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| Thread: Is gaming a waste of time? |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 · «PREV / NEXT» |
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted November 22, 2010 10:44 AM |
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Deus Ex would be my long time favorite example of a game that offers more than an average book and a good movie.
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We reached to the stars and everything is now ours
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Binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted November 22, 2010 11:57 AM |
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Throw away your games. Throw away your computer. Throw away the internet. Go outside and start walking. Come back a year later and ask yourself if you still think games are important.
Walk across Asia from coast to coast. Bicycle across Europe and stay in hostels. Swim the English Channel. Search for the hanging gardens of Babylon. Pan for gold in Alaska. Ride a llama in the Andes. Watch whales in migration.
Find your soul mate. Fall madly in love. Make love on a deserted beach. Make love on a crowded beach. Catch your breath and feel your heart jump when your love walks into the room.
Learn to play the violin. Grow your own food. Write a song. Write a book. Build your own house. Go to a protest. Watch a Chinese fireworks display.
Dream.
It's not in front of you on a computer screen. It's behind you. Turn it off and just go.
Walk to Cape Hope. No saved games, no reloads. You really can make it. It will be one hell of an adventure.
Walk to Cape Hope. You can make it. Do it. You won't regret it.
What's stopping you?
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted November 22, 2010 11:59 AM |
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Awesome post Bin 
Illustrates the point quite well 
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We reached to the stars and everything is now ours
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disturbed-gnu
Supreme Hero
Pro Bacon Vodka Brewer
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posted November 22, 2010 12:44 PM |
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I both agree and disagree with you Bin..
Everybody should do what you say to try something else than computing..
I usually go outside in the summertime, but the winter time (like now) is mainly computer days and beer-weekends..,
Then my disagreement: If you are doing all that you mentioned without being happy about it, then its a waste of time..
If i feel like shooting something i go for a FPS, or to my neighbour town to their shooting range. I enjoy both.
If i feel like doing some sports i always go for Wii unless its American Football or Volleyball and such, then i ask my friends if they feel like playing the specefic sport. I enjoy both.
If i feel like ... i think you get the point..
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Ebonite
Adventuring Hero
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posted November 22, 2010 01:10 PM |
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Games played with friends can be quite enjoyable, but playing them on your own can be a waste of time. Thus i like to leave the FPS and the mindless hack and slash games to LAN gatherings and the like. the shouting and abuse being hurled across a room can be quite amusing. Games with an elaborate plot/great stratagy/thinking involved can be quite beneficial and can be fun when played on your own.
Gaming on the whole though is a waste of time (i still do it though). And when given the choice friends and family will always come first in my life. Football(soccer) also take priority.
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted November 22, 2010 03:58 PM |
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I don't know, DoomForge. What do you consider a good use of time?
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted November 22, 2010 04:33 PM |
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Already explained it. Something that either leaves a benefit (like, idk, healthier body) or something that leaves great memories.
And I can barely distinguish one day playing Diablo2 from another 30 days of playing the same game. What memories? there are none 
Was it fun? well, I think it was... Why would I bother with it otherwise? Umm, I guess.
do I remember it? hell no. Did I benefit from it? hell no. I may as well be jogging all that time I played d2, and at least today I'd have some good stamina.
or go for a trip in the mountains and have great memories.
What was the use of playing d2? I can't even return to my old powerful char to play once in a while. Because of that stupid expiration system, the character gets deleted after 2 months of inactivity. Yeah! The amount of hours I'm actually afraid of counting just goes down the drain, just like that: one two three, poof.
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We reached to the stars and everything is now ours
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bLiZzArdbOY
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted November 22, 2010 04:50 PM |
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There's a lot that can be said about how saturated our memories are and how we associate that with how fast or short life seems to us. Almost everybody agrees that during early childhood, life seemed to go slower, and it's not surprising that that's the time in our life where everything is new and fresh and just a few paces outside of your backyard can be an epic adventure.
If we go through a month grinding through classes at high school and spending most of our leisure time playing a video game that we're addicted to, it's more difficult for our brain to distinguish one day from another; it blurs, essentially making 30 days seem just as long as 1 day to our memory and it gives us a very powerful illusion of life going by quickly. This gets even worse when we get a job that we stick with for 30+ years. When we fill our life with different challenges and 'milestones' to achieve, it makes our memories more distinguishable from one to another, and life feels longer.
The past 3 1/2 months of my life have been a roller coaster ride of elation and distress, and reflecting back on it, I feel August 2010 was half a lifetime ago.
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"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted November 22, 2010 05:02 PM |
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I agree.
I'm a kind of person that regards memories - of well spent time - awesome and important. It's what makes achieving something worth it. Otherwise, what's the point of accomplishing a goal, if you won't even remember it? That makes me think of the movie Memento. What was the use for the protagonist of the movie for achieving revenge when he couldn't remember it?
I would ask a similar question: what's the point of doing something (in your free time) that will be quickly forgotten? Sure, you will most likely not remember eating a bar of chocolate, and that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. But, committing a LOT of personal free time to something that will blur in your memory and become unremarkable?
I remember every and each of my bike expeditions, dates, boxing sparrings, I remember every great movie and book I've seen or read, I also remember every great game I've played.
But the infamous loop games? I don't remember them at all. i know I've been playing them, and that's it. That's what makes me think I wasted my time.
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We reached to the stars and everything is now ours
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Fauch
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted November 23, 2010 01:11 AM |
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why are memories so important? as you said, you don't remember eating a bar of chocolate, but you still enjoyed it?
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1910
Known Hero
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posted November 23, 2010 02:41 AM |
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Well for somebody wanting to make better use of their time for such things as having a healthier body and all that, you sure do spend a lot of time on the Computer and on here, DF. 
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phoenixreborn
Promising
Legendary Hero
Unicorn
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posted November 23, 2010 03:33 AM |
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Ok loop games suck. Next topic.
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Bask in the light of my glorious shining unicorn.
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SwampLord
Supreme Hero
Lord of the Swamp
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posted November 23, 2010 03:58 AM |
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I don't know that I'd call repeating Civ games a mindless exercise similar to boss raiding in Diablo II; sprawling TBS games like Civ tend to require a greater degree of player involvement and critical thinking, which makes them a more worthy investment in my eyes.
I tend to not consider gaming a waste of time because I typically do it with my friends; it's a social exercise no different from hanging out at a buddy's house and watching TV. For games like FPSs that maybe don't have the level of story or involvement that other games do, this is a great way to get more out of them.
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They can take my swamp, they can take my town, but they will never take my FREEDOM!
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AlexSpl
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted November 23, 2010 07:37 AM |
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Quote:
People like me hwo never read the damn books, likes the movies, and only wants to punch the book-readers right between the eyes if they don't shut up..
Yeah... Here the next, better generation comes
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted November 23, 2010 09:05 AM |
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Unfortunately. That's the joy of democracy, anyone can express his stupidity and still believe he said something interesting.
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Era II mods and utilities
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JollyJoker
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
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posted November 23, 2010 09:34 AM |
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Isn't the answer rather simple?
If you have fun while gaming it can't be a waste of time. If not, it is.
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted November 24, 2010 01:23 AM |
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Edited by Corribus at 01:23, 24 Nov 2010.
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If gaming is a waste of time, I hate to think what hanging out at HC talking about gaming is.
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I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
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SKPRIMUS
Promising
Supreme Hero
The One and the Prime
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posted November 24, 2010 02:09 AM |
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I also thought that forumming is even more a waste of time compared to game playing.
What's ironic is that you may correspond/play with someone faceless online - but when you find out more about them, you might think "hmm what a foo! or this person cheated or you don't like their beliefs"...
& the good part about above is that you get out of too much playing/forumming & then do something else more productive
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Hope defeats despair - "a blatant clue"
too many idiots in VW
"to lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose"
bashing orcus 
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phoenixreborn
Promising
Legendary Hero
Unicorn
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posted November 24, 2010 04:09 AM |
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Binabik gave some examples:
Quote:
What's stopping you?
Money. Debt. Bicycle across Europe eating what?
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Bask in the light of my glorious shining unicorn.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted November 24, 2010 07:33 AM |
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I have had similar thoughts actually, truth is I would love to. If I did not have a family that needs me, if there was no crisis, if there were jobs to sustain me while I move around, if I did not want to waste more time than I already have.. Seeing the world is hardly a waste quite the opposite, however if I want to get a good job and not lifting crates for the rest of my life there aren't a lot of options. I am a romantic but then there's also reality and I do have ties that would prevent me from doing that. I am not free to do whatever I want.
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