You spent some time talking to your friends? That was “talking labour”. You went for a walk? That was “walking labour”. You played a game? That was “gaming labour”.
I can imagine situations where this actually makes sense. Such as:
You want to organize a LW meetup, but all places in your town are insanely expensive. Exploring more and more crazy options, you find out there is this one cheap place you could reserve… for playing World of Warcraft.
Such are the rules of the place: the owner is a huge fan of World of Warcraft, and is willing to rent the place cheaply for people who will play the game there. Desperately you say: “Yeah, yeah, we are all fans of World of Warcraft, that’s what we are going to do; just give me the keys.” But the owner says: “Ok, but because some people already tried to abuse my trust, and then use the room for other purposes, here are my conditions—you only get the discount for the rent, if you afterwards show me at least 5 characters that gained at least 3 levels each during that afternoon.” You agree, thinking that this shouldn’t be a problem for a group of rationalists.
But when the day comes, everyone is just talking about cool topics, and no one wants to help you. So you spend the whole afternoon running between 5 computers, levelling up those 5 characters. You leave completely exhausted, without having heard any of the lectures or debates, and decide that you are never going to do this again.
This would literally be the “gaming labor”, in Raemon’s sense.
I can imagine situations where this actually makes sense. Such as:
You want to organize a LW meetup, but all places in your town are insanely expensive. Exploring more and more crazy options, you find out there is this one cheap place you could reserve… for playing World of Warcraft.
Such are the rules of the place: the owner is a huge fan of World of Warcraft, and is willing to rent the place cheaply for people who will play the game there. Desperately you say: “Yeah, yeah, we are all fans of World of Warcraft, that’s what we are going to do; just give me the keys.” But the owner says: “Ok, but because some people already tried to abuse my trust, and then use the room for other purposes, here are my conditions—you only get the discount for the rent, if you afterwards show me at least 5 characters that gained at least 3 levels each during that afternoon.” You agree, thinking that this shouldn’t be a problem for a group of rationalists.
But when the day comes, everyone is just talking about cool topics, and no one wants to help you. So you spend the whole afternoon running between 5 computers, levelling up those 5 characters. You leave completely exhausted, without having heard any of the lectures or debates, and decide that you are never going to do this again.
This would literally be the “gaming labor”, in Raemon’s sense.
Oh, I can imagine a great deal, but it doesn’t illuminate much except for my own imagination.
By the way, if you want a simple example of gaming labour, it’s called a Chinese gold farmer.