people that think video games are just for fun

[myras]

the thing that annoys me most is how people get look down on in society for being gamers, and how video games in general are look down on. there's a lot of people that think that video games are just mindless toys and contain nothing but violence. a lot less people than in the beginning but still a fair amount of people. obviously regular gamers know that this is not the case just look at games that will make you think a little like portal,The Legend of Zelda series,real time strategy and games turn based strategy games like Warcraft 3, Xcom enemy Unknown, the Fire Emblem series, and Starcraft 2. and games that bring out the creativity in people like Minecraft and garrys mod. I mean we all play trouble in terrorist town pretty much everyday which a lot of people put a lot of creativity an effort in to. and for that matter stop and look at where you are, ever get told that you become antisocial by playing video games well think about all the people that you met on the server that are your legitimate friends. weather people like it or not video games bring people together.I can keep on going on and on about this and even would not mind doing so but fact is that there's too many good things we can get the video games for me to list. and for that matter way too many good examples of games to cover. so if you guys don't mind go ahead and tell me what you think.I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the ideas that you guys come up with.

[hawkiee552]

Counter Strike 1.6 and all of its competitions still running. It's just like a sport, but without the physical work. Do people say that Chess competitions are pointless? Or board games and card games like Monopoly or poker? That's the same deal, people. The only difference about computer games are the platform itself, and there's nothing wrong with it.

[Unicorn Giggles]

Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid gamer. I've been playing video games for most of my life, and I still do, but the fact is, video games are pointless.

While playing video games, unless it's like League of Legends or Starcraft 2 (both of those just barely pass the criteria I'm about to pose) you're not doing anything for yourself, nor for society. Video games don't improve your future, and they don't make other people's futures better, they do nothing, except give yourself something interesting to do. You're enjoying yourself by playing video games, but that's about it. Now, that's not bad, having fun, or making yourself happy is a great thing, and if you get that from video games, it's more than worth it.

Not to mention, you also get social interaction from playing video games such as Garry's Mod, but it's arguable, that you'd get further in that field as well if you got up and went talking to people. Still, I feel like the interaction I get from video games and real life are equivalent in magnitude, but both are different in directions, so video games do help you out there.

The problem is, the people saying you're wasting your life playing video games, are right. But you're always wasting your life whenever you do something. There is always something better that you can be doing for society, and yourself, but so long as you're doing what you enjoy, it really isn't a problem if you don't pursue those paths.

I've acknowledged this fact a while ago, and it didn't stop me from playing video games.

[hawkiee552]

I wouldn't say that videogames are pointless, because everything you do has a "point". Let's say you're into playing Garry's Mod (sandbox). People in my class say that it's the most pointless game ever (because there are no rules, just do whatever you want, it's sandbox ofc), yet they sit and play Minecraft, which is hilarious. That's not the point, the point is the point in the game. Points everywhere.

Well, you see, in Garry's Mod, you make how the game is yourself. If you don't have any creativity, it's pointless. If you do, then it's not, because here's the reason; Accomplishing a task and being proud of it is a good feeling, right? It sure is, and let's use an example to show the "non-pointlessness" of the game.

You set your mind to make a city with posing people and props as if the time stood still. It takes a long time to do the whole gm_bigcity, but when you're done, you can take a look at what you've done and actually be proud of it. Every single prop, ragdoll and pose is placed and made by you. It's like building a house. That isn't pointless, is it? No, but this is a virtual game. Does that make it pointless, still? It depends, because if you feel like you've accomplished something, the game isn't pointless, but if you feel like you've wasted several hours and didn't care much about it, it's pointless.

Humans actually have a system to reward themselves when they have accomplished something. Chemicals released in your brain is the reason for this good feeling, which makes you want to do it more, doesn't it? Would you say that accomplishing a task and being proud of it, is pointless?
I wouldn't.

[myras]

I definitely see your point Unicorn. and after all I did want to see everybody's thoughts. that's the reason I posted this here. however. I would like to bring up another point. in society we come to see a lot of problems and I don't think that there's a solid answer to most of these problems, you can get people to help you with the issues but it usually all comes down to you and whatever creative solution you might have. and if you look at other media like music, movies, books Exedra with very few exceptions it's all black and white you can't change how the song sounds how the movie ends or how the book reads. that song book or movie is going to be the same thing every time you watch reader listen to it. there's no space for creativity. video games being the interactive media that they are, especially garrys mod allow you to complete a task how you want to. even know this is still limited to certain choices its still a much greater extent then in other media. so it really does make you more creative and that's something that a good about a people are liking nowadays. and also as hawkiee Said, it does give you a feeling of being proud of yourself and a sense of self worth so I would not exactly call them useless.

[pyrojb3]

people have been telling me my whole life that me playing video games is pointless and i understand why and to a degree it is but video games are one of the few things that have challenged me and they are currently helping me to define where my career is going syscoord started up a dayz server because some of us enjoyed playing dayz together and wanted our own server to do so now i havent been playing that as much because im not a fan of the new update but i helped set up the server and though it was incredibly frustrating due to lack of technical support for new people i still enjoyed it and helped me realize how much i enjoy working with computers and that i wanted to know more so through video games i have decided to look into a computer field more rather than a mechanical one which is what everyone was saying i should do and so thanks to video games i might have a more enjoyable future

[Unicorn Giggles]

I definitely see your point Unicorn. and after all I did want to see everybody's thoughts. that's the reason I posted this here. however. I would like to bring up another point. in society we come to see a lot of problems and I don't think that there's a solid answer to most of these problems, you can get people to help you with the issues but it usually all comes down to you and whatever creative solution you might have. and if you look at other media like music, movies, books Exedra with very few exceptions it's all black and white you can't change how the song sounds how the movie ends or how the book reads. that song book or movie is going to be the same thing every time you watch reader listen to it. there's no space for creativity. video games being the interactive media that they are, especially garrys mod allow you to complete a task how you want to. even know this is still limited to certain choices its still a much greater extent then in other media. so it really does make you more creative and that's something that a good about a people are liking nowadays. and also as hawkiee Said, it does give you a feeling of being proud of yourself and a sense of self worth so I would not exactly call them useless.

I see what you mean, and it may be true, but unless you're playing a video game that teaches you about physics, or other ways of helping society, people see that as being useless. There is the argument though, that if you feel better about yourself, or increase your creativity (which can also be done by reading books, reading poems, listening to music at times) that you actually give yourself potential to help society. However, not only is that not always the case, but a lot of people (older ones who haven't played video games in particular) have trouble making that sort of connection, and for that I cannot blame them.

What I can't stand is when people say "Stop playing that game! Go read a book", and when I present my arguments, they retort with "It's only a stupid game in which you kill things". I get really angry at that because it's like saying, reading a book is only turning pages, it's a stupid and pointless task. They're looking only at the mechanics that appear on the surface, which is an incorrect assessment given that video games have far more complex underlying story/messages, but those serve only to entertain (most of the time).

Just to solidify my first point (the actual topic of the conversation) and bring it to an end, I never though, while or before playing a video game "I am going to improve my creativity soooo much right now", and there are very few people who actually say that and go on with their word.

[SurfinRainbow]

I understand all of these things.
But bear this in mind.

There is one pointless video game.
CALL OF DUTY AND ITS EVIL COUSINS.
Why does playing COD help improve anything except your violence level. Now, you may be angry at me for this, but it's true: COD. Is. POINTLESS. COD DOES raise your violence. I've played video games like COD for a bit and I've made finger guns and went like pchewwww. I get angry when people say "GMOD is violent". HOW IS IT VIOLENT!? It's a BUILDING GAME. That's like saying "Minecraft is terrible for you, it makes you want to murder giant spiders".

[Soul]

Video games Don't make you more violent. Period. I've been playing cod for like 3 years(I stopped now) and it hasn't made me more violent. It doesn't make me want to go murder a bunch of people. It's pointless, unrealistic. It's for ENTERTAINMENT. And I can easily argue against your point saying gmod isn't violent. I mean really, how it much different from cod? Technically, if you want to go from the games perspective (ttt) , you violently murder many innocent people. How is that different from cod? How is it NOT violent, you tell me that. There are so many game mode that involve guns and killing. Also, if you want to say video games make kids violent, I can't just as easily say that video games make kids swear more.

[SurfinRainbow]

Yeah, I have to agree with soul.
I made a mistake there. I just have a grudge against COD. I can't see the fun in killing people for no reason. TTT is killing people for a reason- because they're traitorous. This game makes you think.