Video Games Make Child-Men

I was working retail when I grew one my senior year of high school and people kept asking me if I had kids.

Drove me nuts.

"Oh god no." never got a good response back from them, but at least it was honest.

KaterinLHC wrote:

Oooh, ooh, wait! I got one: Why do women have boobs? So you got something to look at while you're talking to them.

...So you got something to look at while you're talking to them...
...So you got something to look at --

But boobs are for touching.

KaterinLHC wrote:

Oooh, ooh, wait! I got one: Why do women have boobs? So you got something to look at while you're talking to them.

...So you got something to look at while you're talking to them...
...So you got something to look at --

I LOL'd. And having just had surgery, it hurt a lot. Thanks!

Hearkening back to Dr J.'s post on page 1: he nailed it. Good rant sir!

I must admit I went a bit slack-jawed reading this piece. I found myself double-checking the url, thinking that this was really hosted on onion.com. I am a heck of a lot closer to 40 than 20 and I still live the "child-man" lifestyle. No kids, etc., and I love video games. And I don't see a darn thing wrong with it. I have a committed relationship with a fine woman, a career, am fiscally solvent and responsible and don't see it changing any time soon. Marriage and children and all of the 1950s era goals that the author so laments the lack of, is not the only path to take in life.

The marriage-children route should be taken by choice, by those who are willing and able to do so. There are already enough humans on this earth. The author makes the argument that this should be the natural progression of one's life - this is just plain wrong.

The Dark Ages.

So it appears that I'm now a Man-Teen...! :shock:... Well, I guess I'm half way there.

Nei wrote:

The Dark Ages.

So it appears that I'm now a Man-Teen...! :shock:... Well, I guess I'm half way there.

This article wasn't so bad, actually.

It wasn't ranting lunacy, but it still puts forth that idea that men sitting around wearing bowling hats, chasing skirts, smoking cigars and getting drunk at the pub is somehow preferable to coming home and spending a little time in front of a video game at home. It's patently ridiculous.

Ulairi wrote:

This article wasn't so bad, actually.

I know but I figure with 1 or 2 more articles like that I might finally be promoted to the status of Man.

DSGamer wrote:

It wasn't ranting lunacy, but it still puts forth that idea that men sitting around wearing bowling hats, chasing skirts, smoking cigars and getting drunk at the pub is somehow preferable to coming home and spending a little time in front of a video game at home. It's patently ridiculous.

I didn't take it that way at all. She says that sitting at home and playing video games is the new "men's club" and it is no different than women reading chick lit, it's just how the new generation is escaping from "adult" life. With adult life being working, raising the family, etc. I don't agree with everything in her article, I just don't think it is insulting to gamers.

Disagree. She had one paragraph at the end that sounded like maybe she got it. Otherwise the rest of the tone was much different.

Ulairi wrote:
Nei wrote:

The Dark Ages.

So it appears that I'm now a Man-Teen...! :shock:... Well, I guess I'm half way there.

This article wasn't so bad, actually.

It makes the same mistakes that all non-gamer-written articles do trying to critique the medium. It completely lacks the understanding of video games as a medium similar to movies, books, theater, board games, all of it. It's entertainment folks. Nothing more. If I'm guilty of playing video games to avoid the realities of adult life, then what is wrong with that? We all do it, just using different means. She allows her ignorance of the medium to color her opinion. Therefore, she fails.

Nevermind the whole biological clock ticking thing. It's okay for men not to want babies. Honestly. As long as they're up front about it, I don't see the problem.

The problem is that it's your patriotic duty to shirk condoms and ejaculate wildly.

Alien Love Gardener wrote:

The problem is that it's your patriotic duty to shirk condoms and ejaculate wildly.

plagiarism is a bad thing. Give KaterinLHC credit man, not just steal her work

DSGamer wrote:

It's okay for men not to want babies. Honestly.

On an individual level, absolutely.

It's when it spreads to the societal level that there's a problem.

Thanks, Nos. Alas, if only I could get royalties off that line - Quintin would have made me a millionaire by now.

Nosferatu wrote:
Alien Love Gardener wrote:

The problem is that it's your patriotic duty to shirk condoms and ejaculate wildly.

plagiarism is a bad thing. Give KaterinLHC credit man, not just steal her work ;)

Honestly, I thought it was immortal enough that people would know who I was quoting without some clunky citation. And clearly I was right! :p

KaterinLHC wrote:

Thanks, Nos. Alas, if only I could get royalties off that line - Quintin would have made me a millionaire by now.

I will gladly pay you 30% of all the money I made off my posts.

Little Raven wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

It's okay for men not to want babies. Honestly.

On an individual level, absolutely.

It's when it spreads to the societal level that there's a problem.

Why? The expansion of mankind is a necessity?

DSGamer wrote:
Little Raven wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

It's okay for men not to want babies. Honestly.

On an individual level, absolutely.

It's when it spreads to the societal level that there's a problem.

Why? The expansion of mankind is a necessity?

Well said sir. Well said.

Some may argue it's a necessity but I would add that while I would like our species to continue, the rate of that progression should be considered. It hearkens me back to Agent Smith's tirade to Morpheus in the interrogation scene from the first movie. He likened humanity to a virus. It's true in many respects. There are so damn many of us already. More so than any other point in history. And it's having an impact.

DSGamer wrote:

Why? The expansion of mankind is a necessity?

No. Nor is there any danger of western child-men destroying mankind through a failure to breed. But for a society to continue, it needs a younger generation. Moreover, that younger generation needs to be large enough to maintain critical mass. Otherwise, that society is supplanted by whatever society does produce a younger generation.

Is that a bad thing? Depends on how much you like the society.

DSGamer wrote:
Little Raven wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

It's okay for men not to want babies. Honestly.

On an individual level, absolutely.

It's when it spreads to the societal level that there's a problem.

Why? The expansion of mankind is a necessity?

Yes. Our whole culture and economy is based on growth. If we stop growing, our nation (or any nation) is in a hard, hard place.

If we keep basing every societal choice on economics alone, our entire race is in a very hard place.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

If we keep basing every societal choice on economics alone, our entire race is in a very hard place.

Judging by some of the responses to the crazy notion that you wouldn't breed, we're way past being in that place.

DSGamer wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

If we keep basing every societal choice on economics alone, our entire race is in a very hard place.

Judging by some of the responses to the crazy notion that you wouldn't breed, we're way past being in that place.

No one cares if you breed or not, DS. But, on the level of should our civilization continue, I think it should.

Ulairi wrote:

Yes. Our whole culture and economy is based on growth. If we stop growing, our nation (or any nation) is in a hard, hard place.

Fair point. However, is the current socio-economic climate of North America conductive for the majority of families to have multiple children, and provide for all of them a certain quality of life (e.g., after school activities, dental work, savings for future university fees etc.)?

Dr._J wrote:

Fair point. However, is the current socio-economic climate of North America conductive for the majority of families to have multiple children, and provide for all of them a certain quality of life (e.g., after school activities, dental work, savings for future university fees etc.)?

Absolutely. Indeed, parents can now provide a better life for their children than at virtually any other point in US history.

But fewer want to. Kids are a hassle, after all.

Dr._J wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

Yes. Our whole culture and economy is based on growth. If we stop growing, our nation (or any nation) is in a hard, hard place.

Fair point. However, is the current socio-economic climate of North America conductive for the majority of families to have multiple children, and provide for all of them a certain quality of life (e.g., after school activities, dental work, savings for future university fees etc.)?

Yes.

Ulairi wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

If we keep basing every societal choice on economics alone, our entire race is in a very hard place.

Judging by some of the responses to the crazy notion that you wouldn't breed, we're way past being in that place.

No one cares if you breed or not, DS. But, on the level of should our civilization continue, I think it should.

Okay, so you don't care if I breed. Fair enough. However, I'm not always sure that human civilization has done enough good over bad that making the blanket statement that we "have" to continue is true. We'd like to continue. It would be fun to continue. But there is nothing noble about the human species writ large. Nothing that the Earth would miss out on were we not here. (Being very facetious since you guys are speaking as if slowing down breeding will end civilization and the human race).

DSGamer wrote:
Ulairi wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

If we keep basing every societal choice on economics alone, our entire race is in a very hard place.

Judging by some of the responses to the crazy notion that you wouldn't breed, we're way past being in that place.

No one cares if you breed or not, DS. But, on the level of should our civilization continue, I think it should.

Okay, so you don't care if I breed. Fair enough. However, I'm not always sure that human civilization has done enough good over bad that making the blanket statement that we "have" to continue is true. We'd like to continue. It would be fun to continue. But there is nothing noble about the human species writ large. Nothing that the Earth would miss out on were we not here. (Being very facetious since you guys are speaking as if slowing down breeding will end civilization and the human race).

You are what we call in economics, an irrational agent.