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Comment by fullshark | Hacker News Reader

If someone like Prince Harry just sharing his opinion that it's a waste of time is seriously damaging, that to me indicates that he may be hitting a nerve there.

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It's hitting a major nerve. Video games are far more dangerous than comic books or movies or TV. Why? Because they're a success surrogate. They take people who may feel disillusioned with the difficulty of making a life and give them an easy fix. It's the number one problem with video games: they hijack the reward mechanisms that are supposed to motivate you to improve your life. This puts them on a level closer to hardcore drugs than to other forms of entertainment.

It's hitting a nerve because it's not just Prince Harry, its many people, and often times its parents, and friends. It's the collective "your'e doing it wrong" coming from society.

Its not such a big deal from one person but if it's something that is a significant part of your life and you are constantly bombarded that it is negative then yeah its gonna have a negative effect on you.

So, I share the same opinion as Prince Harry, as a teacher. My students only want to do Fortnite, or Brawlstars, or Apex or whatever the biggest craze is. They're completely addicted to those games, and it's near impossible to get some of the students off their phones. Like, it's definitely impacting these kids at school; I can't imagine what it's doing if they ever get assigned homework (most other teachers I know have just given up because they either don't do it or cheat).

People on HN are not willing to accept that these games are highly tuned psychological products that induce addiction.

I'm 100% willing to accept it. I feel like the people who aren't are the types who get extremely defensive about gaming in general. Imagine feeling so attacked that you have to try to claim that DoTA taught you "entrepreneurial skills".

Everyone has hobbies that are time-wasters to an extent. It isn't the end of the world if someone has the opinion that this one habit might be addictive.

As someone who's never played Fortnite or WOW, Prince Harry kind of sounds like he's trying to hit a nerve.

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