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Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 6:51:33 PM   
Gary Childress


Posts: 4813
Joined: 7/17/2005
Status: offline 		What would our current lives be like without computer games? Better or worse? Computer games are undoubtably a mixed blessing. They can be addictive and therefore harmful and they can be entertaining and joyful. But overall, would your life be better or worse without them?

My answer: I never was much of a "social butterfly" and would probably still be playing around with miniatures or something else in lieu of computer games. I'd like to think that I would get out of the house more without them but I've always been a kind of hermit anyway. So on the aggregate I don't think computer games have done much harm to me or my lifestyle. Even before computers I mostly kept to myself, never went out about the town much. Now with computer games I have more things to entertain me in life than before.

I suppose it is a kind of sad life to keep to oneself but I have found life more bearable away from other people. Too much contact with others tires me out and usually ends up bringing me down. Strangely enough contact with others over the Internet is not as tiring or depressing. Not sure why...
Post #: 1
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:10:59 PM   
Arsan

 

Posts: 400
Joined: 7/1/2005
From: Madrid, Spain
Status: offline 		In my case, i will certainly be reading a lot more books than now! (Well, not having Internet will also help in this regard )
Better, worse... not sure really...

(in reply to Gary Childress)
Post #: 2
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:13:11 PM   
Gary Childress


Posts: 4813
Joined: 7/17/2005
Status: offline 		True, that's something I hadn't thought of. Before computer games took over my life I liked to read a lot of philosopohy books and I think that helped me along in many ways. So I might need to revise my statement and say that computer games have done a bit of harm to me.

(in reply to Arsan)
Post #: 3
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:20:48 PM   
Andrew Williams


Posts: 6112
Joined: 1/8/2001
From: Australia
Status: offline 		Get a connected eReader... best of both worlds.


My son has an ipod touoch and I have  7" Android Tablet and they make great books... this PC has an over 2000 book library on it which I DL to the connected devices... I'm currently reading Pegasus Bridge and my son the Bourne Identity.... But we're flooded with choice in this internet age.


_____________________________


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Post #: 4
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:30:49 PM   
Gary Childress


Posts: 4813
Joined: 7/17/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Andrew Williams

Get a connected eReader... best of both worlds.


My son has an ipod touoch and I have  7" Android Tablet and they make great books... this PC has an over 2000 book library on it which I DL to the connected devices... I'm currently reading Pegasus Bridge and my son the Bourne Identity.... But we're flooded with choice in this internet age.



Exactly! Which book to read? I remember facing that dilemma many times, even with a library of only 200+ books (physical copies). If I had 2000 e-copies I don't know what I'd do.

I'm not much of an e-reading fan. Something about sitting there reading a long text on a computer screen gets agitating after a while. It just doesn't feel right or something.

(in reply to Andrew Williams)
Post #: 5
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:32:05 PM   
Terminus


Posts: 39886
Joined: 4/23/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline 		Much better.

_____________________________

There is no version of this where you come out on top - Tony Stark


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Post #: 6
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:36:57 PM   
Gary Childress


Posts: 4813
Joined: 7/17/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Much better.


Your life is much better now with them or would be much better without?

(in reply to Terminus)
Post #: 7
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:38:02 PM   
sabre1


Posts: 1928
Joined: 8/15/2001
From: CA
Status: offline 		As a special education teacher, I fully contend that most of our educational issues can be directly related to the age of television and computers. We as a people no longer reflect and seriously consider cause and effect issues. We want everything delivered in a sound bite. I am guilty of this as well, since I hate reading complicated manuals. I still love to read, but I do read less than I use to, due to my electronic world. I don't own a television in my house.

(in reply to Terminus)
Post #: 8
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:39:53 PM   
Rotherman

 

Posts: 57
Joined: 1/11/2009
From: Rotherham England
Status: offline 		I have a good collection of board wargames, so if the PC breaks down I am covered. There are excellent producers like GMT, DVG, Compass, Clash of arms etc. Some of my favourites are Fields of fire, Phantom leader, Silent war, Hell of stalingrad.

(in reply to Gary Childress)
Post #: 9
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:44:24 PM   
Arsan

 

Posts: 400
Joined: 7/1/2005
From: Madrid, Spain
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Andrew Williams

Get a connected eReader... best of both worlds.


My son has an ipod touoch and I have  7" Android Tablet and they make great books... this PC has an over 2000 book library on it which I DL to the connected devices... I'm currently reading Pegasus Bridge and my son the Bourne Identity.... But we're flooded with choice in this internet age.




I don't lack books to read, in fact it's the opposite. I love books and buy much more than i was able to read in this era of entertainment flooding as you say: Internet, TV series, PC games...
A don't need an e-reader... i need more free time, 48 hour days or a huge self discipline. But i fear i don't have any of it
I mean... right now i should be doing something more productive or enlightening than lingering aroudn forums and the like
...and fortunately i have never get into social networks: facebook and the like must be like huge black holes for one's time!!
Cheers



(in reply to Andrew Williams)
Post #: 10
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:51:02 PM   
Anthropoid


Posts: 2451
Joined: 2/22/2005
From: Secret Underground Lair
Status: offline 		Thing about a book is: you don't get to, nor are you required to make decisions. You can't make any mistakes. Books are IMO overrated. Interactive learning is the wave of the future.

Currently computer games only barely scratch the surface of the possibilities in this respect, and tend toward the 'entertainment' end of things. On the other hand, the 'interactive education' media are on the other end of the continuum, barely scratching the surface as well. Somewhere in the middle lies the future of human intellect.

Obviously it did not come true, TV is the biggest swamp of idiocy ever (and maybe gaming is moving that way too, I dunno), but originally people prophecied that TV would turn out to be a huge transformer of education.

_____________________________

The x-ray is her siren song. My ship cannot resist her long. Nearer to my deadly goal. Until the black hole. Gains control...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkIIlkyZ328&feature=autoplay&list=AL94UKMTqg-9CocLGbd6tpbuQRxyF4FGNr&playnext=3

(in reply to Arsan)
Post #: 11
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 7:58:53 PM   
Arsan

 

Posts: 400
Joined: 7/1/2005
From: Madrid, Spain
Status: offline 		Honestly, my experience is that the future of education and entertainment tends more towards shallowness and dumbing down everything than to any other thing 
Probably i'm just too old a dog to learn new tricks and all that


< Message edited by Arsan -- 11/21/2010 8:07:38 PM >

(in reply to Anthropoid)
Post #: 12
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 8:05:10 PM   
warspite1


Posts: 10725
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

What would our current lives be like without computer games? Better or worse? Computer games are undoubtably a mixed blessing. They can be addictive and therefore harmful and they can be entertaining and joyful. But overall, would your life be better or worse without them?

Warspite1

Thought provoking question Gary Childress.

I think if there were no computer games, those of us that grew up playing board games would probably carry on doing that, until the first of: stopping because they no longer interest us, or stopping because our lives/circumstances have changed. In my case its the latter. Now with a family, limited room in the house and with even more limited free time, I doubt if I could carry on playing the war games I loved playing and testing out new ones. World In Flames for example is i.m.o the best game ever, but is a huge commitment in time and space - impossible now sadly. But having a computer and access to such games has enabled me to continue this passion for wargaming - I just need Matrix to get MWIF finished before I drop off this mortal coil .

Have they made life better? Well I guess that because I have been able to continue something I always enjoyed thanks to
computer games being around, then yes that's good, but maybe something else would have come along - who knows?

I certainly feel a tinge of guilt sometimes when I look back and see just how much time has been spent on a game; could I have put that effort, that energy into something more productive? I think that can be a problem when a game comes along that really, really grips you - like my first computer game, Desert Rats for the old Spectrum computer, and later Civ II and later still - and to a lesser extent - Rome Total War. But that feeling of guilt does not last long - I know plenty of women that are widows to their partner's golf, football, fishing or whatever..

In summary, I believe they have been - and hopefully will continue to be - a good thing, complementing my passion for history generally and military history in particular.

_____________________________

England expects that every man will do his duty - Horatio Nelson 1805.




(in reply to Gary Childress)
Post #: 13
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 9:01:57 PM   
Gary Childress


Posts: 4813
Joined: 7/17/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Anthropoid

Thing about a book is: you don't get to, nor are you required to make decisions. You can't make any mistakes. Books are IMO overrated. Interactive learning is the wave of the future.

Currently computer games only barely scratch the surface of the possibilities in this respect, and tend toward the 'entertainment' end of things. On the other hand, the 'interactive education' media are on the other end of the continuum, barely scratching the surface as well. Somewhere in the middle lies the future of human intellect.

Obviously it did not come true, TV is the biggest swamp of idiocy ever (and maybe gaming is moving that way too, I dunno), but originally people prophecied that TV would turn out to be a huge transformer of education.


This is also a good point. Computers ARE more interactive. One thing I like to do almost as soon as I get a game is to tinker with the inner workings to see if I can make it better. Whether I'm scrutinizing the Japanese order of battle in War in the Pacific or using 3D modeling programs to create new units for Civilization III, I'm learning new things and developing skills. I don't know how useful those skills are but at least they excercise the brain a little more than some other pass-times.

Compters probably excercise our problem solving skills a bit more than most books do. I can say with some certainty that I have gotten better at understanding computers since I have used them for gaming. Surely that is a good skill to have in this day and age as opposed to being completely computer illiterate. Which would be better, being a book read-a-holic who never takes his head out of the pages or being a computer geek who never gets away from a computer? I would think that computers are a more timely area of expertise.

(in reply to Anthropoid)
Post #: 14
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/21/2010 9:15:18 PM   
V22 Osprey


Posts: 1590
Joined: 4/8/2008
From: Corona, CA
Status: offline 		I read technical books and manuals. I have the MUTCD, the caltrans highway design manual, and several highway design manuals by the federal government and other agencies. I've also read books all electrical systems. This also because I plan to be an engineer after college. Teachers constantly tell students that they should be reading books and what not. I'll be honest, I don't give a damn about reading about someone's life story(I too busy with my own life, why would I want to read about someone else's?) or made up fantasy worlds like twilight or harry potter. They don't interest me. I'll read plenty of war history books, but that's about it.

Now, Call of Duty is just mindless shooting. But I've found Wargaming to be quite educational. By playing WitP:AE and interacting with gurus on the forums, I've learned allot of stuff about the Pacific War. Because Steel Panthers peaked my interest in WWII, I have read books and I know the difference between a Panzer IV F or a Panzer IV D by heart for example.

< Message edited by V22 Osprey -- 11/21/2010 9:17:12 PM >

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Art by rogueusmc.

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Post #: 15
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 12:42:13 AM   
LarryP


Posts: 3213
Joined: 5/15/2005
From: Carson City, NV
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: sabre1

I don't own a television in my house.


Then how in the world can you watch the ABC show The View every morning?!

(in reply to sabre1)
Post #: 16
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 1:03:29 AM   
sabre1


Posts: 1928
Joined: 8/15/2001
From: CA
Status: offline 		My goodness gracious, I need to run out now, I totally forgot about the View. What have I done. My life will never be the same again. Do you think I can watch reruns and recover?

(in reply to LarryP)
Post #: 17
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 3:29:23 AM   
LarryP


Posts: 3213
Joined: 5/15/2005
From: Carson City, NV
Status: offline 		You mean you can do without watching those women in the morning and getting advice on how your outlook on life and politics should be? You might should at least get a little portable TV just for that. I mean, wisdom is hard to come by these days. Oh wait a minute, that would be a different TV show, never mind. Wait another minute... that wouldn't be ANY TV show. Just forget it then.

By the way, in answer to this forums question, my life would be pretty boring without computer gaming. My other hobby is Ham Radio and with the bad conditions now for the air waves, I would be doing a lot more reading. So computer games have kept my sanity. I can't imagine the last 24 years without them.

(in reply to sabre1)
Post #: 18
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 3:35:49 AM   
06 Maestro


Posts: 3981
Joined: 10/12/2005
From: Nevada, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

Too much contact with others tires me out and usually ends up bringing me down. Strangely enough contact with others over the Internet is not as tiring or depressing. Not sure why...


Well, while dealing with folks over the internet you do not have to witness cottage cheese expectorating through gaps of missing teeth while people are talking with their mouth full-of cottage cheese.

Want some cheese?


_____________________________

Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.

Thomas Jefferson


(in reply to Gary Childress)
Post #: 19
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 4:52:45 AM   
SLAAKMAN


Posts: 2096
Joined: 7/24/2002
Status: online 		Life without Broodwars Armageddon or Close Combat: Russian Front would be unbearable.

_____________________________

Germany's unforgivable crime before the Second World War was her attempt to extricate her economy from the world's trading system and to create her own exchange mechanism which would deny world finance its opportunity to profit.
— Winston Churchill

(in reply to Gary Childress)
Post #: 20
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 7:17:22 AM   
Anguille


Posts: 529
Joined: 6/28/2006
From: Hyper-cruiser "Phantom"
Status: offline 		Without computer games i would read more, like i used to (i still read a lot but not as much).

(in reply to SLAAKMAN)
Post #: 21
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 7:28:29 AM   
nicwb

 

Posts: 247
Joined: 4/26/2010
Status: offline 		Without computer games ? - sacrilege !

But probably where I was before - pushing pieces of cardboard around on a paper map and hurling dice about whilst scrabbling to read multiple result tables

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Post #: 22
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 9:01:17 AM   
SLAAKMAN


Posts: 2096
Joined: 7/24/2002
Status: online
quote:

But probably where I was before - pushing pieces of cardboard around on a paper map and hurling dice about whilst scrabbling to read multiple result tables

What I would give to teleport back to 1972...(Knowing then what I know now of course). Less is more.

_____________________________

Germany's unforgivable crime before the Second World War was her attempt to extricate her economy from the world's trading system and to create her own exchange mechanism which would deny world finance its opportunity to profit.
— Winston Churchill

(in reply to nicwb)
Post #: 23
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 9:15:44 AM   
martok


Posts: 797
Joined: 8/30/2004
Status: offline 		Speaking only for myself, I'd say that overall my life is better with PC games.

Much as I love reading (and boy do I ever), I still can't do so for more than a few hours a day. In addition, one can watch only so many movies and TV shows, and outdoor activities are pretty much out of the question for me (due to medical reasons). And playing board games with my friends -- much as I love doing so -- is problematic more often than not, since finding a time that works for everyone is difficult under even the best of circumstances.


For all those reasons, I find computer games a godsend. So long as I don't become genuinely addicted to them, it's all good.



_____________________________

"Evil is easy, and has infinite forms." -- Pascal


(in reply to Gary Childress)
Post #: 24
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 10:34:40 AM   
diablo1

 

Posts: 994
Joined: 2/27/2010
Status: offline 		Computer gaming for me took away bowling, golf, tennis, racquet ball, softball and some basketball. It really took away my health as I rarely get any exercise anymore because I gotta game. lol Now I have diabetes 2! I don't find anything interesting on tv anymore but old reruns of Andy Griffith show, M.A.S.H. and Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfield. lol And READING? gah what a boring field of socalled entertainment it puts me to sleep now. lol I used to read fantasy novels all the time.
So, computer gaming took away my natural life and gave to me an artificial fictional one. Hrmmm I wonder if I could sue gaming companies like they did cigarette companies for addicting them to cigarettes? heeh

(in reply to martok)
Post #: 25
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 11:49:55 AM   
sterckxe


Posts: 4593
Joined: 3/30/2004
From: Flanders
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Terminus
Much better.


LOL - well, there is a solution you know, though Matrix would be going out of business if everyone stopped playing computer games.

For me personally life wouldn't change all that much as I've got a boardgame and a tabletop gaming group - we'd just get together more than just twice a week.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

(in reply to Terminus)
Post #: 26
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 12:24:55 PM   
Yogi the Great


Posts: 1017
Joined: 4/10/2007
From: Wisconsin
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

What would our current lives be like without computer games? Better or worse?



Let's see, your posts 3,791 as I write this.

That might tell you something about your time used because of computer games!

As for me, without them I might actually be able to accomplish something important, but why the heck would I want to do that?

_____________________________

Hooked Since AH Gettysburg

(in reply to Gary Childress)
Post #: 27
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 12:26:23 PM   
yoshino


Posts: 94
Joined: 12/10/2006
From: Komatsu, Japan
Status: offline 		For myself,I would be reading a lot of history books and playing a board war games.
Probably almost some thing at the present time.

(in reply to sterckxe)
Post #: 28
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 1:09:05 PM   
hgilmer3


Posts: 530
Joined: 12/28/2008
Status: offline 		When I was a teenager and still living at home, we didn't have a lot of money.  There was this used book store that you could trade books in and buy used books for a lot cheaper than list price.  It was always a treat when my family would go to "Trade N Books" or whatever it is called because we couldn't afford to buy new books at the rate we read them.

I think there is something to be said about reading books.  To me it isn't about not getting to make a choice, or reading about someone's life.  It's about seeing how other people think and feel.  It's to make us more rounded.  Reading promotes a better understanding of the language.

But if there were no computer games, I would just surf the internet more. (I do still read and am reading two books at the present time).

(in reply to yoshino)
Post #: 29
RE: Life Without Computer Games - 11/22/2010 3:20:09 PM   
ilovestrategy


Posts: 3628
Joined: 6/11/2005
From: San Diego
Status: offline 		It would not make any difference with me. Even before computer games and cable TV I was still a "stay inside" kind of person. 

_____________________________

After 16 years, Civ II still has me in it's clutches LOL!!!
Now CIV IV has me in it's evil clutches!

(in reply to hgilmer3)
Post #: 30
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