We've had super fun & addicting games for quite a while now, and, though gaming is not a niche interest anymore, a good chunk of the population prefers to do other things, like watch TV. If anything, the fear of alluring entertainment sapping people's will to do other things is borne out with television. The average American watches something like 5 hours of TV a day. That's just incredible. In my mind, switching from that to video games is a lateral move - you gain the sociability of video games, but lose out on the often more complex stories of television. (Great video games get up to the level of prestige TV, but most have narratives only as good as basic cable.)
I've replaced watching movies and TV with videogames. It's more engaging and a single video game can give me 30 to 60 hours of entertainment compared to a TV series that gives me 6 to 12.
What I see not being discussed in such discussions is that Gaming is a high effort activity compared to watching TV. It requires patience, and adaption to delayed gratification, even some discipline to play many games, compared to watching video content.
I'm a huge gamer (and make both video games and board games in my spare time), but as I get older, I'm also playing less games yet watching more TV (or Youtube or podcasts).
TV is something I can have on while I work on responsibilities around the house (dishes, cooking, putting things away, for example), while eating dinner, and in the background while I'm working on graphic design or programming for various personal projects.
I can't do those things and play games at the same time, like I can with TV. Sure I could watch other people play games via Twitch, but that just tends to annoy me because those people waste so much time doing what I wouldn't do, or trying to figure things out, or saying dumb crap to try to gain an audience, so I've never really gotten into it (I know I'm in the minority there).
I do still play games, but it's a lot less time than it used to be.
> You say that your gaming time has declined. Has your time watching tv declined comparably? Which of the two - gaming or tv - would you say is more important in your life?
My gaming has declined to zero, and my time watching TV has increased greatly. TV is much easier to make into a shared experience than video games. You can also find informative non-fiction TV, while nearly all games are fiction with relatively simple plots.
I think this article cherrypicks and makes all kinds of wild extrapolations to get to the unwarranted conclusion that gaming will "take over." The most glaring in my mind it doesn't address the kinds of lifestyle changes that happen as people age, that are extremely relevant to the overall uptake of media like video games.
Well, sure or writing music or poetry or drawing or playing soccer with friends or....
It's an incomplete picture if you ignore the fact that videogames are infinitely more mentally accessible. There's plenty of very cheap, very fulfilling things to do with your time but they don't provide the instant, accessible dopamine hit that movies or videogames do, which put them out of reach for a lot of people.
I don't really watch TV or movies, and I play videogames pretty sparingly. I'm definitely glad I did it, and I find my hobbies now a lot more stimulating and rewarding, but I'd be lying if I pretended it wasn't a somewhat difficult habit to get into.
Games are a bigger commitment than TV shows. They require a focus to get through. Even if I'm into a TV show there's a good chance I'm going to spend a lot of time only half paying attention. Can even do productive things like cleaning the house while watching a show.
Books are probably a better comparison to video games... which is probably also why I hate when those are too long.
Article seems to forget that there are vast swaths of the population that do not play games. They do not have the patience to learn how to play games, not even console games with simpler controls. Even casual games require some level of skill to play, or they're not any fun, and the joy of television is that you do not need any special skill to enjoy it. This isn't even getting into people who view games as a waste of time, worse than television--at least television can sometimes teach you something, most games do not. You could try to argue that because a lot of children play games, future generations will be more game-focused, but I still don't believe that it's even close to a simple majority of children who like playing games as much as watching video content. Video content will always win because they don't take much (or any) energy (physical, mental, or emotional) to enjoy. I think most people find that you reach a point in the day where you're too tired to literally do anything else (no reading, no gaming) but stare at video until you're ready to fall asleep.
Background: I have been playing video games for 25 odd years now. It has highly reduced, I revert to a bunch of youtube let's plays now.
- Equating games to watching football is disingenuous at best. Games tire you out mentally. I liked games because it gave me a thousand things to track at once and optimize (big fan of cataclysm DDA/Aurora/factorio/rimworld). But that came at a cost - am a zombie at the end of the session, fully drained. (Definitely happy). This is a big reason why I switched to watching videos instead. I definitely don't have the mental bandwidth for this.
- equating videogames to outdoor activities is again disingenuous. Outdoor activities have a definite social component to them (NO - eve didn't replicate this to even a small extent). Not to mention the health benefits. I know the general world is going towards more of a 'controlled experience', but I am still a strong believer in outdoors and semi-controlled experiences.
- Video games and books are definitely escapism. But fiction just doesn't engage your mind in the same way. Most non-fiction books either I will have to dedicate study time for it OR just fall asleep 30 pages in. All the motor function engagement and quick dopamine hits are just not the same in books.
I am not against video games, my thousands of steam / youtube hours should make that clear. BUT diluting the effect of them just makes the argument muddled.
IMO Video games are essentially alcohol without the liver-effects. Yeah it's a lot of fun in moderation if you are in control (OR if it doesn't pull you in like it does to addictive personalities) but they can pull you down a rabbit hole too deep to climb out of.
I think those are reasonable points - one thing from my life as someone who has basically turned my back on gaming due to the ‘real life game’ I’m involved in is that tv is a good escape/unwind when I can’t be arsed exercising/socialising but one of the reasons it is compelling is because the start-up times/stopping cost is basically zero - compared to either a pc or console game where not only do I have startup times to contend with but also the possibility of getting sucked towards the event horizon I can’t get out of and neglecting my level-ups in life
I grew up playing a lot of computer games (PC). A lot of them. It mostly stopped once I went to university - for the following decade I played only newer versions of games I was familiar with (e.g. newer Civilization, newer Command and Conquer, etc). And even that was the once-a-year binge - not continual. Then I stopped altogether.
There were multiple reasons I slowed down. I was interested in my academics. I looked back at all the time I had played pre-university and (rationally) lamented the time lost. The genre I liked had died (adventure games), and I really didn't like 1st person shooters. And I didn't want to deal with the headache of upgrading my PC every 2 years just to play a game. Also, I switched to Linux, which didn't help.
I bought a PS3 in 2010, but it was only for Blu-Ray and streaming. Then in around 2016, on a whim, I decided to check out a game from the library. I picked The Walking Dead (Telltale version).
I loved it. I started checking out other games. Someone bought me an Xbox One as a gift. But this all lasted a few months before I stopped playing again.
Finally, around 18 months ago, I felt guilty that I had spent $100 on games back in 2016 when I got the Xbox (some big sale, so quite a few games), but never played them. So I told myself I'll try a few.
The first one I played was Life is Strange. Loved it. Then Oxenfree. Loved it. It's been 18 months and I haven't stopped playing.
Before, I'd spend 30-60 minutes per day watching some TV show. I've merely substituted that time with gaming. And it is so, so much more rewarding than watching a TV show - even a great show. It's counterintuitive, but I find it both relaxes me and invigorates me at the same time in a way a good show on TV wouldn't (and I love good stories). With TV, you're just staring. With games, you're actively thinking. It's more dynamic. You make decisions. You're in control. And games can have great storytelling.
I remember times in my life where my work was really stressful. Looking back, I wish I had played games back then.
The funny thing is, while I had earlier lamented all the time in my youth spent playing games, when I look back now I have only positive feelings. I still have good memories of certain games - heck even certain achievements in games, from 30 years ago. That time wasn't wasted.
I always find it amusing when someone belittles gamers as losers, but then they go watch TV.
Although video game is not meant to be created as a passive entertainment, I think it is going that direction. With the combination of plot and amazing graphics, I don't see why a video game cannot be watched. Take for example Onlive, which allows you to stream game play of other total strangers. Or streamed Starcraft2 games. I know for a fact that a lot of my hard core gamer friends watch live stream from South Korea all the time.
From my personal experience, I used to actually play all the video games I thought was fun. However, ever since college ended, and when I have to use my time more wisely, playing a demanding video game counter intuitive as a stress relief. However, watching my roommate play video game is both entertaining and lacks the necessary attention I would need to attribute if I were playing the game. Of course, after watching my roommate play Skyrim twice might get a bit old. But then again, who watches the same TV show for over 30 hrs straight? I don't care how good mad men is, if I were to do two or three consecutive marathon of it, I would get tired of it too.
I feel largely the same about video games and TV (less so movies because it’s rare to even reach the 3 hour mark).
I love games I can finish and fully digest in a session or two, and I’d prefer a TV show end on a high with more still in the barrel, than fizzle out into drawn-out mediocrity.
Part of it is limited free time around work and general life stuff, but the volume and accessibility of media these days is definitely a factor. I’d be far more inclined to play a 150 hour RPG if I didn’t have dozens of other games I’d like to play.
It's great that you found your own happiness elsewhere in life, but for me games are essential part of my personality. They're as important as traveling and my family. Even if I only actually play something once a month.
Also I'm not offering to replace gaming with just media consumption. Of course it's better to have diverse interests in life like side-projects, education, sport, social dancing, hiking, social or political activism, etc.
But if for some reason person is addicted to media consumption and okay with it then they can at least consume some high quality content instead of "junk food". For several years I've been literally addicted to fantasy books and listened for like 100+ of them. I have no regrets about it.
I think they are night and day. The amount of engagement that video games demand on the brain makes them completely different. I enjoy documentaries, but otherwise find television insanely boring and that it tends to make people dull, unlike video games.
First of all, the average adult in the US watches ~1300 hours TV per year. Playing games instead is not worse. But arguably it's a waste of your life. So I would ask myself what I want to do with my life and do that. If then there is some down time available for gaming, why not?
I hear that a lot from people, but from my personal experience I find them no more addictive than books or TV. I find most single player games take somewhere in between reading a book and watching season of a TV show, in terms of hours. And just like TV shows and Books, you don't have to consume the whole thing at once.
It's funny because nowadays people talk casually about binge watching TV seasons on Netflix, but if you mention that you played a game for 5 hours straight the same people often roll their eyes.
I spend a lot of time watching TV. I WISH I could play more games, the fact is playing games is an active activity, that forces you to focus on something, learn new things, interact with people. I get bored of doing this and end up playing less games and watch more shows. I think your view of putting in the same bin is very wrong.
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