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You stop enjoying new RPGs around age 30+

best describes you

  • im 13 but I play f1. Is something wrong with me?

  • <30, old people should stop playing games

  • <30, already see less enjoyment with new titles

  • >30, only new games i enjoyed are AoD/Underrail

  • >30, play only oldies, they are cheaper

  • >30, new games are bad/worse, same as movies, and music, and my age is not related

  • >30, didnt enjoy DOS/witcher/dork souls

  • >30, drive harley, enjoy new titles


Results are only viewable after voting.

Roqua

Prospernaut
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual In My Safe Space
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I stopped enjoying modern RPGs when they became shit Open World jaunts, which contain absolutely fuck all worth searching for.

Think The Technomancer, Shadowrun Returns & Dragonfall, & Deus Ex:MD are my favourites from recent years. Less pointless loot, more roleplaying.

SR: Hong Kong had the same loot options as Returns and Dragonfall - why didn't it make your list? It followed the same exact formula as Dragonfalls and had almost the exact same mechanics. It changed the matrix a little, and added the cyberware skill line which was a no-loot needed skill line so shouldn't you have loved that?

My memory isn't great but didn't the Technomancer have a lot of crafting and crafting loot? I hate games with loot systems geared towards retarded children who want to loot tons of shit every second as they always have shit itemization like Witcher 3 and other popular trash games, but loot and equipment upgrades are a vital component of the rpg formula. I dislike the combat in the IE games but they had a great itemization, even if they were loot heavy. I can't really think of a game I think got it exactly right, but I can think of millions of games that got it wrong - all the ones without loot.
 

Roqua

Prospernaut
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual In My Safe Space
Joined
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YES!
Theres quite a bit of difference between being a person who likes video games and being the kind of soulless dignity lacking creature who spends 10+ hours per day in a NEET cave with the curtains drawn click click clicking.

similarly, no one could begrudge a man for having a spank bank. Thats quite a bit different from the retarded millennial faggots on here who jack off to tranny and incest porn 5 times a day, no?

I don't know what a NEET cave is, but if someone is playing 10+ hours a day playing a game they probably don't work. In which case they should definitely get a fucking job. If they want to spend all their free time after work playing a game its none of my business. I wish there was a game I could get into now. Instead of wasting my time playing a game I've been wasting it on this forum. Every game I re-started I just can't get into.

And if retarded millennials are jerking off five times a day I'd respect them a lot more. I honestly don't think they have high enough testosterone levels to jerk off more than twice between counseling sessions.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
I used to think it was weird how many general gamers came to this rpg site. Now it think its weird that so many people that don't even like video games come to this rpg site.

Theres quite a bit of difference between being a person who likes video games and being the kind of soulless dignity lacking creature who spends 10+ hours per day in a NEET cave with the curtains drawn click click clicking.

similarly, no one could begrudge a man for having a spank bank. Thats quite a bit different from the retarded millennial faggots on here who jack off to tranny and incest porn 5 times a day, no?
Literally nothing wrong with having a NEET cave
 

Plisken

Learned
Joined
Oct 8, 2017
Messages
255
I used to think it was weird how many general gamers came to this rpg site. Now it think its weird that so many people that don't even like video games come to this rpg site.

Theres quite a bit of difference between being a person who likes video games and being the kind of soulless dignity lacking creature who spends 10+ hours per day in a NEET cave with the curtains drawn click click clicking.

similarly, no one could begrudge a man for having a spank bank. Thats quite a bit different from the retarded millennial faggots on here who jack off to tranny and incest porn 5 times a day, no?
Literally nothing wrong with having a NEET cave

your mother loves you rusty dont put her through this
 

Roqua

Prospernaut
Dumbfuck Repressed Homosexual In My Safe Space
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
4,130
Location
YES!
What the fuck is a NEET cave? I'm not searching for it to find out its some child molester shit and having my name added to some sicko government watch list.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
I used to think it was weird how many general gamers came to this rpg site. Now it think its weird that so many people that don't even like video games come to this rpg site.

Theres quite a bit of difference between being a person who likes video games and being the kind of soulless dignity lacking creature who spends 10+ hours per day in a NEET cave with the curtains drawn click click clicking.

similarly, no one could begrudge a man for having a spank bank. Thats quite a bit different from the retarded millennial faggots on here who jack off to tranny and incest porn 5 times a day, no?
Literally nothing wrong with having a NEET cave

your mother loves you rusty dont put her through this
I can't have a NEET cave, I'm employed :negative:
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
I stopped enjoying modern RPGs when they became shit Open World jaunts, which contain absolutely fuck all worth searching for.

Think The Technomancer, Shadowrun Returns & Dragonfall, & Deus Ex:MD are my favourites from recent years. Less pointless loot, more roleplaying.

SR: Hong Kong had the same loot options as Returns and Dragonfall - why didn't it make your list? It followed the same exact formula as Dragonfalls and had almost the exact same mechanics. It changed the matrix a little, and added the cyberware skill line which was a no-loot needed skill line so shouldn't you have loved that?

My memory isn't great but didn't the Technomancer have a lot of crafting and crafting loot? I hate games with loot systems geared towards retarded children who want to loot tons of shit every second as they always have shit itemization like Witcher 3 and other popular trash games, but loot and equipment upgrades are a vital component of the rpg formula. I dislike the combat in the IE games but they had a great itemization, even if they were loot heavy. I can't really think of a game I think got it exactly right, but I can think of millions of games that got it wrong - all the ones without loot.

I just found Hong Kong less interesting. Some of the dialogue went on forever & didn't really engage me tbh. Wasn't bad, but defo not one of my fave modern games.

Nah, Technomancer had a few crafting options where you could upgrade stuff, but it was fairly minimal. I think I went through the game cycling about 3 or 4 armour sets with upgrades in total tbh.
 

Chippy

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
6,037
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
NEET
Not in Employment...somenthing...something...lacking education or training.

Heard it at work once, can't remember it properly. Assuming its that and not some pedophile shit.
 

Drowed

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
1,676
Location
Core City
"Not currently engaged in Employment, Education or Training". I still think that a weeaboo cave is worse:

Says+the+angry+weeaboo+gtyfw+_88cc5d75e999ffeb85410b37bb043532.jpg


Or maybe it's just a sub-genre?
 

Doctor Sbaitso

SO, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.
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Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Grab the Codex by the pussy Serpent in the Staglands
I was actually making a counter argument to your claim that gaming can be a good way to overcome tragedies in one's life, which I don't think it is.

Recovering from dire situations or circumstances is a specific scenario where distraction is most definitely an essential piece of overcoming trauma. Of course it is not a strategy in itself but I have seen gaming help people get past some very difficult challenges.

THere is evidence that gaming (particularly multiplayer gaming) exercises the brain through very complex social interactions and problem solving that many individuals would not have the opportunity to do professionally, or that they would not otherwise engage in IRL given their current circumstances.
 

Freddie

Savant
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Mansion
I was actually making a counter argument to your claim that gaming can be a good way to overcome tragedies in one's life, which I don't think it is.

Recovering from dire situations or circumstances is a specific scenario where distraction is most definitely an essential piece of overcoming trauma. Of course it is not a strategy in itself but I have seen gaming help people get past some very difficult challenges.

THere is evidence that gaming (particularly multiplayer gaming) exercises the brain through very complex social interactions and problem solving that many individuals would not have the opportunity to do professionally, or that they would not otherwise engage in IRL given their current circumstances.
It's kinda ironic that there are circumstances like that and despite their skills, after they LARP a day, whatever their IRL environment expects, they play games because they offer experience where they can be whoever they are. And of course there are those escapist who LARP about whatever game they play.

It's quite common symptom of post-modern society. I know IRL cases where job related problem solving was impaired because of these roles co-workers didn't knew each others full skillset. :lol:

Where I get back to games. We grew up, our games not so much. Or maybe I just don't know right games to play, but it would be very interesting to see how these things could be covered in RPG. I don't mean some single comic relief character. What kind of RPG it would make if this sort of aspect and visions of it would be applied to whatever setting?
 

Doctor Sbaitso

SO, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.
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Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Grab the Codex by the pussy Serpent in the Staglands
Regarding no longer liking CRPGs with age, I believe we older types want to enjoy them but as you suggest we grow up while the games do not.

I also believe we largely are nostalgic about the time when we may have found them compelling despite the immature settings or narrative moreso than the game itself. There are exceptions for real classics we may have encountered, but thise are few, and most CRPGs don't stand the test of time.

I also think 'experience' leads us older types to focus on the classics and shift more towards good combat and systems intensive CRPGs. Compelling mechanics are far more timeless than mediocre prose, particularly the drivel of today, laced with amateur cultural soup du jour.
 

Freddie

Savant
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Messages
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Mansion
Regarding no longer liking CRPGs with age, I believe we older types want to enjoy them but as you suggest we grow up while the games do not.

I also believe we largely are nostalgic about the time when we may have found them compelling despite the immature settings or narrative moreso than the game itself. There are exceptions for real classics we may have encountered, but thise are few, and most CRPGs don't stand the test of time.

I also think 'experience' leads us older types to focus on the classics and shift more towards good combat and systems intensive CRPGs. Compelling mechanics are far more timeless than mediocre prose, particularly the drivel of today, laced with amateur cultural soup du jour.
I agree with most of what you say, but it's still like it has always been, different strokes for different folks. For example no matter how much I liked Gold Box games in general and had a lot of fun with playing Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday a year or so ago, I couldn't stand infinite trash combat of BR:Matrix Cubed. But I also like games where the world and it's characters has some depth. Say Rachter in SR: Hong Kong was very refreshing take on psychopath. I wrote I about how I feel about content earlier in this thread, but in a nut shell, I think quality of our entertainment in general has declined, or at least it has become very difficult to find anything worthwhile. I believe this may be because of some sort of cultural incest and fantasy and sci-fi genres which are usual settings for RPG's have had it very bad.
 

Kaivokz

Arcane
Joined
Feb 10, 2015
Messages
1,499
Presumably the term escapism implies that a person tries to avoid something pressing that would need to be dealt with? And that the act one does to escape this pressing issue is just a distraction from it? So ideally it would almost always be more beneficial for a person to actually deal with the pressing issue instead of fleeing from it? Even if the pressing issue is complicated and cannot be fixed immediately, there are still ways to tackle the issue through various activities instead of escaping from it. Seen like this, escapism is always something undesirable.

I agree with you that a person can live a good life and read fiction, listen to music and play games. BUT he would live a BETTER and HAPPIER life if he'd spent his leisure time towards activities that accumulate power more efficiently.

I think two claims underlying your thoughts are: 1) Temporarily escaping from difficult situations is never the ideal course of action, and 2) There are always better uses of time than reading fiction, listening to music, and playing games.

To the first point I will briefly say that distancing oneself from an intractable problem can often provide perspective and emotional clarity. But, I’m not too concerned with this, as I don’t think escapism is the primary benefit of having non-power accumulating hobbies, or that such hobbies are actually not power accumulating (the right books, music and games can actually help push someone through the 3rd-5th tiers of Maslow’s Heirarchy—especially when one is in their formative years).

If I can piece together your argument for the second point, it is something like:
S(haewaroz)1. Any external or internal change requires power.
S2. Moving from your current state to a better state requires a change.
S3. The purpose of your life is to move to ever better states of being (self-improvement).
Therefore, S4. We can fulfill our purpose only by accumulating power.

If you agree with my formulation of your argument (you might disagree with S3), then we can see that none of the premisses nor the conclusion are incompatible with: K1. Any power beyond that required for self-improvement is excess; and K2. So long as you possess the power to overcome any mutable impediments (i.e. choices between excess), “sub-optimal power prospects” (SOPP) are admissible. SOPP meaning, simply, a prospect which reduces your power, leaves neutral your power, or increases your power less than competing options.

I would change S3 to S3* The purpose of life is to achieve human excellence. But K1 and K2 still apply (swapping human excellence for self-improvement). The difference being that “human excellence” is a thicker concept than self-improvement and allows for a stronger version of K2: SOPP are required for excellence.

There are more important things than power, and power is only useful because it allows you to attain those things. Corollary to that, and informally restating what I’ve written above, once you have enough power to secure value for yourself and your loved ones now and into the future, what you should then maximize is that value, not your power. You might increase your theoretical power to enact change through one course of action, but taking the opposed SOPP, e.g. a walk in the park with your fiancé, kid, brother, friend, or whoever maximizes the reason power is valuable in the first place. Getting lost in a good book and it’s characters, challenging yourself with a difficult RPG, being moved by the passionate performance of a live orchestra—participating in culture—are the same sort of SOPP. More broadly, being passionate about whatever—like aweigh is with Japanese Wizardry clones—enhances your life. Being passionate about composing music or playing an instrument or accumulating knowledge on an esoteric genre of fiction or trying to solve problems of philosophy or physics or chemistry enhances your life even if it never manifests in power acquisition.
 

Machocruz

Arcane
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Messages
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Hyperborea
So instead of proving the OP assertion, this thread has shown that people have different motivations for why they do or don't do a particular thing. Who would have thought? Yet another failed attempt by human beings to reduce something down to a single, simple answer, category, or catch-phrase. Breadth-phobia.
 

octavius

Arcane
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Joined
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Bjørgvin
no matter how much I liked Gold Box games in general and had a lot of fun with playing Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday a year or so ago, I couldn't stand infinite trash combat of BR:Matrix Cubed.

Yeah, that game was a serious decline.
Only GB game I never finished.
 
Joined
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Messages
415
Theres quite a bit of difference between being a person who likes video games and being the kind of soulless dignity lacking creature who spends 10+ hours per day in a NEET cave with the curtains drawn click click clicking.

similarly, no one could begrudge a man for having a spank bank. Thats quite a bit different from the retarded millennial faggots on here who jack off to tranny and incest porn 5 times a day, no?

I don't know what a NEET cave is, but if someone is playing 10+ hours a day playing a game they probably don't work. In which case they should definitely get a fucking job. If they want to spend all their free time after work playing a game its none of my business. I wish there was a game I could get into now. Instead of wasting my time playing a game I've been wasting it on this forum. Every game I re-started I just can't get into.

And if retarded millennials are jerking off five times a day I'd respect them a lot more. I honestly don't think they have high enough testosterone levels to jerk off more than twice between counseling sessions.

Bingo. NEET stands for Not in Education, Employment or Training. Now think of what a man cave is but wholly designed for useless layabouts.
 
Joined
May 19, 2018
Messages
415
I was actually making a counter argument to your claim that gaming can be a good way to overcome tragedies in one's life, which I don't think it is.

Recovering from dire situations or circumstances is a specific scenario where distraction is most definitely an essential piece of overcoming trauma. Of course it is not a strategy in itself but I have seen gaming help people get past some very difficult challenges.

THere is evidence that gaming (particularly multiplayer gaming) exercises the brain through very complex social interactions and problem solving that many individuals would not have the opportunity to do professionally, or that they would not otherwise engage in IRL given their current circumstances.

What a world we live in when telling someone to choke on a tranny dick and die in Fortnite is considered “complex social interaction”.
 

Shaewaroz

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In a hobo shack due to betting on neanderthal
I'm very into cock and ball torture
I think two claims underlying your thoughts are: 1) Temporarily escaping from difficult situations is never the ideal course of action, and 2) There are always better uses of time than reading fiction, listening to music, and playing games.

If I can piece together your argument for the second point, it is something like:
S(haewaroz)1. Any external or internal change requires power.
S2. Moving from your current state to a better state requires a change.
S3. The purpose of your life is to move to ever better states of being (self-improvement).
Therefore, S4. We can fulfill our purpose only by accumulating power.

This is a very good assessment of the statements I've made so far. It can function as the basis of further conversation.

(the right books, music and games can actually help push someone through the 3rd-5th tiers of Maslow’s Heirarchy—especially when one is in their formative years).

Well, let's focus on just games right now. Does playing a game increase your sense of self-worth? Does is built self-confidence that will let you find better mates or succeed in your work better? Does it increase the respect others feel towards you? Does it help you create strong bonds with your family and loved ones? Does it strengthen your moral character in a way that members of your society would respect you more? These are the sort of things we're talking about in 3rd-5th levels of Maslow's Hierarchy. Even in terms of friendships, gaming only functions as a platform through which people can interact - much like any social media. So the actual important activity that can satisfy a need for friendship is actually interacting with others in any way, not the act of gaming. And if you're not interacting with others while gaming, you lose this benefit. Can we agree that for the most part, gaming is actually anti-social behavior? I don't have any data on this though, I might be wrong. Through certain kinds of games people can perhaps learn creativity, but developing actual programming, modding or editing skills will increase creativity much, much more. Notice how these skills are also much more effective power acquisition methods? I don't think it's a coincidence. There mere act of doing something that increases one's power makes one happy. Think of the profound feeling of joy after a hard days work or the satisfaction of succeeding at changing a flat car tyre on the side of the highway. Gaming, for the most part, is not a very creative endeavor.

As a side note, there has been a lot of studies about children's gaming habits and considerable amount of them conclude that gaming games often don't stimulate young brains in the right way to strengthen healthy mental development. They often also conclude that impatience and general lack of self-discipline and self-regulatory skills often result from excessive gaming. These are all very undesirable results with regards to power acquisition as well as a child's healthy development.

If you agree with my formulation of your argument (you might disagree with S3), then we can see that none of the premisses nor the conclusion are incompatible with: K1. Any power beyond that required for self-improvement is excess; and K2. So long as you possess the power to overcome any mutable impediments (i.e. choices between excess), “sub-optimal power prospects” (SOPP) are admissible. SOPP meaning, simply, a prospect which reduces your power, leaves neutral your power, or increases your power less than competing options.

I would change S3 to S3* The purpose of life is to achieve human excellence. But K1 and K2 still apply (swapping human excellence for self-improvement). The difference being that “human excellence” is a thicker concept than self-improvement and allows for a stronger version of K2: SOPP are required for excellence.

This trail of thought would be valid if we'd agree that self-improvement is a finite concept and that after certain amount power loses it's effect on improving our ability to affect our internal and external reality. I could be wrong, but I don't think either statement is true. Let me try to come up with an example that would illustrate the accumulative nature of power.

Let's take an American business man who wants to manufacture and import goods from China (something that's rather common today, I would presume). In order to be successful in his business endeavors, the business man needs at least the following power resources:

1) capital
2) business contacts in China
3) means of communication with Chinese business associates
4) knowledge about taxation, tariffs, import laws, sea cargo shipping, freight forwarding etc.
5) throughout knowledge about the products he wants to manufacture/import and about the manufacturing process
6) knowledge about domestic market and potential customers
7) a viable marketing strategy and means of executing it
8) access to a platform or locale where the imported goods can be sold
9) etc...

As I mentioned, these are the minimal resources needed to be able to import goods from a foreign nation and sell them in a domestic market. I've done this type of business myself so I'm somewhat familiar with the concept. And of course I should also list all the power resources that we all take for granted, like a beating heart and functional lungs, the ability to form coherent thoughts etc. Now, there are literally countless ways how our business man can increase his chances of success during his business venture: perhaps he has a Chinese wife, who can translate for him and help him understand Chinese way of doing business better; perhaps he owns a cargo ship himself and don't need to pay for the shipping of goods; perhaps he requires less sleep than most people and can work longer hours than your average person. Hopefully you agree that there are literally countless power resources that can make this business man's venture more successful. So in practice, there's no limit how much power the business person can use to enhance his success in this business endeavor. Now, think about all activities you do every day of your life as being similar to this act of importing goods. Aren't all actions ultimately the same way affected by infinitely possible power resources that can either aid or hinder every action you take? Let's say you're brushing your teeth in the morning, for instance. If you have a new, high quality toothbrush, you will likely end up with cleaner, healthier teeth than with a worn out toothbrush. You might also have learned a particular good way of cleaning your back teeth with a tooth string - this will no doubt help prevent corrosion and tooth decay etc. Can you actually come up with an example of an action that cannot be positively affected by the right kind of power resources? I believe this demonstrates the fact that power acquisition is a never ending process and that we always benefit from acquiring more power. There are always ways how power will let us satisfy the needs Maslow listed in a more throughout manner.

There's also another practical thing we have to discuss here, something that goes far beyond philosophizing. In large part we are creatures of habit. Habits make up for at least 50 % of the activities we do on a daily basis (this is a conservative estimate). There's a lot of research about this and I can point you to further readings on the topic. So if we are to be successful in life and be able to accumulate power efficiently, we need to take control of our habits. We need develop habit that increase our well-being and accumulate power efficiently, otherwise we have to struggle very hard with our remaining 50 % of available time outside of our habit loop.

Gaming is not a productive habit. Actually games are often purposefully designed to immerse us into the gameplay and to reward us for spending more and time doing the most mundane things imaginable (clicking icons without any thought process for instance). This kind of habit is disastrous from the perspective of Maslow's Hierarchy. This kind of habit can be very enjoyable and even feel rewarding. However this kind of habit is poisoning one's well-being and consuming one's power reserves.

There are more important things than power, and power is only useful because it allows you to attain those things.

Corollary to that, and informally restating what I’ve written above, once you have enough power to secure value for yourself and your loved ones now and into the future, what you should then maximize is that value, not your power.

As I said above, you can always obtain those things BETTER. There aren't only a limited amount of unchangeable things we need to be happy. Instead it's a process of maintenance, something similar to how you take care of a garden: you cut a branch here, add fertilizer there, add a supporting string for a bending stem, drive away dangerous rodents and use the right pesticides to protect the plants from insects etc. The garden is alive and in a constant process of change, just like the requirements for our happiness are ever changing. Have you ever achieved a lasting state of happiness? No, there's always something that needs to change, some Maslowian need that requires more power to be satisfied. Some people might take this as a proof that it's pointless to try to chase happiness, since it will always flee and vanish just when you're about to grasp it. But this is a faulty way of looking at happiness. We have to accept the fact that happiness will always be in a state of change and we merely have to maximize the ways we can use our power resources to make changes to our internal and external reality that allow us obtain the maximum amount of happiness at any given time.

Power only has value due to it's utility, but it's cumulative nature and the possibilities to affect your internal and external reality are so incredibly numerous that it might as well be a value in itself. I would go so far as to equate life as it exists in any form in nature with power, much like Schopenhauer did.

You might increase your theoretical power to enact change through one course of action, but taking the opposed SOPP, e.g. a walk in the park with your fiancé, kid, brother, friend, or whoever maximizes the reason power is valuable in the first place.

These activities can be seen as activities that accumulate a lot of power. Social relationship, especially with people we deal with on a daily basis, can either provide us with or consume a lot of our power resources. Being stuck in a loveless marriage will consume all your energy and make focusing on important tasks impossible. A loving wife on the contrary is an invaluable source of power for a man.

More broadly, being passionate about whatever—like aweigh is with Japanese Wizardry clones—enhances your life.

From my examples above, I think it's obvious I don't agree with this statement. You can be passionate about many things that can do severe harm to both your ability to function as a member of a society as well as your personal well-being and ability to enact changes to your internal and external reality that is ultimately what makes a person happy (i.e. enhances life).

Being passionate about composing music or playing an instrument or accumulating knowledge on an esoteric genre of fiction or trying to solve problems of philosophy or physics or chemistry enhances your life even if it never manifests in power acquisition.

Some of these actions can bring you enjoyment and accumulate power simultaneously. To me it's questionable whether pondering about a philosophical question in solitude for an extended period of time enhances one's life if it doesn't create positive changes to one's internal reality and if it's not communicated to benefit his external reality. If it simply succeeds at creating momentary enjoyment, I don't view it as something very valuable. The same goes with music, although listening to music can have some considerable physiological benefits.
 
Last edited:

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
Well, let's focus on just games right now. Does playing a game increase your sense of self-worth? Does is built self-confidence that will let you find better mates or succeed in your work better? Does it increase the respect others feel towards you? Does it help you create strong bonds with your family and loved ones? Does it strengthen your moral character in a way that members of your society would respect you more?

So we have to be retards in order to fit in? Is that it?
 

Drowed

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
1,676
Location
Core City
All this philosophical discussion is very amusing, but it has only a small, tiny, discreet point that isn't being addressed in it. It's all based on the assumption that having more 'power' will make you a happier person, but from the current scientific knowledge about happiness based on brain studies, that's not how the human mind works. You don't necessarily need "more" self-worth/confidence/respect to feel happy. The human brain is literally programmed to normalize any kind of stimulus that becomes frequent in its day to day - whether they are bad or good ones.

Obviously, there are minimum requirements that need to be met in order for the mind to function well. A certain level of health, mental and financial stability, etc. But whatever extra 'value'/'power'/'money'/'etc' that people end up getting after this, their brain ends up normalizing and turning into their new baseline. This becomes their new standard, and so, in the end, they don't feel, on average, more or less happy than they felt before. In fact, research indicates that the opposite may be true to a certain extent: it's surprising to see that the presence of certain psychological disorders (such as depression) are remarkably more frequent and present in people with better life conditions. A dweller from a humbler neighborhood from a third-world country isn't, on average, happier or unhappier than the average of the 10% of the most powerful men on the face of the earth. This knowledge has already been demonstrated in research and analysis of various levels of personal satisfaction, levels of stress, optimism or overall perspective.

We can find several generic justifications to try to say that getting more 'power' would be somewhat better for someone, but saying that it would make your life 'happier' isn't one. Or maybe it is, for you, and you alone, but we can't say this about everyone.
 

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