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Comment by ctvo | Hacker News Reader

I hope the author does video games next.

The nerve of people spending their time how they want vs. being constantly productive. It's simply unacceptable.

Video games are more of a time-sink for me than Netflix, but I comfort myself in the fact that at least video games are interactive, i.e. not "turn-my-brain-off" moments.

If everyone does nothing but produce content, who will consume it?

Video game is already mentioned and contrasted in the article.

The difference is (to paraphrase what the author says) playing video games excessively is already frowned on. Watching Netflix is not.

I disagree that video games are frowned upon. For certain demographics (young men, 12-35), it's expected behavior. We actually celebrate women getting into video games (iOS / Android "casual" friendly games).

I mean, I disagree with most of the article so..

"how they want"

That's what those marketing dollars are for. There is a practically infinite supply of free games, but somehow parasitic pay-to-win dark-pattern companies stay in business.

"constantly productive"

I hope that everyone feels like they are making constant progress towards their own goals. If someone wasn't they might bury their head in a stream of constant distraction. Wouldn't that be a shame?

My exact reaction.:) I have friends that openly state that they have "learned valuable life lessons from playing RPG games". From 15 years on I don't watch TV. I stopped video games after WOW madness. Result: Now I play guitar reasonably well, painting is more fun than ever, reading books is like morning coffee:)

It's a pretty common story that a lot of developers got their start from video games.

It's logical. From 100 000 players, one eventually will be bored and start asking more interesting questions, first by finding workarounds in game logic, then moving to "how things work" and so on. But in reality games in mass are "gambling lots" filled width "dark UX" patterns, maximising user engagement for profit. Nothing more. Indie game development is full with horror stories and successful ones are rare.

Video games also have another use (if approached properly): fighting depression. They are essentially the antithesis of the depressive cycle. You have a goal, you do something to meet it, you get another goal... This active approach can actually be used to rewire the brain out of passive descent into proactivity (now go exercise, go learn, go eat properly).

The knife-edge their is the addiction factor for some games. So it depends.

Yeah if the masses want opium we should give it to them at cost /s

Who is 'we', in the above formulation?

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