vividly to me but then again I was never part of the in crowd.
- cdiamand 6y ago
  I know that growing up before the rise of online gaming we had no alternative but to play games with one another in person. There were real consequences to saying bad things to other people we knew in real life. This disappears when there are no consequences to online behavior, the social interactions are ephemeral, and you'll never see the same players again.

ahelwer 6y ago

Video games have won! It's time to emerge from the defensive bunker that they must be "productive" by improving your creativity or problem solving or reflexes or whatever. They're a form of entertainment on par or even beyond movies, shows, etc. Time spent enjoying video games is no more wasted than when enjoying those other forms of media, although it is true some video games demand much greater time investment (the entirety of Game of Thrones is only 63.5 hours in length, for example, which is easily surpassed in length by many popular single-player games). I do think things like LoL are a huge drain on some people's lives, though, honestly.

wpietri 6y ago
And that huge drain is related to the addictiveness that cdiamand was talking about. I haven't heard of Game of Thrones ending relationships, but I know WoW has caused divorces. I'll leave out the people I know personally, but stories are legion. E.g.: https://www.olganon.org/node/20104 https://www.olganon.org/node/20104
- topkai22 6y ago
  A "game of thrones" divorce sounds like quite a bloody affair.

friendlybus 6y ago

Addictiveness and monetisation don’t remove the social and human benefits from the games. Factorio is crazy addictive if you let hyperfocus on optimisation take over your play time. Buying cosmetics doesnt kill social dynamics. The opportunity to abuse gambling mechanics is drying up quickly fortunately.

ThrowawayR2 6y ago

> "Looking back on more than 20 years of playing videogames, in hindsight it is the social moments that stand out vividly." Personally, it's the griefing, bullying, and general bad behavior that stands out most vividly to me but then again I was never part of the in crowd.

cdiamand 6y ago
I know that growing up before the rise of online gaming we had no alternative but to play games with one another in person. There were real consequences to saying bad things to other people we knew in real life. This disappears when there are no consequences to online behavior, the social interactions are ephemeral, and you'll never see the same players again.