Some people have this idea that playing games is a hobby and it puts me off. Playing games is not a hobby it is a pastime. Hobbies are often communal activities that encourage socialization, not pseudo online congregations. You can engage with your hobby in isolation and it can be your own activity for yourself, or you can share your hobby with others which I believe is the prime function of maintaining a hobby the goal being socialization. Just because you play a game with other people or groups of people does not then make playing a game a hobby, you are merely interacting with others inside of a video game which is very dystopian.

This same phenomenon of pseudo relationships exists in the streaming world where people congregate behind their screens to watch a person do a thing or play a game, but together, it’s essentially gooning without the sexual pathology.

The definition of hobby has been stretched to include video games. Video games are not a hobby, they facilitate the atomization of the self and promote further isolation of the human spirit. I can play a game with other people without having met the other people, in essence they become the medium itself exempt from the human form. I do not know you nor have I met you, if we did meet would we even share a common interest outside of the pastime we bonded over?

The system that relies on atomizing its people to the point of creating virtual subjects with no corporeal being and promoting socialization through video games is entirely bizarre, the amalgamation of things that are present in my existence pushes me closer to reaching peak psychosis.

There needs to be a material value to a hobby, it can’t just be data on a computer highlighting one’s achievements. Without computers, without all that data stored, your hobby seizes to exist.

Video games must be abolished, they are just another barrier preventing our escape from a doomed virtual world created for the sole purpose of pushing us further away from our physical bodies. Like the universe shifting, the same process is existing within society, they call it the red shift and we are Red Dead shifting away from ourselves.

    • UlyssesT
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        • UlyssesT
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      • Nakoichi [they/them]M
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        3 months ago

        You know you done fucked up when you got UlyssesT siding with the g*mers lol.

        Love you comrade

      • BeamBrain [he/him]
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        3 months ago

        We need a non-ableist version of the "joke's on them I was only pretending" meme

        I guess if you replace the r-slur with "asshole" it works

    • roux [he/him, they/them]
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      3 months ago

      Same comrade, same. I was getting ready to like write about how the initial thesis that hobbies are communal is potentially incorrect because the majority of my hobbies are done in isolation, and then I was like "is this a bit?"

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      • Nocturne Dragonite@lemmygrad.ml
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        3 months ago

        I only had two options: it was a joke that wasn't really funny, or a serious post that was dumb enough to be a joke so I just picked both lmao

  • abc [he/him, comrade/them]
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    3 months ago

    Some people have this idea that playing baccarat is a hobby and it puts me off. Playing baccarat is not a hobby it is a pastime. Hobbies are often communal activities that encourage socialization, not pseudo casino congregations. You can engage with your hobby in isolation and it can be your own activity for yourself, or you can share your hobby with others which I believe is the prime function of maintaining a hobby the goal being socialization. Just because you play baccarat with other people or groups of people does not then make playing baccarat a hobby, you are merely interacting with others inside of a baccarat game which is very dystopian.

    This same phenomenon of pseudo relationships exists in the streaming world where people congregate behind their screens to watch a person do a thing or play baccarat, but together, it’s essentially gooning without the sexual pathology. (actual lol at this part)

    The definition of hobby has been stretched to include baccarat. Baccarat is not a hobby, they facilitate the atomization of the self and promote further isolation of the human spirit. I can play a game of baccarat with other people without having met the other people, in essence they become the medium itself exempt from the human form. I do not know you nor have I met you, if we did meet would we even share a common interest outside of the pastime we bonded over?

    The system that relies on atomizing its people to the point of creating virtual subjects with no corporeal being and promoting socialization through baccarat is entirely bizarre, the amalgamation of things that are present in my existence pushes me closer to reaching peak psychosis.

    There needs to be a material value to a hobby, it can’t just be cards on a board highlighting one’s achievements. Without a tableau, without all that data stored, your hobby CEASES to exist.

    Card games must be abolished, they are just another barrier preventing our escape from a doomed virtual world created for the sole purpose of pushing us further away from our physical bodies. Like the universe shifting, the same process is existing within society, they call it the red shift and we are Blue Eyes White Dragons shifting away from ourselves.

    Show

  • m532 [she/her]
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    3 months ago

    Ableist bullshit, you just want to degrade people who play videogames, regardless of if its a "hobby" or not

    • UlyssesT
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      • Black_Mald_Futures [any]
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        3 months ago

        I'm too lazy to read this thread or write a response to it other than "i disagree" but IMO it's not necessarily bait, sometimes people just have crank opinions yknow

  • KobaCumTribute [she/her]
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    3 months ago

    People used to play chess through mailed letters. Before the internet hobby communities could be restricted to people writing letters to enthusiast magazines or for the more privileged of them sometimes traveling to a convention, if they didn't live in a big city and the hobby was niche enough. People still play tabletop games through daily forum posts or over IRC channels.

    For much of the 20th century the main American hobby was sitting dead still for hours every day staring at a man in a glowing box deliberately try to give you deadly brainworms. Before that sitting dead still staring at some cheap paper containing some weird racist story about Jack Manly getting the girl as his special good boy prize for doing colonialism was the biggest hobby.

    In short, there's no reasonable dividing line of telepresence for hobbies nor is there innate quality to something being a hobby in the first place.

  • HelluvaBottomCarter [comrade/them]
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    3 months ago

    I completely agree but we must also consider reading literature as well. People consumed with buying books, sitting alone, completely enveloped in a fantasy world with no regard for what's happening outside of their story. It's not a coincidence that the printing press accompanied industrialization.

    • KobaCumTribute [she/her]
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      3 months ago

      Holy shit we made the same joke about reading being a toxic hobby at the exact same time.

    • Munrock ☭@lemmygrad.ml
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      3 months ago

      I've met so many people who think that interacting with other humans online is dystopian and dehumanizing and nothing like 'real' interaction, while also thinking that to read a book is to experience a deeply intimate connection to the author on a spiritual and intellectual level.

    • keepcarrot [she/her]
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      3 months ago

      Afaik people with lots of books don't actually read that much, they just want the vibes of looking like they read a lot

      • Torenico [he/him]
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        3 months ago

        omg literally me. I have a lot of books and I don't read them.

        But that is because Capitalism gives me not a lot of free time.

      • tocopherol [any]
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        3 months ago

        I don't want the vibe I just can't finish a gahdang book and I'm a hoarder

  • BeamBrain [he/him]
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    3 months ago

    Pajitnov wrote Tetris for fun in a couple of weeks on a piece of hardware with 4kb of RAM. Pretty sure to abolish video games you'd have to either get rid of computers completely or have a dude with a gun standing over the shoulder of every programmer.

    Also fuck that, video games are fun and make me happy and my life would be worse without them.

  • keepcarrot [she/her]
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    3 months ago

    Video games are a hobby, like watching TV, but generally not worth mentioning on a date. Oh, you like video games? Don't tell me you like eating food beyond your required nutrients too, you quirky bean

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  • Facky [he/him,comrade/them]
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    3 months ago

    Hobbies are often communal activities that encourage socialization, not pseudo online congregations

    Wrong. A hobby is a small falcon in the genus falco

  • Awoo [she/her]
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    edit-2
    3 months ago

    in the streaming world where people congregate behind their screens to watch a person do a thing or play a game, but together, it’s essentially gooning without the sexual pathology

    jesse-wtf


    I agree that videogames aren't a hobby though.

    Unless you make videogames, then that can be a hobby.

    Hobbies involve making a thing, and sometimes sharing that thing you made with other people who also make things. This can stretch to making a collection, which you share with others, such as tabletop card games.

    Some specific videogames are however a hobby, by themselves. Minecraft can be a hobby. People make stuff, and share the things they made with each others.

    • UlyssesT
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    • GaveUp [she/her]
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      3 months ago

      Hobbies involve making a thing

      You're describing creative hobbies

      Sports and exercising are quintessential hobbies but nobody except the best players make anything

      • Awoo [she/her]
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        edit-2
        3 months ago

        Sports are pastimes that are played competitively.

        Exercise for personal gains is a hobby because you are working on creating something, it's just biological.

        • GaveUp [she/her]
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          edit-2
          3 months ago

          because you are working on creating something, it's just biological

          I'm pretty sure playing video games create biological changes too in your brain and certain muscles too then like reaction speeds, new neuron pathways, and muscle memory

          • Awoo [she/her]
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            3 months ago

            Maybe so but you're playing the game for fun, not for those changes.

            You do the exercise for those changes. Some find it fun as well but the primary goal is the physical changes.

            Nobody is playing games for the physical changes unless it's like some old person doing nintendo brain training or something.

            • GaveUp [she/her]
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              3 months ago

              You do the exercise for those changes

              What about the people exercising for good feelings vs people who play video games also for good feelings

              If you wish to reply you can get the last word in, I'm checked out of this debate now tbh

    • heggs_bayer [he/him]
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      3 months ago

      Hobbies involve making a thing, and sometimes sharing that thing you made with other people who also make things.

      Does this mean playing a sport isn't a hobby?

      • Awoo [she/her]
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        3 months ago

        Sports are pastimes that are played competitively.

        • heggs_bayer [he/him]
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          3 months ago

          I've never heard "hobby" and "pastime" used as non-synonyms in any context before this thread.

          • Awoo [she/her]
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            3 months ago

            I mostly don't care and just enjoy deeply semantic arguments.

  • blight [he/him]
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    3 months ago

    This is kind of like saying "[insert band] isn't real music" – actually, it is, but that doesn't mean it can't suck

  • UlyssesT
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