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Get a life! True or False?
mgilbrtsn
Member EpicPosts: 3,430
On gaming forums, a popular refrain is 'Get a life' or 'go kiss a girl' or 'leave the house'. Do you believe that playing video games is less of a valid pursuit than sports, or clubbing or other 'real life' social interactions? There seems to be a social stigma to those who get their social and interpersonal connections through the computer. Does it matter where you get them.
IMO, if a person is happy with playing online MMOs or other video games and it fills his need of social interaction, then he has 'a life.' Why do people have the need to denigrate this?
Do you believe people who spend their time in virtual environments damaged or somehow stunted because of this?
IMO, if a person is happy with playing online MMOs or other video games and it fills his need of social interaction, then he has 'a life.' Why do people have the need to denigrate this?
Do you believe people who spend their time in virtual environments damaged or somehow stunted because of this?
I self identify as a monkey.
Comments
The only thing gamers are doing is enjoying their hobby. Our group never bothers anyone, yet gamers have been consistently attacked, we have been called anything from nerds to potential killers to basement dwellers, yet gamers are pretty normal compared to the groups attacking them.
Gamers enjoy themselves, and bitter people don't like that and they try, unsuccessfully, to stigmatize gamers. Who cares what others think about gaming, really.
Does gaming cause "damage"? Well, you missed the reference, what does it tell?
If you believe you have a life, then so be it, f*ck everybody else. Just stop with these cringeworthy threads.
Playing video games is no more or less "valid" than going restaurant hopping, or watching a movie. Fun is fun.
My only line is that career (work) and family are more important than entertainment .. but again, those are MY priorities, and not necessarily other people's.
As a gamer, I tend to be more historically accurate, problem solving and -table memory- oriented. Where as a sports fan maybe more goal oriented and into "the big push", how these personality traits work together is more an issue and can be over come like any obstacle by recognizing it and instead of stating the obvious differences, work them like a 6 star boss in an ice dungeon and make the bigger picture more important!
I self identify as a monkey.
-yes, it matters. you should look in to this further, it's interesting.
"...MMOs or other video games and it fills his need of social interaction, then he has 'a life.' Why do people have the need to denigrate this?"
-It's not healthy to completely replace human interaction with an entertainment medium.
"Do you believe people who spend their time in virtual environments damaged or somehow stunted because of this?"
-No, unless the time spent is "all" or "most" of their time. Human psychological development is a delicate b!tch of a reality that nothing virtual can beat... yet.
Just because someone pulls out their phone or tablet and plays a few rounds of whatever mobile game is popular, doesn't mean that the vast amount of people who do this are 'gamers'.
They don't go to forums and spend a lot of energy arguing minutiae and they don't spend hours per day playing video games.
The majority of people I know, have met with, and interact with on a daily basis, whether it's professional or they are friends or acquaintances, do not play video games. Talk of 'gaming' only brings blank stares at best.
This is not to say that video games are not more popular than ever. They are. But it's going to take a little longer to have it seen on the same level as watching sports or TV shows or playing golf.
As to the OP's question, why would anyone on a gaming forum take someone "on a gaming forum" seriously for saying "get a life" since that very question could be directed right back at them?
Additionally, it depends on what one looks at as a life of quality. A friend of mine once said that every minute a person spends playing a video game they could be doing something actually worthwhile. Whereas someone might think that every minute that you spend just doing something you enjoy "is" worthwhile.
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Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Things like Twitch and NA consoles and recently successful NA games have made gaming more acceptable and mainstream than ever before "in this country" cause we are seeing more profits from it and until everyone gets their cut the stigma will continue.
As a great philosopher once said:
p.s. , I still like games from "abroad".
social life including wife/husband is = real life
online friends=virtual life =entertainment=fun and what you do in your free time.
Time spent socializing in a virtual world does not give the same advantages as time spent socializing in the real world. When you move into a new apartment and need help getting your furniture moved, your guild-mates across the globe can't help you. The guy down the street, who you sometimes have a beer with, can be of more assistance.
Although I enjoy computer gaming, I do feel that the time I spend at a table with others playing board games and P&P RPG's to be more fulfilling. Those social interactions seem to be more transferable to social interactions in other contexts, such as work. The only advantage of social gaming in a virtual world is the ease of access. Logging on to a mmorpg is less work than any other option.
As for stigmas, though, any sort of gaming seems to be considered unsavory by non-gamers. I will sooner admit to my computer gaming than my table-top D&D gaming to someone I just met.
I can tell you straight up that gaming is actually really bad for you unless done in very low moderation.
The reason is very simple,sitting in a chair for hours on end causes very poor blood flow,it leads to heart disease and in early stages can just cause poor breathing,circulation problems and high blood pressure.
Then on the flip side athletics can be very healthy,even if you put injury aside,it still gives your body all you need especially if you have a day office job.I now workout at the local YMCA and i can tell you it is a craze.tons of people of all shapes and sizes are starting to take health seriously.
The problem is and yes i was young at one time,is that you feel invincible,you feel screw the future,that is a long way away.Well people it comes faster than you think and the damage you do to your body before that time comes can be devastating.
I am likely one of the very earliest gamer's,so i got their first and i wish i could reverse my early decisions in life.The young kids i see now are even worse,they now game for many hours at a time without even a break.Likely long after i am dead this new wave of gamer will set the world on fire with news on poor health and gaming,so i see it as several years yet before people wake up and learn the hard way.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Now, obviously, the entertainment habits shouldn't interfere with securing and maintaining a comfortable and hopefully somewhat healthy way of life. (otherwise you destroy the long-term enjoyability and thus are counter productive in terms of how much enjoyment you'll get out of it overall)
Other than that, not really much effect on "life."
But socially, turn it on its head--"Do you commonly tell someone you've recently met that you're a gamer? Your boss? Why or why not?" Answer it honestly, and you have an answer to the thread.
Sure there are still some old fogeys who think this way while thinking that being a sports fanatic is somehow better but they're the minority now.
Hey, rock n roll went through this in the 50's too
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Ultimately I don't think it matters too much. Maybe you were watching Matrix or Blade back in the day with all the club scenes and thinking "man I wish I was cool enough to go to places like that". Well those people probably feel more miserable than you do when they come home and are alone with themselves.
Athletes pay just as heavy a toll with their bodies, depending on how far they take it. Do you think NFL players are more healthy than you? lol They mortgage their bodies and get a lot of money out of it, that's true, but when the game has milked the last bit of vigor they have left in them, their bodies are wrecked. Many never fully recover.
If you can sit there gaming and be perfectly comfortable in your own skin, then other people will know that and not harass you about it much. They'll also know if you aren't comfortable with it and some will seek to cut you down. It's on you either way.
I play computer games. I don't have one life. I have many lives.
We just had this discussion last night. One of our friends constantly doesn't come for drinks or whatever else we are doing because he's playing the latest game on his ps4, now it's fallout.
to me that's weird. Gaming is something you do in your spare time for example when you get back home and you want to chill out you watch movies, tv series or play games etc. Gaming shouldn't take over your life.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
However, being a gamer is very much associated with a large time commitment to gaming. The more time spent gaming, the less time you have for other things and it is important to have a good balance in your life.
If all you do is work and game then I'm happy for a stigma to be attached to it. There is stigma attached to smoking (it kills you), there is stigma attached to drinking too much (it kills you), there is stigma attached to doing drugs (most of them kill you), there is stigma attached to eating crap food (makes you fat and kills you) so why not have a stigma attached to a very unhealthy lifestyle choice (spending too much time gaming).
MODERATION ... unfortunately I dont take my own advice... I gotta workout and lose some lbs... thats what gaming does to you. Also makes you anti social if you choose to game over hanging out with friends.
I am guilty.
I wonder how kids growing up with phones and mobile games ... micro transactions everywhere... the norm. How those kids will turn out... hahhaha