If I would play games for 90% of the time I currently spend on Reddit, Hacker News, Twitter, Facebook, etc, I'd be a better man. Happier and more effective.
I think I'll start doing exactly that.
Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
221–230 of 268 posts
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 ne…
Decisions about priorities should be considered carefully. If the outcome isn't fulfilling, perhaps the choice was made on the basis of what others expect rather than what truly pleases. If a hobby is something you really enjoy it will not feel like work. Games can be enjoyed in their own right as well. If we play for pure enjoyment and can otherwise balance our lives then they are certainly a means to unwind.
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Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#223I'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…
This is why I like games with a beginning & end, and an actual story. The first keeps you from sinking unbounded time with it, and the latter actually can be enlightening, informative (ie, bringing in mythologies or historical context), and ethically challenging. Stuff like endless PvP matches or MMO grinds never held much appeal to me.
PvP for some games can be like joining a sports team. Some people prefer it as a competitive outlet.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 ne…
> If you never allow yourself mental downtime, then everything you do feels like work. What makes you believe that what reedlaw described is not to be considered mental downtime? I have made quite the opposite experience: when consciously reflecting and deciding about my mental downtime in advance, it turns out to be the most recreative. It's worth noting that I made bad experiences with: tomorrow from 7-730 I will b…
How do you just pick up a project from a set like that? Typically if I put something on a list, it's not motivating enough for me to want to do when I have downtime unless I really want to work on something.
Many mentally challenging activities I'll start spontaneously, but it's typically small ones with direct, achievable goals, like write a little scraper in a new language or reverse engineer a single mechanism of an application.
I only have a few times a week when I have downtime that I feel like I can pick something off a list. The rest of my downtime I want something to do - and that's where games come in - and I'm quite glad for them, because without them I'd spend much more time watching TV, reading junk political threads on reddit, etc.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#225My 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 vi…
I had a higher base quota, but my parents did something very similar, where working on creating and playing my own games didn't count against it.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The vast majority of video games are either built around the principles of addiction, or require a tremendous amount of time in muscle memory training. Well, define "vast majority of video games." Certainly that's true if we mean F2P phone games. For a lot of others I am not so sure.
To be fair, when it comes to those F2P phones games, I would start to agree with the cigarette analogy... those are just skinner boxes with coin slots.
Some of those can be pretty fun, but when you get to the point that paying for it seems at all tempting it's time to take a different approach - the way which involves a decompiler, a debugger and maybe Frida too.
When free to play becomes pay to win, writing your own cheats is the more fun and rewarding option.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#227I'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…
Have you tried modding or mapping? In high school a large part of my life was spent around learning to map for various games because it felt like a way I could actually give back to the community I was a part of while exploring the creativity of it.
I enjoyed making the content and seeing reactions to it and trying to one up myself then I did actually playing the game. In fact it gets to a point where you've seen enough behind the curtain that it loses a lot of its charm.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#228i absolutely hate and detest the way that he talks about his associate dropping out of college. he says something like "he dropped out of college but he was ok, just graduated late." he says this as if not graduating from college is like getting some kind of terrible disease. i was having a family dinner with a bunch of extended family one time and i jokingly told them i was going to drop out and go into the trades. they all recoiled in horror, literally making that gasping sound you hear in movies. "certainly not!" there should be absolutely no shame or indignity in not being able to or wanting to finish a college degree. it shouldnt be a status symbol.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#229some video games are just additive and mindless. others are works of art and thought provoking. you should only play the former in limited amounts. spending lots of time in the latter can be justified if you are thinking about and appreciating the game while you play it because it will spur productive activities afterwards -- you will develop questions and passions based on the game that will linger long after playing and those will lead to building and creating things of your own. half life 2 is a good example of that in my opinion.
Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
>if i studied and worked more, i would be much far by now. Probably rich. Or not. Maybe at the same place in life. Studies are not as important as a defining criteria for your life as sociocultural group, or class. I wouldn't get too hung up on it if I were you, what's done is done. >What if it paid well to be a Counter Strike player? If you're a pro player, sure, it does. There are regular tournaments with $1m prize…
No, you wouldn't be rich. Whenever I think that maybe I could have had a better life if only I had done X, it always falls apart on closer examination. It wouldn't have been better, it just would have been different . I still would have been me, and that person just isn't cut out to be independently wealthy, or famous, or influential, or even noticed . In this kind of civilization, I'm a nobody. In the end, it hasn't…
> For me, working hard has always paid off about the same as coasting. If ever I lift a finger to do better for myself, someone comes along and eats up my efforts, leaving me with a pile of tasty crumbs.
How so? Let's say you try to kick ass at your job (let's assume for a second that you're a software developer), learn the newest/hot technologies, do some side projects and move to a hot tech hub. Unless you've already done that, you can easily double/triple your salary in a matter of a couple of years. That's not crumbs.
Another example - working out. It's amazing how much more women are interested in me now that I have modicum of physique (and I'm FAR from the Men's Health models). That's also not crumbs.