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Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

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Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#181
post #152
post #81

Can someone explain how you play rdr2 for 6k hours? what exactly is he losing in game when stadia shuts down? so if he had played rdr2 on his pc, then stadia shutdown wouldn't affect him at all right?

RDR2 has an online component just like GTA online. In this online mode you play your character as long as you like, building up assets and stats as you complete missions/raids/races etc. This game mode is open ended, so if you spend enough time you can build up an enormous amount of in game assets and currency. Rockstar locks multiplayer to specific platforms, so if you buy a game on xbox and level up your character…

Thanks. I understand much better now. I find it strange and leaving a bad taste that your character is tied to your platform, but what do I know.

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#182
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although the angle of: Losing his characters is the best thing that's happening for him due to wasting a very significant part of his life in video games has some merit It has no merit. Do you look at your hobbies as wasting your life? I certainty don't. My alone time playing video games is just as important to me as when I'm going hiking or camping with friends.

At what point does a hobby turn into an addition? People who have spent 6k hours in a casino, for example, would probably be happier if they could figure out why they're doing it, and find a more productive way to address that need. Same might be true of someone who has spent 6k hours in a single video game. [I've spent 450 hours in Factorio, but stopped soon after my partner nick named it Divorcio.]

I like this rule of thumb to know if a behavior can be a psychiatric disorder: "when it interferes with normal functioning". It's purposely vague and subject to interpretation but it's a good first filter.

  For an addiction X, you can ask questions like: 
  * do I think about X most of the time
  * would I choose X over family/friends/health
  * when engaged in another activity, do I want it to be done quickly so I can go back to X
  * do I feel distressed when I can't do X
  * ...
Looking years ago, my younger self has been addicted to WoW before realizing how little joy the game sparked when playing. And one day I just did not launch it and I was done with it. I certainly feel lucky to have been bored by the game before it did too much damages. Other additions are not so kind on the health/mind/wallet.

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#183
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the context. Imagine being criticized for spending 6000 hours in Visual Studio.

>Imagine being criticized for spending 6000 hours in Visual Studio. But have never made anything, just played with the menus they put there for you.

If you're playing the game and recording content, you are "making" something.

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve probably logged in thousands of hours watching, discussing, analyzing sports (not playing - that’s a separate metric) Most older people have likely spent even more hours than this. Yet spending 2 hours watching football, then another hour watching a bunch of talking heads discuss the game, is somehow considered “normal”. I’m not a gamer, but what about this hobby is any different from any other passive sedentary…

Games aren't a passive hobby, there's an active component of feedback. This a higher dopamine response compared to "passive" activities like watching sports or reading; arguably that's the only real difference. They are capable of creating addictive tendencies as any other substance using the same dopamine reward would for certain individuals. That and video games being a much younger medium and therefore a waste of…

Honestly, if more people wasted time on video games instead of sports gambling, I think the world would be a better place.

But yeah: video games are nerd stuff that you are allowed to make fun of. Gambling and sports betting is a bro thing and therefore cool, but seriously is as big a waste of time and probably a bigger waste of money.

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#185
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although the angle of: Losing his characters is the best thing that's happening for him due to wasting a very significant part of his life in video games has some merit It has no merit. Do you look at your hobbies as wasting your life? I certainty don't. My alone time playing video games is just as important to me as when I'm going hiking or camping with friends.

At what point does a hobby turn into an addition? People who have spent 6k hours in a casino, for example, would probably be happier if they could figure out why they're doing it, and find a more productive way to address that need. Same might be true of someone who has spent 6k hours in a single video game. [I've spent 450 hours in Factorio, but stopped soon after my partner nick named it Divorcio.]

Why is it your place to make that judgement?

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Google's biggest flaw in this regard is their own denial of the pattern of shutting things down. If they just acknowledge that's how things go, they can prepare better off-ramps for people who adopted their product. Doing this to your users is a slap in the face because it shows no gratitude for the fact that those people took a chance on your product. They believed in it, and it's not their fault your projec…

> I was not a Stadia user, but events like this reinforce my motivation to drop all the Google products I possibly can before they drop me. Ditto. Im literally considering phasing my personal gmail out to a domain that I own...

I highly recommend Fastmail. Self hosting is a dream but spam filter monopolies are a nightmare. Opting out of being the product is a good compromise. I pay for email.

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#187
post #3

I hadn't even considered this as a consequence of Stadia shutting down. I naively thought, "Well, everyone is getting refunded for everything they spent, so it's fine." Clearly I was wrong. Of course there are folks that have actual game saves that they're heavily invested in on the platform that aren't easily portable. I feel sorry for this person and hope that Google and its partners like Rockstar work together to…

Well stadia ghost recon players had a save wipe not long ago, at least for them service closure will be painless.

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#188
post #3

I hadn't even considered this as a consequence of Stadia shutting down. I naively thought, "Well, everyone is getting refunded for everything they spent, so it's fine." Clearly I was wrong. Of course there are folks that have actual game saves that they're heavily invested in on the platform that aren't easily portable. I feel sorry for this person and hope that Google and its partners like Rockstar work together to…

I think Google's biggest flaw in this regard is their own denial of the pattern of shutting things down. If they just acknowledge that's how things go, they can prepare better off-ramps for people who adopted their product. Doing this to your users is a slap in the face because it shows no gratitude for the fact that those people took a chance on your product. They believed in it, and it's not their fault your projec…

> I was not a Stadia user, but events like this reinforce my motivation to drop all the Google products I possibly can before they drop me.

I currently do AWS infra. This is job security to me, because every time Google shutters another product, a whole cohort of companies chooses AWS over GCP because we all know Google will pull the plug on GCP any day now.

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#189
post #120
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like most things, the dose makes the poison. A little Red Dead is probably great, too much probably bad. Gambling, food, sleep all fall into similar U shaped curves.

Who are we to say how much is the right amount for this person? To play 6,000 hours of this game he must have a reason. Perhaps he's particularly passionate about it, perhaps there is someone in his life he loves to play it with.

I think that argument works a lot better if we're talking about a consumption level in the 10-100s of hours, along the lines of average for this title and most others like it:

https://howlongtobeat.com/game/27100

6000 hours is multiple orders of magnitude beyond that point, so it feels like a point where it's a lot safer to reach for an absolute judgment that it really is "too much".

Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with 6k hours on Stadia begs for character transfer

#190
post #102
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but isn't that a single player game ? Even if it had 100+ hours of gameplay, you'd have to repeat that so many times to get to 6000 hours Very different from someone that plays video games a few hours every day

This is entirely dependent on the person. Some people have to have something new every single day, and some people like to enjoy the same stuff. Some people try new beers every time they go out, and some people drink their favourite. Years back, I spent roughly 20,000 hours in WoW, starting 2006 and the last time I played, a year or two ago. 20,000 hours doing the same stuff, one could argue, but those hours have bro…

As someone who ran a raiding group for over 4 years in WoW, it's stimulating in a whole host of ways, including making real friends.
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