Have you ever been playing a computer game that you thought you loved, only to realize that you’re wasting your time? That, after 300 hours of grinding for the perfect sword or leveling up the perfect character, you have created nothing of value in the world and have left nothing behind – that you have lost 300 hours of your life, sitting alone in a dark room, gaming?
In this community, there are some people who take their experience with gaming and create permanence with it – they write long essays, and some even make a huge magazine; all about their experience playing video games, their feelings now tangible and imprinted on the world. But the average “gamer” is just staring at screens, not thinking, barely feeling fake feelings conjured by huge multi-million dollar publishers.
It is sad is all. I imagine if this post offends you, then you likely fall into this camp and should do some soul searching.
alright i feel like im taking the bait here bit here i go commenting anyways
your last post shows that you understand and value the joy of playing games. i see the sentiment in the above post expressed so often, but i feel that it misses something big. people gain something JUST BY ENJOYING IT. enjoyment has a tangible effect on the world and peoples lives. anxiety medication has no “tangible effect on the world” and yet its wonderful because it increases quality of life and overall enjoyment for its users. same thing for video games. video games are enjoyed, and when we enjoy something, we have far more motivation to function and continue on with our lives.
if thats the thing that is keeping you alive, perfectly fine. we all have our vices. dont forget, thats exactly whats happening. i know people who have had episodes of their lives where they seriously considered ending everything, but an enjoyable video game kept them hopeful for just long enough that they continued on, and now theyre in a better place. a VIDEO GAME did that.
you can reduce it as if its just a collection of pixels, but theres more to games than that. its an art form that influences lives regularly and we have seen this disdain for modern art forms over time. we saw people trashing on newspapers and journals as if they were a waste of time, and we graduated from that. its time we graduate from this pessimistic and myopic view of games.
i feel like NOVA here is being a little inflammatory to rile up some sort of discussion, which attracts some unconstructive feedback but also some rather constructive feedback too (like your post). so, i appreciate you putting in the time to engage with this dumb DRAGON (i say this as affectionately as possible).
maybe the criticism comes down to a matter of moderation. yes, there is certainly a point where playing computer games is probably very much so very very like capital-S capital-B Super Bad; the hikkomori-likes, who play constantly and do not much else while nasty dishes and trash piles up around them, for example; however, if it were not computer games – it would be something else. it seems, however, that computer games have a propensity to get people hooked much easier than, say, reading books. BUT! to say all computer gaming is a waste of time really begs the question as to “well, what isn’t a waste of time?” and, in some cases (like you outlined) it can actually help people. a pinch of awareness is all one needs to determine if gaming is PERSONALLY bad for them AT THE MOMENT, and if you determine PERSONALLY that “maybe i should be focusing on my work instead of playing this computer game right now” then, AT THAT MOMENT, gaming is a bad choice. game later.
i appreciate you considering this as constructive! was a little scared of it coming across as too negative
I just feel that, overall as humans, we have a tendency to judge peoples vices and hobbies. im not going to act like im above this, im a progressive metalhead so iykyk. the fundamental idea at play here is that something is better than nothing. if its not video games, it could be something worse like drug abuse or even, at the risk of sounding dramatic, ending their life. there are certainly healthier things than video games but its important we not shame people for their interest or act as if video games are, in themselves, harmful. most often when you shame things like that and say “but you could be doing (healthy and often difficult to attain thing)” the listener will end up backsliding, because shame is not how you help people who are ultimately victims of nightmare-capitalist-hellscape.
there can be a whole argument about “what isnt a waste of time” and my opinion is that everything and nothing are truly a waste of time. everything has an effect that will magnify itself, but that depends on the timescale youre thinking on and your opinion on what is meaningful. these are all personal philosophy questions that largely cant be debated because philosophy is more of an art form than a science. id encourage anyone reading this to consider what you believe to be a waste of time, and if you care about the universe millions of years from now or just want to make it to tomorrow.
when it comes to computer games and being hooked, id rather not argue that thats entirely the fault of the user. there are definitely things the user can do to avoid it. i try to avoid games with gacha mechanics, i try to avoid youtube shorts/reels/tiktok, etc. there are habits we can cultivate that will help us long-term. on the other side of the screen, this is entirely a societal thing relating to, again, our nightmare-capitalist-hellscape (can you tell i like talking about this? lol). when user retention is incentivized with money, and dudes want more money, theyll abuse certain mechanics that may not even be entertaining nor enjoyable but encourage the user to check in again. im sure i dont even need to talk about this, its so damn common to see gambling and economies in games lately, youre perfectly aware of this. i do think this is something that users should actively protest when they can. ultimately games are an art form, yes, but mechanics made to prey on the most basic human survival functions take away autonomy to an extent. again, dont need to talk about this too deeply cause youve definitely seen and experienced this before if youve tried the more popular video games since like 2016 (as far as i know, if you know even earlier examples of obviously predatory ideas and things like battle passes do tell me). we should try to hold companies accountable for this when we are capable.
sorry for the essay, this is fun to think deeply about and i of course care about this subject. thank you for sharing your thoughts! no idea how i pulled out like 4 paragraphs worth of text from your comment, but eh lemmy is all about expressing your ideas so its worth a try.
nice essay! this is a community about writing, so there’s no need to apologize.