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While true, it's not adults getting into pro-gaming, it's usually teenagers. Kids who would rather play Starcraft than study, and, despite being very good, lack

While true, it's not adults getting into pro-gaming, it's usually teenagers. Kids who would rather play Starcraft than study, and, despite being very good, lack the foresight of knowing what kind of hole they're digging themselves into.

dylanjermiah 11y ago
I agree, in my opinion there are more productive and 'healthy' uses of ones time. But, my opinion doesn't mean anything. Forcing/coercing kids into doing what you think is best for them is not productive either.
- bad_user 11y ago
  Making choices for children, who are otherwise too immature, is the whole point of parenting. Of course, you can "coerce" them, or you can "guide" them, but then we are talking about different means for the same end goal. And then we can talk about parents that are too busy or uninterested to give a fuck and it's precisely in such families that you see children being allowed to play computer games for hours on end. I don't really get the line on "forcing/coercing" children. If your child would end up a drug addict, would you just let her be? Why is it any different with computer gaming addiction?
  - dylanjermiah 11y ago
    My comment was not from the perspective of a parent.
    - gbog 11y ago
      Would it be so different with a good friend? If there if someone you are attached to, and if this someone is heading full steam toward a cliff or a dead end, you'll tell them, no? Or do whatever you can to help them. Or maybe you believe that anything about other people is not your concern in any respect? Parenting is not an exception, it is not a different world where values change. It is just the same world, with people caring or not for others, with some responsibility and affection. It's just a bit more acute and produce good counter examples to those believing one should not care about others. My third kid was born yesterday. I'm still getting drunk with friends once a week, I do my hobbies in the evening (programming, pictures, music), I spend very good moments with the kids, I let them grow and make sure they have plenty of different thing for their curiosity, gosh I even played gta with my 5yo boy, but I certainly would never encourage any of them to try to become a professional sport player, or e-sport. Or model. Or musician. The odds of having an happy life in these domains is infinitesimal.
      - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
        Happy? Maybe the wrong word choice. Certainly folks can be happy doing these things. Maybe happier than any other job. They probably cannot be wealthy doing those things.
        gbog 11y ago
        I maintain happy. In the article they said these gamers actually do bit like to play anymore. Same with music, in most cases professional musician hate playing music, but of course none of them will ever admit this.
        JoeAltmaier 11y ago
        I know many professional musicians. None of them have this attitude. They are on cloud 9 when they are playing. This is sour grapes I think.
        bad_user 11y ago
        I find it to be a very good choice of words. The equation for happiness is simple. First of all you need your basic necessities covered, things like food, shelter, clothing, access to health care, plus interactions with other human beings and the possibility of having sex from time to time. Then your expectations have to be smaller than your achievements. When this doesn't happen, it's a recipe for depression. It's easy to see how sports can lead to unhappiness, but to make matters worse, when comparing soccer or basketball or volley to e-sports, at least from those sports you get a healthy body out of it ;-)
  - Omniusaspirer 11y ago
    Computer gaming is an easy target, but this has been going on for decades with pro sports and music, and probably millennia with art. Teenagers have always gotten hooked on things their parents deem useless or unhealthy.
ghostDancer 11y ago
I can show you a lot of teenagers doing the same but playing football(soccer), less hours at least, and even pushed by their parents with the hope that some of them will be the next Messi, Xavi or Ronaldo.
- zo1 11y ago
  Exactly, and because it's part of the "normal culture", then no-one bats an eye (I exaggerate a bit there). If we were to look at football and basketball sports' effect on children, and how pervasive and time-consuming it is to normal teens/young-adults the same way we do when it comes to "e-sports", then we'd be positively disgusted (a bit of extrapolation there).
  - kendallpark 11y ago
    I think there is a difference in that sports like football and basketball are more limited by the body's abilities to perform. A natural mechanism for moderation. You don't have gaming binges where someone plays football for 18 hours straight without sleeping. But this happens all the time with gaming. Furthermore, most traditional sports also improve one's physiological health. This is not the case for e-sports where one is simply sitting in a chair all day. I can understand why a parent would be more concerned about their kid that doesn't leave his computer than their kid that plays three sports a year. But in both e-sports and traditional sports you have the risk of sacrificing too much for the sake of the game. I have known many athletes in both camps that have done this.
    - MichaelGG 11y ago
      Is it true that competitive sports are actually physically healthy? I'm probably just over valuing notable cases, but even things like ballet tear up feet pretty badly. And tennis is known for injuries, isn't it? American football is rough, though I suppose normal football is basically the same as targeted running/sprinting.
      - hacst 11y ago

dylanjermiah 11y ago

I agree, in my opinion there are more productive and 'healthy' uses of ones time. But, my opinion doesn't mean anything. Forcing/coercing kids into doing what you think is best for them is not productive either.

bad_user 11y ago
Making choices for children, who are otherwise too immature, is the whole point of parenting. Of course, you can "coerce" them, or you can "guide" them, but then we are talking about different means for the same end goal. And then we can talk about parents that are too busy or uninterested to give a fuck and it's precisely in such families that you see children being allowed to play computer games for hours on end. I don't really get the line on "forcing/coercing" children. If your child would end up a drug addict, would you just let her be? Why is it any different with computer gaming addiction?
- dylanjermiah 11y ago
  My comment was not from the perspective of a parent.
  - gbog 11y ago
    Would it be so different with a good friend? If there if someone you are attached to, and if this someone is heading full steam toward a cliff or a dead end, you'll tell them, no? Or do whatever you can to help them. Or maybe you believe that anything about other people is not your concern in any respect? Parenting is not an exception, it is not a different world where values change. It is just the same world, with people caring or not for others, with some responsibility and affection. It's just a bit more acute and produce good counter examples to those believing one should not care about others. My third kid was born yesterday. I'm still getting drunk with friends once a week, I do my hobbies in the evening (programming, pictures, music), I spend very good moments with the kids, I let them grow and make sure they have plenty of different thing for their curiosity, gosh I even played gta with my 5yo boy, but I certainly would never encourage any of them to try to become a professional sport player, or e-sport. Or model. Or musician. The odds of having an happy life in these domains is infinitesimal.
    - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
      Happy? Maybe the wrong word choice. Certainly folks can be happy doing these things. Maybe happier than any other job. They probably cannot be wealthy doing those things.
      - gbog 11y ago
        I maintain happy. In the article they said these gamers actually do bit like to play anymore. Same with music, in most cases professional musician hate playing music, but of course none of them will ever admit this.
        JoeAltmaier 11y ago
        I know many professional musicians. None of them have this attitude. They are on cloud 9 when they are playing. This is sour grapes I think.
      - bad_user 11y ago
        I find it to be a very good choice of words. The equation for happiness is simple. First of all you need your basic necessities covered, things like food, shelter, clothing, access to health care, plus interactions with other human beings and the possibility of having sex from time to time. Then your expectations have to be smaller than your achievements. When this doesn't happen, it's a recipe for depression. It's easy to see how sports can lead to unhappiness, but to make matters worse, when comparing soccer or basketball or volley to e-sports, at least from those sports you get a healthy body out of it ;-)
- Omniusaspirer 11y ago
  Computer gaming is an easy target, but this has been going on for decades with pro sports and music, and probably millennia with art. Teenagers have always gotten hooked on things their parents deem useless or unhealthy.

ghostDancer 11y ago

I can show you a lot of teenagers doing the same but playing football(soccer), less hours at least, and even pushed by their parents with the hope that some of them will be the next Messi, Xavi or Ronaldo.

zo1 11y ago
Exactly, and because it's part of the "normal culture", then no-one bats an eye (I exaggerate a bit there). If we were to look at football and basketball sports' effect on children, and how pervasive and time-consuming it is to normal teens/young-adults the same way we do when it comes to "e-sports", then we'd be positively disgusted (a bit of extrapolation there).
- kendallpark 11y ago
  I think there is a difference in that sports like football and basketball are more limited by the body's abilities to perform. A natural mechanism for moderation. You don't have gaming binges where someone plays football for 18 hours straight without sleeping. But this happens all the time with gaming. Furthermore, most traditional sports also improve one's physiological health. This is not the case for e-sports where one is simply sitting in a chair all day. I can understand why a parent would be more concerned about their kid that doesn't leave his computer than their kid that plays three sports a year. But in both e-sports and traditional sports you have the risk of sacrificing too much for the sake of the game. I have known many athletes in both camps that have done this.
  - MichaelGG 11y ago
    Is it true that competitive sports are actually physically healthy? I'm probably just over valuing notable cases, but even things like ballet tear up feet pretty badly. And tennis is known for injuries, isn't it? American football is rough, though I suppose normal football is basically the same as targeted running/sprinting.
    - hacst 11y ago