Seriously I don’t get it. They’re max consoomer drivel taking you away from productive hobbies like making music, carpentry, canning fruit & veg or painting. Humans are meant to create things instead of consume them on the daily. This imbalance is the main reason for societal decline, people would rather consume than create. I’ve never met a well-adjusted adult gamer. They’re all capeshit losers with equally loser children who scold other kids for not playing their lore game the right way. Fuck them all, video games are the biggest loser hobby.

  • goat@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Because they’re fun.

    but you’re def not a loser, posting about how much you hate things on a small niche community. Seriously though, what do you make?

  • zamorano@exploding-heads.com
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    1 year ago

    I play them the most when I am awake in the middle of the night and i can’t sleep. Its better than staring at the ceiling. When i was in my 20’s I’d walk past the video-game store and look at the people my age in there and shake my head, `what a waste of a life’ i would say. so i can agree with you to a point. I have hobbies, I do gardening and home improvements. But the primary reason i bought a video game machine is because the movies now-a-days are so garbage I can hardly watch more than ten minutes without being bombarded by gay or pepsi propaganda, they are unwatchable. I need some kind of escapism, at least with a game, I can be pretty confident what it is about. My newest game is like 10-15 years old so, yes, some modern games are just as crap as modern movies, and I don’t play them either. I just play them for entertainment, I couldn’t tell you the birthdays of the characters or anything, I just skip over the cut-scenes.

    • markeuzu@exploding-heads.comM
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      1 year ago

      I love retro games, or at least older ones. New games feek like busy work sinulator. Do daily quest here, fetch item there, good job now do this 100x for an 1% upgrade. Indie games can also be quite fun.

      I dont care for the stories either. If I want a story ill go read a book.

      • zamorano@exploding-heads.com
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        1 year ago

        ;) yes i couldn’t even do quests in skyrim, if it was easy, nearby, ok. but most of the time i would just wander around killing whatever, then sell the loot. oh and then i would buy cheap weapons, and put amazing enchantments on them and sell for profit too. I am pretty sure its not supposed to be a trading game, but i was enjoying raking in the gold.

  • markeuzu@exploding-heads.comM
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    1 year ago

    I see it as a vice. Its something to do when you dont want to be productive. Same as browsing here. I do it in moderation and maintain my responsibilities.

    But when I think really hard about it I realize that I cant imagine a life without playing some games here and there throughout the week. So im likely addicted to games myself.

    I do get restless when Ive been playing for a while. At that point I usually want to do something productive.

    Great subject by the way.

    • Drugs@exploding-heads.comOP
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      1 year ago

      Everything in moderation right? Sounds like you’re doing it well then. I just get bored playing games, probably because I’ve always been bad at them. I did used to enjoy watching friends play so I’m glad Twitch wasn’t a thing when I was young.

      • markeuzu@exploding-heads.comM
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        1 year ago

        I bet you cant even enjoy Twitch. I couldnt. It used to be fire with streamers just doing fuck all. Ive seen zoinked out streamers playing games on xannies and gambling away thousands of their own money (not the fake sponsorcrap they have these days), the start of Ice poseidon etc and it doesnt come close to the nasal boring streamers these days. The forced niceness, the effort to make it a “community”, the subs circlejerking. Its lame. Fishtank was literally the first live show I enjoyed in quite a while because it was raw. Live streams are perfect background noise to work or study but not worth it anymore. Only thing coming close are the lolcows on Youtube.

  • tessellation@exploding-heads.com
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    1 year ago

    It’s a hobby, some people produce content with video games or getting into making video games and computer science as I did. I don’t know why I would be canning fruit and vegs or carpentry when I want to relax or hang out with friends. Being this elitist over a hobby is a red flag in itself. Could be a bait post too.

    • Drugs@exploding-heads.comOP
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      1 year ago

      You don’t call watching TV a hobby, which is just passive consumption. So it’s pretty dishonest to call gaming a hobby, the only difference being active consumption.

      • tessellation@exploding-heads.com
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        1 year ago

        I don’t see reading that much different from watching tv. What is the difference between watching lost and an episode of 3brown1blue, a documentary or a course of algorithms? Reading a shitty book, textbook, a classic? Games were a gateway into CS far more useful then pickling shit or making chairs in workshops I don’t have. A skill that is by all practical use useless. Instead of that you should just be enrolling into an online degree or trade. Unless you want to rank hobbies and their outcomes.

    • Lovstuhagen@exploding-heads.com
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      1 year ago

      This is honestly true – when you go out drinking with the friends, you spend loads of cash versus staying in.

      (Now I no longer drink… or game… lol.)

      • Scruffy_Nerfherder@exploding-heads.com
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        1 year ago

        True enough, however a computer is a necessity in this world if you want to do anything. A minimum buy in would be $200. So that is $1300 extra you are spending. Make it last 3 years and you are paying a little over $400 per year. $400 for 52 weeks of enjoyment vs $400 for 3 weeks of drinking.

        Even factoring in the price of games and the occasional loot box, it is still a better value proposition.

        Not to mention that you can’t get aids from a computer. Not yet anyways.

  • alphadog@exploding-heads.com
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    1 year ago

    Props to you for laying out it there with no sugar.

    Counter point: I’m an adult. I game. Probably a little on the wrong side of responsibly. Pretty much everyone I work with also games, including all my management. We game because we did it growing up so we will do it (“I used to game. I still do but I used to too” - Hitchenberg or something like that). And I make a decent salary, I’m the sole income earner for my family. We limit how much our kids can game to 1 day a week generally (sometimes they get to mess around on the iPad a bit). I have other hobbies too but sometimes I go on binges and play for a while. If you met me and didn’t bring it up, I doubt you’d find out I game so if you decided I was well-adjusted it wouldn’t change your stat.

    My assertion: I think you have a bad sample group. I think actually nearly everyone from the last few generations are gamers, you’re just noticing there are some losers around you and they game while not noticing all the normal people who also game.

    EDIT: I have other hobbies like programming, so I also try to make stuff. For me, gaming is like watching movies/TV, just more interactive.

    • Drugs@exploding-heads.comOP
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      1 year ago

      More power to you brutha. Sounds like you’ve got your head screwed on right. Maybe I just know I have an addictive personality so I need a strong opinion about it to keep me away. Glad to hear you still make things with your hands, that’s something a lot of modern men don’t get the satisfaction of saying.

  • methhead@exploding-heads.com
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    1 year ago

    they just pathetic losers who are stuck in a state of perpetual adolescence and lack the maturity to function effectively in the real world

  • Lovstuhagen@exploding-heads.com
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    1 year ago

    I really appreciate the criticism.

    Given it up.

    Now my ‘gaming’ is just chess - I am open to the idea of playing a little again someday but here’s the thing, muchachos… The thousands and thousands of hours spent in these things did not develop me well.

    I am not fully on @drugs’’ side but it is a position that needs to be advanced since we have generations of men now spending their livs in the virtual world and achieving nothing

  • fsk@exploding-heads.com
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    1 year ago

    If it’s a complex enough game, you are creating. Think of a game like Factorio.

    Also, you can’t be productive 24 hours a day. Sometimes, you just want to rest after a day of work.

  • therightwasleft@exploding-heads.com
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    1 year ago

    I’m pretty sure there’s something in the Patriot Act about this, I’ve read it in full and it clearly says in Article 52 Secion 3 paragraph 7.253

    • All citizens shall prioritize productive activities over leisure activities during their free time. Engaging in recreational pursuits such as video game playing, sports, reading for pleasure, etc., shall be discouraged except on designated days off.
    • Any individuals caught engaging in excessive amounts of leisure activities may face consequences, including fines or mandatory community service.
    • Employers shall offer employee benefits and perks that encourage healthy work-life balance, but must ensure that employees spend the majority of their non-working hours engaged in productive tasks.
    • To promote the wellbeing of society, governments shall provide incentives for companies to develop products/services that foster personal growth, skill development, and professional advancement outside of regular working hours.
    • Drugs@exploding-heads.comOP
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      1 year ago

      Interesting. The government is traditionally a source of truth and light so there must be something in this.

  • Masterofballs@exploding-heads.com
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    1 year ago

    There are atleast two parts of the human psyche that video games tap into.

    The grind, which I agree is super wasteful. We seem to be hard wired to want to invest lots of time in things that build up to a payoff. Farming does this, workouts.playing really Grindy games seems like time that could be better spent doing other stuff. Like learning a language, working out, going on dates.

    Then there is story telling. We want to relive the experience of others so as to avoid making the same mistakes and learn how to make similar good decisions without having to learn first hand. This is a very high level of learning few if any other animals can do.

    I think playing games to live out a story is fine and it’s no different than reading a book or watching a movie. It may even be able to train the mind to do helpful things

    But not at the expense of real life.

    I play a couple hours per month. My five year old is bilingual, can swim, can read and write a good bit and plays the piano.

    Doom scrolling and endless ipad YouTube is worse for kids in my opinion