The Only Thing I Know

[Rycul]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html

Read it if you haven't heard of it before. This guy got a job instead of the other applicants, because of his role as a guild master in WoW. I'm not saying that this is proof that playing games will make you fail at life less, I'm just pointing out that while people may find gaming to be useless and a time-spender at best, it can still provide you with benefits IRL.

As for my personal experience of gaming and watching the video: I liked the video. Not all of it, certain parts. I do think the guy who made this (Brian Schmoyer) is a bit of a stereotype guy. He says he is/was fat, got divorced, played games waaaaay too much etcetera. Like many people before me have already pointed out, this person has prioritization issues. I too have had times at which I thought about my life thus far, and came to the conclusion that if not for videogames, my life could have been drastically different. I would probably go out more, perhaps have a girlfriend, maybe I'd play sports once or twice every week. I've thought about these things and while I might have liked my life that way, I like my life right now too. I'm not obese or even remotely fat, even though I don't sport. I don't go out but I've got plenty or RL friends, all of which I can talk to about whatever I want. I'm not easily caught up in things such as Facebook or Twitter. People could say I'm a loner, and that I fail at life. I ask them: When do you think you fail at life? Is it when you don't meet the standards of those around you, or is it when you don't live up to your dreams and expectations? I think it's the latter. As long as you do what ever you like to do, and are willing to do, you dont fail. Then you succeed. Back to the video: After watching it, I opened up a file I keep on my PC. It holds a list of qoutes that I stumble upon once every while. The qoutes in this file are either funny or inspirational. I opened it up just now to add another qoute to the list. The qoute was this:

Healthy gamers do not dwell away on the games... but instead, embrace the community.

I think this is true. As gamers, we like to play games to experience the story and the gameplay itself. To be sucked into a game because the universe it holds is so convincing is a wonderful thing. I don't think everyone out there on the streets has a chance to experience that. Novels, films and games are a way for us to travel to another reality, to distance our selves from our current lives and losses. People like Brian Schmoyer might not see this anymore, I'm afraid. They once started to play for the right reason, to experience, but they overshot the goal of gaming and perhaps even got addicted. It is a thin line to cross: the line between gaming to experience and gaming because you have the urge to do so. Perhaps it is best for Mr. Schmoyer that he realised his life had become a mess. Perhaps, and probably, there are many more people in the world who are better off realising the same thing. But we must never forget that there are also people who still play games because they like to. "Health gamers do not dwell away on the games..." Healthy gamers do not, indeed. "but instead, embrace the community." This is right as well. The community is what holds us together. Our common interest. The online gaming community is something different. Something to cherish. Where else do you find a community so good at recruiting new members. A community so good at not caring about what your real name is, where you live, what language you speak (although people, learn English atleast!), or what color your skin or hair has. The online gaming community is the most open and yet most closed and secure community there is to find. New members are welcomed warmly, old members are accepted just as well. All members have equal respect, although this does not always show. Each member can decide for their own what they who they want to be here. No one will judge you on something you don't control. An example: When youre walking by someone, they'll instantly judge you to a certain extend because of the way you look or behave. You may not have even spoken a word to them, yet you have already been given a place somewhere in their heads. If you join the gaming community, everything you are judged on, is something you can control. Do they judge you by the way you play? That's you! Do they judge you by the way you talk? That's you! Do they judge you by what you filled in in the application form or what you have in your signature? That's also you! Not everyone may understand why this community is appealing to so many of us, but we don't care. Because we are part of the community and they are not.

Take me, for example. I want to be a game programmer. Next year, I'm starting (or atleast I hope I am) a 4-year course that will, hopefully, take me up to the right level to start building a career in the game industry. Is this a secure choice? Probably not, since this industry is about entertainment. But I'm passionate about game programming and the industry around it. I'm passionate about the community around it. I want to be part of it in a way deeper than hanging around on forums and online servers. I want to be part of the group of people that build the foundation of our beloved community.

I'd like to write a whole lot more, but I'll keep it at this right now.

TLR: Learn to read.

[Annaconda]

Am I the only one who agree's with that cartoon guy?

He does make a point although his stereotypes went to far.

Life > Games
And if you enjoy gaming you should make gaming part of your live and not the only thing in your live.
But a lot of people who already commented this thread proberly already have a good mix of gaming and life.

But the clip is proberly only ment for the gamers who play to much games, without any kind of social activities and only time they go outside is to work to pay the bill for their subscription. And if this isn't the case the maker is just a stereotype moron :P with issue's which he blames on gaming.

[Necronium]

Am I the only one who agree's with that cartoon guy?

He does make a point although his stereotypes went to far.

Life > Games
And if you enjoy gaming you should make gaming part of your live and not the only thing in your live.
But a lot of people who already commented this thread proberly already have a good mix of gaming and life.

But the clip is proberly only ment for the gamers who play to much games, without any kind of social activities and only time they go outside is to work to pay the bill for their subscription. And if this isn't the case the maker is just a stereotype moron :P with issue's which he blames on gaming.

This.

[sleekit]

Also, way to sneak-edit something in. When did I say it would help me get a job? Like most things you do for fun, they have no impact on that. You may have missed the keyword there, let me highlight it for you:

FUN

Neither does being a tennis champion, but that's also a recreational activity and it's in real life so it must belong on a CV!
That "achievements don't count in real life" argument makes me want to slap everybody and everything in the room.

i don't know where you live but in the UK sporting activities are listed as a matter of routine on CVs at least partly because they are indicative of levels of physical fitness, direct social contact and interaction with other people and usually a level of commitment beyond parking your ass in front of a screen in the house.

you can do anything you like for "fun" but don't try to place value in its worth at the same time simply because you are. pure "fun" has no value beyond the experience but the acts that might be involved you achieving it can be weighted by others for their additional value and i think by most peoples honest judgement playing video games would come out with a pretty low score on that count.

[Deleted]

i don't know where you live but in the UK sporting activities are listed as a matter of routine on CVs at least partly because they are indicative of levels of physical fitness, direct social contact and interaction with other people and usually a level of commitment beyond parking your ass in front of a screen in the house.

you can do anything you like for "fun" but don't try to place value in its worth at the same time simply because you are. pure "fun" has no value beyond the experience the acts that might be involved in achieving it tho can be weighted by others for their value and i think by most peoples judgement playing video games would come out with a pretty low score.

And if I don't care how other people "rate" my way of having fun?
I believe fun to be the meaning of life, and while some people cannot prioritize properly, I can. Therefore I believe fun to have absolute "value"
If I find that waterskiing is more fun than playing games, I'd surely dedicate more of my life to it but so far I've found nothing that can outdo gaming in terms of fun.

[sleekit]

if you don't care what other people think why do you want to "slap everybody" for having an opinion different from your own ?

[Deleted]

if you don't care what other people think why do you want to "slap everybody" for having an opinion different from your own ?

I want to slap them not because of their opinion that achievements are useless to them, but that they think achievements are useless to everybody. A lot of people do them for fun.

[Deleted]

some people collect driftwood

And collecting driftwood could very well be a hobby to them.

[sleekit]

so you want to slap people for not finding the same things fun as you ?

[Deleted]

so you want to slap people for not finding the same things fun as you ?

No, I want to slap people for thinking that my way of fun is in any way less worth it than theirs then try to bring it up in a debate.

[Baabinator]

A few things:

-Gaming doesn't improve my social activities.
-Non-Gaming doesn't improve my social activities either.


I game often yes, but does this automatically mean I am fat, lack social skills, and don't have a job?

-I'm not fat
-I do lack a lil social skills, but that's due horrid childhood
-I do have a job

If anything WoW has taught me is that you have to work hard to get something, and work together to achieve higher goals.

Flame on

[sleekit]

sry i was gonna write something decent but im still laughing at the "If anything WoW has taught me is that you have to work hard to get something" bit.

[GISP]

the truth is in the middle of the argument.
video games do have effects (if they didn't Americas Army wouldn't exist) the same as advertising does (which despite most people claiming they can't be influenced is where most companys spend huge percentages of their cash)

You must take into account that AA is just as mush a educational tool as its a FPS.
A highly realistic one at that...
For instance the medic training is actualy valid in real life.

In short, its a advanced and elaborate recruiting tool.

[Mythricia]

The effects gaming can have to life is one direction to look at it, but you can also look at is as your life leading to more gaming.

Doesn't make a lot of sense does it, so lemme explain;

Not everyone is the same. Not everyone has the same prerequisites for having a great social "IRL" life, and it's not even their fault or under their control. I, for example, I've got an Asperger diagnose. This implies a lot of things, but one of them is, frankly, I'm not a social genius - of course I don't let that diagnose overrule my own will, I don't start QQing and say "I can't socialize because that's just how I was made" - that's just silly. But what it DOES mean, is, that I find it more comfortable to talk to people and socialize, for example, online - in games, forums, IM's, e-mails, whatever really - it's a medium that I can handle, as opposed to being with lots of people in-person - I can practise and get better at it, but in the end all it does is make me want to turtle-shell and toss rocks at anyone walking within 100 meters. I imagine there's quite a lot of autistic people in the gaming world - the digital world is alluring to us, it's logical, systematized and persistent. So yeah - not everyone has the same foundation of life, and thus not the same standards, expectations, or habits.

Anyway, this pretty much means that I spend more time by the computer because it's a medium that I handle better. For me this implies gaming too, since well, it's fun - and it involves other people. The term "IRL" is bullshit frankly, because even if you're talking to someone via a computer, you're still interacting with a real person - sure, not in the exact same way as you would in-person, but in, for example, my case - that's a good thing.

Of course this is more of a minority - some people simply just play too much games for no real reason other than addiction and lack of other things to do - I can't speak for those, but I can speak for people who have other reasons for spending a lot of time by the computer/gaming/online/not in your local pub. A lot of us got other things on our mind, other things to spend our time with - often creative, too - that can lead to us spending even less time "outside and socializing" - and don't we have the right to, if we want to? You do your thing, I do my thing - as long as I don't directly affect you, why should you bother arguing about it.

People are gonna try to flame this, and bring up ingenious things such as "psychological diagnoses is just bullshit that people hide behind because they fail at life" etc, I've heard any variation of that before.. But hopefully some people will read, stop, and think "Well, oh, I didn't really consider this".


Also, saying that gaming doesn't alter your social skills in any way is downright false and short-sighted - you can actually learn from talking to people in games, you meet people from other cultures, you meet people from other countries, other parts of the world entirely maybe that you might not otherwise have the opportunity to - and that does teach you something hopefully, for good or worse. Maybe small and shallow things, but still, you might just learn. And for all you know, you could meet someone that you got to know better over time - which could turn out to be of great value to you - who knows?

[Nest]

Oh one of these videos. D:

You humans are so weak these days.

[sleekit]

In short, its a advanced and elaborate recruiting tool.

which was my point ;P

a game specifically designed to make you want to go out and kill people (albeit "for your country") which is successful, goverment funded and the development of which was discussed at length by some of the countrys top thinkers in order to justfy the tax dollar spent before it was even commissioned.


these topics ("games are bad mmmkay") are always two tone and tedious and have an annoying tendancy to fill with people claiming to both play video games and also have the kind of constantly dynamic and fulfilling lives most often pictured in tampon commercials rather than the work, eat, sleep, repeat existence most people actually have most of the time as if that somehow counters what they think is being presented.

as i said before the truth is in the middle of the argument and far more grey than black or white.

personally i play video games when i don't have better things to do but they are dropped when anything else comes along because i choose to acknowledge that's why i actually play them.

[Rycul]

The effects gaming can have to life is one direction to look at it, but you can also look at is as your life leading to more gaming.

Doesn't make a lot of sense does it, so lemme explain;

Not everyone is the same. Not everyone has the same prerequisites for having a great social "IRL" life, and it's not even their fault or under their control. I, for example, I've got an Asperger diagnose. This implies a lot of things, but one of them is, frankly, I'm not a social genius - of course I don't let that diagnose overrule my own will, I don't start QQing and say "I can't socialize because that's just how I was made" - that's just silly. But what it DOES mean, is, that I find it more comfortable to talk to people and socialize, for example, online - in games, forums, IM's, e-mails, whatever really - it's a medium that I can handle, as opposed to being with lots of people in-person - I can practise and get better at it, but in the end all it does is make me want to turtle-shell and toss rocks at anyone walking within 100 meters. I imagine there's quite a lot of autistic people in the gaming world - the digital world is alluring to us, it's logical, systematized and persistent. So yeah - not everyone has the same foundation of life, and thus not the same standards, expectations, or habits.

Anyway, this pretty much means that I spend more time by the computer because it's a medium that I handle better. For me this implies gaming too, since well, it's fun - and it involves other people. The term "IRL" is bullshit frankly, because even if you're talking to someone via a computer, you're still interacting with a real person - sure, not in the exact same way as you would in-person, but in, for example, my case - that's a good thing.

Of course this is more of a minority - some people simply just play too much games for no real reason other than addiction and lack of other things to do - I can't speak for those, but I can speak for people who have other reasons for spending a lot of time by the computer/gaming/online/not in your local pub. A lot of us got other things on our mind, other things to spend our time with - often creative, too - that can lead to us spending even less time "outside and socializing" - and don't we have the right to, if we want to? You do your thing, I do my thing - as long as I don't directly affect you, why should you bother arguing about it.

People are gonna try to flame this, and bring up ingenious things such as "psychological diagnoses is just bullshit that people hide behind because they fail at life" etc, I've heard any variation of that before.. But hopefully some people will read, stop, and think "Well, oh, I didn't really consider this".


Also, saying that gaming doesn't alter your social skills in any way is downright false and short-sighted - you can actually learn from talking to people in games, you meet people from other cultures, you meet people from other countries, other parts of the world entirely maybe that you might not otherwise have the opportunity to - and that does teach you something hopefully, for good or worse. Maybe small and shallow things, but still, you might just learn. And for all you know, you could meet someone that you got to know better over time - which could turn out to be of great value to you - who knows?

Wonderful post. And I'm not kidding.

[Ashrana]

The maker of the movie fails to see the real problem, being that he let games ruin 30 years of his life. Like everything in life you shouldn't do to much of one thing.

[alpy1885]

Th guy think tha lvlig to 80 take's you 150 hour /palyed
Oviusly lvl 27 troll rogue IRL a 13 year's old kid

[Fenixdown]

After only reading about the first page or so of replies, the thing that I thought was sadder was how people acted so outraged by the man's video. He did make some good points on both sides of the spectrum. However, that being said, it's still based on nothing mroe than personal lifestyle. The lifestyle he was using was that of the "hardcore gamer", not in the sense you all think hardcore actually means.

Hardcore gamer does not mean you beat Lich King heroic.
It does not mean you cleared Sunwell pre-nerf.
It does not mean you aquired Ateish before 2.0.

It means that you spend a vast majority of your week playing various video games, possibly including but not limited to World of Warcraft.

Now, everyone has their reasons for one side and for the other side. But his point was that if you're not the "I lost my job, my family, my apartment, and developed cancer" game player, you're NOT the person he's even talking about in the first place, so there's no need to be offended.

I'll even admit I play video games probably more than I should, for my own reasons. BUt if you give me the option of doing a raid or going to hang out with friends someplace, the odds are very high that I will choose the latter. So I don't even fall into his category in the video, so I wasn't offended.

I think some of you need to really chill out and stop being so mad at people voicing their opinions in a constructive, positive manner. Would you rather Bill O'Reilley do the video instead, and then see what a real offensive message about video games would be?

Seriously, getting mad over that is just as bad on the spectrum as people blaming Columbine on games like Doom. Video games replaced board games. If you're a smart individual, that's all they did and you already know that.

I guess that really goes to show how many smart people actually do play World of Warcraft, from Ensidia to Joblow's scrub guild.