Done With Video Games

[Cirion Spellbinder]

How so? I would assume the opposite is the case, i.e that gaming takes away real social interaction time.

What do you define as a real social interaction? From my experience, online gaming only involves social interaction or cooperation when you are playing with people who you don't know that want to cooperate and interact or your friends. It's hard to find these interactions in the toxic cesspool created by lack of consequence in video games, but the interactions are certainly there sometimes.

[garrethdsouza]

Its an art medium that takes up a lot of time to appreciate and enjoy for me. giving up games period seems like you're just closing yourself off from a plethora of meaning and beauty.

Which games do you feel have a plethora of meaning and beauty?

[Dream Sphere]

The Rock Band video games are good for hand-eye coordination, and the drums on higher difficulties can require decent amounts of physical activity.

Here're a couple videos of different people playing the drums in those games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlm_p-J4rbs -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrI8E27UrIk

[Cirion Spellbinder]

Which games do you feel have a plethora of meaning and beauty?

The game I find most beautiful is Lucas Pope's "Papers, Please". The game revolves around playing as an Immigration Inspector and checking over peoples' papers to make sure they have valid documentation. However, the game deals with many moral issues. Some of these include, supporting a family, empathy towards strangers, human trafficking, drug dealing, government corruption, coups, bureaucracy, fascism, racism, xenophobia, terrorism, Ingsoc, and extreme poverty. I would highly recommend playing through it if you can!

Other games I find to have artistic depth and beauty include "To The Moon", "Bioshock", "Bioshock Infinite", "Dishonoured", "The Static Speaks my Name", and "They Breathe."

What about you?

[Red]

I'm conflicted.. should I sell my TF2 items?

[Cirion Spellbinder]

I'm conflicted.. should I sell my TF2 items?

I would. Then you have nothing to come back to.

[miniboes]

online gaming drastically improved my social skills.

How so? I would assume the opposite is the case, i.e that gaming takes away real social interaction time.

'Real' interaction is quite different from online interaction, but that is exactly why it worked for me. Until I was about 15 I had a lot of trouble making friends and often got bullied as I was quite different from other kids. I was more mature than others, perhaps due to growing up in a family of adults. On the Internet I could interact with people of all ages without my appearance getting in the way. I spoke to people all over the world all day and made several good friends, which vastly improved my social skills, english and most importantly my confidence.

The problem with 'real' interaction, i would say, is that we make a lot of judgments on a person just by their appearance. Removing that factor allows for interaction that is in my experience more genuine, less discriminatory.

[Jebus]

The problem with 'real' interaction, i would say, is that we make a lot of judgments on a person just by their appearance. Removing that factor allows for interaction that is in my experience more genuine, less discriminatory.

OK, but wouldn't you much rather have good face-to-face social skills? In comparison, I see little advantage of being comfortable in online communication. The disadvantage may be that a person spends too much time in front of the pc instead of stepping outside of his/her comfort zone.

[miniboes]

The problem with 'real' interaction, i would say, is that we make a lot of judgments on a person just by their appearance. Removing that factor allows for interaction that is in my experience more genuine, less discriminatory.

OK, but wouldn't you much rather have good face-to-face social skills? In comparison, I see little advantage of being comfortable in online communication. The disadvantage may be that a person spends too much time in front of the pc instead of stepping outside of his/her comfort zone.

Yes, I would love to have had great face-to-face social skills from day one of primary school on. However, that is never the reality. You have to learn it, and for me online gaming communities had a key role in that process. Today, I am capable to have a pleasant and meaningful conversation with pretty much anyone I come across, and that is not because of the time I spent getting bullied in school. I learned that that through speaking with random strangers on the internet, becoming good at the verbal aspects of communication whether it be in English or Dutch. From there on, I was able to start learning the non-verbal aspects of communication. I hope you can imagine that for some people a gradual approach to learning social skills is more helpful than being thrown into a lion cage of noisy extroverts.