Is the life of video gaming a valid life?

[Stratum9]

I've read statements such as these in threads on this forum:

"step away from the keyboard and go get a f*cking life"

"Look for something else to do with you life besides some pointless videogame."

These statements weren't directed at me, but what they seem to mean to me is that if you play video games such as Quake III, Unreal, GTA3, Everquest, and others for hours on end then you have no life or you're wasting your life. Do you think this is true?

Suppose you have a person who spends every waking hour at his computer playing games. He takes breaks every now and then to go to the bathroom or refresh his drink. His meals are mostly take-out or delivery, which he eats at his computer while talking in chat rooms or message boards with other game fanatics. Perhaps he spends a few hours each day tending to his E-bay auctions where he buys and sells goods to provide a small income to support his meager lifestyle and to buy hardware upgrades and new games. But mostly he is playing video games where he is very much attached to the characters within the game. His involvement with other online players and their gaming personas comprises most of his social life.

Gaming is not an escape for him from an unhappy life in the real world. It is a chosen way of life. He is happy with his choice and does not feel that his life is somehow inadequate. What most people consider to be a normal lifestyle -- jobs, family, friends, nice house and car, etc. -- he considers to be either a burden or something he just doesn't need to gain fulfillment. He would rather live a simple life with his only real material possessions being his computer and his only real social interaction being online.

Is this hypothetical person's life simply eccentric or is it an invalid choice of lifestyle void of any real meaning or value?

The above quotes would suggest the latter. They seem to be saying that, "I may play video games as well, but my life also consist of spending time with my family, playing the guitar, and rock climbing. Because you only play video games and do not participate in other activities similar to my own, then your life is pointless."

What do you think? Even if you personally feel that this guy's life is pathetic do you really think it's a meaningless life?

 

[minendo]

What do you think?

I think you are looking for reassurance that you have a life. Well, I'll be the first to tell you that you won't get it here.

 

[gopunk]

i think you care way too much about what other people say about you...

 

[Stratum9]

Originally posted by: minendo

What do you think?

I think you are looking for reassurance that you have a life. Well, I'll be the first to tell you that you won't get it here.

I can assure you that this is not about me. It's a philosophical question that I've been considering for some time.

 

[notfred]

Video games are NOT REAL. Any "video gaming life" you have is an illusion.

 

[BatmanNate]

It is certainly not a pointless life, that idea is just tossed in to the mix so other people who don't choose this lifestyle can feel better about who they are, and bury their own inadequecies, which is certainly not a mature or tolerant attitude. However a life as you described, sans adequate nutrition, excercise, employment, and physical interaction with other people is likely to be neither long nor healthy. As with all things, moderation is important. This is not cause for someone who lives like this to be viewed with any less important than anyone else, because we all have our flaws, but it would be wise to be more moderate with such a lifestyle choice, as with any other.

 

[vi edit]

To each his own. I personally see it no different than a person who does nothing other than wake up, go to work for 10 hours, go home, eat dinner, watch 2 hours of tv, and then go to bed. Repeat x 5. On weekends just sits around the house and watches whatever programming may be on and does nothing else.

Variety is the spice of life. Get outside. Take a picture of something that's alive. Go climb a rock. Throw a ball or swing a club. Just do something besides settling into the permanent butt imprint you have in your TV chair every day.

 

[Wallydraigle]

No matter what you do with your life, it's all arbitrary. As long as you are happy with your life, who is anyone else to say otherwise? Someone who is happy with themself wouldn't really care what anyone else had to say about their lifestyle though.

 

[BatmanNate]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
To each his own. I personally see it no different than a person who does nothing other than wake up, go to work for 10 hours, go home, eat dinner, watch 2 hours of tv, and then go to bed. Repeat x 5. On weekends just sits around the house and watches whatever programming may be on and does nothing else.

Variety is the spice of life. Get outside. Take a picture of something that's alive. Go climb a rock. Throw a ball or swing a club. Just do something besides settling into the permanent butt imprint you have in your TV chair every day.

I agree, completely. TV is the ideal counterpart of afformentioned scenario in American society, and is no more healthy or ethical, yet for some reason is deemed far more acceptable.

 

[Stratum9]

Originally posted by: notfred
Video games are NOT REAL. Any "video gaming life" you have is an illusion.

But couldn't something similar be said for the factory assembly line worker who spends 12 hours a day tightening a bolt on two peices of steel that will be used to make a car? Day in and day out he does the same thing. He will never even be able to afford to purchase the car he's helping to build. He takes home a paycheck which, after Uncle Sam takes his portion, there is just enough left to pay the living expenses for his family. He may have just enough money left over two go to the local tavern for a couple of beers where he ponders how sh!tty his life seems.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Video games are NOT REAL. Any "video gaming life" you have is an illusion.

Any life you have is an illusion.

 

[CKDragon]

Too much of anything can be a bad thing. That said, do what makes you happy. I used to fool myself into thinking a life of primarily TV/Movies/Video Games was making me happy. I was lying to myself, make sure you aren't, either.

CK

 

[syzygy]

every so often you come across these ultra- profound quotes on bilboards, in mags, or wherever, and i remember one (paraphrasing)
that said a life best lived is in service to your fellow human beings. being holed up in your 'room, helping your chum through a vexing
gta3 mission, while chomping on take-out does not count service to your fellow being. in fact, weighing it, putting it in grand perspective, its a rather depraved and incredibly deprived life. the philosophical term that alludes to the gamer's sorry existence would be solipsism. there are others, ofcourse, less complementary, but we're being kind here

 

[Shepdawg]

You are right that it is a way of life. Sometimes I wish I could have that way of life for a few days. I love to game. But I also have other intrests. I enjoy being with my wife. But when she is at work the only thing I want to do is game. Sometimes I wonder what I would be like if I had had a computer when I was single. I am pretty sure I would be totally wrapped up in the computer. I also would like to note what Minendo said

I think you are looking for reassurance that you have a life. Well, I'll be the first to tell you that you won't get it here.


what were you meaning by this? That you think that the hypothetical person has no life? If so I have a response to that.

 

[Stratum9]

TV is the ideal counterpart of afformentioned scenario in American society, and is no more healthy or ethical, yet for some reason is deemed far more acceptable.

This is exactly one of the responses I had proposed to myself and was hoping would come out here.

syzygy I also liked your post on sollipsism. I agree about the depravity of this hypothetical life as there is no contribution to mankind involved in this life as I described it. But lets alter it a bit. Suppose this same person is a good listener and very insightful. He uses these to help others online in the message boards and chatting in between games. People discuss their problems and he listens and maybe offers advice when he can. Is his life still depraived now that he is constributing something to his fellow man?

 

[BD2003]

Too much of any one things is not good. Although certain things are certainly more acceptable. eg workaholics are ok, crackheads are not.

No one is "pathetic" per se, it takes perspective to say that. The jock or the ladies man who thinks he's better than geeks, and gets his reassurance from popular media that he is, (not to mention he can kick most geeks ass), will certinaly look down on a geek. People forced to work all day to survive have to admit that the geek is pretty much their god, being able to spend their entire day on leisure, doing what they want.

Its all relative. Playing video games all day is no "worse" than pumping weights all day, playing football all day, or jerking off all day, no matter what anyone says.

 

[DaveSimmons]

So its sort of a life. Demented and sad, but a life, right? (paraphrasing "The Breakfast Club").

It's your life, and your own set of ethics/morals will tell you whether it's valid to spend it as a video-game player instead of a Peace Corps worker, office drone, or full-time bowling "athlete."

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Stratum9

Originally posted by: notfred
Video games are NOT REAL. Any "video gaming life" you have is an illusion.

But couldn't something similar be said for the factory assembly line worker who spends 12 hours a day tightening a bolt on two peices of steel that will be used to make a car? Day in and day out he does the same thing. He will never even be able to afford to purchase the car he's helping to build. He takes home a paycheck which, after Uncle Sam takes his portion, there is just enough left to pay the living expenses for his family. He may have just enough money left over two go to the local tavern for a couple of beers where he ponders how sh!tty his life seems.

When the factory worker builds a car, at the end of the day there is a car there. Someone will get to drive that car. Someone will come on ATOT and post "Hey, look at the car I just bought!". The car is a real thing. It make s difference in the world, even if it's not a huge difference, someone out there has a car.

When you finish your video game at the end of the day, you still have nothing, jsut like when you started. Does your winning the video game help anyone to get thier kids to school in the morning? Did your video game help anyone learn to cook? Did your video game extinguish a burning building? Did your video game help someone save time on thier taxes? Did your video game feed anyone? NO, it didn't. These are all things that get odne by real people doing real jobs in the real world. A video game could simulate any of these things, but they're not REAL. Nothing really happened, and you made no difference to anyone but yourself. That's why it's an illusion.

 

[Geekbabe]

As long as it doesn't negatively impact my life I don't really concern myself with how other people choose
to live their lives.Hell, I've got enough to do keeping up with my own stuff

 

[GingerSynapse]

Many of the people I know who spend large amounts of time "gaming" are grossly deficient in social skills related to the "real world." Perhaps if the cyberworld did not offer them an easy out, these folks would be more likely to improve their interpersonal abilities.

I recommend a book called "Silicon Snake Oil," by Clifford Stoll, which takes a keen look at the Internet and how it is affecting us. Stoll is certainly not an anti-technology looney, but he raises some discomfiting points that are worth thinking about.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Stratum9

Originally posted by: notfred Video games are NOT REAL. Any "video gaming life" you have is an illusion.

But couldn't something similar be said for the factory assembly line worker who spends 12 hours a day tightening a bolt on two peices of steel that will be used to make a car? Day in and day out he does the same thing. He will never even be able to afford to purchase the car he's helping to build. He takes home a paycheck which, after Uncle Sam takes his portion, there is just enough left to pay the living expenses for his family. He may have just enough money left over two go to the local tavern for a couple of beers where he ponders how sh!tty his life seems.

When the factory worker builds a car, at the end of the day there is a car there. Someone will get to drive that car. Someone will come on ATOT and post "Hey, look at the car I just bought!". The car is a real thing. It make s difference in the world, even if it's not a huge difference, someone out there has a car. When you finish your video game at the end of the day, you still have nothing, jsut like when you started. Does your winning the video game help anyone to get thier kids to school in the morning? Did your video game help anyone learn to cook? Did your video game extinguish a burning building? Did your video game help someone save time on thier taxes? Did your video game feed anyone? NO, it didn't. These are all things that get odne by real people doing real jobs in the real world. A video game could simulate any of these things, but they're not REAL. Nothing really happened, and you made no difference to anyone but yourself. That's why it's an illusion.

So all those who do not produce are worthless?

 

[Stratum9]

When you finish your video game at the end of the day, you still have nothing, jsut like when you started. Does your winning the video game help anyone to get thier kids to school in the morning? Did your video game help anyone learn to cook? Did your video game extinguish a burning building? Did your video game help someone save time on thier taxes? Did your video game feed anyone? NO, it didn't. These are all things that get odne by real people doing real jobs in the real world. A video game could simulate any of these things, but they're not REAL. Nothing really happened, and you made no difference to anyone but yourself. That's why it's an illusion.

That's well said and makes good sense. Now lets alter it a bit. Some of the games this guy plays are beta testing for game designers. Video game designers depend on beta testers to work out the bugs and features of the game before it goes to market. So as a beta tester he is contributing to the game developers work who in turn provides entertainment to the consumers. But, nevertheless, he is still playing video games all day which some would fail to see the value in.

 

[Wallydraigle]

When the factory worker builds a car, at the end of the day there is a car there. Someone will get to drive that car. Someone will come on ATOT and post "Hey, look at the car I just bought!". The car is a real thing. It make s difference in the world, even if it's not a huge difference, someone out there has a car.

When you finish your video game at the end of the day, you still have nothing, jsut like when you started. Does your winning the video game help anyone to get thier kids to school in the morning? Did your video game help anyone learn to cook? Did your video game extinguish a burning building? Did your video game help someone save time on thier taxes? Did your video game feed anyone? NO, it didn't. These are all things that get odne by real people doing real jobs in the real world. A video game could simulate any of these things, but they're not REAL. Nothing really happened, and you made no difference to anyone but yourself. That's why it's an illusion.

But making a difference doesn't determine one's validity. Hitler made a difference you know. In the original post the author said that the video gamer sells things on eBay to make a modest living. These are "real" things, as real as things sold in a store. Do you believe that retailers are invalid because they don't actually produce anything? Maybe they are. But it's not as if the video gamer is a mooch, he does make a monetary living in a way acceptable to society. He presumably pays his taxes and with that money the government builds roads and fights terrorists, etc. That is a real effect on the "real" world.

Life is a tapestry of double standards. The hypothetical video gamer is just a victim of one of them.

 

[Stratum9]

Originally posted by: lirion

When the factory worker builds a car, at the end of the day there is a car there. Someone will get to drive that car. Someone will come on ATOT and post "Hey, look at the car I just bought!". The car is a real thing. It make s difference in the world, even if it's not a huge difference, someone out there has a car.

When you finish your video game at the end of the day, you still have nothing, jsut like when you started. Does your winning the video game help anyone to get thier kids to school in the morning? Did your video game help anyone learn to cook? Did your video game extinguish a burning building? Did your video game help someone save time on thier taxes? Did your video game feed anyone? NO, it didn't. These are all things that get odne by real people doing real jobs in the real world. A video game could simulate any of these things, but they're not REAL. Nothing really happened, and you made no difference to anyone but yourself. That's why it's an illusion.

But making a difference doesn't determine one's validity. Hitler made a difference you know. In the original post the author said that the video gamer sells things on eBay to make a modest living. These are "real" things, as real as things sold in a store. Do you believe that retailers are invalid because they don't actually produce anything? Maybe they are. But it's not as if the video gamer is a mooch, he does make a monetary living in a way acceptable to society. He presumably pays his taxes and with that money the government builds roads and fights terrorists, etc. That is a real effect on the "real" world.

Life is a tapestry of double standards. The hypothetical video gamer is just a victim of one of them.

YES! Very good. This goes along with the eariler post about T.V. and how it seems more acceptable even though the difference is minimale. I like how you noticed the "validity" to his ebay selling.

GingerSynapse, thanks for the tip on the book. I'm checking into it now on Amazon. It looks to be a good source for further research into this subject.

 

[Wallydraigle]

YES! Very good. This goes along with the eariler post about T.V. and how it seems more acceptable even though the difference is minimale. I like how you noticed the "validity" to his ebay selling.

It's not much, but it's legitimate. The things he sells do make a difference to the people buying them, even if he didn't produce the things and he's only performing a service. Not everyone can save lives everyday, or research new medicines or what have you. But at least he's not getting in the way of those who can or are inclined to. And really isn't that what America is all about? He lives his life as he sees fit, and reaps the joys and sorrows of his choices. He's not even asking you to pay his way through life. He seems to me to be more responsible than some of the people we have elected to office.