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A link between video games and unemployment

economist.com

41–50 of 177 posts

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#41
post #5

>games will go on getting better I don't think there's any evidence for this, and the call to panic is based on it.

I think a better way to phrase that might have been "games will become more effective Skinner boxes", as developers discover new and more powerful ways to keep people in the reward loop. Because that's the real concern here.

I don't think there's any evidence of that either.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#42

There's worse forms of escapism that are far less stimulating. Alcohol or drugs, for example. It's nice we live in an age where there's engaging entertainment like video games instead of just more passive entertainment like TV.

>Alcohol or drugs, for example.

drugs like marijuana make everything more stimulating. Food tastes better, music sounds better, you can enjoy movies from almost any genre.You can get into great conversations with your partner where you are actually interested in what they are saying. Get over musicians block and let the music flow. so on.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#43
post #4

Of course, because the lower salaries, the high prices of the houses and the global crisis during these years has nothing to do with the unemployment in the young population.

This is the easy response to the article. It is partially true, but the article is more true than you're giving it credit for. There are other articles about this (e.g. http://www.vulture.com/2017/02/video-games-are-better-than-r... ) all confirming that unemployed people who play video games don't have the same increase in unhappiness that other unemployed people have. Which might be good for their short-term well-b…

I don't think "we should strive to make unemployed people more miserable so they're more motivated to work" is a proposition worthy of serious consideration.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#44
post #4

Of course, because the lower salaries, the high prices of the houses and the global crisis during these years has nothing to do with the unemployment in the young population.

The article addresses this: "While games improved since the turn of the century, labour-market options for young people got worse." That paragraph goes into more detail how the market has not been good for young people, and thus they turn to games, not the other way around.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#45
post #30

Video games are cheap compared to other entertainment. I can buy a good enough PC for $400 and I can clock almost an infinite amount of game-time on it with friends all over the world. Most other activities - playing pool, eating out, bars, most sports, vacationing - cost a lot more per hour of possible entertainment. So if you don't have the money and you have the time you should choose activities that provide the m…

> Video games are cheap compared to other entertainment.

Maybe with the exception of the public library.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the easy response to the article. It is partially true, but the article is more true than you're giving it credit for. There are other articles about this (e.g. http://www.vulture.com/2017/02/video-games-are-better-than-r... ) all confirming that unemployed people who play video games don't have the same increase in unhappiness that other unemployed people have. Which might be good for their short-term well-b…

-if the post-scarcity UBI future ever happens- I live in a country that throws away half of its prepared food. Like we're not even talking about some chopped up animal corpse that sits out for too long and has to be discarded before it goes rancid - in the US we strait-up assemble food in some factory, wrap it plastic, burn fuel shipping said wrapped and assembled food to a store halfway across the country, unwrap th…

To be fair we're also hurtling toward ecological catastrophe and it's not clear we're gonna be able to do that indefinitely.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#49
post #16

Video games become the sole source of agency in many people's lives. This isn't just for the unemployed, but also for folks stuck in a job where they feel like they lack control. I couldn't understand at first why my fellow Googlers found so much time to play video games, but after a couple of months I understood. Afternoon Halo matches became the highlight of my day, I felt like I had more choice and responsibility…

You're also at an organization that selects for personalities susceptible to that. So many people want to work at companies like Google because they care more about the recognition for working at a company like Google than the actual work they do or impact they make. And that's a recipe for its own type of acedia.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#50
post #17
post #4

Of course, because the lower salaries, the high prices of the houses and the global crisis during these years has nothing to do with the unemployment in the young population.

It's the logic of Late Capitalism: all problems and failings are those of the individual, never of the system.

While that may indeed be the propaganda, blaming addicts for their addictions can be victim-blaming. Some of the rhetoric blames the video game companies more than the consumers…
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