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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

#121

Post by Apocryphon »

hanoz wrote: post #25
pzh wrote: post #10

If nothing else, at least those economists have found the solution to keep people occupied when AI renders half the world unemployed. Now the premise of the Matrix doesn't seem so far fetched after all.

Isn't the premise, unbearably absurd even by the standards of the rest of the movie, that humans are used as a power supply?

The premise is that there was a war between humanity and its creations, and the creations won. Subsequently humanity was imprisoned in a virtual world. The specifics on why imprisonment was the chosen punishment is just detail and window dressing.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#122

Post by nickpsecurity »

jboggan wrote: 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…

Happened to me too much with FPS's. I am proud that I managed to stay off games like WoW that are basically the same stuff all the time. I fight smart players with different kits and play strategies. Keeps me thinking quick on my feet with improved hand-eye coordination and reflexes vs what I have with a brain injury.

That said, it still was too much time invested into stuff that isn't improving my life. Even the stuff improving thinking fast is training the intuition for wrong situations. I'd be better off doing part-time or contract work involving similar skills. Probably...

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#123

Post by kough »

jboggan wrote: 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…

My friends and I blow off school pressure by playing smash. It is, no joke, the biggest addiction in my life. But it's exactly what you say – a way to regain some control in a world that otherwise is lacking in it.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#124

Post by teekert »

Why is this piece all about jobs? Where's the family aspect? The hours playing games that could have been spent socializing, courting, going to a bar, having sex? Those things are even more important than working hard at a career. Sorry but this does sound very American to me. You have a very work focused culture, it's where esteem is earned it seems. I think that is also a bit troubling.

In the end it is very simply though wherever you are from, you can either spend your time consuming or you can spend it creating.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#125

Post by slg »

notyourwork wrote: post #113
slg wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only are they cheap, but the nominal price of video games hasn't budged much in something like 30 years. AAA titles have always hit the market in the $50-$60 dollar range since the days of the NES (and maybe earlier, but that is before my time). It isn't surprising that video game companies have introduced additional revenue streams with DLC or microtransactions in order to counter inflation in both real dollars…

I am not sure I agree with this statement. I remember new PS1 games retailing for $39.99, I remember PS2 games retailing for $49.99. It wasn't until the ps3 generation were games $59.99. My friends and I always joked about how each generation games went up $10.

You can do a Google image search for old video game ads to prove my point.

Here are new NES games retailing at $55-$70 - http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4240/90scommercials1324wwwk...

Here are new SNES games retailing at $60-$70 - https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b9/57/24/b957...

Here are new Genesis games retailing at $45-$65 - http://farm1.static.flickr.com/215/523645427_a566d2d110_b.jp...

Here are new PS1 games retailing at $50-$55 - https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/08/89/34/0889...

What might be clouding your memory is that as a console generation ages the games might drop in price until a new generation comes in to reestablish the price at approximately $60. It is certainly possible at the introduction of the PS2 that most PS1 games were retailing for less than $50 and then it was repeated when PS2 aged and the PS3 was released, but it certainly wasn't the PS3 that introduces the $60 price point.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#126

Post by klenwell »

jboggan wrote: 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…

Insightful observation. Makes sense.

As a variation on this idea... I have a job now where I do have control over some stuff that matters to me (and it definitely helps!) But I still like to take a video game break once or twice a day.

My game of choice is a Risk-clone on my phone. It's nice because it moderately cognitively challengeing, offers some variety with different maps, and the AI is quite mediocre -- which means I usually win. Games generally take 5-10 minutes and winning I notice gives me a little lift (even though I know my opponents are at an inherent disadvantage). So I've concluded overall it's a plus for my mental health.

Of course, every once in a while I do lose, which makes me a little grumpy. In that case, I'll usually just play another game straight away and win.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#128

Post by prodmerc »

jumpkickhit wrote: post #13

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.

Please, games are far more addictive. Stimulating? Depends on what you play. MMO's can be worse than heroin.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#129

Post by Jare »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #99
szemet wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree. As I understand these things: You are mindful and react on direct stimulus - while gaming, you do not think on future or past, you are immersed in your actual activity - it IS mindfulness. BUT it does not improve mindfulness - it is easy to be mindful at interesting times - that's normal, but not so when nothing interesting is around, and you are just left alone with your own thoughts or problems. That…

> You are mindful and react on direct stimulus - while gaming, you do not think on future or past, you are immersed in your actual activity - it IS mindfulness. I disagree. Reacting is the polar opposite of what mindfulness is about. Mindfulness is about, among other things, responding appropriately to what is happening, not reacting . What you're describing, the state people get in when playing computer games, is a…

It's true that games require player agency and thus by definition are active. However, your characterization of games using terms as "hyper", "acute" and "battle" is rather limited and outdated. Games that underplay or avoid challenge and focus on exploration, immersion or rhythm, can offer a state of mind and activity as conducive to mindfulness as walking or swimming.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#130

Post by klenwell »

GuiA wrote: post #11

There is an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" where Charlie, a character who never gets any success in life (a janitor living in a dump of an apartment, gets rejected by his love interest constantly, abused by his friends, etc) gets really engrossed in an online videogame. He becomes really good at it, and exclaims "I'm thriving! I never get to thrive, and I want to be the guy who thrives for once! It's…

Reminds me of this Wired article from years ago:

The Unreal Estate Boom

https://www.wired.com/2003/01/gaming-2/

Not long ago, a 43-year-old Wonder Bread deliveryman named John Dugger logged on to eBay and, as people sometimes do these days, bought himself a house. Not a shabby one, either. Nine rooms, three stories, rooftop patio, walls of solid stonework – it wasn't quite a castle, but it put to shame the modest redbrick ranch house Dugger came home to every weeknight after a long day stocking the supermarket shelves of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Excellent location, too; nestled at the foot of a quiet coastal hillside, the house was just a hike away from a quaint seaside village and a quick commute from two bustling cosmopolitan cities. It was perfect, in short, except for one detail: The house was imaginary.

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