Unlike Roland, who is obviously a puritan, I rather enjoy the occasional spot of idleness. For a non-trivial number of people, playing WoW for a couple of hours a day is more fun that playing real life. Rather than make thinly veiled moral judgements about folks for their unproductivity, perhaps he should consider what makes certain games so engaging.
I enjoyed playing games myself, so I know what you are talking about.
You mention idleness, which I agree is sometimes worthwhile. This is the package deal fallacy since there are other ways to achieve that, hanging out with your friends being one of them.
Also I’m not making a moral judgement here and the point is not loss of productivity but foregoing much more rewarding things like:
-increasing your social circle(online friends don’t count).
-enjoying some hobby with real life benefits.
-having quality time with your significant other.
-if you don’t have a significant other invest some time trying to find one.
-improve your health by doing exercise, or eating better.
-etc...
And if you don’t have any ideas then instead of solving artificial game riddles think about what you could do to improve your life.
-increasing your social circle(online friends don’t count).
I defy this conclusion.
online friends are maybe not as socially fulfilling as face-to-face friends, but I wouldn’t count them as having zero positive benefits. Especially if you have an obscure hobby/interest only shared by some—or only by a few local people. Doubly-so if you happen not to live in a big city.
I have both online and offline friends and both sets of them make up my complete social circle.
If you also happen to travel frequently—offline contact with your old circle of friends/family may be the best way to keep in touch. As a member of a family who I can truthfully say the sun-never sets upon… this is a huge benefit.
@ac:
Unlike Roland, who is obviously a puritan, I rather enjoy the occasional spot of idleness. For a non-trivial number of people, playing WoW for a couple of hours a day is more fun that playing real life. Rather than make thinly veiled moral judgements about folks for their unproductivity, perhaps he should consider what makes certain games so engaging.
I enjoyed playing games myself, so I know what you are talking about.
You mention idleness, which I agree is sometimes worthwhile. This is the package deal fallacy since there are other ways to achieve that, hanging out with your friends being one of them. Also I’m not making a moral judgement here and the point is not loss of productivity but foregoing much more rewarding things like:
-increasing your social circle(online friends don’t count). -enjoying some hobby with real life benefits. -having quality time with your significant other. -if you don’t have a significant other invest some time trying to find one. -improve your health by doing exercise, or eating better. -etc...
And if you don’t have any ideas then instead of solving artificial game riddles think about what you could do to improve your life.
I defy this conclusion.
online friends are maybe not as socially fulfilling as face-to-face friends, but I wouldn’t count them as having zero positive benefits. Especially if you have an obscure hobby/interest only shared by some—or only by a few local people. Doubly-so if you happen not to live in a big city.
I have both online and offline friends and both sets of them make up my complete social circle.
If you also happen to travel frequently—offline contact with your old circle of friends/family may be the best way to keep in touch. As a member of a family who I can truthfully say the sun-never sets upon… this is a huge benefit.