Enjoy
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Well, you can hardly call it “uncontroversial” if “so many people” so strongly disagree with your absolutist characterization of an entire medium of art, right? It seems to me to be quite divisive in fact
But I’m intrigued by this, you consider not only games but also shows and movies to be childish indulgences? I think a more reasonable assessment would be that they have the capacity to be such. But what people want to communicate to you is that through these mediums, they’ve experienced powerful artistic catharsis that has improved their lives, and yes, even connected them with and strengthened their relationships with others.
Sure, a child may have all the time in the world to rot their mind in Fortnite. But there is an artistry to experiencing a craft, just the same as there is an artistry to crafting it. Investing in your capacity to be critical of cinematography, as opposed to simply letting the film flash before your eyes. Eventually you learn to tell the difference between reality tv and great works like Twin Peaks.
If you think these differences are simply not present in the medium of gaming then it’s no surprise you touch the nerve of people who have invested in the craft.
In summary, it’s inconsistent with the lived experience of countless millions of others for you to propose that “appreciating a painting” is a valuable use of an adult’s time, but “appreciating interactive art” never can be, and should be discarded as childish.
And as an aside, whether someone only plays games with no other pursuits to the point where their life falls apart is not really relevant to the discussion. Yes, of course that is a terrible and childish way to ruin your life. It would be equally terrible if you stayed up all binging Netflix and lost your job as a result. Once again the issue here is your perspective broadly, and how you are trying to justify it. Not the medium itself.
As a final aside, I’m (obviously) a gamer myself, as well as a multi-instrumentalist. I find creating music and playing games to be similarly enriching. The high level discussions I have with participants between the two mediums are equally thought provoking. It is a great blessing as well that games are so thoroughly intertwined with music, giving me a lot of carryover between the two pursuits.
This is however, essentially the limit of what I can manage to sustain dedication to as an adult. I would also love to get into painting, and read two novels a week, and watch all of history's greatest films, and train for a marathon, and sail around the world, and so on. I have confronted the fact that, having only one life, I will only ever dabble in most of those things, if I am lucky enough experience them at all. But I would never think to myself that the things I have chosen to invest in primarily are inherently superior to the things that bring other people fulfillment. Entertaining thoughts like that would make me feel very childish
Well said
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I can't be the only one whose parents strictly limited video games and who plays way more video games as an adult.
Same here lol
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Not sure if adulthood or chronic depression.
Not sure there's a difference.
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I started playing Wind Waker in February and finished it in the middle of June, took me 50hs to finished it, so barely 10hr per month. Is the only game I played. And I don't even have kids.
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Adulthood is fine, I've got plenty of free time for gaming. It's parenthood that's the time sink.
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I can't be the only one whose parents strictly limited video games and who plays way more video games as an adult.
Representing. My top 3 steam games are over 2k hours each with plenty more above 1k.
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The thing I wasn’t prepared for was not the lack of time, it was the lack of desire to play games.
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I see where you’re coming from but idk if I agree.
Gaming has been one of the few consumer hobbies that has improved over the last few decades.
Sure, companies are greedy, but just like music, we are living in a golden age of access, such a huge library is available and no more console exclusives. A steam deck will give you generations of content.
Gaming is also a lot more accepted as an adult now. And honestly, so much of everyone’s time is spent on a phone that it’s pretty easy to replace that with a handheld that goes on standby instantly.
I think your talking about abundance of free time, which yeah I agree adulthood has no mercy for, but ironically gaming is one of the most effective hobbies if you have little time.
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I think for me it’s a combination of the “time” people are mentioning, but also boredom. When you’re younger, everything is new. When you’re older you start noticing the repeating patterns in media. It’s the reason I also stopped watching anime. If I play a game now, it has to really be something that new that will hold my attention, outside of a couple of franchises. Outer Wilds for example, blew my mind.
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Carpal tunnel is a bitch
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I started playing Wind Waker in February and finished it in the middle of June, took me 50hs to finished it, so barely 10hr per month. Is the only game I played. And I don't even have kids.
That's pretty good
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I can't be the only one whose parents strictly limited video games and who plays way more video games as an adult.
I destroyed online MW2 for endless hours back in the day but now I can get about an hour of AC Odyssey in before my thumbs go numb and start to hurt from carpal tunnel. I might have to go back to PC gaming
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I was broken from the start, but also lucky enough to be born in a country that gives me the help and time to find what's wrong and fix it without asking for anything back. Because my road to be able to work has been, is and will be long I have so much time to enjoy what I can (within the bounties of my illness) and games are a big part of that. Gaming has helped me so much, and I wouldn't trade my unthinkable amount of hours exploring these cool worlds for anything else.
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Carpal tunnel is a bitch
You know, I must have a skeleton of above average quality. I type on a normal keyboard with some bad habits and have done so since I was a teenager. You'd think I'd have carpal tunnel syndrome from wrist to ankle by now but no I'm in good shape.
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You know, I must have a skeleton of above average quality. I type on a normal keyboard with some bad habits and have done so since I was a teenager. You'd think I'd have carpal tunnel syndrome from wrist to ankle by now but no I'm in good shape.
Mine went away almost entirely when I switched from mouse to rollerball, but I do still get something similarly unpleasant when I play PS4 for too long
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I was able to retain time and money for gaming and other hobbies by having a vasectomy.
Edit: Typo
Yup, there's plenty of time to have fun if you don't have to manage lil' ones. Not saying people who want kids shouldn't get them, but moreso that people who don't necessarily want them and just see it as something people have to do should consider a childless lifestyle. It's better for everyone that way.
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Yup, there's plenty of time to have fun if you don't have to manage lil' ones. Not saying people who want kids shouldn't get them, but moreso that people who don't necessarily want them and just see it as something people have to do should consider a childless lifestyle. It's better for everyone that way.
Same. I would love to see a global societal shift towards viewing not having children as a perfectly normal thing to do.
