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Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games

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Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games

#261

Post by KirinDave »

Latty wrote: post #259
KirinDave wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd argue this isn't unique to esports - Formula One has a similar thing happening - the teams develop new technology to make cars get round the track faster, and then the organisation decides if they fit within the rules. The rules change over time. The big difference is that the advances in F1 car design and even driving is that they can have some relevance in the outside world, in totally unrelated fields to rac…

Sure, but that isn't the reason people are Formula 1 drivers or why they watch it, it's just a reason so much money can go into the sport. I was more talking about how I don't think that (shifting rules as strategies develop) is a dealbreaker when it comes to audience enjoyment or player investment.

Oh it's designed to maximize the need to invest and minimize the return. I'm not sure that's a deal I like.

Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games

#263

Post by AlwaysRock »

cableshaft wrote: post #86
AlwaysRock wrote: post #20

Every 6 months or so I find a game that swoops in and eats up all my time. Usually it is a valuable and rewarding experience and its missed once I complete the game. Then I spend 6 months trying games from my steam library until I find another one that has that special something. It's not the best method but I try to set a timer for 30 minutes 3 times a week and try a new game I've never played. It's obviously not a…

Last year for me it was The Witness , Life is Strange , and to a lesser extent Monument Valley . Those were all excellent. This year the first one is Civilization VI , but I fully expected that.

I believe I own all of those! I'll check them out. Thanks!

Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games

#264

Post by logfromblammo »

mrschwabe wrote: post #158
logfromblammo wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It's your world bro, you can change it if you want.

I am not wealthy enough to buy change with money, not depraved enough to buy it with blood, not eloquent enough to buy it with words, and not clever enough to buy it with new technology.

So not without violating my own ethical code, I can't. And if I compromise my own ethics, the change I create will not be for the common good.

It is not my world, anyway. It still belongs to those acting under the precept "might makes right". The systems of control still rest easy upon the foundation that humans are easy to murder, and their corpses are easily forgotten. In video games, protagonists can slaughter their way across a whole state, and get little more than little red, white, and green numbers for it. In reality, if you change the world, it might not be for the better, and you and everyone else will have to live with the consequences.

I know I could change the world. I have even identified some means of doing so. But when I assess the likely effectiveness of those means, the only ones that even cause a momentary shimmy on the global change-o-meter involve horrific atrocities. And in many of those scenarios, I cannot escape angry retribution from somebody. Changing the world is a punishable offense.

So I'll just eat the bread and watch the circuses, and try not to attract too much attention from the sociopaths, thanks.

Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games

#265

Post by logfromblammo »

taway_1212 wrote: post #230
logfromblammo wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 alrea…

> ...and move to a hot tech hub.

The requirement that I move away from my home eats up an awful lot of my not-specifically-work-related efforts. Gain salary. Lose contact with existing friends and family. Pay extra salary in inflated housing costs, food prices, and taxes. Maybe also commute longer.

I have had annual performance reviews that say I kick ass, some that say I am just "meets expectations" in all categories. Either way, I only get a 2% salary increase. The jobs around here don't pay extra for superior competence.

The limiting factor on my nookie is spousal libido. My exercise and fitness levels have no observable effect on it. Nothing I have ever done seems to have an observable effect on it, actually.

I feel like a mime. No matter what direction I go, my nose smushes up against that invisible wall, and I can't find where it ends, so I can get past it.

It's probably not the world. It could be just me. The walls might be of my own creation, and now I just live in the invisible box I have built for myself.

But it could also be that I am surrounded by Homo economicus, and I am already standing at the local profit maximum. Nobody cares about who I am or what I do, so long as they can make the maximum amount of money from me. Nobody really wants the sprockets in their machine to grow extra teeth.

Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games

#266

Post by marcofloriano »

logfromblammo wrote: post #126
pikzen wrote: post #90

Earlier 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…

That was inspiring, thanks!

Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games

#267

Post by marcofloriano »

logfromblammo wrote: post #265
taway_1212 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 alrea…

> ...and move to a hot tech hub. The requirement that I move away from my home eats up an awful lot of my not-specifically-work-related efforts. Gain salary. Lose contact with existing friends and family. Pay extra salary in inflated housing costs, food prices, and taxes. Maybe also commute longer. I have had annual performance reviews that say I kick ass, some that say I am just "meets expectations" in all categorie…

I think the "walls" could be your expectations. The world is just the world, but it's your job to define what's that you want from it.

And your actions play a very important role in the outcomes. Sometimes different are better.

Re: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games

#268

Post by AlwaysRock »

cableshaft wrote: post #86
AlwaysRock wrote: post #20

Every 6 months or so I find a game that swoops in and eats up all my time. Usually it is a valuable and rewarding experience and its missed once I complete the game. Then I spend 6 months trying games from my steam library until I find another one that has that special something. It's not the best method but I try to set a timer for 30 minutes 3 times a week and try a new game I've never played. It's obviously not a…

Last year for me it was The Witness , Life is Strange , and to a lesser extent Monument Valley . Those were all excellent. This year the first one is Civilization VI , but I fully expected that.

Hey! I just played Inside. It's made by the same creators of Limbo which was a hit a couple years back. The whole game took me about 3 hours but it was great. Puzzle focused but they were just difficult enough that I never got frustrated and blended into the game enough that they almost didnt feel like puzzles. Check it out!
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