Streams of Consciousness & Thoughts~~~

I occasionally play video games, and sometimes I look up stuff online about said video games. I play games for the story, and some of them have a very good story.

But it seems no matter how good the story is, some people completely ignore it and focus on the game mechanics, how well they can master them and how well they can exploit the system to advance faster or stronger.

"The ONLY way to play this game is on Master difficulty, with permadeath (no saving and reloading.) You're not really playing it on normal."
"I can get through the whole game in two hours, using only a pistol!"
"I've been playing this game for five years. I've logged 3000 hours on it. Don't tell me you know more about it than I do."

Really? You're taking pride in how well you have mastered an artificial system that was DESIGNED TO BE BEATEN?!

This isn't one or two instances I've run into online. This is just about every game I have looked up any information on, lots of people per game.

Well when it's the main thing you've accomplished in life, people want to take pride in their accomplishments. Otherwise you just spent (let's see 3000/24 is 125 so that's like) 4 months of your life on a game and accomplished nothing.

Okay, cogent point.

I know a few people (especially younger folks) that spend large amounts of time on video games. These people don't have lives, relationships, or hobbies. It's very sad.
I'm not talking about people who play video games like you Lynx. You work and have many hobbies and are involved in church. I'm talking about people who spend 10+ hours each day playing...with nothing to show for their time.
I do play video games myself...but not very often. I admit they are super fun when you really get into them! But for them to be your life and for you to spend all your paycheck on new games, consoles, and accessories, that's just too much!

Aye, I know that life well. It used to be my life, back when I had no life. I had to cut out video games entirely for a while, and that's when I started developing a real life. Now I can play video games, but they take their place filling gaps of free time instead of taking up time that should go to real life things.

But for me it was like spending all your time reading books. I played for the story. The gameplay was enjoyable, but I can't see taking pride in how well I can play a video game that was designed to be played and beaten. And they get so contentious about who is better at it, who has played it longer, who knows more about it...

I've always enjoyed the story aspect more myself. I guess when video games really became a thing, holding that high score at the arcade for bragging rights was as serious as it got. Now we've got things like Esports, lol.

I've definitely run into those types, though. It reminds me of fantasy football, which I love, but nobody cares about your fantasy team other than you. It is a little sad that for some, that's the only sense of worth they have.

testing. testing.

Poor puzzled bunny is trying to figure out why anybody would still be running a screensaver when power consumption is so much more important than dead pixels to most people these days.

Never get an Australian Shepherd. They can be smarter than you one minute, and dumber than a brick the next minute.

So Dan, my Australian Shepherd, is the first dog I have ever had to keep at home so he won't cause trouble getting into the neighbors' stuff. After the electric collar started cracking around the battery case and could not be used any more, I had him on a little 80 foot run on one side of the house (80 foot cable stretched between two trees, with his leash hooked to it so he could run in a long line) but he got bored and started sleeping a lot. So I stretched a cable all the way across the back yard, 280ft across, so he could see both sides of the house and keep informed of what is going on all around.

And it worked. He regained interest in the world and now spends most of his time trotting back and forth along his run. But now he has found the joy of getting his little 18-foot lead cable tangled around everything he can find to wrap it around, all along the run. I also have discovered the joy of having to check on my dog when I first get up in the morning, right before I head out, right when I get home and right before going to bed, to make sure I don't have to untangle him again.

This is the dog who fooled me into thinking I didn't have to change his collar's battery any more because he was always home when I was at home... because he figured out he could do his neighborhood gadabout routine at midday and I wouldn't know. How can the same dog NOT be able to figure out you go the other way around the pole (or wire or underbrush or stick or whatever you got your lead wrapped around) to get off it?

At least he is still intelligent in one respect. When he finds himself trapped he lies down and takes a nap. That's smarter than some humans I know. When you come up on a problem that stops you, and you can't solve it, most people would just keep worrying at it (and worrying about it.) The dog just catches a few winks and waits for me to untangle him again.

I wonder how many of my CC friends from way back then are still active here...

When I drink too much coffee, I will post on any thread-even if I know nothing about the subject, usually with something random that has nothing to do with the thread.

Today was kinda tough for me. I desperately needed someone to talk to. And I came across Christian chat in my search on Google. Its goodknow a place like this exist.

Hello, Christie, and welcome! I'm glad you found what you needed today.

Yesterday at w*rk a woman was talking about seeing a guy who caught her eye... then she noticed he was wearing a wedding ring. Rats!

Quote from the woman: "Yeah, all the good guys are married. All the rest are crap or gay."

Really? Thank you so much. I'm not married and I know I'm not gay so I must be a total loser.

I thought about saying, "Yeah I have the same problem. All the good women I know are married. The rest are either nags or lesbians." Yeah, that wouldn't have been nice. But I thought about it.

Both men and women responding like you in the end did not, are people with a tendency of blaming others for their own flaws.

I think most women can relate to situations where men have resorted to name calling and insults when they didn’t get their way with us. Likewise men have experienced women throwing tantrums when being turned down.

You shouldn't worry overmuch about how other people play games, it is a form of recreation regardless, so there's no "right way" to do it other than what gives you the most enjoyment and allows you to draw something from the experience.

As for videogames being a "waste of time," there are plenty of valid reasons to play games. It has been shown that people who play videogames have increased hand-eye co-ordination, learn to think more critically and can get involved with other people as a social avenue for those who might otherwise not have that opportunity. Videogames are relatively unexpensive for the most part, they don't hog up a bunch of resources or land (like a golf resort for example) and they offer a wide variety of genres and opportunities to train skills on any number of subjects depending on the game and what it was designed for.

Naturally, you can go overboard with anything. It is entirely possible to become addicted to videogames or spend an inordinate amount of time playing them to the exclusion of important responsibilities. I have a friend who recently purchased a couple of virtual reality systems and I feel it eats up too much of his time in what amounts to mostly a solo activity. I personally enjoy videogames for the social aspects and to have an avenue to compete with friends I've made online, all over the world.

Totally not the point Zan. I wasn't arguing against video games or claiming there is a "right" or "wrong" way to play them.

It wasn't a challenge to you, I was trying to speak to a broader audience who may not have as much experience with videogames.

Honestly, what is your point then?