"Get a life!"

[omega 616]

I hear this phrase get thrown around a lot in our little culture but what does this or it's opposite phrase "you no lifer!" mean to you?

I think it means you don't "socialize" enough, by which I mean "you don't get drunk and do stupid shit" enough. Is it really that bad not to have a social life?

I don't have a social life, if I am not doing my few hours of voluntary work then I am sat alone in my flat gaming, youtube-ing, job searching or forum-ing.

So what are your thoughts on what is it to have a life, is it bad not to have a social life and what ever else.

Well...

It totally depends. Are you happy? Or are you gaming to escape. Cause when people are gaming to escape their boring lives then yeah, the no lifer term fits. And the calls for you to get a life ALSO fit. Its harsh but true.

I mean, I wish I had more of a life outside of gaming. But I messed up and I go to college with people who are, on average, 8 years older than me. With kids and shit. Outside of college and getting the occasional beer with them, I have no social life. At all. And I miss the life I used to lead.

It is not all about getting drunk and being an idiot. Lots of people think it is. It is a very good defense mechanism to go down that road and be SUPERIOR to other people because you dont need to "get drunk and do stupid shit" to have a life. You just need to do something outside of work/college or madness starts to set in.

Well, that is my view anyway.

In short?

If someone calls you a no lifer or says get a life simply because you are a gamer, ignore them. I used to have a life outside of gaming (Steady relationship + Work life + Good circle of friends that I would hang around with regularly) and get told I had no life simply because when I was alone I would game.

But if someone says get a life and you realise that outside of college/work all you do is game, well... Then get a life. Seriously. So many gamers get all defensive but humans are SOCIAL CREATURES. We NEED other people or we start to get depressed and whatnot. It is how we are built. By so many gamers I mean... Well, just about everyone I have ever met that has described themselves as a gamer.

Having a life is not about boozing and boning. Its about being happy and having friends. It is about having a reason to leave the house on the weekends. And, well...

If you spend the entire weekend in because "I am not the kind of guy that gets drunk, that is beneath me, it is pathetic, it is much more productive to play an MMO with a bunch of guys I have never met and get me that Sword Of Hitting Things Really Hard so in next weeks raid I can get the Sword of Really Hitting things Really Hard." well, maybe its about time you made some friends. Bring them round and play boardgames. Watch Firefly. Start up a DnD campaign. Start up a Warhammer collection, hang around at the local games workshop... To say it again, it is not about getting drunk and all that crap.

Its about having friends and doing things with them. No matter how nerdy, if you have friends and you do shit with them, you have a life. But if you don't and your image of a good weekend is 18 hours of Skyrim on Saturday followed by 18 hours of WoW on Sunday...

Then get a fucking life.

What about if I have more fun having 18 hours of skyrim followed by 18 hours of wow and have way more fun than "play boardgames. Watch Firefly. Start up a DnD campaign. Start up a Warhammer collection, hang around at the local games workshop"? 'cos I have to be honest, that sounds really boring?

I just don't have as much fun around people as I do when I am alone. When I am alone I can instantly go from playing battlefield to this site and then to call of duty at the drop of a hat, with friends I have to negotiate everything or do what they want to do.

If they are watching firefly but you hate it or get bored 10 minutes in and want to watch family guy, you can't but I can.

People don't have to be social animals, we all say "all people are different" but it's not ok not to like being around other people for hours at a time?

 

[Vexik]

Now I remember why I stopped reading forum posts... they make me feel old. All these vitriolic posts about partiers and drinkers remind me of being young and defensive and full of self-righteousness.

Getting a life, when I use it, means a rounded existence. I've got more nerd cred than a d20 labelled in binary, and I grew up as insular and protected as I could be. I needed to get a life! As time wore on, I began talking to people I wasn't introduced to and who clearly shared few if any interests with me. I went to parties - of various kinds - and tried to experience many different things. Now I've got plenty going on in many different ways, and I don't think anyone would tell me to get a life just because I play video games - but that's because I do a lot of other things, too.

Variety is the spice of life, and that holds no truer than when applied to experiences. Spice it up, Escapists!

 

[II2]

"I had one. It was horrible. I'm much happier now."

 

[dark-mortality]

"I had one. It was horrible. I'm much happier now."

Hear hear!

OT: "Get a life!"... *Checks pulse, heartbeat, that I breathe, that I can sense stuff.*... Welp, from my totally not-so scientific study, I can conclude that I am alive, which, in a sense, means I have a life, shallow as it may be...

Captcha: Dear cookie... Nomnomnom

 

[Benny Blanco]

Oh, OP, have you no sense of irony or self-awareness?
Discussing what it means to have a life in an online gaming forum?

So yeah, some people associate "having a life" with going out and getting tanked and others would rather go on WoW and BE the Tank.

Different strokes for different folks, right?

Or not. It's actually healthy to have more than one outlet for your energy and time, because you will inevitably meet more than one type of person and encounter more than one type of worldview.

I'm a complete nerd and have been since I was a pre-teen. I was, however, the best-adjusted of the Tabletop RPG crowd at my school (not exactly a grand boast) because I was also into musical styles which were big identifiers in the 90s (punk and hip-hop) and because of a shared interest in these areas with completely different social groups, meaning that I had other frames of reference.

Someone cited the 2-Dimensional "Bro" as an example of someone who might level an accusation of having no life, whilst justifying themselves with their girlfriend and their gym activity.

Such a person may be a worse offender than the typical nerd- see MovieBob's excellent video on Sports Fandom vs. Nerd Fandom- in that he lets aspects of his life dominate it. Moreover, by hanging out only with other "Bros" he is living in Plato's cave as much as the nerds he despises.

Now I remember why I stopped reading forum posts... they make me feel old. All these vitriolic posts about partiers and drinkers remind me of being young and defensive and full of self-righteousness.

Getting a life, when I use it, means a rounded existence. I've got more nerd cred than a d20 labelled in binary, and I grew up as insular and protected as I could be. I needed to get a life! As time wore on, I began talking to people I wasn't introduced to and who clearly shared few if any interests with me. I went to parties - of various kinds - and tried to experience many different things. Now I've got plenty going on in many different ways, and I don't think anyone would tell me to get a life just because I play video games - but that's because I do a lot of other things, too.

Variety is the spice of life, and that holds no truer than when applied to experiences. Spice it up, Escapists!

Absolutely what this guy said.

At the present, I spend time:

Finishing my Master's Degree
Writing (both fiction and non-fiction)
Working out at the gym
Running tabletop RPGs
Sitting on the board of a human rights organisation
Spending time with my girlfriend
Teaching (and continuing to study) martial arts
Playing games on my PC or PSP

Now, what works for me may not work for you and vice versa: you may find martial arts boring, prefer drawing to writing and decide that a Vibrator/Fleshlight(TM) and all the internet porn you can find is an economically preferable decision to finding a partner. Be aware, however, that doing the same thing all the time is dull and will make you dull in turn.

Do something new and meet some new people. This is the life that you have, and it is up to you to make the most of it.

 

[Vault101]

get life huh?


but in all seriousness I hate that bullshit term...its essentially saying "be like me!!"

now to be fair having freinds and such is a good thing..as for me Im very happy with my interests and how I spend my free time (If I were unemplyed I think I'd go mad though)

as for me...I am happy, but I dont know...I think my problem is I dont have any freinds with whom I share common interests, unfortunatly its not as simple as going to the game store and saying "what games do you like?!...ok then LETS BE FREINDS!....thats not optional"

yesterday I was playing ME3 online...and I was with 3 other guys who knew each other, it was alot more fun because they were all joking and having a great time, ("the cannbals look like quasi-modo..SANCTUARY THIS!!)

 

[BOOM headshot65]

People stopped using this towards me when I told them that A: The right to the pursuit of happiness is right there in our fucking Declaration of Independence[footnote] AT least I think it is. It might be in the preamble. I don't remember at the moment, too sleepy to think clearly.[/footnote]

Its pretty much right there in the first sentance (maybe a few in) "We hold these truths to be self-evident, That amoung these are life, liberty, and The pursuit of happiness.

 

[manic_depressive13]

This exact thread has been made before and got the exact same responses. Depending on who says it, 'get a life' means different things. Ultimately it means 'why aren't you doing the things I think you should be doing?' I haven't heard the phrase since high school ended.

 

[Rule Britannia]

This phrase occurs after school holidays, right now i'm in "March Break". Since my hobbies aren't very outdoorsie (playing bass, video games, watching movies) I often get accused of having "no life".

I only get acussed of having no life if my friends see me online a lot on Xbox.

In the summer I go to the beach and rock climb but since it's still snowwy in Canada I cannot do those things :'(

 

[Vault101]

This exact thread has been made before and got the exact same responses. Depending on who says it, 'get a life' means different things. Ultimately it means 'why aren't you doing the things I think you should be doing?' I haven't heard the phrase since high school ended.

moral of the story is:

highschoolers are insecure shitheads

but yeah, I actually had to do a double check to make sure this wasnt the other thread necro'd..and I that I already posted

 

[The Gnome King]

I hear this phrase get thrown around a lot in our little culture but what does this or it's opposite phrase "you no lifer!" mean to you?

I think it means you don't "socialize" enough, by which I mean "you don't get drunk and do stupid shit" enough. Is it really that bad not to have a social life?

I don't have a social life, if I am not doing my few hours of voluntary work then I am sat alone in my flat gaming, youtube-ing, job searching or forum-ing.

So what are your thoughts on what is it to have a life, is it bad not to have a social life and what ever else.

Honestly, I spent my 20's partying hard. Really, really hard. I have stories, videotape, pictures, and memories to last me a couple lifetimes. I used to have a house that was like a constant Burning Man experience. Lots of women, some men, rivers of good booze and things I know I'll never experience again.

Ever since right around 30 I honestly just shifted focus in life. I became much, much more introverted; part of this is because last year I moved away from my home of 25 years to another state but part of it is simply that I don't really desire much physical contact with people anymore.

I'm content now to spend weeks not interacting with anyone except my wife, my partner, the bartender at the pub and the grocery girl at the checkout line. I have a nice house with a couple dogs, a few cats, and a nice basement. In that basement is a 4 PC LAN, a sound system to rival anything I've heard in my life, and a video projector system. Not to mention a fridge full of cold beer.

Why the Hell would I want to socialize or leave my house? Get a life? This *is* the life!

 

[Vault101]

My family says that but not to my face. Cowards. They think I can't hear them down here. They're wrong. I'll make them see..one day, when all my plans come into place..THEY'LL see the one who "didn't have a life" weild the power to take and destroy life itself...and THEN who will be laughing?

Wow, that was dark, for me

haha sorry couldnt help myself

 

[Total LOLige]

Shit like this pisses me off.
Lately I had a chance to talk neutrally with the kind of partying dipshit I would usually ignore. We were both on an exchange and we were stuck with each other for a few hours, so we pretty much had to talk lest we both be bored as fuck. She was shocked when I said I only went out about once every other month, and asked why I don't go to parties.
''I don't see the point.''
''It's fun!''
''I have fun at home.''
''But this is more fun!''
''People experience fun differently.''
''Yeah, but everyone knows parties are the most fun thing!''
It was like talking to a brick wall, she didn't seem to understand some people don't like the same immature shit she does. Then she had the nerve of calling me childish when I told her I played games.
When people say get a life, I feel like yelling in their face; ''I DO HAVE A LIFE, JUST BECAUSE I DON'T GO OUT AND RAPE MY LIVER DOESN'T MEAN I AM SOCIALLY INEPT.''
But I don't.
*Sigh...*

I don't see what's fun about killing yourself slowly. I used to get invited to parties before I was forced to move (that's a story for another time) and one of the main reasons I declined was the 'partying dipshit' girls, it's hard enough being around them when their sober, drunk would be unbearable. "get a life" is a stupid phrase you're still having a life even if it is just playing videogames. Still funner than parties

 

[Dethenger]

Anyone who insists that I "socialize" are the gregarious people who can't fathom that I prefer to be alone; the extroverts who think that introversion is somehow something "wrong" with me. Get a life? I have one. It just doesn't involve other people-- and it doesn't have to.

 

[Valanthe]

It's ironic, with a little spin mastery, I can turn this around on the 'Neigh'-sayers who say that my hobbies (bet you can guess at least two of them already) equate me to not having a life, to answer this question in it's most recent adaptation, I simply responded to their perceived insult with a question; "So what did you do this weekend?"

Invariably, they answer with something along the lines of "I went to a party and got absurdly intoxicated, Yourself?" Though usually they speak in less refined English. To their question, the answer is usually:

"Well, to begin I went to my local shopping centre, where I held the line against an opposing alien force. After this skirmish, myself and the leader sat down for drinks at the local pubs and discussed the battle and the tactics used over a pint. The next day I went for an exhausting 6km hike up a nearby mounatin, and when I returned, worked on mapping a vast cavern system I had a hand in building, while discussing architectural and technical issues with people from around the world, England, Australia, France, Belgium, America and Canada, to name a few, with whom I am creating a scale recreation of Tolkien's Middle Earth. And finally, on Sunday I went out again, only instead of leading an army, I joined four of my closest friends on a grand adventure, where we took the roles of great heroes partaking on a dangerous but rewarding quest, all crafted from the imaginations of our combined insanity. I believe that was about all."

Their rousing intellectual rebuttal this comparison of our different definitions of what constitutes a 'life' is, "You are such a nerd." I am uncertain whether or not they are jealous that I have a much more fulfilling life, or if it is simply that I make a better a salary than they do.

Captcha: "Run through," why yes, that is very much how they look after my response, how did you know?

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

My parents would tell me that all the time. I had to explain to them that I was socializing. I showed them how I was talking to my guild of 120 people 15 of them who I knew very very well. How we would play games and talk about our day, etc. How I had friends from Belgium, Australia, England, Germany, Russia. They still wanted me to go outside and socialize.

Don't understand, I socialized more than pretty much any of my peers. Honestly how many "normal" kids have a 3 way conversation with people on opposite corners of the world. (parents loved that phone bill)