3 ms·

Is this a "gaming is a waste of time" comment because I would argue that gaming is still better than passive forms of entertainment and never really understood

by 10xDev 3y ago

Is this a "gaming is a waste of time" comment because I would argue that gaming is still better than passive forms of entertainment and never really understood the stigma specifically for games in the entertainment space.

XorNot 3y ago
I wonder if it's because the active nature of gaming tricks people into thinking they would've spent that leisure time doing productive things, and not realizing it's actually leisure time? So once they start getting bored of the leisure time, their first reaction is to just keep doing it more to try and get the feeling back - which winds up feeling like work. Which is pretty much exactly what my 2 year old does when he's tired: he doesn't know he's tired (or bored, or hungry) so he just tries to play harder to solve the problem for himself.
mensetmanusman 3y ago
Nope, it's just a normal thing that happens when an (especially western) mind continues to wonder about further ways to satisfy the desires that gaming fulfills.
aaronax 3y ago
Better to build a garage, plant a row of trees, or steward a community organization. Something that you can show your kids and be proud of. Open source software work even. Some entertainment being necessary, I feel the vast majority of people do it too much.
- 10xDev 3y ago
  >Some entertainment being necessary, I feel the vast majority of people do it too much. Certainly but what I really wanted to highlight was passive entertainment versus non-passive entertainment where gaming has shown to potentially have cognitive benefits [0]. Though I highly doubt all games are equal when it comes to this and I'm sure some are even destructive in how they abuse people's reward systems. Games like Turing Complete can even teach about how computers work from a transistor level. [0] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/video-gaming-may-be-associated-better-cognitive-performance-children https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/video-gaming-m...
serf 3y ago
anecdotally I have known a lot more individuals who were ruined by MMORPGs than any other passive entertainment I can think of; gambling levels of ruined -- 'lost the job and the wife and the kids and i'm coordinating this raid from a laptop in a mcdonalds lobby' levels of ruined. i've known binge watching cinophiles that have called in sick the next day occasionally , but I don't know of any that lost it all from the hobby.

by 10xDev 3y ago

XorNot 3y ago

I wonder if it's because the active nature of gaming tricks people into thinking they would've spent that leisure time doing productive things, and not realizing it's actually leisure time? So once they start getting bored of the leisure time, their first reaction is to just keep doing it more to try and get the feeling back - which winds up feeling like work. Which is pretty much exactly what my 2 year old does when he's tired: he doesn't know he's tired (or bored, or hungry) so he just tries to play harder to solve the problem for himself.

mensetmanusman 3y ago

Nope, it's just a normal thing that happens when an (especially western) mind continues to wonder about further ways to satisfy the desires that gaming fulfills.

aaronax 3y ago

Better to build a garage, plant a row of trees, or steward a community organization. Something that you can show your kids and be proud of. Open source software work even. Some entertainment being necessary, I feel the vast majority of people do it too much.

10xDev 3y ago
>Some entertainment being necessary, I feel the vast majority of people do it too much. Certainly but what I really wanted to highlight was passive entertainment versus non-passive entertainment where gaming has shown to potentially have cognitive benefits [0]. Though I highly doubt all games are equal when it comes to this and I'm sure some are even destructive in how they abuse people's reward systems. Games like Turing Complete can even teach about how computers work from a transistor level. [0] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/video-gaming-may-be-associated-better-cognitive-performance-children https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/video-gaming-m...

serf 3y ago

anecdotally I have known a lot more individuals who were ruined by MMORPGs than any other passive entertainment I can think of; gambling levels of ruined -- 'lost the job and the wife and the kids and i'm coordinating this raid from a laptop in a mcdonalds lobby' levels of ruined. i've known binge watching cinophiles that have called in sick the next day occasionally , but I don't know of any that lost it all from the hobby.