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Comment by jurassic | Hacker News Reader

Games scare me because of their addictiveness, especially for people who need an escape from crappy things in their lives. I enjoy them occasionally as much as the next person, but it makes me sad to see how high the play numbers are for some games. A good friend of mine in college pretty much ruined his life by using Team Fortress 2 as his "coping" mechanism for depression: he logged 2000+ hours on the game in 6 months before he was asked to leave the institute only one class shy of his degree.

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I hear that a lot from people, but from my personal experience I find them no more addictive than books or TV. I find most single player games take somewhere in between reading a book and watching season of a TV show, in terms of hours. And just like TV shows and Books, you don't have to consume the whole thing at once.

It's funny because nowadays people talk casually about binge watching TV seasons on Netflix, but if you mention that you played a game for 5 hours straight the same people often roll their eyes.

I don't watch TV (at all) and I game maybe 4 hours a week, usually in 2 sittings.

(I will occasionally watch a DVD, but maybe 2 hours a month, max.)

When people give me grief that I play the games, I tell them I'm a software developer: it's like a writer reading books.

>I find them no more addictive than books or TV //

They're entirely different in many respects but no book nor TV show is essentially endless as a MMORPG is. If I spent 12 hours a day reading a novel I'd have finished it inside 2 days, similarly for watching many TV series. Yet I could spend 12 hours a day every day playing a game and continue until ... some external factor intervenes.

Books and TV shows don't have the same "reward" mechanisms (think Skinner box) they don't really relate as an experience other than that all 3 media usually involve a narrative of some form. Games feel like you're doing something worthwhile beyond sitting and consuming media as you do for a novel or TV drama; they give an illusion of achievement [often one carefully psychologically tailored to engage and retain the user as much as possible] that compels in a way other media do not.

It obviously depends on the game or TV show. I suppose if you were "addicted" to news you could watch cable news 12 hours a day ad infinitum.

Again, I can only relate personal experiences, but I've been just as compelled to read "just one more chapter" of certain books or to watch "just one more episode" of a TV series as I have to advance in a game.

I enjoy all three mediums and at different times in my life I've been into one more than the others. They all seem more or less the same to me (in terms of time spent, culture absorbed, entertainment value).

It is frightening, but I wonder about the previous generations. A hundred years ago, how did an individual self-medicate their problems? Was there more crime, suicide, etc. as a result? People don't usually "change" all that much from generation to generation, and I don't want to get into some trap of thinking about "golden days" or any of that nonsense; people have always been fitful and worried, depressive even. How did they cope?

I look at people in my parent's generation who have no hobbies, no outlets, nothing... They are bored individuals who watch the news and maybe do some gardening. I would love to breach the age gap and introduce a great uncle to a video game, or my great grandmother to scrabble online. I feel like the last generation that will ever go lonely unless by decision, and I owe it in part to these fantastical video games.

This is something I've been thinking about as well. Whenever I meet someone who doesn't play videogames, I ask them what they do in their spare time (because it's an idea I can't comprehend). It's always "watch tv" or "facebook" or "reddit" or something equally mundane. I'd rather be engaging my brain, thinking spatially, and solving interesting problems.

I used to be a heavy gamer, now I spend my spare time doing research and working on side projects that will make me a better developer. I now find this infinitely more rewarding than video games. At a certain age the entertainment value of the games was ruined by mortal terror at the rapid increase in the rate of my birthdays. :)

Do you not feel that workin on side projects all the time wears you down? I haven't had one for about 5 months now, I've been working so hard on other stuff, that I need something like LoL, WoW, or battlefield to take my mind off things on the evenings.

I'm curious to see what happens as our age group gets older. Right now few focus on developing applications, games or social networks for elderly individuals, since there isn't a big audience. As we age, I think we'll see a lot more technology designed to helping the elderly, and hopefully it'll allow them to stay more mentally stimulated, less lonely, and provide ways for them to further contribute so society online.

Well clearly people haven't changed, but the activities available to us have. Instant and repetitive positive feedback is trivially available. It's tons easier to accelerate one's progress through any particular path.

Games have always been devices for both socialization and addiction. It's not a variable that meaningfully changes.

I'm about to drop out 2 classes shy from my bachelor's... for the second time. I've been fighting depression for the past decade, and I relapsed again this semester.

Gaming was my coping mechanism in the past, but I haven't played games for over 5 years now. It's merely a symptom, there are plenty of other coping mechanisms available.

Wow that's a lot. I've got ~3000 hours of TF2 (and a couple hundred hours in other games) but I've been playing TF2 since early 2008 and it never affected my grades at school or my work.

I agree that time I enjoyed is definitely not time wasted. Playing with friends is just as good as programming to me. It's 100% unproductive though.

Depression ruined your friend's life, not Team Fortress 2.

Games aren't addictive by themselves - only in fringe cases like your friend. And used as a coping mechanism, it's perhaps the least health-detrimental option (compared to alcohol, drugs, cutting yourself, just sitting there doing nothing and enjoying the feel of starving to death..), plus with multiplayer games you get to interact with other, normal, healthy people.

Mental illness is scary.

Yeah, I purchased Civ V a while ago but I can't bring myself to actually play it. I think I'm too old to lose 4 hours to a game that gives me no real benefit.

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."

I was about to correct you and say that was Bertrand Russell but apparently it was neither of them - http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/11/time-you-enjoy/.

Interesting article. Thanks for the fact check!

I agree with that line, but it feels like sometimes we are tricked into feeling like we're enjoying something, when we really are not. What matters is if afterwards, if you feel like you wasted that time.

I bought it and played it. I logged 14 hours on it over three days, and then I put it down. It's a game that sucks you in. Fantastic game, though!

I plan a mini 2-3 day holiday every year just to play the latest civilization. Apart from that I play very little but I feel that it's nice to plan ahead so that I can waste time without feeling guilty.

That's harsh. It's supposed to be for fun. Surely you've had more than 4 hours of fun in your life? Not that you have to do it playing Civ V of course.

You could watch a livestream on Twitch instead: it can even be fun to chat with other viewers or you can even work on other things at the same time. It's not as good as playing the game yourself, but it can be an alternattive.

But do you spend time watching TV? There's no real difference, if you enjoy spending time doing something then you should do it. Whats the point in working hard if you don get to chill out?

2000 hours/ 180 days = 11 hours a day? :( scary

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