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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

#151

Post by aidenn0 »

ajeet_dhaliwal wrote: post #93

I used to joke that unemployed players with nothing else to do ruin online play with hyper competitiveness when someone like me wants to play once a week or month. May not be far fetched after all. Aside being a former gamer (no time anymore) and having worked in the games industry for 6 years, that stock photo is a prime example of the ridiculous way game playing is portrayed on TV and film and by publications that…

Anyone new to video games does things like that photo (push the controller forward when punch/kick/shoot/go fast, turn the controller to the side you want your character to go, &c.)

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#153

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

the article says that a lack of good jobs in the real word is contributing to this.

Now gamers have their own online communities; I guess that the network of online friends could help to build a real world network to solve real world problems. This would be of great value to the players.

I wonder if future games will have a built in social networking functionality...

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#154

Post by xiaoma »

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…

That's interesting... growing up, I always saw video games as expensive—both needing to buy the game and needing to update the system or computer every few years—but sports as the budget choice. There are so many sports you can play with just having access to a park and a $10 ball or frisbee.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#155

Post by WillPostForFood »

slg wrote: post #125
notyourwork wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

Playstation started with a SRP of $49 when it launched in the US in 1995. Sony dropped the SRP of first party titles to $39 in 1997, several years before PS2 launched. PS2 launched with games back up at $49, and then Sony followed Microsoft's lead and upped it to $59 for the PS3. So if you look at a narrow window of time, you see games going $39 -> $49 -> $59, but that doesn't give the full picture. Throw in inflation, and the increased costs, and games are shockingly inexpensive.

Sone SNES cartridges were even more expensive: Chrono Trigger was $79.99

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#156

Post by kqr »

jboggan wrote: post #71
sametmax wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the exact opposite actually. Nit saying it's a bad thing though. But it's important to understand that screens are taking your attention away. You are not in the moment at all.

I agree with that, you are completely taken out of your actual context, or at least I am. I used to game really heavily during a pretty terrible period (divorce + grad school) in an attempt to cope. Of course it actually just made things worse overall while distracting my brain to make it seem temporarily better, it diverted a lot of the energy I might have used towards engaging and fixing the problems. When I game s…

> I forget to eat, I don't get tired.

Sound like dopamine at play!

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#157

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ouid wrote: post #41
Analemma_ wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Games like Candy Crush and Time Clickers are amazingly good Skinner boxes. There certainly seems more that might be done in FPS games, say, to match that sort of dopamine hit.

It's interesting seeing the better gamers "fidget" (in my current game, CS:GO, players switch weapons, or reload, or swish their knife which gives an accompanying short sound effect) which is a self comfort move I think but in the context provides a low level visual-aural stimulus that I suspect is doing duty as a "reward" stimulus akin to that in a Skinner box.

Thoughts?

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#158

Post by edem »

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…

At my workplace I have a rather good control over the stuff I do (I'm an architect at an IT company) but I still play games online. I mainly do it because it is a kind of therapy for me because the game I play rewards careful strategic thinking, cool headed decision making, patience and punishes recklessness and hotheadedness. When I manage to remain cool and win a game I always feel a sense of achievement. I'm not representative though because I play games for 27 years and I never had this kind of a problem.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#159

Post by edem »

voidhorse wrote: post #145

Video games are sometimes hammered a bit too hard. They certainly have their negative impacts, but the media harps on the downsides so much they often obscure benefits. They're one of the few forms of entertainment that actually force you to think--it's very easy to consume movies, television, and even leisurely books without thinking hard or at all, 'passive consumption'. Video games, by their nature, force you to a…

I also play games because it keeps my mind active even when I have fun. That's the reason why I don't like watching series beacuse it is passive. I've also noticed that I have more fun nowadays writing games than playing them.

Re: A link between video games and unemployment

#160

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

Jare wrote: post #129
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I absolutely agree with what you've written here.

My exposure to gaming has been almost entirely seeing other people play FPSs.

Thinking about it, the most recent game I played was http://play.quantumgame.io/ which is none of those things I characterised games as.

Thanks for calling me out.

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