Would we all be better people without gaming?

[Cpu46]

Not exactly, Sure some of us would be more productive or would get out more but then there are people who use gaming as a way to relieve stress because they have no other outlet for it. And anyways, if you took away gaming the former group would just find a new way to fill the void and the later group would find a new outlet for stress, possibly a bad outlet.

 

[aescuder]

Every now and again I start entertaining these thoughts. And then go back to gaming as per usual.


Seriously though, what would we all be doing without video games? If you think about the collective participation hours spent on them we (collectively) probably would have found a cure for cancer or be all a virtuoso at some instrument.

or we would have all read books or watched movies. which do you think is more likely?

escapism is escapism, regardless of the method.

oops sorry double post.

 

[mental_looney]

I'd be single and unemployed and still living with my parents it it weren't for gaming technically but really I have no idea where I would be.

 

[randomrob]

We would be different. Whether we would be better or worse is not knowable as a general case.

 

[Akytalusia]

theoreticaly we'd have more time to be productive, realisticaly, we wouldn't use that extra time being any more productive.

 

[WOPR]

...cancer is a bit...

Everyone HAS cancer, it's just whether or not the cancerous cells become active or not
and pretty much everything these days "causes" that
you know
sunlight
people
air
phones
games
microwaves
breathing
...
okay I'm getting carried away now haha; but you see my point right..?

 

[Manchubot]

All sorts of mediums can be changed and used for useless endeavors. If gaming died tomorrow time could be wasted on movies or tv. Those mediums die out it's human nature to not wanna do something productive so we would take a "productive" medium such as reading and read a ton of mind numbing crap. If for some reason we find ourselves waking up in the 13th century before the printing press and found ourselves illiterate or out of cash do to how expensive those things were then there is always large amounts of alcohol. Point being we are human and generally we enjoy to live for the moment and it has been like that long before video games.

 

[Veylon]

Music Virtuoso? Cure Cancer? Ha! We'd be surfing the internet or watching TV. Possibly both.

Or, if you want to get away from screens altogether, which is what the question is really about, we'd be enjoying more traditional forms of entertainment, like reading, drinking in bars, debating, praying, and laying on the ground. Arguably, some people would produce some kind of art, though I'm not really sure why musical skill is being brought forward as superior to video gaming skill. And then, of course, there are the various non-video games, like poker, D&D, board games, and running down a street poking a ring with a stick.

Anything that costs a lot of time and money is likely to be beyond the reach of most people anyway. The training and knowledge to cure cancer is expensive and I doubt abolishing gaming would change that, with the same going for any advanced skill.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

There's a lot of things I do that take up my cancer-curing time. Like reading. Or watching movies. Or playing basketball with my friends. Should we get rid of those things, too?

I find your premise flawed.

 

[chaosyoshimage]

No, I'd probably be dead right now. For better references check out this awesome site that no one ever wants to talk about when I make a thread about it: http://gamessavedmylife.tumblr.com/

 

[Jandau]

Every now and again I start entertaining these thoughts. And then go back to gaming as per usual.


Seriously though, what would we all be doing without video games? If you think about the collective participation hours spent on them we (collectively) probably would have found a cure for cancer or be all a virtuoso at some instrument.



EDIT: Admittedly cancer is a bit of an exaggeration.lol But you just never know. Video games are just a channel for productivity. Some gamers can be brilliant people but the areas of interest just doesn't have a streamlined user interface games have.

Same thing applies to every passtime imaginable. Arguably, if you haven't cured two major diseases, won a nobel prize, saved a few thousand starving children and solved the energy crisis before you're 30, you are a failure.

Thinking in "collective man hours" is silly. By that logic, why don't you spend all your free time doing something constructive? Why doesn't everybody? Is everybody busy playing games? Or is it possible that people might want to do something besides work from time to time?

In short, this isn't a gaming thing, this is a human thing. It was around before gaming, it will be around after it. So don't worry about it. Or just go cure cancer, let us know how it went

 

[JesterRaiin]

Seriously though, what would we all be doing without video games?

Something else. Humanity lived for countles thousands of years without modern technology, so no worry.

 

[Hosker]

How is becoming a virtuoso at an instrument productive?

I play games as doing one thing in many.

 

[Wintermoot]

allot of other hobbies take time that could have been spent better and also stuff like looking at porn and learning stuff you don,t need.
but the thing is we need things like that to relax and take our mind of important things.

 

[Nouw]

If I had no videogames, I'd spend more time here. I'd also be more stressed out.

 

[Delsana]

Mmm not sure if we'd be better but it's pretty obvious that people might be more generous, kinder, and more social if they didn't game as much as they do now and if they never had the means to.

I know I became less social, though I could be the opposite I had no reason to seek it out when playing through all my games as I got them.

I'd say that they make you less creative and more stuck to certain styles of thought.

 

[Pat8u]

Then my future would be without my dream job, a Game Developer...
So yeah, I'd be worse off.

same..that would suck (even though technically a programmer)
ot:No books and movies and tv are less productive than gaming. also to those who say debating over which game is better over the internet, That trains your public speaking/writing skills cause if hes writing LIEK THISSSSSSSSSSSSS you soon figure out you will win by being the smarter person and writing propely*(I'm not an example).

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Well, it seems a lot of the mischief teenagers get into is due to boredom....So id say id probably be a worse person without videogames. Id probably be on drugs.

 

[RemuValtrez]

I think removing gaming would make it so one of the big stress relievers would be out of the picture. Granted, it can cause a lot of stress while playing a hard game, but at the same point, the fun in it would overshadow that.