A long time ago, I'm guessing mid-to-late 2000's, I recall seeing a video that went "viral" among gamers. Not sure the word viral was even in use back then for this sort of thing, and youtube was still young--I'm not sure I even first saw it on youtube.

It was a video about wasting one's life playing video games. Unfortunately, so much time has passed that it seems virtually impossible for me to find it on my own, since there are so many videos and articles and forum threads about the subject now, and I don't have a lot of details about the video, like who made it in the first place.

IIRC, the creator didn't usually create serious videos.

This man had made a video about how after spending thousands of hours gaming (pretty sure he was specifically playing World of Warcraft), he came to the depressing conclusion that those hours were wasted--that they didn't truly enrich his life, and all he had to show for his time and money were high-level digital avatars. He went on to show several example of things he could have done with that time instead, and I remember there were a lot of "I could have read this series of books... this many times" examples. He used this in a well-intended effort to encourage others not to make the same mistake he did, with the idea that maybe games aren't worth your time.

What's more, I recall there was a follow-up video. Apparently, the first video got a lot of attention, and people reached out to him. He more or less retracted his sentiment about video games based on one idea: that many people had come to establish friendships online through games. His new conclusion was that if you made connections with other people through games, then it wasn't a waste after all.

I wanted to see these videos again, both for my own sake and because I think they might be relevant to people when they discuss the issue.

Does anybody know what videos I'm talking about? Thanks for your time.

3 years ago

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I remember late Roger Ebert and the argument of "Are Game Art?" from around the same time. Obviously, it's not what you're looking for. Just wondering if the gaming becoming more prominent was what fueling those discussions about the worth of our common hobby.

3 years ago
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I'd say the rising prominence of gaming is definitely why these discussions come up.

I thought it was ridiculous to try to argue that games are not art. It was almost funny when I heard Ebert conceded that they were art, but then claimed they could never be "high art." I don't know wtf that's supposed to mean, but at least we got something basic out of the way.

On the subject of games as art, I remember there was some brief whining when the the National Endowment of the Arts decided that games were art and could qualify for government funding.

3 years ago
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I don't see how reading a series of books is not a waste of time, but playing games is. It's both entertainment, unless they were school books or self-help books, but even most studies end up being a waste of time, and improving yourself requires more investment than just reading.
Anyyyyway, I'll go Google for your vid, see if I can find it :P

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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Back then educators and such claimed there was a correlation between reading and cognitive skills, entertainment or not. Plus, maybe by using books he was also trying to say that you wouldn't re-read the same series literally hundreds of times, emphasizing the length of time he'd been gaming.

No, that article wasn't it. This was some guy on his own.

I want to say it was hosted on a platform like newgrounds or ebaumsworld or even youtube, though that might not be the case.

3 years ago*
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I don't see how reading a series of books is not a waste of time, but playing games is. It's both entertainment

Believe me that's not the case. Books are special. I am not talking about self-help btw, most of the time they are worse than gaming.

3 years ago
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well, playing bad games could be compared to reading crappy books, so there is that ;)

3 years ago
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anything short of immortality is a waste of time.

3 years ago
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Closed 2 years ago by RVK250.