The problem with video games

[Atom Smasher]

I've identified a real problem with video games that goes beyond the thought that they are simply a waste of time that keeps you from more inportant activites (like developing yourself and designing your life).

Video games provide a FALSE, ARTIFICIAL sense of accomplishment, and that is very dangerous.

We only have a fixed amount of energy and internal resources to expend every day on the pursuit of success. When we achieve goals and win victories with our games, we satisfy that internal need for accomplishment and we therefore lose our motivation to succeed in real life.

What I'm doing now is using my games as a reward for a day well-spent. I'm forcing myself to go out into the fray of life, knowing that when I get home I can enjoy a nice few hours of blowing sh!t up to my heart's content. Oddly enough, a day well-spent actually reduces my desire for blowing stuff up later. See the connection?

Don't let your games give you a false sense of accomplishment. We men need to feel that sense of accomplishment every day, and video games have a way of shunting the current of accomplishment to ground.

 

[J. Darko]

Yes. Video games are anesthetics, like pornographic materials. They are instant gratifications for needs that should be fulfilled otherwise and that becomes painfully clear once you wake up. If you wake up...

You might wake up realising that you rather travel the real world. You wake up realising that you rather see a girl that you can touch and smell.

But anesthetics are adiccting. Even if you quit, you'll soon find yourself starting again. Repeating the cycle.

 

[BigJimbo]

How about that FIFA 11? You can be the goalie these days! Hard as hell to get proper position though.

 

[Vice]

Case and point right here in my other thread.


For now I've escaped the snare of pornography and video games by putting up web security on my computer (and leaving it off when it's not being used) and selling my Xbox.

Most guys out there are ensnared to video games and probably pornography as well.

The post popular video games today are popular because they have finally started to refine themselves to be VERY desirable to the male psyche, because they've introduced a ranking system that appeals to our natural desire to be of higher status than the other males. There's also a reward system that appeals to our instant gratification, and helps us earn tools to leverage the playing field to get to a high, but ultimately useless, digital rank.

I've been trying to replace my video game time with study time and ACTION time to build an enormous fortune in real estate. It's VERY doable, and much more rewarding than playing video games in ALL aspects.

And it's only been a week since I've dropped video games. I still play them on occasion, but none of them have any sort of ranking systems and I only spend a minimal amount of time on them.

 

[Atom Smasher]

Yes, I would say not to give up the games altogether, but to play them sparingly and as a reward for accomplishing what you set out to do during the day. In that way they can be leveraged as a enhancement to life, not a hindrance.

 

[Chosen1]

Ain't nothing wrong with playin video games in your spare time. I play modern warfare 2 sometimes. I acutally don't play or buy games like I did when I was younger

 

[BlackMos17]

Well technically almost anything not productive towards your goal(s) in life are "time wasters." Theres nothing wrong with playing video games as long as you have the time to do so and you want to do so.

Although those in game accomplishments may be fictional to you to others they can be real, and a basis for confidence. Just because its fictional doesnt mean the person didnt have to work for it. I mean, I dont know. I see what the OP is saying but I agree and disagree at the same time. It depends on the person really. This thread could have been "The problem with books..." or "The problem with reading too much..." its same thing.

Too much of anything is bad.

 

[Tazman]

This is more about you as a person than the activity you choose to spend time on. I used to play games a lot when I was younger but I had to prioritize my time and drop the games when I had other more important things to do.

 

[MagickMan]

I only play video games in the summer, they are very time consuming. But on the other hand, they make you more creative, don't blame video games for your downfall, blame your willpower.

 

[J. Darko]

Well technically almost anything not productive towards your goal(s) in life are "time wasters." Theres nothing wrong with playing video games as long as you have the time to do so and you want to do so.

Although those in game accomplishments may be fictional to you to others they can be real, and a basis for confidence. Just because its fictional doesnt mean the person didnt have to work for it. I mean, I dont know. I see what the OP is saying but I agree and disagree at the same time. It depends on the person really. This thread could have been "The problem with books..." or "The problem with reading too much..." its same thing.

Too much of anything is bad.

No, this thread could not have been that. Other media, like books and movies don't reward you for false accomplishments. The person doesn't have to work to get experience points, save the princes, or shoot down other players. The player only has to invest time and then gets a reward that encourages the player to invest more time. That's a dangerous cycle. And unlike books and movies, games don't really have an end.

 

[Serg897]

I grew up playing SNES, N64, etc. I used to be a huge gamer. But now that Im a graduate student I feel I have very little time for it. I have other (more social) hobbies, and whenever Im playing games I feel like Im wasting my time when I could be doing something productive.

 

[backbreaker]

you guys are thinking way too hard

I grew up playing SNES, N64, etc. I used to be a huge gamer. But now that Im a graduate student I feel I have very little time for it. I have other (more social) hobbies, and whenever Im playing games I feel like Im wasting my time when I could be doing something productive.

when i was 21 years old, march 27th, 2005 i laid in bed, it was about 8am, and i literary, could not get out of bed. i had been working, for 2 and a half years, 14-16 hour days, 6 and 7 days a week non stop. i live in GF was worried. I had officaly burned myself out. i knew i had to do something about my company at that point. By the end of that week i had sold it. But in my mind at that moment i knew i was done. i had worked too hard, way too hard, with really no personal time.

not only that.. man, i was ****ed up. i paid the price for that **** lol. i worked so hard, i said **** my weight, got all the way up to 240. GF eventually left. started doing drugs.. okay, started ABUSING drugs lol becuase i had no time to develop a social life/have fun, and while i had money, was pretty freaking miserable to say the least.

it took me to about... humm.. a few weeks after my birthday, and that's june 17th, to just, to be able to entertain the thought of working.. lol, at all. i was DONE. for 3 months i just literary sat there. the thought of working, at all literary hurt.


What i am getting at is, i could have made that work, had i had more balance in my life. you said doing something productive. what you fail to realize is, having fun IS productive, as long as it's done in balance with other things that are helping you reach goals.

don't confuse, aiming for goals, with being productive. you should do both everyday.

there are days where i might watch 15 mintues of TV, there are days where i will plan to play a few hours of video games, it's productive becuae it's keeping me a well rounded, mentally healthy individual. at that point when i was 21, i was not mentally healthy, at all, whatsoever.

As the great abe said, “It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”

the greatest people that walked the face of the earth had their vices. Ben Franklin was a guy a regular drinker who liked pretty women. Albert Enstien would walk around the city for fun for hours just to clear his mind and loved playing the violin, for pure entertainment. Teddy Roosevelt liked safari's and hunting and ****.

the problem with the avg person is their vices, run their lives and do not have the proper place in their lives. but i had to learn the hard way, a man needs his vices.


I was a huge gamer as a kid, and while i grew out of it, i haven't quit. i still play ncaa football quite regularly, a few times a week, i'll get a game in here or there and whe something good comes out that catches MY eye, not pc gamers eye, like metal gear 4 or resident evil 5, i'll buy it and i'll play it.

in a month i might spend 10-12 hours on my ps3. i haven't touched my xbox360 since at least june and i went and bought halo reach and haven't opened it. i have a wii and i do play that quite often as well probably more than anything, but that's just becuase i like to bowl against my fiancee who sucks (wii is the best dating tool invited since texting imho, use to your advantage), or when i can't get to the gym for whatever the reason i'm not against getting on the wii fit and putting in some time. you do what you gotta do lol.

 

[Gray The Prince]

It's not so much video games causing the problem. It's the lack of self-control and willpower. I hardly have time to play games now that I'm going through a lot of self-improvment but at the same timne, I grew up a gamer and Im gonna die a gamer. So i still play every now and then. SELF-CONTROL and WILLPOWER IS KEY!!!

 

[BigJimbo]

Case and point right here in my other thread.


For now I've escaped the snare of pornography and video games by putting up web security on my computer (and leaving it off when it's not being used) and selling my Xbox.

Most guys out there are ensnared to video games and probably pornography as well.

The post popular video games today are popular because they have finally started to refine themselves to be VERY desirable to the male psyche, because they've introduced a ranking system that appeals to our natural desire to be of higher status than the other males. There's also a reward system that appeals to our instant gratification, and helps us earn tools to leverage the playing field to get to a high, but ultimately useless, digital rank.

I've been trying to replace my video game time with study time and ACTION time to build an enormous fortune in real estate. It's VERY doable, and much more rewarding than playing video games in ALL aspects.

And it's only been a week since I've dropped video games. I still play them on occasion, but none of them have any sort of ranking systems and I only spend a minimal amount of time on them.

Uh, you are about 10 years too late! You were probably 9 years old when every horny boy decided he would build a fortune in real estate. Couldn't turn on the tv past midnight without every station selling you some real estate program.

My advice to you is to go get the new COD game in November and camp! The kids hate that. Just hide in a corner and rack up the kills. Then call in for an airstrike. Don't even worry about the objective. Just rack up those personal kills and rank up!!!! NEVER play Team Deathmatch. That is much too hard. Play Capture the Flag and camp.