Video games are just really jobs you do for free

Naer

Diamond Member
Nov 28, 2013
3,273
134
106
Yes jobs could be fun but they arent inherently fun. Damn marketers fooled the youth into thinking otherwise. I still play video games but now im honest about what im doing. It isnt a purely fun endevour. I enjoy video games more with this honest realization
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,085
5,618
126
That's why I rarely finish a game, to deny the Developers the satisfaction.
 
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Reactions: pmv

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
It seems that way when you don't have an actual job.
nah I been bouncing back and forth between jobbed and not jobbed.

Rift feels like work all the time. Its a chore, not an escape. and it doesnt pay.
By contrast Kerbal Space Program is both an escape and a hobby.
 

Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
126
Everything in moderation, and hobbies are healthy.

The problem with gaming is it can easily be overdone. IMO, this is where you have to know yourself. In my past, I was gaming for well over 30 hours a week. That is a job. It's so easy to lose yourself. Start your favorite video game in the morning. The hours will fly by, and the next thing it's 10pm. I've had so many of these experiences. My favorite games back then were RTS, FPS, RPGs, and sports. For example, I would play Skyrim for hours on the weekend. I'd lock myself in my apartment and play until nightfall. Totally unhealthy in so many ways. I did this in the summer. Instead of going to the beach with my friends I'd game in my air conditioned apartment. I missed out on so many life experiences. I soon lost all of my friends and even lost a few girlfriends to gaming. I had an addiction that I needed to resolve.

I've since gotten rid of my games. I don't play anymore. That includes smartphone gaming which for me is another issue. I've wasted so much money on IAPs it's embarrassing. So, I've stopped altogether. I drew the line in the sand and I've decided to engage in other activites like going to the gym and reading great informational books like FREEWILL by Sam Hartris. Great book by the way. I meet so many young people who do nothing but game. IMO, that is a mistake becauase they are missing out on life experiences. You don't want to have that regret you wasted your youth on video games. Amazing life experiences are why we are on this planet. It's not to be locked up in some room playing hours and hours of video games. So yea, gaming can be like a job if you overdo it. Gaming is awesome if you can not let it affect your life. In my case, I had to let it go.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
94,684
14,935
126
Whip out the credit card if you don't want to grind. Greatness is only a few thousand dollars in microtrasactions away.
 

dasherHampton

Platinum Member
Jan 19, 2018
2,543
488
96
Isn't there a game out there that simulates truck driving?

Jesus, just get the actual job already.
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
11,567
2,626
136
Some people get obsessed with them and don't get paid.

Others participate in professional tournaments and get paid.

And for some truly addict prone people(think Koreans), gaming can be a death sentence....a death sentence of pleasure...
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
12,974
7,891
136
I have to admit that sometimes some games have started to feel like a chore rather than fun. But for me that comes up with a lot of activities and hobbies, by no means just games. I guess some of us just have that kind of mindset, its a character trait, or possibly flaw.

In fact, one way I've managed to endure actual jobs I wasn't very keen on, or to force myself to concentrate on studies I was having trouble concentrating on, was by choosing to think of it those things much the same way I end up thinking of these chore-hobbies. Sometimes it all blurs into one - it's all a set of tasks to be crossed off of a list, a list of 'achievements' to be 'unlocked'.

(Posting in an old thread while trying to find where the heck the 'non political COVID thread has disappeared to...just how far down the forum has that thread fallen?)
 

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,749
4,558
136
People like to hate on ten hour games but those heralded one hundred hour games are mostly filler and grind.
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,274
19,922
146
People like to hate on ten hour games but those heralded one hundred hour games are mostly filler and grind.
You are not wrong. But I make my own fun, as do many. Look at all the youtube vids of people doing speed runs, or challenges, that kind of thing. Like how to get to the Strip by level 2 in New Vegas.

I can entertain myself for hours in RDR2 or GTAV making up new ways to enact mayhem and carnage. I lure bounty hunters into my trap in RDR2 and go bananas on them. I have a policy that I keep killing bounty hunter crews until I have looted them for enough to cover the bounty on me. I will stack their bodies, wait for a new crew, and when one gets close, throw a firebomb. You can really make a mess of things with a little creativity.