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posted by Fnord666 on Monday March 06 2017, @04:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the in-it-for-the-game dept.

A very interesting piece of long form journalism cum memoir about the way video gaming has subsumed and changed the way we live, interact, and think.

To the uninitiated, the figures are nothing if not staggering: 155 million Americans play video games, more than the number who voted in November's presidential election. And they play them a lot: According to a variety of recent studies, more than 40 percent of Americans play at least three hours a week, 34 million play on average 22 hours each week, 5 million hit 40 hours, and the average young American will now spend as many hours (roughly 10,000) playing by the time he or she turns 21 as that person spent in middle- and high-school classrooms combined. Which means that a niche activity confined a few decades ago to preadolescents and adolescents has become, increasingly, a cultural juggernaut for all races, genders, and ages. How had video games, over that time, ascended within American and world culture to a scale rivaling sports, film, and television? Like those other entertainments, video games offered an escape, of course. But what kind?

In 1993, the psychologist Peter D. Kramer published Listening to Prozac, asking what we could learn from the sudden mania for antidepressants in America. A few months before the election, an acquaintance had put the same question to me about video games: What do they give gamers that the real world doesn't?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 06 2017, @06:49PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 06 2017, @06:49PM (#475734)

    A good point, but for a lot of people video games are the only real outlet. Building real things costs a lot of money comparatively, unless you're an artist or musician then it is less. Being productive in the world is much harder, people get their necessary life items from industrial manufacturers. Selling crafty home items requires such a markup compared to the manufactured ones that it is nearly impossible for artists to make a living. Hmmm, hand made coffee mug that looks pretty unique for $35 - 50, or a more boring but totally functional mug for $5-15?

    I will agree that video games are a problem, but there are many other problems that drive people into the short term and easy satisfaction that games provide. Most games aren't just button mashing and require skill, problem solving, and even creativity at times. Add on to that the existential horror of modern life (ignorance sure as hell is bliss sometimes) and I can't blame people for wanting to retreat from the shitty world around them. Sure there are good parts, but generally you've got to be in a quite successful career in order to afford the good stuff like decent home, good restaurants, cultural events, or even a general feeling of security.

    I think we may be seeing the effects of overpopulation and wealth inequality more than anything else. There is no frontier, most free space has been bought up and locked away. Even disused spaces are out of bounds. Human beings have to pay exorbitant rates for their few hundred square feet of personal space. No wonder people are detaching from the real world in favor of more interesting virtual experiences.

  • (Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Tuesday March 07 2017, @12:50AM (1 child)

    by art guerrilla (3082) on Tuesday March 07 2017, @12:50AM (#475862)

    "Building real things costs a lot of money comparatively, unless you're an artist or musician then it is less."
    THAT, right THERE, is proving the previous poster's point: there are INNUMERABLE ways of being creative and artistic that DON'T require any -if any- huge amount of monetary investment, etc...
    now, if you *insist* that you will only express your creative outlet by making faberge-type decorated eggs, diamond-encrusted, gold filigree, etc, then, yes, your idiotic choice would be 'too expensive' for most...
    but when you have people who create incredible art with a piece of paper and a bic pen, and you say you can't/won't/refuse to because it 'costs a lot of money', then you show you are an unimaginative fool, and sounds like you lack the creativity yourself to, well, create...
    NOTWITHSTANDING (yeah, i used it, since no one else will), that 'gaming' -uh duh- costs money, and not inconsiderable sums... for the cost of a 'good' (not even 'great') gaming PC or console, you could be on your way to even a medium priced art/hobby... not to mention the games themselves, 40-50-60$+ ? ? ? and how many of those do you get over time ?
    AND you say being arty is too expensive ? ? ?
    being gamey is too expensive, and a bigger timesink than the glass teat...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @04:49AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @04:49AM (#475904)

      It was more of a commentary on the state of the world. Unless you derive happiness and satisfaction from napkin art, or some other outlet deemed more suitable or productive, then what is the point? If it boils down to personal happiness and fulfillment, then that is up to the person. To me a great video game is like a great book, and there are often things you can do in games that you simply can not do in real life.

      So you have a bias of physical matter vs. digital? My main point was that doing something productive in the real world is actually a bit prohibitive, and not everyone finds joy in calligraphy, woodworking, etc. If you can't hone a skill in order to actually be useful then all that's left is personal enjoyment / fulfillment. If you enjoy from gardening, do that. If you enjoy reading books, do that. If you enjoy playing video games, do that.

      Judging others for how they spend their own time is a silly exercise.