Thursday, September 10, 2009
Well it's certainly a waste of time...
Gaming! I sincerely doubt anyone games and would argue the point that gaming is productive (unless they're doing one of those brain teaser DS puzzle games, or they're some MLG-fanatic, and phat monies are on the line) or that time spent gaming couldn't be better filled by doing other things (itching scratches, reading on the toilet, or driving to McDonald's and ordering a McDouble - but adding shredded lettuce and MacSauce to essentially make it into a 1$ Big Mac sans middle bun.) The point of gaming, in my humble opinion, has never been to attain productivity. I know I'm likely preaching to the choir here, but gaming, frankly, is an exercise in doing nothing particularly worthwhile because you enjoy the shit out of it. When I get home today, I should probably do my laundry and pay my bills before work, but I'll most likely end up returning to my beloved Link to The Past - a game in dire need of being beaten for the hundredth time. I expect many of you will undergo a similar experience, and it warms my innards.
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I’m going to jump in and flat-out disagree with you that videogames can’t be, or usually are not, productive - but it depends on a couple of things and how you define productivity and the sphere of influence in which you’re doing so. For example, attaining the Master Sword is an enormous productive boost for Link - it allows him greater access to game areas, faster rupee-farming, and it makes him look more badass, which is the ultimate goal in any game. In a sense, it also increases real-life productivity. If you’ve dedicated two hours to playing the game each evening, then those two hours will be more productive and you’ll get more done within the confines of the game. Further, if you decided to play until you killed some boss or dungeon, the Master Sword will allow you to do this faster, allowing you to work on other activities, and thus be more productive in real life as well.
ReplyDeleteSome of the lessons of videogames are also productive, and those are generally timing and reflexes. Obviously, quick twitch-reflexes could theoretically make you more likely to leap out of the way of an oncoming car that would otherwise have killed you - and surely, the most productive thing any person can do is simply to survive. Timing has implications in a huge spectrum of activities, from comedy to sex to scholarship. In fighting a boss that is only vulnerable for a spit-second, the player learns that he must look for that small window of opportunity and exploit it if he wishes to progress. In stand-up comedy, the comedian must structure his jokes and narrative to create in the audience that split-second window in which he must strike with the punchline - success means a standing ovation and a thirty-second laughter pause, and failure means mediocrity.
Finally, I’d say that gaming in and of itself can be productive in an abstract fashion. I’ve begun waking up an hour early each day to play a quick, thirty-minute match of Heroes of Newerth. Not because it gets me anywhere in the game, not because I’m obsessed, but because of its stimulating effects - it forces me into a state of alertness, and the early adrenaline rush of completely destroying someone gives me a great confidence boost. I can use this energy in my early day activities - and anything that makes me more effective at life is, itself, productive.
Of course, one could look at my raiding/play history with World of Warcraft to know that the opposite can hold true - while lessons learned in WoW have certainly helped me in real life and in gaming life, so much time was spent with it that other aspects of my life suffered. But in the end, everything depends on, well, timing.