Judith on 8/6/2020 at 15:02
I'd definitely wouldn't compare gaming to reading books or playing an instrument. It's really not even close to such level of interactivity and ways for brain to work. Books stimulate your imagination much more, as you interpret language to imagine or visualise things in your mind. Same goes for playing music, there are so many ways to play songs, master techniques, or genres. Not to mention learning to play with others. I had plenty of quality time both with my alone time with an instrument, and in a band during uni years. The sheer diversity of learning and experiences is leagues above games.
Edit: yeah, a slightly better TV time is probably a better comparison. It will desensitize you if you spend too much time with it, although it will take slightly longer than just watching TV.
Thirith on 8/6/2020 at 15:14
Honestly, I find this discussion of "Hobby X is better than hobby Y (and I happen to do hobby X)" to be rather silly. As if there is just one way of playing games, reading books, watching TV, making music, and the level of engagement, creativity and intellectual stimulation is always the same and it doesn't differ from one person to the next or from one book/game/TV series to the next, or even from one evening to the next.
henke on 8/6/2020 at 15:34
Yeah I'm not buying this idea that a hobby has to be a creative outlet, help you bond with loved ones, or in some other way aid your self-improvement in order to not be "wasted time". I don't think the best way to live your life is to try to maximise your potential every waking moment. Downtime is important. I spend all day doing a job I love and which is creatively fullfilling, so if I wanna sit down and just drive virtual trucks around for a couple hours in the evening, that's what I'm gonna do.
heywood on 8/6/2020 at 16:02
To each his own. For me, playing a game is A LOT more interactive and mentally engaging than reading a book. I almost never read fiction anymore, I get nothing from it. I don't watch TV dramas either. On the other hand, I love taking some time to just listen to music. Even though it's just as passive as watching TV, it's more engaging to me.
Starker on 8/6/2020 at 17:08
I could live without games, but I can't imagine not being able to read books -- a life without books would be a life lacking philosophy, poetry, history... To be able to reach across time and continents to connect to other minds, to all kinds of ideas, simple and clear, deep and profound, strange and wild, it never ceases to amaze me.
Judith on 8/6/2020 at 17:30
Quote:
I spend all day doing a job I love and which is creatively fullfilling
You're in like the 1%. Most people don't have such privilege.
Also, going to my mom's house, sitting on the porch with her and staring at the trees is both quality time and downtime :) It has nothing to do with constantly working on best version of yourself, more like trying to live a fairly balanced (and rather quiet) life.
And regardless of content appearing on the screen and me doing something with my thumbs on a gamepad or not, 4 hours of sitting and staring at the screen after 8 hours of working and staring at the screen is never going to be healthy, no matter how I spin it. And if my experience is anything to go by, human body has a way of telling you that. First signals are usually mild, but if you neglect it long enough, it will turn into a big enough fuck you sign ;)
As for the music, I don't think it's as passive as watching TV, at least never felt like that to me. TV and games that strive to look realistic are usually much lower on my list because of how literal the imagery is. Music always felt more affecting both the imagination and emotional side. Similar with books, although I read mostly mainstream stuff, world classics and journalist pieces.
heywood on 8/6/2020 at 17:38
I like to read when I get the chance, but almost exclusively non-fiction these days. History, science, engineering, architecture, etc.
Harvester on 8/6/2020 at 17:47
Henke's stance is similar to how I feel. I write software for a living and whether that's a creative profession is something that some people could argue about all day but I'm not too interested in the answer, I'm just happy I have a job I like that pays the bills and allows for something extra now and then. But, and I'm saying this as fact instead of seeking sympathy or pity, I work 36 hours a week and for autistic people that alone is pretty rare. I like my job, but a workday takes its toll, I'm pretty beat afterwards. In the evening, after cooking dinner, eating, doing the dishes and taking a 25 minute stroll around the neighborhood to clear my mind and move my muscles, I feel less than zero guilt about spacing out with a book, movie, tv show or game. Usually I finish the newspaper first and watch the 8 o'clock news but after that it's chill time and I don't feel the least bit bad about it. I couldn't care less that those things are not creative hobbies. Now that programming is my job, I don't write code in my spare time anymore because I figure 8 hours a day (4 on Wednesday) for 5 days is enough, in my spare time I need to relax and unwind. I'm sure creative hobbies would be more fulfilling but I don't have the energy. So be it...
Of course I also like meeting up with friends and family, but I prefer to do that on weekends or on evenings when I have the next day off. Movie night with my best friend is on a Tuesday, deliberately so because I don't have to work Wednesday morning.
Anarchic Fox on 12/6/2020 at 13:24
The quality within a medium far outweighs differences between media. A playthrough of Shadow of the Colossus is better than any number of hours spent reading grocery store romance novels, and reading The Grapes of Wrath is worth more than any number of hours in League of Legends.
Judith on 13/6/2020 at 09:46
Quote:
whether that's a creative profession is something that some people could argue about all day
That's an interesting thing for a separate topic I guess. IMO it's definitely is a "creative problem solving", but coders would like the world to see it as something much more? At least that's what I noticed in my work environment, which is probably similar to yours. I also noticed a great deal of disdain, and perhaps envy, coders have towards artists and people with such background in general. I wonder if that's one of the reasons behind trying to automate everything artists do (apart from good money being the obvious one)? But then again, it's a tangent.
