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Idk, playing video games all day without any responsibilities seems like they’ve straight-up won life. Most of us have to work for that privilege or be born wit

Idk, playing video games all day without any responsibilities seems like they’ve straight-up won life. Most of us have to work for that privilege or be born with a trust fund in our name. Only losing side to this path is a lack of romance or intimacy. No one’s likely gonna remember you anyway, for better or worse. Might as well enjoy your time on Earth with some of the most immersive storytelling humanity has invented.

carrolldunham 5y ago
Yes, you have to ask how many people don't realize their critiquing has an unconscious jealousy behind it. I used to be a student bum and lived in a van which prompted a guy from a house in the street to come out and berate me, at first he said I was scaring his kids but we kept talking because he seemed to want mostly to reconcile in his mind how I lived like this. He had several "but don't you.. but don't you want". To my "No, no no, I'm just happy... " Eventually I admitted something along the lines of "But I'VE had to work so hard [to get the things that I require for happiness]" (it's not fair)
- ip26 5y ago
  There certainly is something enviable in someone who can be completely happy, content, and satisfied as a bum living in a van. But I don't think the average young adult man living at home is doing so because they have reached Enlightenment.
tamaharbor 5y ago
Yeah. Sounds like a real winner.
- vsareto 5y ago
  Compared to who? The number of peasants who'd have taken that over toiling in the fields all day probably number in the millions.
  - the_lonely_road 5y ago
    Millions? The number of men who died shitting themselves with a government issued piece of iron gripped in their hands and zero choice about being there is probably in the billions not millions. (98 billion dead humans, presumably 49 billion of them men). The lions share of the rest of those billions toiling in fields would no doubt have joined those others in living a life of air conditioned immersive competition/story telling and considered themselves having won at life.
    - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
      Here's the data: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll Maybe 1B total over all of history. The number of humans who have ever lived is estimated at 100B. So, what, 1% have died in war? Back of the envelope.
livueta 5y ago
In my experience[0] that's not really true. This comment[1] is pretty on the money. Being a NEET is not a vacation, and playing video games all day is often a means of avoiding confronting the realization that you're a waste of oxygen. Many have substance co-dependencies that function similarly. It's the sort of life that sounds cool as an overworked wagie but gets stale rather quickly, plus a massive helping of sunk-cost behavior justification once one realizes how hard it can be to get back in the saddle. The people in this situation I've personally known who have been in the best mental state were those who went beyond just playing games all day to do something more productive though still probably non-commercial: forum mod, fan translator, guild webmaster type of thing. Again, at least in my experience, pretty much everyone has a desire to be useful to others in some way. Wallowing in purely consumption-based activities can help at first but doesn't hold off the demons forever. --- [0] 30k hours of runescape gets one a lot of NEET acquaintances [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27479336 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27479336
- vsareto 5y ago
  I mean, there's people who barely do any work while pulling down a decent salary, so I'm not sure who's really the bigger waste of oxygen compared to someone who sits around all day on games. (personally, I disagree with the 'waste of oxygen' viewpoint - life has innate value especially since we're the only intelligent species we know of, even if they aren't valuable in a capitalistic sense). But it's weird we prefer others being at a bullshit job over just enjoying themselves and not having to work. We'd like to think that everyone who's employed is doing some small part in helping out humanity, but that's definitely not true. >once one realizes how hard it can be to get back in the saddle. Is it really that hard though? It can be uncomfortable, sure, but if you can get past that, you're very similar to other people who decide on a later career change, start over in a new place, or are dealing with personal problems later on. The only real struggle is with yourself and being able to admit you're dealing with a problem. Once you do that, most of the stigma falls away except from the harshest critics. The idea that you're 'behind' is very outdated. You can do nothing with your life by working as well. * This is all from the USA perspective
  - 5y ago
vel0city 5y ago
They're winning until they're 45 and their enabling family members finally pass on leaving them nothing as they've extracted all their wealth over the decades enabling such a lifestyle. Then suddenly find themselves with nothing and no skills other than being in the top 500 of Call of Duty 25.

carrolldunham 5y ago

Yes, you have to ask how many people don't realize their critiquing has an unconscious jealousy behind it. I used to be a student bum and lived in a van which prompted a guy from a house in the street to come out and berate me, at first he said I was scaring his kids but we kept talking because he seemed to want mostly to reconcile in his mind how I lived like this. He had several "but don't you.. but don't you want". To my "No, no no, I'm just happy... " Eventually I admitted something along the lines of "But I'VE had to work so hard [to get the things that I require for happiness]" (it's not fair)

ip26 5y ago
There certainly is something enviable in someone who can be completely happy, content, and satisfied as a bum living in a van. But I don't think the average young adult man living at home is doing so because they have reached Enlightenment.

tamaharbor 5y ago

Yeah. Sounds like a real winner.

vsareto 5y ago
Compared to who? The number of peasants who'd have taken that over toiling in the fields all day probably number in the millions.
- the_lonely_road 5y ago
  Millions? The number of men who died shitting themselves with a government issued piece of iron gripped in their hands and zero choice about being there is probably in the billions not millions. (98 billion dead humans, presumably 49 billion of them men). The lions share of the rest of those billions toiling in fields would no doubt have joined those others in living a life of air conditioned immersive competition/story telling and considered themselves having won at life.
  - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
    Here's the data: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll Maybe 1B total over all of history. The number of humans who have ever lived is estimated at 100B. So, what, 1% have died in war? Back of the envelope.

livueta 5y ago

In my experience[0] that's not really true. This comment[1] is pretty on the money. Being a NEET is not a vacation, and playing video games all day is often a means of avoiding confronting the realization that you're a waste of oxygen. Many have substance co-dependencies that function similarly. It's the sort of life that sounds cool as an overworked wagie but gets stale rather quickly, plus a massive helping of sunk-cost behavior justification once one realizes how hard it can be to get back in the saddle. The people in this situation I've personally known who have been in the best mental state were those who went beyond just playing games all day to do something more productive though still probably non-commercial: forum mod, fan translator, guild webmaster type of thing. Again, at least in my experience, pretty much everyone has a desire to be useful to others in some way. Wallowing in purely consumption-based activities can help at first but doesn't hold off the demons forever. --- [0] 30k hours of runescape gets one a lot of NEET acquaintances [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27479336 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27479336

vsareto 5y ago
I mean, there's people who barely do any work while pulling down a decent salary, so I'm not sure who's really the bigger waste of oxygen compared to someone who sits around all day on games. (personally, I disagree with the 'waste of oxygen' viewpoint - life has innate value especially since we're the only intelligent species we know of, even if they aren't valuable in a capitalistic sense). But it's weird we prefer others being at a bullshit job over just enjoying themselves and not having to work. We'd like to think that everyone who's employed is doing some small part in helping out humanity, but that's definitely not true. >once one realizes how hard it can be to get back in the saddle. Is it really that hard though? It can be uncomfortable, sure, but if you can get past that, you're very similar to other people who decide on a later career change, start over in a new place, or are dealing with personal problems later on. The only real struggle is with yourself and being able to admit you're dealing with a problem. Once you do that, most of the stigma falls away except from the harshest critics. The idea that you're 'behind' is very outdated. You can do nothing with your life by working as well. * This is all from the USA perspective
- 5y ago

vel0city 5y ago

They're winning until they're 45 and their enabling family members finally pass on leaving them nothing as they've extracted all their wealth over the decades enabling such a lifestyle. Then suddenly find themselves with nothing and no skills other than being in the top 500 of Call of Duty 25.