Casus_Belli
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quote:
ORIGINAL: warspite1
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.
Thought-provoking indeed. I'd have to say this reflects my own feeling pretty accurately. It's hard to frown on something that provides so much enjoyment and healthy 'flow', and gaming has certainly been a big part of my interest in historical, military and world-political affairs. I first played a Napoleonic figurine game informally when I was about 16 and now, thirty-odd years later - and after many twists and turns along the way - I teach world politics and security at the local university. So perhaps it's been pretty productive after all.
As for computers and online games, I reckon it's just about all positive. I didn't play games for years because of the difficulty of persuading anyone I knew, or even myself for that matter, to invest the time and effort; I'm not much of a club-joiner. Now I have access to a huge pool of like-minded obsessives, I don't have to travel and cart equipment around, or agonise about remembering names and chit-chat. And the games are amazing and relatively cheap. You don't have to look up rules all the time, for example.
However, as Warspite says, I often wonder what I would have now if I'd devoted all that time to writing or painting or learning another language or practicing the guitar or any of a million other things. But I guess you could say that about a lot of stuff we do. There's no obligation to fulfill every potential.
And you get to participate in fascinating discussions like this one. 
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Furthermore, Carthage must be destroyed.
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RE: Life Without Computer Games - 
(Well, not having Internet will also help in this regard 
) 
). What a moment! I just long to be one of those guys. 
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