Gamer Woes

Well, a video seems to be circulating like wildfire across Facebook about how games waste your life and you could be doing something better with the time spent on said games. It's below this paragraph if anyone is interested in watching, it's pretty interesting.

Well, kudos to the guy for finding his enlightened state, really, I'm not being sarcastic. But I kinda disagreed with some of his views, I'll probably state a few.

Virtual Friends =/= Real Friends?

He mentioned on how virtual friends are inferior compared to your real friends.

I, myself, have a number of virtual friends whether it may be from my adventures in World of Warcraft, firefights in Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead, or even a simple forum thread. Now, why bother making friends with the players at all, when they are "inadequate friends?" Well, there's two reasons.

"Inadequate? I'll show you inadequate..."

Firstly, said players not only come from Singapore, but from other countries. When I started World of Warcraft back in Secondary 1, I joined an Australian/American family guild, which I met and befriended a number of players. We used to go attack enemy cities and raid dungeons while screaming in Ventrilo and laughing afterwards about it, despite our racial differences. I used to have their Messenger contacts until removed, thanks to a goddamn virus.

Think about it, what are the chances of you bumping into foreign people and having a good time, apart from forcing your way through the American Embassy and introducing yourself in an effort to make friends. Surely everyone wants a little love among the countries in the world?

"Let's be friends, I'll be the guy and you'll be the..."

Secondly, those said players are often like-minded people, someone you can relate and enjoy, (since all of you are playing the same game, that has to be something you share in common). My guild and I enjoyed World of Warcraft as a whole, meeting up to do quests and other game content, while getting to know each other. Why force yourself to go out in clubs and hang out with "friends" who rub you on the wrong way (that's what she said), when you can find more easier friends on your favorite games?

Of course, do take notice, I'm not encouraging you to dump your real life friends in exchange for your virtual friends, they're still as important. I'm just saying, although you can't see your virtual friends face-to-face, they are still human beings and you'll still find companionship in them, like in your real friends.

"I can play the electric guitar, am I a real friend now?"

And hey, there's Facebook if you really need to know whose behind that character.

Gamer = Bad Husband, Overweight, etc etc.

Well, apparently, this guy who made the video lacked self-control. He admitted being a bad husband, which I probably assume that he neglected his family while he was playing Sims or Civilization. Those two words, "self-control", pretty much describe whether if you're a addicted gamer or not.

To me, my self-control level is somewhat good. I can limit myself and go to sleep at right hours, I'll go out with friends instead of wasting the night to complete some RPG game. (Unless I'm too darn lazy or if there are too little people going) The only flaw in me if a release date of a game that I enjoy *cough* Cataclysm *cough* falls under a school day, well, there's where the inner gamer in me takes over.

"CATACLYSM IS OUT OF STOCK?!"

But hey, no one is perfect. Smokers, drinkers, and even wankers have their weak moments. People who say they can stop smoking, drinking or wanking whenever they want, deep down inside, the lure of nicotine, booze, or boobies is still there, ready to strike.

"Must... not... buttsex..."

Thus, it all falls under self-control to see whether you end up as an overweight bastard who cares nothing about being his Level 80 Human Paladin who defeated The Lich King over 9000 times, or ending up as a successful guy in life.

Do things that create value, not consume time

I agree with him in this sentence. But, as one replier posted, why don't games create any value, when reading books like Moby Dick, Harry Potter and Twilight do? Or watching House, How I Met Your Mother and other TV serials? It really depends on what your "value" means.

"Now, THIS is value!"

I play games because I enjoy the sense of satisfaction of completing a game, of doing something I enjoy. Something I can go "God, that's something to be proud of, I'm glad I finished this game." That's why I feel being a gamer gives value. You may see and think differently, because you see in a different perspective. You don't dwell on gaming and derive "value" from something else, whether it may be playing music, reading books, working out in the gym, etc etc.

Why are games totally different in that sense? You may say completing games don't help you in your future life. Well, let me just say there are Starcraft 2 players in South Korea making shitloads of money just by playing Starcraft 2, probably ten times more than your average office boy. And I don't really think you can put "Gyming", "Reading Books" or "Playing the Guitar" on your application form, can you?

"So... how does your "425 max bench press" help our company improve our stocks?"

What I'm really trying to say is, things which you enjoy doing isn't what I would say "wasting time". It really, really depends on what "value" means to you, whether it may be finally finishing that 1000 page novel of Sherlock Holmes, defeating the last boss in Fable III, or even finishing a whole workout session in gym. It's how you take that "value" and transform it to a way that you see it as beneficial and satisfying to your daily life, so there's no really right or wrong.

"I tink tis is "value" for a catz"

Whew, that was a tiring rant, but I'm done. I thank the people who posted the video on Facebook, it gave me something of "value" to do for this Friday night.