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I have seen several aspects of entertainment in my life get squeezed for money (Magic The Gathering, movies, TV streaming, video games) and I have decided to ba

I have seen several aspects of entertainment in my life get squeezed for money (Magic The Gathering, movies, TV streaming, video games) and I have decided to basically quit any form of entertainment which is solely controlled by large corporations. People get extremely angry when Magic The Gathering charges more money, for more exclusive products, in more frequently occurring releases. Rage, grief, and sorrow over an aspect of your life that you allow a singular company to control. It doesn’t have to be this way. You can walk away , and find more fulfilling activities that you control. This is what the kids call “touching grass”. At this point I don’t watch TV, I don’t watch movies, I don’t play Magic The Gathering, I only play video games over 10 years old. As I have gotten older I see now that this entertainment is junk food that replaces real satisfaction and accomplishment in life. Humans now more than ever have the opportunity to learn and do anything, but instead they spend it squandered on a shadow of real life.

petersellers 11mo ago
> As I have gotten older I see now that this entertainment is junk food that replaces real satisfaction and accomplishment in life A bit too condescending if you ask me. People are free to choose to spend time on things they find entertaining and that has no bearing on whether you find it "junk food" or whether the company producing the entertainment is trying to squeeze every penny they can out of it.
- __turbobrew__ 11mo ago
  People are given a choice on what they eat as well and many also eat junk food, despite it largely being agreed upon that junk food is not good for you. Both cheap entertainment and junk food cede your autonomy to large corporations whose main goal is to make you addicted to their product and extract the maximal amount of money. This is purely subjective, but I believe that the path to personal fulfillment does not involve watching TV and playing video games in your spare time. I say this as someone who was addicted to video games and played 40 hours a week in addition to a full time job. When someone says “No matter who wins, we lose” they are implying that we are all beholden to corporations who will inevitably screw us, but that does not have to be the case. You can choose not to participate.
  - DavidPiper 11mo ago
    As someone who has begun to fall into the "Machine Zone"[1] with gaming and stream watching (and trying to get back out) I'm feeling many of the things you're describing. I struggle with defining the line for myself because a lot of my own hobbies and goals are creative - making music, building a video game, performing improv comedy. And those things are naturally in want of an audience. Does it mean that I'm part of the problem in wanting to create entertainment, because I'm essentially asking an audience to indulge in the "junk food" that I create? I don't know. I'd be interested in your thoughts on that question because your ideas seem to be well-articulated. My current thinking is that there is a distinction between: - "So good" and "So good I could watch it for hours" - "The artistic content" and "The platform moderating your access to it" - "Pro-social" and "Anti-social" encouragement / culture of various media (the medium is the message, etc). Making good quality, non-addictive, pro-social art, independently seems to be an ideal outcome, but then your art - while also being extremely expensive to create and distribute - is in competition with highly visible, well-established, strongly addictive... McDonald's franchises. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction_by_Design https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction_by_Design
    - __turbobrew__ 11mo ago
      I believe your thinking is sound. Creating original things is one of the fundamental ways to fulfillment, I believe. As long as the goal of your creation is to create for yourself — and yourself only — I believe it can lead to the highest level of achievement. I would caution that creation can be addictive almost as much as consumption. Seeing the number of likes on a video you created go up is extremely addictive and can lead yourself towards overworking to make the next creation. Almost every big youtuber goes through a phase of burnout as they try and chase bigger and bigger hits. Additionally, you are beholden to Youtube not screwing you over which may lead to a situation where YouTube has power over your personal fulfillment. If you haven’t already I would check out the book “Hooked” as well to learn more about the addictive patterns that are put out there to trap you.
  - petersellers 11mo ago
    I disagree with your premise that your non-preferred form of entertainment is equivalent to eating junk food. I’m sorry that you were addicted to playing video games (truly) but I think your past experience is preventing you from thinking rationally about this. People can find fulfillment from many different things, including the ones that you personally don’t find fulfilling. One's fulfillment is also irrelevant with respect to whether the product they are consuming was designed by a corporation to extract maximum profits (though I sympathize with your anti-corporate stance, despite the fact I find this point of yours to be irrational). You admitted your view was subjective, yet you are prescribing it as a general view that applies to everyone which is both elitist and dissonant.
sylens 11mo ago
> It doesn’t have to be this way. You can walk away , and find more fulfilling activities that you control. For some people, they may their particular hobby/form of entertainment a core part of their identity. So walking away feels a huge indictment of themselves in particular. It can be hard for people to find something else to "pivot" their identity to in many cases.
BLKNSLVR 11mo ago
The great thing about games that are 10+ years old is that they're cheap, you can filter out all but the best rated, and the hardware to run them won't require mortgaging your first born. I'm building a Steam library for my retirement. I quit gaming when I had kids, and currently play tennis and do inline skating as my regular active hobbies (which, I believe, count as touching grass), with gaming as my injury / infirmity backup.
- __turbobrew__ 11mo ago
  Agreed, part of playing old games is that you aren’t required to be exploited by hardware manufacturers who are charging exorbitant prices for GPUs and RAM. A constant whine I hear is the unaffordability of hardware to play new games, but you do not have to play new games. For the cost of a single GPU you can fund many other hobbies for a lifetime.
greenchair 11mo ago
The junk food analogy is perfect. At some point you no longer get the satisfaction from video games you once did and you start to question the whole thing. I was created to do good works, not to spend most of my time in a virtual world for self gratification purposes.

petersellers 11mo ago

> As I have gotten older I see now that this entertainment is junk food that replaces real satisfaction and accomplishment in life A bit too condescending if you ask me. People are free to choose to spend time on things they find entertaining and that has no bearing on whether you find it "junk food" or whether the company producing the entertainment is trying to squeeze every penny they can out of it.

__turbobrew__ 11mo ago
People are given a choice on what they eat as well and many also eat junk food, despite it largely being agreed upon that junk food is not good for you. Both cheap entertainment and junk food cede your autonomy to large corporations whose main goal is to make you addicted to their product and extract the maximal amount of money. This is purely subjective, but I believe that the path to personal fulfillment does not involve watching TV and playing video games in your spare time. I say this as someone who was addicted to video games and played 40 hours a week in addition to a full time job. When someone says “No matter who wins, we lose” they are implying that we are all beholden to corporations who will inevitably screw us, but that does not have to be the case. You can choose not to participate.
- DavidPiper 11mo ago
  As someone who has begun to fall into the "Machine Zone"[1] with gaming and stream watching (and trying to get back out) I'm feeling many of the things you're describing. I struggle with defining the line for myself because a lot of my own hobbies and goals are creative - making music, building a video game, performing improv comedy. And those things are naturally in want of an audience. Does it mean that I'm part of the problem in wanting to create entertainment, because I'm essentially asking an audience to indulge in the "junk food" that I create? I don't know. I'd be interested in your thoughts on that question because your ideas seem to be well-articulated. My current thinking is that there is a distinction between: - "So good" and "So good I could watch it for hours" - "The artistic content" and "The platform moderating your access to it" - "Pro-social" and "Anti-social" encouragement / culture of various media (the medium is the message, etc). Making good quality, non-addictive, pro-social art, independently seems to be an ideal outcome, but then your art - while also being extremely expensive to create and distribute - is in competition with highly visible, well-established, strongly addictive... McDonald's franchises. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction_by_Design https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction_by_Design
  - __turbobrew__ 11mo ago
    I believe your thinking is sound. Creating original things is one of the fundamental ways to fulfillment, I believe. As long as the goal of your creation is to create for yourself — and yourself only — I believe it can lead to the highest level of achievement. I would caution that creation can be addictive almost as much as consumption. Seeing the number of likes on a video you created go up is extremely addictive and can lead yourself towards overworking to make the next creation. Almost every big youtuber goes through a phase of burnout as they try and chase bigger and bigger hits. Additionally, you are beholden to Youtube not screwing you over which may lead to a situation where YouTube has power over your personal fulfillment. If you haven’t already I would check out the book “Hooked” as well to learn more about the addictive patterns that are put out there to trap you.
- petersellers 11mo ago
  I disagree with your premise that your non-preferred form of entertainment is equivalent to eating junk food. I’m sorry that you were addicted to playing video games (truly) but I think your past experience is preventing you from thinking rationally about this. People can find fulfillment from many different things, including the ones that you personally don’t find fulfilling. One's fulfillment is also irrelevant with respect to whether the product they are consuming was designed by a corporation to extract maximum profits (though I sympathize with your anti-corporate stance, despite the fact I find this point of yours to be irrational). You admitted your view was subjective, yet you are prescribing it as a general view that applies to everyone which is both elitist and dissonant.

sylens 11mo ago

> It doesn’t have to be this way. You can walk away , and find more fulfilling activities that you control. For some people, they may their particular hobby/form of entertainment a core part of their identity. So walking away feels a huge indictment of themselves in particular. It can be hard for people to find something else to "pivot" their identity to in many cases.

BLKNSLVR 11mo ago

The great thing about games that are 10+ years old is that they're cheap, you can filter out all but the best rated, and the hardware to run them won't require mortgaging your first born. I'm building a Steam library for my retirement. I quit gaming when I had kids, and currently play tennis and do inline skating as my regular active hobbies (which, I believe, count as touching grass), with gaming as my injury / infirmity backup.

__turbobrew__ 11mo ago
Agreed, part of playing old games is that you aren’t required to be exploited by hardware manufacturers who are charging exorbitant prices for GPUs and RAM. A constant whine I hear is the unaffordability of hardware to play new games, but you do not have to play new games. For the cost of a single GPU you can fund many other hobbies for a lifetime.

greenchair 11mo ago

The junk food analogy is perfect. At some point you no longer get the satisfaction from video games you once did and you start to question the whole thing. I was created to do good works, not to spend most of my time in a virtual world for self gratification purposes.