The Only Thing I Know is Video Games Ruined My Life

Status
Not open for further replies.
Frank

Frank



So, this guy posted up this video extolling the virtues of quitting video games because they RUIN LIVES and they RUINED HIS LIFE.

My take, this piece of self pitying garbage wants to shift the blame for his entire crappy, failed adult life onto video games? Fuck you asshole. Trying to talk like doing anything in your life is more constructive than playing video games. Again, fuck off. This self centered twat couldn't keep his shitty life together. He couldn't keep his addiction in check. This! THIS is the problem with today's society. It isn't video games or Dungeons and Dragons or heavy metal music or whatever other scapegoat of the God damn day is. It's this whole passing the buck, shifting the blame, irresponsible nonsense that is everywhere. Someone shoots up a school. HE MUST'VE PLAYED DOOM! Hell, a college professor (with a history of suspected murder) shoots faculty over tenure. SHE PLAYED D&D, IT BREEDS COLLEGE EDUCATED PROFESSOR KILLERS!

That's the biggest thing wrong with this video too. He attacks video games in general, but it's plainly obvious he's a life-failure WoW junkie.
Try taking some responsibility for your failed marriage you skid mark. Blizzard didn't make you throw away your life. You chose to.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Exactly. Video games didn't ruin his life, he ruined his own life and happened to use video games as the method. Sort of like, if a guy shoots himself, guns didn't end his life, he ended his life with a gun.

There are people with obsessive or addictive personalities. They just have to accept it and work to overcome it. Some people drink too much, some people are compelled to gamble, and so on and so forth. In all these instances, it is not alcohol or gambling or video games that is ruining lives - is is the people who are ruining their own lives, no matter what they choose to ruin it with. Really, you could "ruin your life" with charity work, if you pursued it to the exclusion of all else.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
This guy does raise some valid points, but what will he do to fill his time now? Volunteer at the local shelter? Probably not. Drive from New York to LA...3 times? Nope. My guess is he's going to keep updating his blog (http://brianschmoyer.blogspot.com/), uploading to his YouTube channel with 50+ videos (http://www.youtube.com/user/CirrusEpix) or some other form of technology related hobby. The games were not the problem. It was the person playing them.

As with anything else you can become addicted to. Drugs, cigarettes, religion, alcohol, etc. Maybe it is better for him to be off of games as it is with me to no longer play WoW. But the difference is I know that the issues lie with me and not the game. He just hasn't accepted his fault yet. He'll grow up some day. He's only 30.
 
Jay

Jay

This concept is the same with people who get morbidly fat and blame fast food places. No one forced you to eat there. No one forced you to play. Don't blame that shit.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
My comment on his blog:

The games are not to blame. Anything you choose to go overboard with would have the same negative effect. Whether you had started with something gaming or something else has nothing to do with the medium and everything to do with those who are succumbing. In your case it may very be a good thing you are quitting playing games. But to preach the way you did that games are evil is disingenuous and allow even more people to attempt to shove blame that they deserve for their own shortcomings onto something that was nothing more than the vehicle by which they drove themselves to failure.

For example, I play games regularly but had to stop playing WoW because I was getting really, really into it. Was that the fault of WoW? No way. It was all me, baby. So I don't play it again. Would I tell people WoW ruined my life? No, that would be a lie. Would I tell people that *I* nearly ruined my life by playing too much WoW? Certainly. And therein lies the difference. Stop blaming other people or things for the things YOU did.

And I'm interested to know what you will be doing now to fill the hours. Posting here? Updating your YouTube channel? By this video you will be shunning all technology as it's not truly social interaction, volunteering at your local shelter or becoming a missionary.

I don't mean to be negative, but your video will be touted as inspirational and a lesson for everyone to be learned but the lesson you are sending is thei: "Find something in your life and blame all of your problems on it. It's okay. It can't possibly be your fault."

And that's just wrong.
Click to expand...
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
"I spent too much time playing football and now I'm stuck working in fast food. Sports ruined my life!"

"I spent all my time reading novels but Tom Clancy books didn't turn me into an international superspy! The New York Times Best Seller List ruined my life!"

"In the time it took me to decopage an antique dresser with magazine clippings of presidential pets, I could have gone on 100 first dates! Hobby Lobby ruined my life!


Hyperbole aside, we are not the first generation to have to make hard choices about technology, we just have more technology to make choices about.
 
Hylian

Hylian

I do not believe that games are responsible for everything he mentioned. Video games can take over your life but only in the same sense that any entertainment course can. It is up to the individual themselves to make sure that they don't let it over take their life. I think most of the blame is still on the individuals shoulders. I mean imagine some guy who goes out and gets drunk and than gets in a car and ends up hitting and killing someone. Do we blame the alcohol its self or do we blame the person who drank the alcohol and than decided to make a stupid mistake?

As far as games having no positive impact on lives. I have to disagree with that as well. It has been proven that games can have positive impacts on your life. It can help someone become more adept at figuring out new situations as well as many other things. As far as all the money that gets wasted on video games argument can also be used on any form of entertainment.

I personally think video games have had a positive impact in my life. They can take me to other worlds and let my imagination soar. They can give me place to vent my frustration by blowing the crap out of stuff. They have given me friends for life who share a common interest. they helped my and my siblings tolerate each other and eventually grow into friends. They helped me find some comfort as well as a place to escape too for all the times growing up when my dad had to go to the hospital and I was not sure if he would come home (of which there where many) now that is not to say that my family didn't help in situations like that but at least with video games I could take my mind off of the current situation and let my mind rest.
 
C

Chibibar

life has ruin my gaming life :) I am too busy with my family, social, and work to play enough L4D2 with my friends. I miss monday session cause of work...... darn mortgage.

Mortgage ruin my life!! ;)
 
Hylian

Hylian

Fun Size said:
On the flip side, life has totally ruined my gaming.
Click to expand...

tell me about it :(


I am a hardcore gamer trapped in a casual gamers play time :(





---------------------------------------------------


I noticed that me and him share the same first name. Now my name fills me with shame. CURSE HIM FOR RUINING MY NAME!!!!!!
 
C

Chibibar

heh. I finally watch the whole video. I think he might have some points in terms of doing stuff = productive values, but that is hard to measure.

I love playing facebook games. I actually make REAL life friends with it. I made connection and friendship (at least I think I do, you may not think of me as a friend) via this forum. It all started from a video game comic (at least that is how it originally started) It is entertainment, like any entertainment people can get addicted to it if they don't moderate. I think he is blaming games in the wrong way. He should be blaming himself for not having the ability or seek help with his inability to control and moderate himself.

I also have been playing almost 30 years of my life. I own a house, a car, have a good marriage, and not too overweight (love to cook and eat) so........ unlike him, I control my spending.
 
Espy

Espy

Oh and I want to be clear: he does make good points but every single one of them are made null and void by his blaming things other than himself for his poor life choices.
 
ElJuski

ElJuski

Staff member
hahahaha...video games aren't the problem. He, the man without ambition, is the problem. But at least now he found it...hopefully he spends it on something less inane than bitching about video games.

Haha "Well you will probably be angry or confused". What a prat.
 
Espy

Espy

ElJuski said:
hahahaha...video games aren't the problem. He, the man without ambition, is the problem. But at least now he found it...hopefully he spends it on something less inane than bitching about video games.

Haha "Well you will probably be angry or confused". What a prat.
Click to expand...
Yeah, whats angering about this isn't that he is blaming video games it's that he's to big a pussy to accept any responsibility.
 
Shawn

Shawn

I dropped out of College because I was addicted to Everquest. Incredibly addicted. It was all I ever wanted to do. Is that Everquest's fault? Fuck no. I blame myself and I know I was an idiot.
I never drastically changed my life and quit video games of course. I dropped Everquest for Star Wars Galaxies, then that for CoH, then eventually found myself to WoW. But I never got as addicted to any of those games as I had Everquest. Sure I played them quite a bit, but mostly that's because I had nothing better to do. If a friend called me up and asked "Hey. Want to hang out?" I'd quit playing and join them. And I sure as hell never missed a day of work to play WoW. Heck. I even quit WoW when it became clear that raiding guilds was too much like a second job.

---------- Post added at 03:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:40 PM ----------
There is no place on a Resume for X-Box achievements.
Click to expand...
He's clearly never applied for a video game tester position.
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

Wow, there are a hell of a lot of sour grapes in this thread. I don't think most of you made it past the first minute of the movie. He's not in any way saying that video games are inherently bad, as a matter of fact, towards the end he mentions the positive aspects of gaming via PAX. He makes an excellent point about our generation (he sounds to be in the same generation as me) being the first to have to find a balance between electronic entertainment ruling our lives and enhancing it. He was talking about the problems that HE has had. He's not even blaming the games themselves, he's blaming himself.

So, yeah, rage all you want against him, it doesn't make his points any less valid.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Bowielee said:
He makes an excellent point about our generation (he sounds to be in the same generation as me) being the first to have to find a balance between electronic entertainment ruling our lives and enhancing it.
Click to expand...
Except he's wrong. We're not the first generation to make that choice. At some point between the invention and the printing press and cheap dime-store novels, a generation had the first opportunity to loose themselves to pulp novels and abandon the real world for the written page. Many people have made that choice, and became distanced socially while gaining no real skills. It's not just pulp Sci-Fi, either, women (and maybe some men) have wasted thousands of hours reading junky romance novels. My mother used to buy them by the sack-full from used bookstores. She probably spent as much time reading those books as most WoW addicts. Then she realized she was wasting her time with novels she didn't remember after she read them, and stopped reading all fiction for a while. Now she just chooses very carefully what she's going to read, and when.

There's also cable television and VHS tapes; records, CDs and other audio recordings; all sorts of collectibles; model trains and other miniatures; and all sorts of other hobbies and entertainment pursuits. We're hardly the first generation to have an opportunity to squander our lives away on an entertaining hobby.
 
C

Chibibar

figmentPez;343068][QUOTE=Bowielee said:
He makes an excellent point about our generation (he sounds to be in the same generation as me) being the first to have to find a balance between electronic entertainment ruling our lives and enhancing it.
Click to expand...
Except he's wrong. We're not the first generation to make that choice. At some point between the invention and the printing press and cheap dime-store novels, a generation had the first opportunity to loose themselves to pulp novels and abandon the real world for the written page. Many people have made that choice, and became distanced socially while gaining no real skills. It's not just pulp Sci-Fi, either, women (and maybe some men) have wasted thousands of hours reading junky romance novels. My mother used to buy them by the sack-full from used bookstores. She probably spent as much time reading those books as most WoW addicts. Then she realized she was wasting her time with novels she didn't remember after she read them, and stopped reading all fiction for a while. Now she just chooses very carefully what she's going to read, and when.

There's also cable television and VHS tapes; records, CDs and other audio recordings; all sorts of collectibles; model trains and other miniatures; and all sorts of other hobbies and entertainment pursuits. We're hardly the first generation to have an opportunity to squander our lives away on an entertaining hobby.[/QUOTE]

I agree with Fig here. I did watch the WHOLE video and yes, he try to "recover" his blame via PAX example but it was a poor attempt. He didn't own up to his follies. He had an addiction and he is blaming that instead of himself. Like any entertainment out there, it is up to YOU to control yourself.

There are people who waste thousands of hours watching TV shows day in and day out. There are fans who spends literally thousands of dollars on merchandise for a team that they never met in person, watch every game and memorized all these stats.

Entertainment is what it is... entertainment. It has been around for ages.
 
Bowielee

Bowielee

I find it hilarious that freakin newgrounds had a less vitriolic reaction to this video than you guys did.
Shine on you crazy diamonds.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Sure. I can see that he's somewhat blaming himself. Or at least he keeps it general enough that he doesn't say exactly who is to blame and hints at video games enough during the film to help us come to our own assumptions. Then again why call it "Video Games Ruined my Life" over "I let Video Games Ruin My Life"? But if he's not blaming video games then good god why make the video in the first place? It's not like he's offering anything new to the argument. He even took the time to decently animate it. I wonder how many times he could have read Harry Potter while he wasted hours upon hours at the computer.

So let's consider the obvious reason the video was made. He's trying to gain sympathy for fucking up his own life by playing too much World of Warcraft.
He won't even take down his VG review videos because he loves attention so much.
 
Silver Jelly

Silver Jelly

figmentPez;343068][QUOTE=Bowielee said:
He makes an excellent point about our generation (he sounds to be in the same generation as me) being the first to have to find a balance between electronic entertainment ruling our lives and enhancing it.
Click to expand...
Except he's wrong. We're not the first generation to make that choice. At some point between the invention and the printing press and cheap dime-store novels, a generation had the first opportunity to loose themselves to pulp novels and abandon the real world for the written page. Many people have made that choice, and became distanced socially while gaining no real skills. It's not just pulp Sci-Fi, either, women (and maybe some men) have wasted thousands of hours reading junky romance novels. My mother used to buy them by the sack-full from used bookstores. She probably spent as much time reading those books as most WoW addicts. Then she realized she was wasting her time with novels she didn't remember after she read them, and stopped reading all fiction for a while. Now she just chooses very carefully what she's going to read, and when.

There's also cable television and VHS tapes; records, CDs and other audio recordings; all sorts of collectibles; model trains and other miniatures; and all sorts of other hobbies and entertainment pursuits. We're hardly the first generation to have an opportunity to squander our lives away on an entertaining hobby.[/QUOTE]

Remember Don Quixote.
 
T

TwoBit

Reading about people on a forum complaining about a dude who blames video games for all his problems has ruined my life.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
TwoBit said:
Reading about people on a forum complaining about a dude who blames video games for all his problems has ruined my life.
Click to expand...
Duh! Everyone knows that Halforums (and Tom Brazelton) is the true destructive force in the universe. We're highly offended that he didn't realize that we are the ones that ruined his life, not mere video games.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top