Because a modern video card "Good enough" to play those awesome modern games costs more than my whole damn computer? That's why I quit.
Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
191–200 of 268 posts
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
> which offer you nothing beneficial Nicotine can have some benefits; see for instance https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6457772 > are physically addictive on the level of heroin False. They're a bit above alcohol; heroin is much higher. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rational_scale_to_as... > and are one of the leading causes of human death. Correct.
> False. They're a bit above alcohol; heroin is much higher. I realize this is anecdotal, but I feel the need to point out that my father, a veteran ER doctor of over thirty years, has said more than once that based on his experience of patients, he thinks it is easier to quit heroin than nicotine.
Huh interesting. Thanks for the datapoint. Fwiw, nicotine has never been problematic for me. I dated a girl who smoked for 3 years, and she'd smoke around me all the time- and while i indulged in it every once in a while, i never felt like i HAD to smoke. Biological things at play, most certainly.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#193I've found learning and creating to be more fulfilling activities than videogames. That's not to advocate against gaming, or to generalize all games, but I've thought about how much time I spent playing games in the past and if I was happy with what I gained from it: I largely was not. I felt as if I was lacking in skills that I wished I had, and believe I could have learned in that time. I'm happier with myself afte…
I find that videogames fill my "brain in neutral" space very nicely. If I'm just not in the mood to read, or get out, pick up some new skill or polish an old one, hang out with friends or do something productive (and sometimes you truly want to do nothing )... I find that videogames are a nice choice. I especially enjoy combining them with unabridged audiobooks that I might not otherwise bother reading/listening to o…
By basing your choices on feelings (i.e. "not in the mood") you are likely to go with the path of least resistance. If instead you choose to do what you prioritize by conscious mental effort you are likely to feel more rewarded in the end. For example, if you decide that learning photography is important and you spend hundreds of hours practicing you will be more satisfied than if you spent those hundreds of hours playing a game. At least you will feel that in retrospect. In the moment, perhaps the game will seem more satisfying. But most people find more fulfillment in practicing a skill or hobby.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find that videogames fill my "brain in neutral" space very nicely. If I'm just not in the mood to read, or get out, pick up some new skill or polish an old one, hang out with friends or do something productive (and sometimes you truly want to do nothing )... I find that videogames are a nice choice. I especially enjoy combining them with unabridged audiobooks that I might not otherwise bother reading/listening to o…
By basing your choices on feelings (i.e. "not in the mood") you are likely to go with the path of least resistance. If instead you choose to do what you prioritize by conscious mental effort you are likely to feel more rewarded in the end. For example, if you decide that learning photography is important and you spend hundreds of hours practicing you will be more satisfied than if you spent those hundreds of hours pl…
This is a surefire way for people to burn out on something. If you never allow yourself mental downtime, then everything you do feels like work. If it's not meant to be work, then it's a hobby and if it's a hobby then it needs to actually allow you to unwind. Some people do surprisingly complex things for this, but the mistake we tend to make externally is view the accomplishment as "work" or something they really need to achieve - rather then something they devote idle brain-time to.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
> which offer you nothing beneficial Nicotine can have some benefits; see for instance https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6457772 > are physically addictive on the level of heroin False. They're a bit above alcohol; heroin is much higher. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rational_scale_to_as... > and are one of the leading causes of human death. Correct.
> False. They're a bit above alcohol; heroin is much higher. I realize this is anecdotal, but I feel the need to point out that my father, a veteran ER doctor of over thirty years, has said more than once that based on his experience of patients, he thinks it is easier to quit heroin than nicotine.
Perhaps because people who are addicted to nicotine are likely to also have addictive personalities, whereas anyone can easily get addicted to heroin.
Kind of like how in WWII the British improved the survivability of their bombers by increasing the armor in the places returning aircraft weren't damaged, theorizing correctly that those were the places the planes that didn't return were hit.
If a person with an addictive personality gets on heroin, they're probably visiting the ER very few if any times before they hit the morgue.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am finding it very hard to get out of Silver because when I solo queue i frequently get matched with teammates who treat the competitive match like a casual game. Most people either don't use mics at all or they only use them for racial slurs, and many others just play like they don't really care about getting a win. It's difficult to lead the team when I get matched with three other kids who queue up together and…
You aren't focusing on the right skills. Until you get good at aiming, know how to move around the map, know how to read the minimap, know how to round a corner, know how to prefire, know how to place your aim ahead of time, know how to buy, etc you shouldn't think for a second about coordinating with your teammates or calling strats. Your best bet is to stop playing competitive for awhile. Just play aim/duel maps on…
I like this advice. I never played CS:GO. But I did get to platinum in StarCraft 2 building nothing but stalkers. All I focused on was my economy and A-moving when it seemed like I had an advantage. Focusing on the right skills is important. Many players who were in gold and below were worried about strats and builds and micro. Totally putting the cart before the horse.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That's not to advocate against gaming, or to generalize all games, but I've thought about how much time I spent playing games in the past and if I was happy with what I gained from it: I largely was not. I feel the same. I like games and still play them here and there (and enjoy them), but a couple points in the past I was clearly addicted to them. First it was DAoC that was like a second job, and then to a much le…
Overall life satisfaction of a middle-class that where people feel as wealthy as the upper-class also seems to be destroying our labor force among the young. From: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/opinion/the-national-deat... "Nationwide, there are now about 200,000 unfilled construction jobs, according to the National Association of Home Builders. If America were as simple as a lake, builders would just raise wage…
Yes I suppose it could have nothing to do with the fact that (1) those jobs aren't remotely respected, (2) the jobs pay terribly, (3) OH&S will be treated as a joke, and you can expect to be physically unable to do the work by your mid-30's at which point you're unemployed and unskilled and (4) the work is a wildly unstable source of income.
Every time someone talks about trades paying well, they miss the fact that the whole industry routinely goes bankrupt when there's a drop in demand and prices plummet once people start moving into it.
Short answer: unless you work one of these jobs already, you are really not qualified to be telling other people they should plan to take them.
Tangential to the point: also you'd generally find people who work in those industries play videogames anyway - because entertainment media has very little to do with America's employment situation.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#198My dad was a genius.
I learned how to code c++ in middle school because my dad had a great rule: you can only play video games you create, except for 1 hour on Saturday.
It was a brilliant rule, and I had a blast learning to code. I didn't end up playing my pong game too much. But I learned an amazing life skill which now pays my bills. And the feeling of creating my own installable program was way better than any video game
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#199I love games. I make games. I don't have the time to play games. This is my problem. If anyone has advice on how to play more, i'd love to hear it.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#200I've found learning and creating to be more fulfilling activities than videogames. That's not to advocate against gaming, or to generalize all games, but I've thought about how much time I spent playing games in the past and if I was happy with what I gained from it: I largely was not. I felt as if I was lacking in skills that I wished I had, and believe I could have learned in that time. I'm happier with myself afte…
> I've thought about how much time I spent playing games in the past and if I was happy with what I gained from it: I largely was not.
I totally identify, and yet somehow I feel that because gaming is such an important part of how I grew up that I would be very sad and never quite myself if I gave it up altogether. To me, a lot of important culture has its roots in video games - characters, storylines, social experiences with other friends, etc etc. It's a definitely time sink, but for me at least, a very important and defining one.