Video games

[Bernard Gui]

On 1/13/2019 at 11:02 AM, bluebell said:

I don't know that either is worse except as far as watching sports is usually during normal hours and doesn't typically involve creating personal relationships with others, while a lot of women that I know complain that their husbands are routinely up until 2 in the morning video gaming with people they've never met in real life but which they expend a lot of emotional energy on.

Sounds kinda like discussion boards.

[Stargazer]

On 1/13/2019 at 4:27 PM, The Nehor said:

I feel some sympathy for those who face this as in my teens and early 20s I was down that rabbit hole quite a ways. Then as I grew older I found myself less interested. Went from 10-20 hours a week slowly down to my current average of 2-4 hours a week with the occasional spike when I am around relatives or I just get super interested which happens. It is like any of my other hobbies now.

The last research I read suggested it is particularly attractive to men because it triggers the same reward centers of the brain that athletic activities do for less effort and that athletic activity tends to dim the urge.

A game I play, a rather old PC video game, Modern Warfare 2, does this for me.  There are certain solo missions that I take a few minutes every day to try to beat my own speed records getting through them, sometimes handicapping myself by allowing myself only non-optimal weapons, or a change to non-optimal tactics.  I get a real thrill when I complete one with a new personal speed record.  I don't live for the game, though.

Quote

I also think that some of the critics of the activity are kind of messed up. Have a friend whose wife complains about his video game consumption but come to find out she would prefer he was sitting on the couch watching TV with her. Is that really a situation where you can take a moral high ground?

That's funny, because my wife likes to watch trivia game shows on TV -- and here in the UK there are many more of them on TV than in the US.  I enjoy these shows, too, but she is also into the Australian soap opera "Neighbors" and "Strictly Come Dancing" (which is like "Dancing with the Stars" in the US). 

I utterly cannot stand "Neighbors" and would willingly stab myself repeatedly with a needle rather than watch it.  The people portrayed on this program are the worst sort of hosers who ever lived on planet earth, and the situations that come up for these people in one half hour show beggar the imagination.  If I were related to or lived next to any of these people I would move out of the state or country, change my email, and leave no forwarding address. Talk about video games being time wasters. 

"Strictly Come Dancing" is less horrifying, and I've tried to force myself to watch it with her, but the entire time I feel like I am neglecting my duties as a professional paint-drying technician.  I'm watching this couple (a celebrity and a pro dancer) going through this dance routine, and it looks to me like they've performed it pretty much flawlessly (even though it's usually as boring as watching grass growing is to me), and then the judges (professional dancers of course) make these incredibly bogus-sounding value judgments about various aspects of style and showmanship in their routine (with numeric scores) that somehow differentiates their performance from some ideal standard of perfection that I cannot relate to or even recognize.  And this program is a favorite on British TV!  The big newspapers even have front page articles on how the competitions between the participants are going.

 

Edited January 18, 2019 by Stargazer

[Stargazer]

On 1/17/2019 at 3:07 AM, The Nehor said:

I still say porn addiction is going to be the next big public health crisis.

I agree with the TED talk that Japan is in worse shape. Their culture is destroying them. A culture that insists you work an absurd amount of hours is surprised no one is willing to have children? Really.

Oh, and please look on in horror at this fine Japanese product advertisement aimed at single guys (Note: Not pornographic, just sad):

 

You know, they might actually need this in the People's Republic of China.  You know, where the One Child Policy skewed the male:female birth ratio to significantly favor males.  "According to a report by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, there will be 30 million more men than women in 2020, potentially leading to social instability, and courtship-motivated emigration." (Wikipedia)  A lot of lonely men might want to have such a product.

[LoudmouthMormon]

You ain't lived until you've had your pegasus ponysona avatar watch General Conference in Second Life's recreation of the Conference Center.

 

[LoudmouthMormon]

8 hours ago, Stargazer said:

"According to a report by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, there will be 30 million more men than women in 2020, potentially leading to social instability, and courtship-motivated emigration."

"Courtship-motivated emigration"?  Isn't that sort of the purpose of BYU?  And missionaries getting the contact info of the cute girls before they head home?

[The Nehor]

15 hours ago, Stargazer said:

You know, they might actually need this in the People's Republic of China.  You know, where the One Child Policy skewed the male:female birth ratio to significantly favor males.  "According to a report by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, there will be 30 million more men than women in 2020, potentially leading to social instability, and courtship-motivated emigration." (Wikipedia)  A lot of lonely men might want to have such a product.

By that logic I “need” this product. I can assure you I do not.