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Yes but entertainment per se is not bad - if you don't devote your life to it. Nothing against playing one or two rounds SC2 but becoming a "pro player" is so d
by franzus 14y ago
Yes but entertainment per se is not bad - if you don't devote your life to it. Nothing against playing one or two rounds SC2 but becoming a "pro player" is so disgustingly wasteful. Imagine what you could create with all the time devoted to gaming instead.
- aerique 14y agoWould you say the same about professional athletes or chess players?
- franzus 14y agoYes, what they do is not creative at all. Their contribution to the progress humanity is 0.
- white_devil 14y agoSo, "Do what you love.. as long as it's programming." (or science, etc)
- stevenwei 14y agoNot that I entirely disagree with you, but it's not like spending time building some (website/social network/photo app/coupon newsletter/mobile game/etc) contributes that much more to humanity either. Glass houses and all.
- hythloday 14y agoI presume by "not creative" you do not mean "don't create anything". Can you explain what you do actually mean?
- darklajid 14y agoNow I'm really curious what you do for a living/what you'd consider your own contribution to progress for humanity? I've to admit that I don't think that I can claim to have made some significant improvements for all of humanity so far..
- Sargis 14y agoHah, "Contribution to the progress of humanity". As if that's some kind of ultimate goal that everyone has to strive for.
- phaus 14y agoIt's all a matter of perspective. Nearly everyone has a hobby that they care about to an unusual extent. Some people go to the gym for 6 hours a day, Some people buy $30k in parts for their $4000 used Honda Civic, some people go backpacking across Europe for an entire summer, some people care so much that they literally cry whenever their local sports team loses(or wins), and some people love videogames. Every person on the planet needs to be entertained, and since there is someone out there who does make significant contributions to society that does like Starcraft enough to watch a documentary about a popular team, it must have some inherent amount of worth. Being an entertainer isn't the same thing as curing cancer or engineering a cease-fire between warring nations, but it doesn't have to be.
- codesuela 14y agowould you say the same to football, hockey or soccer players?
- franzus 14y agoYes.
- gringomorcego 14y agoDude, that kind of thinking leads you down to 7 Pounds.
- codesuela 14y agowell then kudos to you for being consistent :)
- jiggy2011 14y agoI suppose you could argue that football etc provide exercise and might encourage others to take up a healthier lifestyle by exercising too. Whereas pro starcraft almost seems to promote the opposite.
- jquery 14y agoYou could say the same about programming. There are fat football players and fit Starcraft players. Exercise isn't just good for the body, it's good for the mind. The world's best Starcraft 2 player, LG-IMMvp, works out on a regular basis because it helps keep his mind agile. So do many other pros and aspiring pros.
- jiggy2011 14y agoTrue, but programming has (or should have) a useful end product that is seen as "compensation" for spending all those hours cooped up inside whereas a "sport" activity doesn't really create anything. I'm sure that some SC players do work out, but for every player who does I imagine there are hundreds where their time playing video games eats into time that they may have otherwise spent exercising.
- AlisdairO 14y agoI'm not sure why you would take that attitude towards pro playing/sportsmen/whatever - if you accept that entertainment is good (in moderation), surely you accept that providing that entertainment is a worthwhile activity too? I have a stereotypically productive job, and I'm good at it (and enjoy it). Nothing spectacular, but you probably wouldn't sneer at it either. The reality is that I almost certainly bring less useful value to people's lives than a really good quality entertainer.