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A link between video games and unemployment

economist.com

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Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#101

Post by rubber_duck »

watwut wrote: post #67
dimitar wrote: 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…

You must have more expensive habits then me. Most of sports people do does not cost much money except if you go fashionable with cloth. Basketball, soccer and such require basically ball and place (which is available for free here). Same with running. Hanging with friends is basically free, so is reading (library) and watching tv. You can go fancy with entertainment, but people who don't have much money tend not to.…

>Basketball, soccer and such require basically ball and place (which is available for free here).

They also require you to be good at it to enjoy it, have slow and painful learning (depending on shape), and require you to be in a group interested in it. Unless you got in to it early on in your life it's not easy to pick up - unlike video games

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#102

Post by bhewes »

hbosch wrote: post #68
bhewes wrote: post #18

Leisure time comes from wealth. So a bunch of young men are wealthy enough to not work and play video games instead. All these articles miss the point someone is paying to keep these men playing games.

That's a very broad generalization. Videos games, computers/consoles, and internet access are essentially commoditized to the point where an Xbox, some games, and a TV (+ maybe internet) can be found cheaper than an iPhone. You could easily drive part time for Uber and get your emotional fulfillment from video games without being supported by wealthy parents.

Perfect point Uber is paying them and they play video games. (I love games, and the US is a wealthy country across the board so it does not surprise me that men are enjoying more leisure time at a younger age.) I am pro more video games.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#103

Post by nabla9 »

jakozaur wrote: post #21

On positive side, until recently economic crisis caused crime rate to go up. However, after 2007-2008 crisis the overall crime rate has not increased. https://phys.org/news/2015-09-link-economy-crime-broken.html There are a lot of hypothesis to explain that, but I believe computer games played some role in that.

There also seems to be inverse relation between consuming porn and rapes.

However I think the strongest connection seems to be in the amount of lead in the blood and crime. The crime rates seem to fall everywhere in the world (with predictable delay) after that country restricts lead in gasoline. We know that lead is causes developmental problems in children (like problems with impulse control).

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#104

Post by pbhjpbhj »

watwut wrote: post #67
dimitar wrote: 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…

You must have more expensive habits then me. Most of sports people do does not cost much money except if you go fashionable with cloth. Basketball, soccer and such require basically ball and place (which is available for free here). Same with running. Hanging with friends is basically free, so is reading (library) and watching tv. You can go fancy with entertainment, but people who don't have much money tend not to.…

Shoes? Basketball you want ankle support; football you want a stiff sole with good grip, usually studs ('cleats' I think in en-us).

Studded boots ain't cheap.

I've spent about £5 on a video game and played for a few hundred hours. Discounting the computer, the only other cost is probably mouse & keyboard wear and tear ... and life.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#105

Post by ddebernardy »

emodendroket wrote: post #39
dimitar wrote: 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…

I think it's hard to beat books for economical. But certainly games are in reach.

Are they really? I've never spent more than a few days on a book, but I've certainly spent well over 300 hours on some video games. I love reading, but to me books seem quite expensive as an entertainment medium in comparison with computer games.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#106

Post by posterboy »

dominotw wrote: post #87
posterboy wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Utter bollocks. That's the placebo effect that comes with being so doped up that one couldn't tell a good painting from a bad one, eg.

millions of people smoking marijuana for the placebo effect? ok. read this https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/science-says-weed-ma... You think it's being perceived to chemo patients for the placebo effect? https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects...

No, I'm not gonna read that and I'm still going to call bullshit. Neither did I claim any reason for anyone to smoke. Nor does the rest of your comment make any sense.

> perceived

prescribed

> chemo patients

are we still talking about stimulation or in fact about the opposite? You just said chemo patients want to feel their pain intensified, if I got that right.

I'm sure you are looking for a stimulating conversation to learn more about it. In return you should stop trying to educate other people, even more so when you get your information from vice of all places.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#107

Post by emodendroket »

ddebernardy wrote: post #105
emodendroket wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's hard to beat books for economical. But certainly games are in reach.

Are they really? I've never spent more than a few days on a book, but I've certainly spent well over 300 hours on some video games. I love reading, but to me books seem quite expensive as an entertainment medium in comparison with computer games.

There is tons of reading material available for free or for less than ten bucks and the setup costs are nothing (if you want to go e-books maybe fifty bucks). It is rare for me to play a single video game anywhere near 50 hours, let alone 300.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#108

Post by kpil »

metaphorm wrote: post #56
kpil wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It won't be a problem* unless we make more of us. Political and religious leaders that oppose education and planned parenthood are the long term problem. Ok, slaughtering is a problem, but I think it will sort itself out eventually.

don't you think it's a much bigger issue that we are normalized to a profoundly wasteful life style? this isn't really a population problem, it's an energy per capita problem.

No. It's primarily a population problem, although that does not mean that we should not manage the resources we have as efficient as possible.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#109

Post by soreasan »

rubber_duck wrote: post #101
watwut wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must have more expensive habits then me. Most of sports people do does not cost much money except if you go fashionable with cloth. Basketball, soccer and such require basically ball and place (which is available for free here). Same with running. Hanging with friends is basically free, so is reading (library) and watching tv. You can go fancy with entertainment, but people who don't have much money tend not to.…

>Basketball, soccer and such require basically ball and place (which is available for free here). They also require you to be good at it to enjoy it, have slow and painful learning (depending on shape), and require you to be in a group interested in it. Unless you got in to it early on in your life it's not easy to pick up - unlike video games

Your comment is definitely true. While the argument that sports are cheaper than video games does have some merit I contend that the barrier to entry for video games is much much lower than sports. With video games their learning curves are typically very gentle, you can play video games by yourself if others aren't available to join you, you can play from home, etc.

That's not to say that anything is wrong with sports, because I definitely feel sports are awesome, but rather that I genuinely feel it's easier to jump into gaming than to organize a team sport like a game of basketball at the local park.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#110

Post by eswat »

ddebernardy wrote: post #105
emodendroket wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's hard to beat books for economical. But certainly games are in reach.

Are they really? I've never spent more than a few days on a book, but I've certainly spent well over 300 hours on some video games. I love reading, but to me books seem quite expensive as an entertainment medium in comparison with computer games.

One way to look at it is if you're getting any wisdom from books or video games that you can apply to real life, potentially getting more value from the experience and offsetting cost of acquisition.
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