Waste of Time

[theseus]

Why do people think playing games with friends (None RL friends however) is wasting your life away, when all they do is watch TV?

I would rather play games with my mates whom I have been in the same guild with for 2+ years than watch TV.

/discuss.

[sparklebunny]

I agree completely....the reason I have played WoW for as long as I have (2 1/2 years) is the friendships and people I have made. I was introduced by real life friends and we have actually had some of our game friends come down to visit and hang out and it is always fun to see them in real life versus how you think of them in game. I think it is just the stereotypes coming out again. I will say this that if my friends I run with left for another game I'd be going to out to the store to pick it up and join them.

[Davemetalhead]

Because gaming still has the stigma of being played by teenage boys, locked in their bedrooms/basements for hours on end, playing single player games. Those that have no interest in the scene or playing games still think this is what the majority of gaming is.

Many non-gamers still consider it childish and/or nerdy.

[Elly]

Davemetalhead has hit the nail on the head.

Check out any of the gaming tv (can only vouch for UK stuff), see which presenters they have (apart from the token female friend/daughter of the producer). Usually a couple of 20 year old guys trying to play it super cool bouncing around like they're on retail tv only with too many pregnant pauses for comfortable viewing. If they have studio audiences milling around in the background they're made up of guys of 22 and under.

The main focus of the shows are console games (console is king in the UK) and whenever I flick through channels they're either street fighting, racing or platforming. It's everything the media paint the gaming community as. They play right into it.

Gaming is geeky and spoddy but it's far more diverse than that. We come from all walks of life, have varying degrees of social skills and interests and we're of both genders and all sexualities. Quite the opposite of what the media would have us believe.

Come the revolution!

[jschild]

Because people are selfish and self-centered by nature. If they do not do it or care about it, they assume that most people feel the same way. The same goes for if they care about something.

Thats why you have sports fanatics who actually think everyone loves and cares about sports.

Thats why you have religious fanatics who think everyone wants to be told about how so and so will save your soul.

Since gamers are still a fairly small percent of the population (though rapidly growing), most people do not share the interest, and thus regard it as silly (because THEY don't care about it).

It is also constantly misrepresented in media (just like comics - most people still tend to think that comics are like they were in the 50's still) as if it was still the Atari days. They don't seem to realize that the video game industry is getting ready to surpass the movie industry in terms of money made.

In other words...People just tend to be frikking stupid.

[irogue]

When you watch TV or read books, you can interact with your family or friends because there are commercial or bookmarks for breaks. You can talk to or cuddle with your kids/husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend…

When you play wow (especially raids or arena), all your focus or attention is on wow and nothing else. You are physically present buy mentally absent. When you talk to your friends or family members, you don’t even look at them. There is no pause button in wow for you to press and you spend 2 – 4 hours a day, 7 days a week on wow.

Most “friends” in game are for the game. Once you are out of game, you are out of those “friends”. Let’s say you change a realm or quit it for 3 month. I am not sure if any of your in game “friends” would bother to email you or contact you at all.

If you don’t play when your family or friends are around, there won’t be any complains.

[jschild]

Can does not = Will

Very few people read and talk to other people at the same time, unless the book sucks.

Very few people truly interact during most TV (not all though - and the cuddle is a very valid point. IF YOU DO IT).

Unless you are spending time with RL Friends or Family while you do whatever hobbies you do, you are no more present than while doing while.

That being said...playing WoW while a RL friend, family member, or spouse wants to truly interact with you (not sit and watch TV and not wanting to do something that is truly annoying to you, like gossip about family) then you should hold off WoW and chat/play with them.

Raids can be an exception, but need to be worked out with spouses and friends. Kinda like telling people you will be out on Saturday because you are taking a hike/hunting/whatever, you do the same about Raids. IE, I'd love to go to the movies man, but how about Thursday cause I got a raid tonight from 8-12pm.

If they just insult or pick at your hobby though, they do not respect you and are only thinking about themselves.

[piscene]

Video games definitely have a stigma of only being played by geeky teenage boys, despite how clear it is that that is simply not true.

I don't care. My friends all know that I play WoW, and they can draw whatever conclusions they want. I'm a successful business owner, and a family guy, and have a very active social life. I know exactly who I am, and don't really gives a rats posterior what some ignorant person's opinion is.

[Elly]

When you watch TV or read books, you can interact with your family or friends because there are commercial or bookmarks for breaks. You can talk to or cuddle with your kids/husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend…

I have to disagree. When I'm reading a book I don't interact with anyone. I can't read a novel, talk and cuddle at the same time. Hell, it takes a couple of rings of the phone before I realise it's ringing when I'm reading something good. When I watch TV, other than the commercials, I'm locked into whatever I'm watching.

When you play wow (especially raids or arena), all your focus or attention is on wow and nothing else. You are physically present buy mentally absent. When you talk to your friends or family members, you don’t even look at them. There is no pause button in wow for you to press and you spend 2 – 4 hours a day, 7 days a week on wow.

There is a pause button. If you're in a raid and can't stop, that's fine. If you belong to a running club and you're in the middle of a cross country race you wouldn't stop and say "that looks like a nice pub, let's stop for a pint and a chat' (well you might but that's not my point). But after the activity for which you're there for is over (raiding, running, working out, working, reading, watching a movie) you can socialise, usually with some chat about whatever it is you've just done together (oo err misses). It's really no different. It's all in how you approach your gaming.

MMOs are about interacting, the social aspect is part of the appeal of them. They're also what's helping to get gaming out to the masses because we're now mixing with each other rather than on our own, against AI, which could easily smack of a sad lonely situation to be pitied. Ahh, poor sod, no friends.

There are certainly those who don't care for the social aspect at all and treat everyone they play with as disposable. But as I said, it's about your approach.

Because you won't meet the vast majority of your online friends doesn't mean the friendships can't be fun and rewarding and a respite from daily chores. The same things we look for in offline friendships.

Most “friends” in game are for the game. Once you are out of game, you are out of those “friends”. Let’s say you change a realm or quit it for 3 month. I am not sure if any of your in game “friends” would bother to email you or contact you at all.

Many friends offline are separated by the interests we share. We'll have friends we've made at clubs, friends from work, gym or your local watering hole and once you're out of those environments you're detached from those friends too. My realms are now chosen based on where my friends are.

[irogue]

I have to disagree. When I'm reading a book I don't interact with anyone. I can't read a novel, talk and cuddle at the same time. Hell, it takes a couple of rings of the phone before I realise it's ringing when I'm reading something good. When I watch TV, other than the commercials, I'm locked into whatever I'm watching.


I am not saying that you need to talk or cuddle when you read (someone sure can). When you read a book, you can take a break anytime and bookmark the page where you stop.

When you watch TV or DVD, especially with your family or friends, you laugh together; you ask questions; you make comments about the plots or characters…. I mean you interact with your friends or family members much more than just playing wow by youself.

:smiley:



There is a pause button. If you're in a raid and can't stop, that's fine. If you belong to a running club and you're in the middle of a cross country race you wouldn't stop and say "that looks like a nice pub, let's stop for a pint and a chat' (well you might but that's not my point). But after the activity for which you're there for is over (raiding, running, working out, working, reading, watching a movie) you can socialise, usually with some chat about whatever it is you've just done together (oo err misses). It's really no different. It's all in how you approach your gaming.

I am trying to be on the prospective of the other side (non-gamers).
WOW is mostly a physically in-house activity (as many non-gamers see it), so IMHO, we should compare it with similar ones.


MMOs are about interacting, the social aspect is part of the appeal of them. They're also what's helping to get gaming out to the masses because we're now mixing with each other rather than on our own, against AI, which could easily smack of a sad lonely situation to be pitied. Ahh, poor sod, no friends.

There are certainly those who don't care for the social aspect at all and treat everyone they play with as disposable. But as I said, it's about your approach.

Because you won't meet the vast majority of your online friends doesn't mean the friendships can't be fun and rewarding and a respite from daily chores. The same things we look for in offline friendships.


I am not sure this has anything to do with my 2nd paragraph. sorry. :smiley:


Many friends offline are separated by the interests we share. We'll have friends we've made at clubs, friends from work, gym or your local watering hole and once you're out of those environments you're detached from those friends too. My realms are now chosen based on where my friends are.

I agree with you that you would be detached with those friends if mutual interest fades.

The reason I mentioned "in-game friends" was to hint the OP that “in-game friends” won't be there when you are in need in real life. Those punk a$$ useless friends that watch TV all day would be the ones that give you a ride when your car broke down or take care your pets when you are out of town.
Even those friends you made at clubs, friends from work, gym or your local watering hole could help you more than the wow in-game friends....

:smiley:

[theseus]

Who you classify how good a friend is by how useful they are? Sure I can't get my WoW mates to give me a ride, but if I need a place to stay in Aussie im sorted :)

[Shellar]

Why do people think playing games with friends (None RL friends however) is wasting your life away, when all they do is watch TV?
Because the voices from the TV tell them to think this way.

Why? For this very reason:
I would rather play games with my mates whom I have been in the same guild with for 2+ years than watch TV.
When you're playing a game, you're not watching TV (and vice versa). The television companies and the gaming industry are in direct competition with each other for our time, money and attention. That's why the media attempts to stigmatize the gamer subculture, either us as hopeless losers living in our parents' basements, or decrying us as homicidal maniacs-in-training. Every person who believes their propaganda is another sheep that chooses TV over gaming.

(And to be honest, they have a genuine reason to be afraid. If the gaming industry wins, it will be like South Korea on steroids, with several dozen channels devoted to Starcraft 2 matches, WoW arena battles, FPS tournaments... maybe even The Sims drama. For conventional journalists, sitcom writers, and other jackals and vultures of the modern media, such a threat to their job security cannot be ignored)