Why do people think video games are a waste of time? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

I simply don't have time for video games. In my spare time, I rather watch sports, movies or TV series. However, my discontent with sports and TV series is growing so I'm starting to transition to watching more movies. With that said, I have nothing bad to say about video games as I think people should entertain themselves as they see fit.

I am of a similar mind. I have hobbies that I enjoy that others do not, so who am I to judge what hobbies others enjoy? I'm not a gamer (I owned a 2nd generation Nintendo many years ago and mostly played hockey on it), but I'm sure there are gamers out there who cannot understand my passion for photography or playing golf. Do whatever makes you happy.

 

[CraigF]

The PS3 is the first game console I owned myself. I'm in my 60s. I got it to play BDs. I only had one game (Williams Pinball) for years. Somehow, some influence that I can't quite put my finger on, quite probably people here (who share some of my film interests), I decided to try more games. It certainly wasn't anybody I know personally, I'm like Bryan and just don't mention I game to people "of an age" who I'm pretty sure will denigrate it.

Perhaps I denigrated it too at one time, I really don't recall thinking much about it, since it's not something my age-peers discussed. Gaming is a lot better than I certainly ever imagined it would be. IMO it's at least as good for the brain activity as reading a book, keeps your hands and reaction times from getting rusty too. But you won't learn much from gaming, just like when reading fiction, or even way too much "non-fiction" these days.

I do think gaming is one good way for "older people" to keep their mental skills honed, perhaps there is research on this, but it's what I feel. Assuming you choose the "right" sort of game for what you want to keep sharp; I like the strategy and problem-solving types, but of course some action etc. to keep it fun.

 

[Bryan^H]

Unfortunately, when someone is irrationally bigoted against something, be it other races or even an activity, fairness is the furthest thing from their mind. Look at how a lot teachers in the Fifties thought children reading comics was damaging and that the medium was trash because it supposedly got in the way of "real" reading. Thanks to people like them and Frederic Wertham, comics as a legitimate medium to tell stories was stunted for decades.

Right. I wish I weren't such a coward and come right out and tell these people that video games are not bad, or stupid. I could make a mean argument and set them straight, but I don't even want to go there so I will remain silent about it.

There is certainly a stigma about video gaming. My favorite film critic ever dogged it, and that hurt, and there is shit like this that makes gamers of VR look like dorks...I mean come on!


Video game addiction is bad, but like Russell said earlier that is different.

 

[Sam Posten]

Roger Ebert was wrong. His wrongness is of such magnitude that people should question his judgement about more things, not less. He's also a bully, or was, using his credentials in one domain to think he had any transferable expertise, any standing about a domain that was foreign to him. That he could not see past his own limitations is a tragedy. He was like the proverbial guy trying to build an airplane while in free fall, before the wright brothers had even perfected flight. And then saying "There is no way this could ever be a commercial success moving hundreds of thousands of people across continents daily". The very nerve of him is contemptible.

 

[CraigF]

Right. I wish I weren't such a coward and come right out and tell these people that video games are not bad, or stupid. I could make a mean argument and set them straight, but I don't even want to go there so I will remain silent about it.

I prefer to discuss things with people who enjoy them. Who needs pointless negativity? Criticism is fine though. The occasional rant pro or con is fine too: passion. Nobody's going to change their mind, almost no matter what you say, until they decide to. Usually personal experience will do it. For any subject of discussion.

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm 63 and a gamer - both board and video. I've been playing video games since Pong hit bars in the early 70s. I purchased a 4 player Pong system when they came out. Sold it to purchase an Atari 2600. Purchased an Atari 800 as much to play games as to learn programming (and learned a half dozen computer languages in the process). Purchased my son an Atari XEGS instead of an NES (and caught much grief from my wife "He wanted a NES - not a computer!"). That was true but his friends thought the XEGS was way cooler than the NES. He then got an NES the next year. Then an SNES. Then an XBox. I played games on all of them and purchased some games for his systems just for me. He now has a PS3 and XBox 1 for him and a Wii for his kids. His oldest son (age 7) is showing signs of gaming addiction (*always* talks about them and constantly asks to play) but they're keeping it under control. I now have 2 Wii systems (grandma had to have one for her TV for the grandkids to play) and an XBox 360. My oldest grandson has a Wii, XBox 1, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. My 2 oldest granddaughters love to play video games, although not as much as their brother. Except for my wife and daughter-in-law we're a gaming (video and board) family and they'll play a board game if it's the "right" one.

I freely admit to family, friends, and anyone who asks that I love video gaming and play frequently. They're good for kids as they often require and help develop logic and deduction skills as well as hand/eye coordination. As has been mentioned, kids will often play to the exclusion of everything. They'll also do that with anything that catches their fancy. The HS here just introduced eGames as a school sanctioned sport and had more kids sign up than they had seats.

The "nay sayers" are becoming fewer and further between in spite of the anti-gaming evangelists constantly preaching "Games are bad and make kids do antisocial things" even as evidence supports just the opposite.

When the "anti-gamer" group comes out ask if they play games on their phone, or facebook. I'd wager most of them do but don't think of those as "video games" since they're not in front of a TV. When I've done that it's normally a "Well... yes, but that's different." answer. I just smile and say "No... it's really not. You're a gamer too."

**EDIT**
I forgot... along the journey I did computer gaming (DOS and Windows systems) for 10+ years - mostly in the 90s between the Atari 800 and purchase of the first Wii (which was purchased at the insistence of my wife).

 

[CraigF]

^ I'm almost as old as you. At one time I was the oldest person on the PSVR forums who publicly admitted their age, but I know for sure there's at least one guy there who's in his mid-70s. And these "kids" talk about being in their 40s and getting some anti-gaming blowback...it's certainly out there in "general society".

But here's the potentially problematical thing: you know that they can fairly easily these days measure the way the brain responds to stimuli. They can determine what audio/video things and playstyles cause more reaction in the parts of the brain that we know/think are related to human motivators: pleasure, greed, desire, lust are some that can lead to addiction. (Of course this info would never be used in creating advertising...)

What is happening, I think from what I read and assuming it's not from the perpetual naysayers, is that game devs are incorporating this kind of thing into games. Most especially the mobile and pay-to-play/win types. They are intentionally using these known innate/subconscious motivators in their game designs in ways that promote the possibility of addiction, especially in children. I think this is the worry parents have.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I have been hearing this for years, and every time I hear it makes me feel rather low considering it is one of my main hobbies.

I heard it yesterday from a co-worker "my boyfriend and his stupid video games", and a while back another co-worker said he wants to throw the Xbox his wife bought for his son (I would never buy that garbage for him) on the curb and saying his son was going to become stupid if he doesn't stop wasting his time on games. He was so angry about it, I didn't even mention to him that I am a gamer.

Even Roger Ebert once said "video games are not art"

What is the stigma? Why do people frown on video games but accept nearly all other forms of entertainment?

I think people naturally bring their own experiences (and prejudices) when it comes to such blanket claims of dislike. I'm not really a gamer - my skill level is permanently stuck at Super Mario Brothers from NES or maybe Super Mario World from SNES, but that's about as far as my skill goes. But I was totally hooked on those consoles when I was younger, and I think gaming can bring out addictive tendencies in people. (I think that's true of a lot of things, I don't mean to single out games or people who play them.) Anecdotally speaking, I have at times noticed people not paying attention to their responsibilities or whether they're being polite or not because they're more focused on the game, in a way that people don't necessarily get lost in a book or a TV show. Which, of course, makes sense since the game is interactive.

So, for the coworker who talks about her "boyfriend and his stupid video games" - maybe she just doesn't like games, or maybe she thinks that her boyfriend shouldn't be allowed to have any hobbies he participates in when she's around. There are people like that. But it could also be that there were times when she felt that she was competing for his attention with the video game in a way that she doesn't have to with anything else. Maybe every time he plays a video game, time slips away for him, so she's constantly left with someone telling her "Just one more level and then I'll be right with you" instead of hitting pause.

Same for the father who says he would never "buy that garbage" for his son and is upset that the child's mother did. Maybe he's speaking from the experience of struggling to get his kid to put the controller down and pick up his homework, or help with a household chore. I can imagine it can be frustrating to keep hearing "Five more minutes dad!" when you've been asking for the trash to go out for hours.

As someone who doesn't game but who has a lot of gamers in his social circle, I can definitely empathize with feeling like you've lost someone's attention to a game. Maybe the difference is this: if I'm watching a movie or a TV show and someone enters the room, I can pause or mute what I'm watching and converse with them, and then go back to the TV, or I can invite them to watch it with me. I acknowledge that the other person exists, has entered the room I'm in, and wants something from me - whether it's to spend time with me, to ask a simple question. And yet, many times when I've entered a room where someone was playing a game, I’ve been completely ignored for extended lengths of time, or been lectured on how this certain game can’t be paused or stopped at this certain time, and... it can feel rude. That just feels different to me as a causal observer than someone reading a book who can just look up and stop reading for a moment. I mean, if you ask a person who’s reading a book if they wanna order a pizza, they’re not likely to scream at you that you’ve made them die in the game and ruined hours of work.

And what about the people who don’t yell or scream or anything, but who just get sucked into their iPhone every time there’s a spare second? As a nongamer, something like Pokémon Go was extremely frustrating to me, because I’d be having conversations with people who suddenly wouldn’t make eye contact because they had their eyes on their phones at all times to make sure they didn’t miss a hidden Pokémon somewhere.

I don’t think everyone who plays games is like that, but I think there are enough people who have, while in the throws of a game, lashed out at someone or shirked on a responsibility or just ignored someone in their presence that there’s a collective memory of being on the receiving end of that behavior that sticks.

But the thing is - for me, I don’t think the game makes you rude or makes you a jerk. I think that’s your choice as a person as to whether you’re going to turn your whole life over to that, or if you’re going to put the effort into being a decent person that isn’t rude to his colleagues. I think there are plenty of people who incorporate games into their lives without using the game as an excuse to be a jerk to other people. I’m just not sure that people see enough examples of that for it to overwhelm the stereotypes...yet.

This is gonna sound crazy but this almost reminds me of what effect marijuana legalization is having on society’s perception of the substance. For years, the only cultural image that had any resonance when it came to marijuana was of “The Stoner” - that college roommate everyone remembered who laid around on the couch a lot, burned a bunch of incense and left junk food wrappers lying around everywhere. And if that’s the only image people have of marijuana and what it does, it makes sense why there was a stigma on it. But with it being legal (at least for medicinal purposes in a lot of places), I’m having conversations with people I never thought I’d have. People are coming out of the woodwork saying, “actually, I do smoke a little marijuana and I’m nothing like that stereotype.” I now routinely see news stories about how a marijuana derivative helped stop a little kid from having hundreds of seizures a day, or how it helped a veteran kick an opioid addiction. It’s changing the perspective of what it means to use marijuana.

Bryan, I think you’re in a similar position with gaming, if you want to be. You can be the example that someone can enjoy games as a hobby and that it’s actually possible to like games and not be any of the worst stereotypes for what gamers are like. There are some people that will never come around, no matter what - but those are the same people that would tease me for buying a disc when I could just rent the same movie on iTunes - they just like to belittle other people. But I think most people would be open to having their minds changed on accepting gaming if they had better examples of people enjoying them as a hobby.

 

[DaveF]

All good points.

But in my experience adults in general (the people I know) hate video games (and I have heard an awful lot of it for me to start a thread about it) They never budge on their stance that video games are stupid and likely never will.

I'm 45 and a lot of the time when a conversation gets started with another adult about video games I don't even speak up and tell the person I am a gamer. I honestly think they will think less of me. Yet their interests such as binging shows on Netflix, or leisure time activities are just perfect. It doesn't seem fair.

You know the wrong adults. One coworker is a near-obsessive competitor Fortnight player (formerly playing Battlefield for the past decade). Almost everyone 30s to 50s grew up with videogames and plays them now to some smaller or greater degree, or have kids that videogame. And of course, there’s everyone wasting time with the silly candy-crusher solitaire games on their phones. I’ve had in depth conversations in the airport about what games are best for getting through a long flight.

 

[Tony Bensley]

You know the wrong adults. One coworker is a near-obsessive competitor Fortnight player (formerly playing Battlefield for the past decade). Almost everyone 30s to 50s grew up with videogames and plays them now to some smaller or greater degree, or have kids that videogame. And of course, there’s everyone wasting time with the silly candy-crusher solitaire games on their phones. I’ve had in depth conversations in the airport about what games are best for getting through a long flight.

Just this evening, I figured out that I could install this age old Windows XP game on Windows 10! :

CHEERS!

 

[BobO'Link]

Depending on the game it's quite easy to get into the "Just one more level" or "Wait until I've finished this level" mode. I've been guilty of making those statements on more than one occasion. One time it was 4 *hours* later when I realized the time and stopped playing. I changed my playing habits to no longer start such a game/level unless I know up front I'll have the time to devote *without* being interrupted. Because of that I play games less frequently but am less stressed over the games. I'll now go for weeks without playing a video game unless one of the grandkids wants to play some coop type game (which are always fun with them). Depending on the game I enjoy watching them play and offer tips/hits to get through levels.

 

[BobO'Link]

Just this evening, I figured out that I could install this age old Windows XP game on Windows 10! :

View attachment 55767

CHEERS!

There are lots of "classic" games that'll run just fine on Windows 10. I have a copy of Starcraft on my work computer and will play it if I have a half hour or so free. It plays quite well. And... it's free. Here's the cNet article with how to snag a copy. If you get an error with the link they provide keep trying. I just did a download for my laptop which took 3 reloads of the download link before it started.

 

[Tony Bensley]

There are lots of "classic" games that'll run just fine on Windows 10. I have a copy of Starcraft on my work computer and will play it if I have a half hour or so free. It plays quite well. And... it's free. Here's the cNet article with how to snag a copy. If you get an error with the link they provide keep trying. I just did a download for my laptop which took 3 reloads of the download link before it started.

Oddly enough, the only native function (Although thankfully, the alternate option does!) that wouldn't work for me on the Space Cadet Pinball game was the F2 key!

CHEERS!

 

[Clinton McClure]

My mom will be 70 this year and she still plays Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. I’m 44 and have been playing video games since I was about 7 or 8. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

[Bryan^H]

I think people naturally bring their own experiences (and prejudices) when it comes to such blanket claims of dislike. I'm not really a gamer - my skill level is permanently stuck at Super Mario Brothers from NES or maybe Super Mario World from SNES, but that's about as far as my skill goes. But I was totally hooked on those consoles when I was younger, and I think gaming can bring out addictive tendencies in people. (I think that's true of a lot of things, I don't mean to single out games or people who play them.) Anecdotally speaking, I have at times noticed people not paying attention to their responsibilities or whether they're being polite or not because they're more focused on the game, in a way that people don't necessarily get lost in a book or a TV show. Which, of course, makes sense since the game is interactive.

So, for the coworker who talks about her "boyfriend and his stupid video games" - maybe she just doesn't like games, or maybe she thinks that her boyfriend shouldn't be allowed to have any hobbies he participates in when she's around. There are people like that. But it could also be that there were times when she felt that she was competing for his attention with the video game in a way that she doesn't have to with anything else. Maybe every time he plays a video game, time slips away for him, so she's constantly left with someone telling her "Just one more level and then I'll be right with you" instead of hitting pause.

Same for the father who says he would never "buy that garbage" for his son and is upset that the child's mother did. Maybe he's speaking from the experience of struggling to get his kid to put the controller down and pick up his homework, or help with a household chore. I can imagine it can be frustrating to keep hearing "Five more minutes dad!" when you've been asking for the trash to go out for hours.

As someone who doesn't game but who has a lot of gamers in his social circle, I can definitely empathize with feeling like you've lost someone's attention to a game. Maybe the difference is this: if I'm watching a movie or a TV show and someone enters the room, I can pause or mute what I'm watching and converse with them, and then go back to the TV, or I can invite them to watch it with me. I acknowledge that the other person exists, has entered the room I'm in, and wants something from me - whether it's to spend time with me, to ask a simple question. And yet, many times when I've entered a room where someone was playing a game, I’ve been completely ignored for extended lengths of time, or been lectured on how this certain game can’t be paused or stopped at this certain time, and... it can feel rude. That just feels different to me as a causal observer than someone reading a book who can just look up and stop reading for a moment. I mean, if you ask a person who’s reading a book if they wanna order a pizza, they’re not likely to scream at you that you’ve made them die in the game and ruined hours of work.

And what about the people who don’t yell or scream or anything, but who just get sucked into their iPhone every time there’s a spare second? As a nongamer, something like Pokémon Go was extremely frustrating to me, because I’d be having conversations with people who suddenly wouldn’t make eye contact because they had their eyes on their phones at all times to make sure they didn’t miss a hidden Pokémon somewhere.

I don’t think everyone who plays games is like that, but I think there are enough people who have, while in the throws of a game, lashed out at someone or shirked on a responsibility or just ignored someone in their presence that there’s a collective memory of being on the receiving end of that behavior that sticks.

But the thing is - for me, I don’t think the game makes you rude or makes you a jerk. I think that’s your choice as a person as to whether you’re going to turn your whole life over to that, or if you’re going to put the effort into being a decent person that isn’t rude to his colleagues. I think there are plenty of people who incorporate games into their lives without using the game as an excuse to be a jerk to other people. I’m just not sure that people see enough examples of that for it to overwhelm the stereotypes...yet.

This is gonna sound crazy but this almost reminds me of what effect marijuana legalization is having on society’s perception of the substance. For years, the only cultural image that had any resonance when it came to marijuana was of “The Stoner” - that college roommate everyone remembered who laid around on the couch a lot, burned a bunch of incense and left junk food wrappers lying around everywhere. And if that’s the only image people have of marijuana and what it does, it makes sense why there was a stigma on it. But with it being legal (at least for medicinal purposes in a lot of places), I’m having conversations with people I never thought I’d have. People are coming out of the woodwork saying, “actually, I do smoke a little marijuana and I’m nothing like that stereotype.” I now routinely see news stories about how a marijuana derivative helped stop a little kid from having hundreds of seizures a day, or how it helped a veteran kick an opioid addiction. It’s changing the perspective of what it means to use marijuana.

Bryan, I think you’re in a similar position with gaming, if you want to be. You can be the example that someone can enjoy games as a hobby and that it’s actually possible to like games and not be any of the worst stereotypes for what gamers are like. There are some people that will never come around, no matter what - but those are the same people that would tease me for buying a disc when I could just rent the same movie on iTunes - they just like to belittle other people. But I think most people would be open to having their minds changed on accepting gaming if they had better examples of people enjoying them as a hobby.

You're right Josh. There is no reason I should feel ashamed for being a gamer. I'm pretty shy, so for me to argue a point with co-worker (respectfully of course) will take a bit of courage. But I think I might try it if the subject of video games comes up again.

 

[Bryan^H]

Roger Ebert was wrong. His wrongness is of such magnitude that people should question his judgement about more things, not less. He's also a bully, or was, using his credentials in one domain to think he had any transferable expertise, any standing about a domain that was foreign to him. That he could not see past his own limitations is a tragedy. He was like the proverbial guy trying to build an airplane while in free fall, before the wright brothers had even perfected flight. And then saying "There is no way this could ever be a commercial success moving hundreds of thousands of people across continents daily". The very nerve of him is contemptible.

I agree with you Sam. He will always be my favorite film critic. Through his books and TV show I learned so much about film, and discovered so many wonderful movies simply from his four star rating s or enthusiastic "thumbs up". That is why I was shocked when he made that claim. His follow up to it was even worse. It was basically ----yeah, I get it you are mad at me for saying games are not art, but I won't try one to find out, and still don't think they are art...but I might be wrong----

 

[bmasters9]

Unfortunately, when someone is irrationally bigoted against something, be it other races or even an activity, fairness is the furthest thing from their mind.

Sort of like, say, televangelists (and many fundamentalist Baptist Christian preachers) being against television because television is entertainment, and entertainment is destroying America (at least that's how I think they put it)?

 

[Sam Posten]

@Josh Steinberg heres what you aren’t considering: online friends ARE real friends. When we are playing with them we are giving them our undivided attention to achieve a common goal, online. You wouldn’t break up a meat space conversation just because you walked into the room.

The real difference is that today there are limited opportunities to join in those online activities when you walk into the same physical space as someone partaking of them, tho that may not always be so.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Hi Sam, I don't think that's entirely fair - I do think online friends are real friends. i think my time spent at HTF, for example, is just as valid as conversations I have "in the real world" or whatever the phrasing would be.

I'm only referring to my experience that sometimes, when some people play games, they can sometimes ignore their real world surroundings to the point of rudeness. To me, it's no different than if someone was on the phone or anything else. Most of the time, when we're on phone calls, the person on the call gets top priority - but it's also not inappropriate to ask someone who's on the phone to pause their call for a brief moment if there's something in that physical space that has to be addressed right that second. It doesn't mean that you expect the person to hang up the phone; it just means that they need to put the caller on hold for twenty seconds because maybe the question, "Did you order delivery? There's someone knocking on the door" needs to be expressed.

Or let's say that you and your friend have pre-arranged plans to begin at 7pm. You arrive at the appointed time, and they're still playing the video game, and don't acknowledge that you're there. You might say, "Hey, ready to get dinner?" and they might ignore you for ten minutes, or yell at you for interrupting, or insist that they can't pause, and all of sudden it's 7:30 and you're just waiting for the person to put the controller down and acknowledge your existence.

Those are the type of examples that I was talking about. I don't think that's typical of everyone, and I don't think the video game is the cause of behaving rudely like that - I think that's 100% on the individual.

Most of the "problems" (and I use that word extremely lightly, because I don't consider this to be a major problem in my life) I've had concerning people playing video games has to do when the video game is set up in a communal space, but the person playing them is treating it like an solo/individual activity but that anyone walking into the communal space is intruding. If you're in a communal/shared space, it's not unreasonable for people in that space to expect you to be part of the room, and it's not reasonable to expect everyone to treat it as your private retreat.

But again, I really don't see this as the vault of video games; I think there are just some people who are rude and that if that didn't manifest in gaming, it would manifest in other ways.

 

[CraigF]

Or let's say that you and your friend have pre-arranged plans to begin at 7pm. You arrive at the appointed time, and they're still playing the video game, and don't acknowledge that you're there.

I've complained about a similar thing here, except it's about people not showing up for an online gaming meet...so it's kind of from the opposite side.

Sometimes you need a group of 4 (say), and if you don't have 4 people, you get "randoms", which is what you're trying to avoid and is the whole point of arranging the meet-up in the first place. Normally, people would let you know if they're not going to show up, give you some advance warning if possible. Even when meeting online, it's still real people with real lives with real other stuff they could "schedule" instead. The online meet-up is as real as any other meet-up as far as the people involved are concerned, and yet even those people sometimes treat it as "different" the way they behave. So I'm not letting gamers themselves off the hook, not at all. Peer pressure needs to be applied, and you know how reserved gamers tend to be about doing that!