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Comment by rorykoehler | Hacker News Reader

I only play games that require minimum investment. Ones I can play 10 mins at a time with resolution. Stuff like Fifa or racing games for example. The only game I invested serous time in completing in the last 5 years was GTA on iOS. They just suck up too much time that is better spent on other stuff like spending time with family or exercising. I'm really surprised at how many dedicated adult gamers there seem to be these days, especially employed ones, as I don't know where they find the time.

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I only exercise in ways that require minimum investment. Ones I can do 15-30 minutes at a time with resolution. Stuff like HIIT or 5k runs for example. The only exercise I invested serious time in the last 5 years was a half marathon. Exercising just sucks up too much time that is better spent on stuff like spending time with family, or unwinding with a video game. I’m really surprised at how many dedicated gym members there seem to be these days, especially employed ones, as I don’t know where they find the time.

No doctor ever advised playing more video games. Exercise is a requirement for good health, especially for the more sedentary job types. I've noticed a lot of these types of comments popping up on HN recently. They aren't constructive. Instead they are willfully ignorant and don't add anything to the conversation.

So first you malign my choice of how I spend my leisure time with an implicit “my hobby is more wholesome than yours” and now you call me ignorant? I had hoped to add to the conversation by holding a mirror up to your silly “my hobby is better than your hobby” comments by highlighting that there is no “right” amount of time to spend on relaxing and taking care of your well-being.

As I’m sure you are aware, mental health is an important component of overall well-being, and you will find that doctors have prescribed treatments involving computer games in a wide ranging number of studies since their popularity began to grow in the late 1980’s. Picking one well cited example at random from a 30 second Google search https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.0026... .

“No doctor ever advised playing more video games” is such a broad brush statement as to be useless to refute. It is factually wrong, and the first statement in our sub-conversation that truly deserves the label “wilfully ignorant” - you can learn more about the topic with a few minutes of searching for “video games therapy”.

You are likely aware that not everyone is neurotypical. Some people come alive in their creativity in a video game but struggle to communicate face to face, or struggle with the fine motor control to draw, paint, or write. Video games like Minecraft can become effective communication channels. Doctors and researchers can and do prescribe video games as therapy ( https://psychcentral.com/news/2019/01/28/therapeutic-video-g... ).

I never maligned your hobby. I enjoy video games too. That's why I play them.

Did you read your comments? Your posturing was obvious and embarrassing

They are constructive at least by pointing out that there is a segment of the population that finds physical exercises boring, not pleasant at all. Work, not recreation.

> No doctor ever advised playing more video games.

No doctor ever advised reading more thermodynamics textbooks either. And that's because it's out of scope. Most of medicine deals with the body. A smaller part deals with emotions. There is no branch of medicine concerned with cerebral skills.

Exercise enhances cerebral capacity. More to my point is that exercise is a necessary maintenance activity. It can also be a hobby

I think this is perhaps the worst comment I’ve seen on ycombinator.

Not only do you start with a double negative which is both hard to read and an incorrect statement, but you then ironically don’t add anything meaningful to the conversation.

Edit> he edited his comment

You run half marathon with no previous exercising except 15-30 long HIIT and 5km runs? Frankly, bullshit. There is quite jump from 5km run and half marathon. Half marathon does require serious training investment. This quite apparent nonsense. Even as you are trying to make analogy, you are just showing how absurd the theory is.

And also, people dont spend as much time exercising as they spend gaming, not unless majority of that gym time is pure socialization. Body would not handle it for majority of people.

But yes, the few individuals that do exercising related activities all the time do have those interfering with jobs and families. With families complaining about about that and with people who decide to cut down on exercising for that reason.

That's a pretty weird thing to call bullshit on, even if the analogy wasn't a true one. I completed a Tough Mudder, which is 10 miles plus obstacles, with no HIIT or running training, only some biking (commuting) and yoga. Bert Kreischer is an overweight comedian, likely alcholoic, with no training regiment, and he completed a full marathon in 5h33m.

> Bert Kreischer is an overweight comedian, likely alcholoic, with no training regiment, and he completed a full marathon in 5h33m.

That is really sort of thing you should not do.

I guess you can walk most of marathon, marathon distance is not some kind of unachievable hike. But as of actually running it, you should not and would not manage to run.

If you pick the right pace, most healthy individuals can run half a marathon. Your knees will explode, you may get injured, but you can do it.

> Your knees will explode, you may get injured, but you can do it.

Ok, I took the whole "your body is likely to get damaged forever" thing as "can not and should not run".

And also, healthy non trained individual wont run half marathon. May walk majority of it, but wont be able to actually run that distance.

I ran a half marathon on sand with no training, find a pace you're comfortable with and stick to it. Knees were fine, delayed onset muscle soreness the next day was extreme but passed. (had I not had to turn back because of a river mouth I would have gone further)

I found the same, when we had kid I realized that games I used to play are really not made for people like me. It just was not compatible with the baby. And gaming culture I was encountering at the time was ridiculously hostile to the idea of easier low investment game and offensive to people who voiced such wish.

> I'm really surprised at how many dedicated adult gamers there seem to be these days, especially employed ones, as I don't know where they find the time.

Judging from people I know, they get time because they either dont have family/social life or simply dont spend time with them. If they have kids, they expect partner to deal with all child related care and housework, not really interacting with their children.

If you are alone or divorced, having hobby that actually immerse you and eats your time for hours is not a bad thing.

For some, gaming time replaces the time that could be spent watching TV/etc.- it's another way to spend leisure time, and IMO, gaming is probably better for your mental health than watching 3 hours of the news /etc.

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