Video games are an indication of a new "Man-Teen" culture....for gods sake....

[ice232]

This makes me very glad that I haven't gone to bed yet because it gave me someone to ***** at. I'd just like to share my e-mail that I sent to her for the sake of everyone's pleasure. Hopefully I'll get a response back from it...that is if she's not at the point of deleting all the messages she gets.

"Ok, while I'm sure you've gotten plenty of hate mail for your little article, this is just one piece that I can't overlook. You have a lot of nerve to write something like that with such an uneducated and narrow view on the subject. First off, you go and imply that video games should be limited to the adolescent but how is playing games any different then things like watching movies or for that matter even reading a book? While playing games your are actually in a state of concentration, hence more neural pathways are being used where as while watching tv you're brain goes into a condition very closely resembling sleep. Then again, maybe you'd like to argue that we should grow out of watching tv as well. Then there's the point that the gaming world is also a form of meeting new people. What with X-box live, Wii interactive, and all the rest of them, there's millions of people meeting each other for the first time practically every hour, but for some reason you deem this as something that should be viewed in the same category as obsessive hobbies for shut-ins. Overlooking the obvious sexist stereotypes you made towards my gender, you seem to imply that the video game world will damage the world of relationships, yet you seem to overlook the fact that not only males play games. Or did you not bother to check a survey on the female population that play video games. While it may be less then males, that would simply be because it used to be frowned upon for females to do things like this. Now that we're in our modern world though such things aren't that uncommon. You're statement about video games being a retreat from the real world due to lack of comfort, sure in some ways that may be true, but for the most part, people play these games for fun. It's no different then going to the bar and playing some pool, or going jogging, or whatever it is that people find fun. It's a very pure and simple thing. Sure some people take it over board, but to judge everybody by those few is both ignorant and naive. I'm sure that your article was meant to be something to enlighten and ammuse but all you've accomplished with this is to spread a sexist, ignorant view on a topic you obviously haven't fully researched as well as tried to impose on peoples healthy and successful lifestyles. As long as it's not hurting anyone that what right does anyone have to complain? If you seem to think this will lower the chances of women finding a partner, then maybe it's time for women to join the rest of the world in this age and stop living in an outdated time and mindset."

 

[ice232]

How dare men not fall into the exact groups we should according to this one woman?!
How dare we find enjoyment in anything but drinking massive amounts of beer, having kids, punching (or tackleing) other people and going into the woods and shooting at everything not wearing blaze orange?!

The OP was right, but not quite. Let's ignore this ignorant *****, instead of fuck her. Because, looking at her insistance that all men should go out and slavishly worship at the vagina of women worldwide (ineffectually, mind you) and have loads of kids, a good screw might be just what she needs to shut the hell up. Any guys willing to take one for the team?
...anyone?

Anyone at all?

I'd love to...but I'm a bit busy with all the sex I get from my "[effectually] pursued women." I guess if I didn't play so many games then I'd be ineffective at it and hence I may have some time for her...strange how that works eh?

 

[Jordan Deam]

Calling Muir's article 'hate speech' is probably a little extreme, but it does seem a bit uninformed. The biggest fallacy is blaming "videogame addiction" for keeping older men in a perpetual state of adolescence. She's identified a symptom but failed to pinpoint a clear cause.

This isn't simply a case of addiction wreaking havoc on society, but a much broader economic trend. I read a really thought-provoking article on Slate.com a couple months back that about the economics of marriage. The gist of it: women's reproductive rights (legalized abortion and birth control) have increased competition for women in the marriage pool and allowed men to enjoy the benefits of marriage (reliable sex) without the responsibilities.

It's a commonplace observation that the contraceptive pill wrought major changes in society. But when most people hear that, they probably think that the effects were mostly to do with college parties becoming a lot more fun. In fact, rational responses to the pill have had remarkably similar effects to those that come from imprisoning a significant chunk of the male population.

What's the similarity? Both heat up competition among women in the marriage market. Young black men who stay out of prison in a place like New Mexico rarely marry, and this is probably because they realize they do not need to marry to get sex. The contraceptive pill also makes it easier for men to get sex outside of marriage. The logic of evolutionary psychology says that women should be choosy about who they have sex with, because pregnancy in the wrong circumstances is extremely costly - but the logic of a woman who has control of reliable contraception is quite different. The preferences that evolution has shaped still exert powerful influence on our instincts, and many women remain extremely choosy and refuse to have sex outside marriage. But others, once armed with the pill, decided they could afford to have a little more fun.

The choosy ones are unlucky: the existence of other women who are a little freer with their favors weakens the bargaining power of the Madonnas, and means that men have less incentive to marry. Some men will not bother at all, feeling that they can get all they want from a playboy lifestyle. Or they may delay marriage until middle age, cutting down on the pool of marriageable men and increasing male bargaining power.

As we have seen, the rational response is for women to go to college, bringing them both better prospects in the job market and better prospects in the marriage market. Meanwhile, the more capable women become of looking after children by themselves, the less men need to bother. It's a textbook case of free-riding: with highly-educated women in excess supply, men have realized that they can get sex, and even successful offspring, without ever moving too far from the La-Z-Boy chair and the potato chips. Statistics seem to bear this out. There are nowadays four US women graduating from university for every three men, and this is not a particularly American phenomenon: in 15 out of 17 rich countries for which the data are available, more women are graduating than men. The most educated men in the United States were born just after the second world war and graduated in the mid 1960s - male graduation rates dipped after that, and have not yet returned to that peak. The rational choice perspective suggests it is probably not coincidental that this decline set in roughly when women got hold of the contraceptive pill.

Women's rational responses to the pill wrought other, socially far-reaching changes. The ability to delay, and to some extent control, the timings of their pregnancies also allowed women to plan their careers in a new way: rather than hurrying back to work after having children, they could decide to postpone their departure. That made it rational to invest in training for a career with a long pre-qualification period, such as law, medicine or dentistry. Female enrollment in law and medical school duly soared as the pill became available, because women knew they could qualify and establish themselves in a career without becoming a nun.

Delaying motherhood means big income gains for educated women, because of the economies of scale in education and work which reward those who spend a long time in college and then work long hours early in their careers. For every year by which a woman delays having her first child, her lifetime earnings rise by ten percent. Of course, someone who delays having children might earn more simply because her career is her priority, but you can get around that statistical minefield by looking at women who, because of miscarriages or accidental pregnancies, do not have children at the time they would have chosen. These random misfortunes, which mean women having babies earlier or later than they would have done, all point in the same direction: a year's delay adds about one tenth to lifetime earnings.

The pill also meant women felt more able to postpone marriage - why hurry? They could enjoy sex and a career without rushing to get married. And as more intelligent women delayed getting hitched, that meant that more intelligent men would be floating around, unattached. The dating scene became a more interesting place to dip in and out of for a decade or so, and the risk of being "left on the shelf" plummeted. The fewer people sprinted up the aisle, the less need for others to hurry. It looked like a cultural shift, but it had rational roots.

Another side-effect was on the expectations of potential mentors and employers. They had more confidence that women would not give up on their training or careers because of an accidental pregnancy; that increased confidence meant that more women got a fair chance in the workplace. This, too, was not merely the blinkers of discrimination being lifted from employers' eyes: it was a rational response to a world that had changed.

from http://www.slate.com/id/2182089/entry/2182090/

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

BTW, http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php .Pay especially close attention to the bullets on women gamers and overall time spent gaming. And the part about other activities.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

Calling Muir's article 'hate speech' is probably a little extreme, but it does seem a bit uninformed. The biggest fallacy is blaming "videogame addiction" for keeping older men in a perpetual state of adolescence. She's identified a symptom but failed to pinpoint a clear cause.

This isn't simply a case of addiction wreaking havoc on society, but a much broader economic trend. I read a really thought-provoking article on Slate.com a couple months back that about the economics of marriage. The gist of it: women's reproductive rights (legalized abortion and birth control) have increased competition for women in the marriage pool and allowed men to enjoy the benefits of marriage (reliable sex) without the responsibilities.

Here's where I demonstrate (again) my apparent non-"woman"-ness: I really, really don't see why women don't just hook up more. Why this conflation of sex and love? And please, spare me the evolutionary sociobiology neurosychology pbbbbbthht.

I mean seriously, Kate, you can - for the first time in our cultural history - have a baby and not a husband, have sex and not marriage, without being ostracized or stoned. Yes, single motherhood can suck deeply. You know what else sucks deeply? Sitting around with your thumb up your orifice, whining about how you can't get a man. Why do you need a man? Sex? So get laid already! Or go shopping [http://www.babeland.com/] (NSFW) - I'm sure you can do that at least. Companionship? Do you have no friends? Kids? If you've got a functioning uterus or access to someone who does, you are good to go. Money? Oh please tell me, upper-middle class, educated, metropolitan, no doubt fashionably dressed woman who has the privilege of writing for a living, please, please, please tell me it's not about the money.

There's a story I've seen attributed to both Winston Churchill and W.C. Fields that goes a bit like this. WC is talking to a woman at some high society function. "Tell me, madam," says WC, "would you sleep with me for a million dollars?" The woman laughs and says coyly that she thinks she would. "Ah, then, would you sleep with me for five dollars?" asks WC. She takes great offense at this. "Why, sir! What kind of woman do you think I am?" "Oh," says WC, "I think we've established what kind of woman you are. Now we are just haggling over price."

I'm sure part of this is living in a community where we can't get married, and the male/female gender roles in relationships are optional at best, so we tend to take the various other options more seriously. For myself, I've determined that I need sex, companionship (as in, I am happiest living with another person on good terms), and friendship to be completely happy. I've also determined that I don't need them all from just one person forever and ever.

Honestly, I think one of the best things about guys is the fact that they tend to go away for extended periods of time. Any experience of the sheer emotional entanglement of lesbian relationships will give a girl a real appreciation of this. If one of my girlfriends had told me that she was going to game for 3-4 hours, I would have thrown confetti at her. Yes! Go! Have fun! Bye! Seeya later! Phew. Some women have to practically live on top of their mates 24/7, and I don't mean in a happyfun sex way.

Kate, I can tell you right now. There is a mature, responsible man who will want to spend all his time with you, will share all your interest, and will shower you with constant romance, and eventually he will drive you insane.

If you want complete devotion, get a dog.

 

[werepossum]

Kate, I can tell you right now. There is a mature, responsible man who will want to spend all his time with you, will share all your interest, and will shower you with constant romance, and eventually he will drive you insane.

If you want complete devotion, get a dog.

LMAO. I worked with a guy who called his current girlfriend when he left home and talked all the way to work. When he sat down he picked up the phone, called her, and talked until lunch. If he went to lunch with us they spoke on the cell phone to and from the restaurant, and after lunch they spoke again until 5:00, then they spoke on the cell phone again until he got home. He actually managed to find a woman who appreciated that. (Science is not yet able to determine why none of the women he dated prior to her failed to remove him from the gene pool.)

Luckily my wife is quite capable of amusing herself, including by gaming.

 

[Jindrak]

My summary : Fuck this ignorant *****.

You could've saved me some time and put that at the front, after reading it, I agree.