Balancing a life in gaming and outside.

[Jagos]

Ya know, I go through some hard times. I read a lot about copyrights and how they could be better improved. I play a few PSP games while reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

Sometimes I wonder about the direction my life is going and how to get there. Then I get a few bombs to drop.

One, talking about the effects of gaming from a personal perspective I can relate to. (http://screwattack.com/videos/The-Only-Thing-I-Know)

Two, the effects of gaming in a broader sense (http://screwattack.com/videos/TGO-Episode-33-Building-A-Better-Gamer)

Both are pretty good to sit down with for 5 minutes and wonder, how is your life being affected? Are you hitting the strides that you can hit? Or are our lives being engulfed in our entertainment? It's funny. How I talk about gaming right now, it's a beast that's come up to destroy us. We make choices in how we progress in our lives. It's those very choices that can affect us far longer than we know.

[DFM]

I don't have any world of warcraft characters at all but I also don't want anything to do with the gaming community where do I fall on the wasted opportunity scale.

[Regulus Tera]

My problem is not much gaming but gaming news. I think I've got the hang of it though.

I don't have any world of warcraft characters at all but I also don't want anything to do with the gaming community where do I fall on the wasted opportunity scale.

You post in a freaking sprite-webcomic forum. Figure that one out yourself.

[BitVyper]

I don't have any world of warcraft characters at all but I also don't want anything to do with the gaming community where do I fall on the wasted opportunity scale.

No opportunity to waste.

[Seil]

Cracked argues that video game developers are trying to create a virtual Skinner Box. (http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html)

[Ryong]

I only know English because of RPGs and Priston Tale. I guess I'm on a bad part of the oppotunity scale, but I'm in a great university and failing as many classes as basically everyone else. I guess gaming helped making me overweight, but I was never good at sports and I exercised a LOT a few years ago, trying to get in shape and it didn't happen. Maybe I lost romantic opportunities. I do not, however, accept the point of view that it is a "beast that's come up to destroy us". I suppose I can't parallel them to books in sheer amount of learning experience, but dang, you always get something. In the first link, I find it interesting that he mentions some books which are fiction, which serve to tell a story...As many games do.

I guess my view of the world would be pretty different had I not played games that led me to their respective gaming communities, as I ended up making friends in a MMO I used to play that, while I don't talk with them anymore* they have affected me a lot. More than a great deal of people I know in real life.

*= Some people don't seem to have time out of uni.

[MasterOfMagic]

Were I not to play games, I would be a bookworm. The net effect would have been the same.

Meh.

[DFM]

No opportunity to waste.

Shot at the starting gate.

Edit:
You post in a freaking sprite-webcomic forum.

What if I am a sprite webcomic.

[Bells]

As i move towards work and study i find that i have less time for Rune Frontier, Final Fantasy and Harvest Moon... but i have enough time to enjoy Tiger Woods, WCW VS Smackdown, Tatsunoko vs Capcom and some Boom Blox on the side

It's all about balance you know?

But really, i just had to find a inner balance. I love games that makes me think, games that make me give a damn and actually process information to get to the goal... so, in some level, it's mental exercise.

[synkr0nized]

You post in a freaking sprite-webcomic forum. Figure that one out yourself.

I don't get it. Pounding on a keyboard for a few minutes a day is somehow socially crippling?

[DFM]

I don't get it. Pounding on a keyboard for a few minutes a day is somehow socially crippling?

I flail my fists at it and make "OOOGAAAH" sounds and the keyboard smashes and eventually flips off the desk so I'm not allowed in the library anymore.

[Krylo]

I watched the first one, and I guess it was ok.

Like, ok, this guy believes that things in life have some value beyond what you prescribe them. Well, good for him. I think I've already covered a few times that I don't think that. The only thing that constitutes value is how good it makes you feel.

The second guy though?

He started out ok.

Then it was "DUDE WHO IS THREE TIMES MY WEIGHT TELLING ME HOW NOT TO BE FAT" and he suddenly lost all integrity.

Then he listed people like Ayn Rand and Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald as authors everyone should read.

Man, Ayn Rand sucks. Steinbeck sucks harder. And... well I don't really have an issue with F. Scott Fitzgerald, but he wasn't amazing or anything.

His movie list wasn't much better but I can't be arsed to go back and look for specific examples, and it left me wondering... what's the difference if I spend 2-4 hours sitting on my ass eating cheetos, drinking Mt. Dew, and playing Final Fantasy XXXVII or watching oh fuck I don't know... Logan's Run (I lied, I went back and found one), which isn't even a good movie. It doesn't speak to pertinent social issues in any real way, and the issues it does handle it handles in such a hamfisted and cartoony way as to completely destroy any validity the observations may have otherwise had.

Like, he had a point. It was a pretty decent/good point, but then he ruined it through healthy doses of hypocrisy and shitty taste.

[Raiden]

Then he listed people like Ayn Rand and Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald as authors everyone should read.

Man, Ayn Rand sucks.

Know who read Ayn Rand?

The people who made Bioshock 1 & 2.

Great games. Greeeeaaaat games.

[Krylo]

Have you read Ayn Rand?

I've read Ayn Rand.

She sucks.

Edit: Though basing a villain on her is pretty cool, because she was basically an insanely hypocritical psychobitch. If she had made herself the villains in her books I'd have liked them more.

[Jagos]

I think his main point gets a little better near the end. What he's suggesting isn't that we should be hyper fit but we should work towards fulfilling our lives with different projects. I may not agree with every point, but I did find that a few of the authors he listed (Fitzgerald) might be some to look into.

[Krylo]

He didn't even list Edgar Rice Burroughs. The man has no taste.

Also, I stand by my, "a dude who is 3x my size shouldn't be telling me how to lose weight," point. If he told me how much being fat sucked, and that I maybe shouldn't do the same thing, I would listen. And if Susan Summers told me how to not be fat I would listen.

I, however, wouldn't listen if Susan Summers told me how much being fat sucks--'cause bitch don't know--and I'm not going to listen to him on how to not be fat, again, 'cause bitch don't know. If bitch knew, he wouldn't be so fat.

[Kerensky287]

The second guy though?

He started out ok.

Then it was "DUDE WHO IS THREE TIMES MY WEIGHT TELLING ME HOW NOT TO BE FAT" and he suddenly lost all integrity.

To be fair, he pointed this out.

Also, he wasn't talking directly to you. He was talking to the thousands of kids who have to roll to the fridge so they can get some Pizza Pockets for breakfast every morning.

And... well, these are all well-known things. "Stop eating shitty food" and "Work out once in a while" aren't exactly secret methods to earning a healthy lifestyle. Doesn't matter who they're coming from - whether you listen or not should depend on the quality of the message, not necessarily the source.

(I mean, you don't really need weight loss tips unless you've let yourself go since that picture of you in the miniskirt. *whistles* You go girl!)

Then he listed people like Ayn Rand and Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald as authors everyone should read.

Man, Ayn Rand sucks. Steinbeck sucks harder. And... well I don't really have an issue with F. Scott Fitzgerald, but he wasn't amazing or anything.

While I actually agree with you entirely (Fuck Fitzgerald, in fact, Great Gatsby was absolutely useless) I would like to say that it's still important to be FAMILIAR with them. They're (arguably) important parts of modern culture, and at the very least people should read them to decide for themselves whether or not they're worth worrying about.

His movie list wasn't much better but I can't be arsed to go back and look for specific examples, and it left me wondering... what's the difference if I spend 2-4 hours sitting on my ass eating cheetos, drinking Mt. Dew, and playing Final Fantasy XXXVII or watching oh fuck I don't know... Logan's Run (I lied, I went back and found one), which isn't even a good movie. It doesn't speak to pertinent social issues in any real way, and the issues it does handle it handles in such a hamfisted and cartoony way as to completely destroy any validity the observations may have otherwise had.

Like, he had a point. It was a pretty decent/good point, but then he ruined it through healthy doses of hypocrisy and shitty taste.

You're nitpicking.

His point was that gamers have to learn to integrate socially with non-gamers. Just because this person you're meeting has never played a game of Starcraft doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to find a common thread - knowing the classics from other forms of entertainment is useful in that sense. And again, while I agree that some of those choices were pretty bad (IMO a lot of those movies were made before the human race learned the art of "acting") the point is that they're well-known and people should at least be familiar with them.


I agree that the first video is more... hard-hitting though. The guy's speaking from experience and... well, to be honest, it's come to me at the absolute perfect time. Speaking of which, I'm gonna go finish my homework that's due tomorrow. And the assignment that was due today. And hey, maybe I'll catch up on the notes for the class I failed a midterm in because I was too busy playing Final Fantasy 13 and Starcraft 2.

Or maybe I'll do some of that in the morning. It's 2am, I've spent far too long on Red Alert 3. Regardless... helpful points.

[DFM]

Kerensky I was with you up until you said Gatsby was useless and then I thought "Well, it looks like the rest of that post and all his future posts aren't worth reading."

[BitVyper]

They're (arguably) important parts of modern culture, and at the very least people should read them to decide for themselves whether or not they're worth worrying about.

Why? What makes them worth bothering with beyond their popularity? How is reading Ayn Rand and then deciding that Ayn Rand is an idiot going to enhance someone beyond getting them to steer clear of Ayn Rand? While it doesn't hurt to have some experience with the really bad stuff, you don't need to read every piece of sociopolitical philosophy tripe anyone ever wrote in order to form valid opinions.

[Krylo]

To be fair, he pointed this out.

Also, he wasn't talking directly to you. He was talking to the thousands of kids who have to roll to the fridge so they can get some Pizza Pockets for breakfast every morning. But he IS one of those kids. It's purely hypocritical for him to talk to those kids like that, when he, himself, is that over weight.

My mother has thyroid issues, nervous system issues, respiratory issues, narcolepsy, and is BASICALLY falling apart at the seams. She literally can not exercise because it makes her sick, and eating healthier/less will never make her thin because of her thyroid. She still manages to be smaller than this guy.

Once he, himself, makes the life changes that he is suggesting that all of us make, once he loses that weight? THEN, and ONLY THEN, is he allowed to tell others about it.

You want to talk about culture, and pieces of culture gamers should know about? Here's one just for him: Aesop. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTrCewf6XiI)

Don't tell someone else how to live or act unless you're willing to live up to those same standards yourself.





They're (arguably) important parts of modern culture, and at the very least people should read them to decide for themselves whether or not they're worth worrying about.They are important because people assign value and importance to them.

If we'd quit jerking off shitty authors like Herman Melville we could move past them and stop forcing students to read one of the most ham-fisted and clumsily terrible attempts at purposefully creating a 'masterpiece' that has ever been seen.




His point was that gamers have to learn to integrate socially with non-gamers. Just because this person you're meeting has never played a game of Starcraft doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to find a common thread - knowing the classics from other forms of entertainment is useful in that sense. And again, while I agree that some of those choices were pretty bad (IMO a lot of those movies were made before the human race learned the art of "acting") the point is that they're well-known and people should at least be familiar with them.If this was really his point?

He'd have told us to watch FRIENDS and Seinfeld, and I don't know, Two and Half Men, Scrubs.

You try starting a conversation with someone at work about 2001: A Space Odyssey and let me know how that goes for you. When you're done mention how much you like Chandler.

What he's really doing is trying to make value judgments on what movies--what pieces of art in the visual medium--are worth watching. And he's failing. Horribly. This goes back to the above.

If we'd, as a culture, quit talking about how 'awesome' shitty movies of the past are, they'd no longer be 'classics'. The only worth they have is that which we as humans assign them.

I mean--I'm not even defensive here. I obviously don't fall into any of these things he's criticizing. I'm thinner than him, I'm healthy as shit, I drink flavored vitamin enriched waters over soda when I can, I usually avoid chips and pizza and stuff (though I've been bad the last few weeks), I eat decent serving sizes, I have seen most of his movies, I have read works by most of those authors (and hated them, EDIT: fuck Hunter S. Thompson fuck the works of, etc. etc. while we're at it--I can't hate on a dude who got high and rode with the hell's angels just to write a book... doesn't mean I have to like the book, though).

I just patently disagree with the way he is choosing to present his message, and the hypocrisy with which he does it.

This is a guy called the 'game overthinker' complaining about people knowing more about games than anything else. He's a bigger 'loser' than all of us combined by his own standards. He is NOT the person who should be making these kinds of judgment calls on others.

[Premmy]

Thing about the Game Overthinker is that he tries to make a good point, but then loses it in him being an idiot.

[Toast]

For the sake of entertainment I willingly gave up sleep, health, and ambition
Replace entertainment with a career, education, job, or just about anything else that we spend shit tons of time doing and it still makes sense. I get tired real fast of people saying that games are nothing but wastes of time because in the same amount of time, you could be doing x,y, and z. The same is true for anything else.

If a game is a good experience, then that is inherently worth it to me.

If you have a hard time balancing your time between the things you want to do, the things you're obligated to do, and the things you want to do, but hate doing the things you have to do to get there, well, welcome to life. It's going to be a problem no matter how you spend your time.

[Regulus Tera]

I don't get it. Pounding on a keyboard for a few minutes a day is somehow socially crippling?

Every second DFM spends posting is a second he could spend finding a cure for his illness.

[Doc ock rokc]

I have recently been thinking about such subjects of late. Why I waste my life in such minuscule entertainment when i could be honing my art or Doing something productive? But also I have looked at my life. One filled with Favors that will never be paid back, a cheapskate father who steals anything he can get his hand on, a Mother that has Frequent mood swings and injuries, a school filled with several students that a few years ago made death threats to me and Various troubles brought on me By both things I couldn’t control and emotional overloads in my mind causing actions that I would never intend.
Stepping away from this world to cool down or feel like something is the only thing keeping me sane. In my insight I have also realized everyone has their distraction from the real world, whether chemical or mental. Athletes exercise endlessly for both endorphins and a easily repitive task to keep their minds busy . Writers immerse themselves in their own writings. Readers immerse themselves into their books. And so on and so forth.
I think it wise that We know that these are distractions and nothing more.