Weird 2010's gamer nationalism meets china bad.

"Oh no, kids won't be able to use games to escape reality now" — Good, have them play outside or read a book or something.

"Horrible, I couldn't live without games" — Yes, this law is attempting to help people before they become like you.

"New generations won't grow up to be gamers now" — How will society survive!

"It's about controlling freedom of thought" — Ah, yes, this will stop the great dialogue had by fourteen-year-olds in LoL game chats.

  • Slowpoke [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I always thought the worst thing about computer games was these people who "be a gamer". Like, playing games is a recreation. It's not supposed to be the focus of your whole life.

    But American culture is so bereft of meaning, these young men have got nothing else. When you spend 60 hours a week doing something, of course it's going to become super important to you. Moreover anyone who says otherwise is going to become an enemy. These things only work when you have a sealed hermetic community. Cult behavior. Anyone viewing with a cocked eye and stating, "Men in their thirties should be living their lives, not playing children's games" is going to be viciously attacked. Scientologists have a word for this, I can't remember what it is. Suppressive personality?

    • furryanarchy [comrade/them,they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Gaming is the cheapest hobby that can occupy a large amount of your life. It's depressing to play video games for hours and hours every day, but it's less depressing than watching tv or browsing social media for the same amount of time.

      When you ask a "gamer" why they aren't doing anything better with their time, it is perceived as an attack because you are basically asking "why are you such a loser you can't afford to do anything actually cool"? Even when they can spare a bit of money to do better stuff with their time, they are usually so depressed and numb from playing video games all the time that they just go with what they know. The easy option.

      • Slowpoke [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        It is OK to love video games. It is NEVER OK to be a "gamer".

        “Cut a liberal, and a gamer bleeds”

        • happybadger [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Don't you use our word. Show me your steam account before you use our word. I need to see 1000+ hours on a game that's just a map.

          • Mardoniush [she/her]
            ·
            3 years ago

            :side-eye-1: :side-eye-2:

            (interestingly, the games I've played most are not the games I'd consider knowing best (with the possible exception of Morrowind). I've only got 70 hours in HL2 and I know every inch of that game by heart.

      • kissinger
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        deleted by creator

          • kissinger
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            deleted by creator

              • LeninWalksTheWorld [any]
                ·
                3 years ago

                everyone needs to recognize that all hobbies are commodified and capitalist marketing encourages you to spend as much as possible on hobby equipment to make line go up. the strong consumers identities formed out of hobbist groups are likewise encouraged by capitalists to increase profits

              • furryanarchy [comrade/them,they/them]
                ·
                3 years ago

                I disagree with the bit about music. Back before computers, the most common form of "training" was handing a kid a guitar, teaching them how to tune it, and telling them to try and play stuff off the radio.

                Everyone I've ever met who plays guitar over the age of 30 learned that way.

              • kissinger
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                deleted by creator

        • LeninWalksTheWorld [any]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          yeah all that shit is cheap in theory until you have to buy all the camping gear, fishing gear, hiking gear to be a "real" hobbyist. Very few people who 'camp' for a hobby (not even a hobby imo, that's a vacation) don't also buy a bunch of gear to flex on the other dads with. Same with fishing and hiking.

          • kissinger
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            deleted by creator

        • Shrek
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          deleted by creator

          • kissinger
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            deleted by creator

            • Shrek
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              deleted by creator

              • kissinger
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                deleted by creator

                • Shrek
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  3 years ago

                  deleted by creator

        • furryanarchy [comrade/them,they/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Those aren't things you can just do whenever. You aren't going to get home from work, decompress for a bit, put on your hiking boots and walk into the woods. That's a weekend thing. That isn't going to occupy a good chunk of your time.

          • kissinger
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            deleted by creator

            • Mardoniush [she/her]
              ·
              3 years ago

              85% of Australia lives within 20km of a City.

              There are city dwellers, rich retirees that make the inner country unaffordable with $15 coffees and $2million dollar homes in "quaint" former farming villages, and station owners who own farms the size of Belgium. So to a first approximation, everyone who might be a gamer does live in an urban centre.

            • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Ok that doesn't really help the majority of people who do live in urban environments though?

              Great for you if you walk 2 steps outside and fall into a pristine lake surrounded by a huge forest but that doesnt really represent most people who would try to find a hobby to take up their time.

            • furryanarchy [comrade/them,they/them]
              ·
              3 years ago

              It's 90 degrees out in most of the US rn. It's not realistic to go hiking or camping in that weather unless you are dedicated. It's not something you can do whenever.

        • Mizokon [none/use name]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          gaming can be cheap if you build a cheap pc (not rn entirely ofc with gpu pricing) for 500-600 dollars and pirate all the games.

            • furryanarchy [comrade/them,they/them]
              ·
              3 years ago

              You need a place to play where the volume wouldn't be an issue. All the kids these days use a computer program and a DI box if they live in an apartment. Which is actually more expensive if you get programs that don't sound like shit, but the free ones are good enough to get people into it.

              Also, for literally nothing you can download stuff that lets you play with MIDI. I don't know what programs are best because I can't stand fake instruments most of the time, but many people love MIDI. I bet if I was introduced to it when I was in middle school I would be one of those people.

          • kissinger
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            deleted by creator

              • kissinger
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                deleted by creator

                • furryanarchy [comrade/them,they/them]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  There has been like two or three temporary gpu shortages due to crypto at this point. This current shortage is agrivated by the chip shortage. The majority of the crypto part of the shortage is already over, and now it's almost entirely a shortage of memory chips that is driving it. Once that is resolved things will be back to normal.

            • Mizokon [none/use name]
              ·
              3 years ago

              There are Ryzen APUs which are still widely available and will run most games perfectly fine.

              https://youtube.com/c/LowSpecGamer

              • kissinger
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                deleted by creator

                • Mizokon [none/use name]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  3 years ago

                  isn't there initial costs for other hobbies as well? you need camping equipment to camp, musical instruments to play music, hiking equipment for hiking.

                  my cousin plays gta on his 300 dollar laptop that his dad bought for online classes. while it won't get a billion fps or look photo realistic, it works fine for him. gaming can be expensive or cheap, like almost every other hobby.

                  the budget pc+pirated game combo i mentioned is very popular in "developing" countries.

                  • Shrek
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    3 years ago

                    deleted by creator

        • glk [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Low end games uses hardware people generally already have for the purposes of living in society. In a way that regular shoes cant be used for hiking.

          • kissinger
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            deleted by creator

            • furryanarchy [comrade/them,they/them]
              ·
              3 years ago

              A long ass Ethernet cable is $10. Garbage headphones that at least allow you to hear are like $20. Most low end games are $0-20. For $40 you can play CS:GO and the only thing preventing you from being able to keep up might be your mouse, depending on how shitty your existing one is.

    • Mardoniush [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Like, it's ok for it to be the focus for some people. Some people live for model trains or birdwatching or 11th century French Poetry. Super cool.

      But that there's so many that it's grown from subculture of geeks to its own thing is symptomatic of a larger issue (that rhymes with crapitalism).