Towards the end his rant takes on... a actual point.
Briefly.
After my last relationship broke down, about a week ago, I suddenly realised that my social life was totally and utterly constructed around my girlfriend. I wanted to go out, get pissed, do something, ANYTHING, to alliviate the boredom and abject misery of sitting alone in my room.
And it was a right ***** to organize.
Cause every single one of my friends is a gamer. And every single one loves to fucking game. Its not bad, well not that bad, but I am slowly drifting away from the hobby and its making me think.
Am I socially awkward because I am socially awkward? Or did gaming make me that way, or at least help. Till I got to Uni I have been gaming for about 4 hours a day, minimum. Thanks to my gaming friends back home, the first time I went to a party I was 17. I remember that day, I fucking loved the party, even though I had no idea what to do, how to talk to people, how to dance.
Every weekend back home was playing WoW or WC3 whilst watching something shit, like Family Guy.
Go to a museum, see a play or band. Go out and meet people and do things that are so much more rewarding than whatever the fuck it is you do.
(I cannot tell if I quoted that properly, my computer is fucking up. I cannot press quote or preview. Just a heads up.)
I agree with that sentiment.
If for every 10 hours I spent playing WoW I spent practicing the piano, I would be grade 8 by now. If for every hundred hours playing a computer game, I spent an hour just going for a walk and meeting randoms, I would have met a lot of randoms.
I am a gamer. My hobby does bring my joy, sometimes.
But deep down I think a few of us, maybe not the majority, do agree with little bits of this guys point. Do think that, really, taking this stuff seriously is just a little bit pathetic. Do think that maybe, just maybe, we should spend less time gaming and more time doing ANYTHING else.
I look back on my life now and I wish I could take all the time I spent on WoW back. I wish I could take all the time I spent playing Rise of Nations instead of working for my GCSE's back, I wish I could take all the time I spent gaming instead of working during 6th form back.
For me, gaming has always been a symptom of other stuff. Depression, crap like that. At least that is what I thought before. In retrospect... It is both symptom and cause.