81–90 of 105 posts
Wow. You are not a normal writer. More writing needs to come from the heart like this. I don't even care about video games and loved this article.
To be the best at anything, means that you must live abnormally and do abnormal things. This is why being the best at everything is nearly impossible, since each thing to master would require different kinds of abnormalities and different ways of living abnormally. This is why you find "geniuses" in a particular field, like math, or music, and they're usually not-so-genius in most other fields. "Genius" is attainable…
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I think the DFW was a little melodramatic here. I don't think the commitment to true excellence necessarily detracts from other possible commitments in the long run. E.g. DFW was a writer of singular ability, and he was, at various points in his life, dedicated to tennis, philosophy, and mathematics. More to the point, the time spent being great at CS doesn't seem to have limited this guy's future ability to do thing…
"More to the point, the time spent being great at CS doesn't seem to have limited this guy's future ability to do things like work at a startup." I agree it has not limited his ability to learn new things, but of course it has limited his ability to work at a startup. Just think of all the things he could be better at, from social interaction to programming, if he had spent less time playing CS. I'm not saying he sho…
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Counter-Strike had a similar effect on me. I'd be coding since long before CS, but most were small, simple hacks. Seeing the success of Counter-Strike, and the mod-mania of that era, got me interested in modding, where I was first exposed to the complexities (and math!) that "real" software entailed. From there I went on to write some standalone, small games, then went deeper down the C++ rabbit hole which helped me…
I remember trying out tons of mods for Half Life and Quake around '99-2000. That's all but disappeared now. Are there still active modscenes for newer games? Minecraft is the only one that really comes to mind.
If I may, David Foster Wallace (as so often) said it better: > “But it’s better for us not to know the kinds of sacrifices the professional-grade athlete has made to get so very good at one particular thing…the actual facts of the sacrifices repel us when we see them: basketball geniuses who cannot read, sprinters who dope themselves, defensive tackles who shoot up with bovine hormones until they collapse or explode.…
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He will say he is happy and mean it. Wish him well." What's that supposed to mean? He will say he is happy and mean it, but really he isn't? DFW committed suicide, I don't hold him as a great authority on what kinds of happiness are 'valid'.
DFW is comparing one-dimensional geniuses to people who are retarded in some way. (Mental, emotional, social... take your pick.) The person is happy only because they're so oblivious to the things that they're missing out on, and their very nature prevents them from gaining this knowledge. Were they able to know what they were missing then they might not be so happy with their limited existence.
Attaching any weight to what you're missing out is a guaranteed way to make you unhappy and has nothing to do with what you do in life. Even with unlimited resources you'll miss out on most things that require huge time commitment, like being a pro athlete.
What is a stratcaller?
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"More to the point, the time spent being great at CS doesn't seem to have limited this guy's future ability to do things like work at a startup." I agree it has not limited his ability to learn new things, but of course it has limited his ability to work at a startup. Just think of all the things he could be better at, from social interaction to programming, if he had spent less time playing CS. I'm not saying he sho…
Exactly. And on top of that, CS was only popular for a brief period of time. Had it already been popular when he was a kid, like Tennis, then he would have probably been practicing at a very young age to become world class. And if CS was still as popular, he might be still playing it.
As of this posting there are ~52000 players currently playing CS according to Steam, with a peak in the past 24 hours at ~65000. For CS:S, the numbers are 38000 and 50000 respectively.
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"More to the point, the time spent being great at CS doesn't seem to have limited this guy's future ability to do things like work at a startup." I agree it has not limited his ability to learn new things, but of course it has limited his ability to work at a startup. Just think of all the things he could be better at, from social interaction to programming, if he had spent less time playing CS. I'm not saying he sho…
Exactly. And on top of that, CS was only popular for a brief period of time. Had it already been popular when he was a kid, like Tennis, then he would have probably been practicing at a very young age to become world class. And if CS was still as popular, he might be still playing it.
[1]: http://store.steampowered.com/stats/