|
Post by Ex on Apr 22, 2019 9:57:52 GMT -5
This subject doesn't necessarily have to do with purely retro gaming, just video gaming in general. But retro gaming is just as much playing video games as modern gaming is, so fair enough. I've been seeing some things on the net lately decrying video games as a waste of time, something to be avoided. Here are a few examples: The common arguments I see are:Nothing productive comes from playing video games.
Video game are inherently anti-social.
Video games are addictive to the point of inhibiting people from achieving real life goals.
You learn nothing useful from playing video games.
Video games are something you naturally grow out of.
Video games are bad for your health.- Now obviously we are all biased towards video games, or we wouldn't be here, but do you think there's any truth to these arguments at all? If you read through some of the linked material, are these people just projecting, or do their stances have merit?
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Apr 22, 2019 10:24:18 GMT -5
I actually think there is some truth to many of those statements. For example, I don't think there's any question that they've kept me from getting a few of my goals done in real life, like finishing my PhD. Of course, one could also easily make the counterargument that if I wanted the PhD badly enough, I'd have already finished with time to spare. Also, to some degree most people need some form of recreation to keep them somewhat sane and give the brain a bit to recharge. I think video games can help serve that role.
Yes, they can keep you from being productive. But any form of entertainment can do that. Even reading can just be for entertainment, not true edification.
I think we as a society are becoming somewhat anti-social anyway, what with the proliferation of "social" media, which we seem to think can fill that gap.
I've probably learned a few things tangentially from video games, but I don't think most are all that instructive. That's okay, though!
As far as health... that's actually probably a good point. Gaming is a sedentary activity, so if you're the sort of person that holes up and plays untold hours of WoW, you're probably not going to be very healthy. Of course, I'm a desk jockey, so my work has the same issue.
Honestly, the takeaway here is to do all things in moderation. Some people can budget their time better than others, and as long as gaming doesn't control you, I think it's fine. Gaming effectively takes the place of other forms of entertainment for me, so I miss a lot of what folks consider more "acceptable" like binge-watching series on Netflix or something. At a minimum, it's no worse than that. I think my playing skews towards excessive, but after totalling up my hours from last year (which wasn't all, but a good chunk, at least), it really wasn't that much. I mean, 420 hours maths out to under two hours a day.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2019 11:07:58 GMT -5
Sarge already covered it. Moderation. If all you do is play video games then yes, every one of those statements can be true. If not, then it's just a form of entertaining yourself like any other.
As for learning anything valuable, if you can learn something valuable from a book or a movie there's no reason you can't from a well made video game.
I think if you get to a point in your life where someone says to you that you're addicted or it's unhealthy that it would be wise to evaluate how much you're playing games.
|
|
|
Post by 20thcenturygamer on Apr 22, 2019 11:23:47 GMT -5
Well, if you want to get technical, we're all just a bunch of absurd apes wasting time until we're swallowed up by nothingness. The lifetime of our species, nay, our entire world is a but the briefest blink in endless, uncaring space-time.
So might as well video games.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Apr 22, 2019 13:16:19 GMT -5
When I read through articles like I linked above, it does seem that it all boils down to moderation. A lack of, to be specific. Some people simply cannot control their own addictive behavior, and thereof spend far too much time on say playing video games, as opposed to taking care of important obligations, or diversifying their interests. Unfortunately without recognizing the true issue causing their unhappiness (lack of self control), instead they project the blame onto the object of their obsession. To address the key points I posted earlier... Nothing productive comes from playing video games.That would depend on what the desired object of productivity is. If the goal is to produce stress relief, dopamine boosts, and a feeling of accomplishment - video games can generate that. If the goal is to produce something more tangible, than I don't see how any purely-entertainment medium is going to be any different in that regard.
Video games are inherently anti-social.As an entertainment medium, video games can be social - but only in an online sense I suppose. (Back in the days of arcades, people met via video games though.) Now if one is arguing that solitary games are keeping people at home away from general society - how is that any different than staying home reading books, watching movies, listening to music, or watching TV shows? Video games are addictive to the point of inhibiting people from achieving real life goals. I think the addictive aspect can be more true of video games, versus other entertainment mediums. That is because video games excel an instilling a sense of accomplishment. The dopamine boost acquired from achieving goals in games feels more concrete due to the interactivity required. That said, if any entertainment is keeping someone from accomplishing more important things in life - that is not the fault of the entertainment. The actual onus is upon the person who lacks the self discipline necessary to take care of priorities before engaging with entertainment.
You learn nothing useful from playing video games.That depends on the game being played! The entire premise of edutainment video games is to learn things after all. I'd wager you are not learning much real world information from any fictional medium, not just video games. After all, if you wanted to learn useful things, then you'd be reading non-fiction books, watching documentaries, or taking classes.
Video games are something you naturally grow out of. To an extent this can be true, just not in the way people paint it. Naturally as you get older, if you follow the normal path of grown adults, your free time becomes far more limited in your 30s and 40s and so on, then it was in your teens and 20s. I mean due to full time jobs, spending time with a spouse and your children, taking care of your house, yard, and cars, those sorts of things. You'd naturally not have as much time to play loads of RPGs or beat every new AAA game that releases. But to say that your brain changes and finds video games to be a childish waste of time - I suppose that depends on how you value spending your time. If you get to the point where you think repairing old engines or tending a garden is somehow more mature than playing Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 or Story of Seasons - that's a very subjective thing entirely. Sure one is real, and the other imaginary - but is the end result all that different honestly? There are some who spend thousands on model train sets, and construct huge dioramas for them, just to watch their toy trains chug along in their basement. Is that more mature than playing Railroad Tycoon instead? I think people who look down on video games as "childish" never truly understood the medium to begin with.
Video games are bad for your health.Any sedentary activity done for prolonged periods of time, without the inclusion of exercise, is bad for your health.
after totalling up my hours from last year (which wasn't all, but a good chunk, at least), it really wasn't that much. I mean, 420 hours maths out to under two hours a day. I just did the math for my play time so far this year. I'm averaging 1.2 hours a day in 2019.
I think three hours or less per day is not too much. Most people easily spend that much time (or more) watching TV or steaming media every day.
Well, if you want to get technical, we're all just a bunch of absurd apes wasting time until we're swallowed up by nothingness. The lifetime of our species, nay, our entire world is a but the briefest blink in endless, uncaring space-time.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Apr 22, 2019 14:07:02 GMT -5
Y'all should read Ecclesiastes some time. About as close to a version of nihilism expressed in the Judeo-Christian worldview as you can get.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Apr 22, 2019 15:01:49 GMT -5
Y'all should read Ecclesiastes some time. Oh I have, I've read the entire Bible twice over. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
Or in other words...
And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Apr 22, 2019 15:47:32 GMT -5
Also, ignorance is bliss.
I don't think that's necessarily a paean to ignorance, more a recognition that the more one learns in life, the more one realizes how little one actually knows. And perhaps a little depression in seeing others that believe they know everything making the same mistakes we did or tried to avoid.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Apr 22, 2019 16:11:51 GMT -5
What you don't know can hurt you.
|
|
|
Post by bonesnapdeez on Apr 22, 2019 20:12:43 GMT -5
Keep in mind that subreddit is for people who have a pathological addiction to gaming that interferes with their day-to-day lives, hygiene, mental health, etc. Folks who need a hard detox. Video gaming in moderation is healthy and beneficial, for the reasons already mentioned.
|
|