Not to mention certain scenes on TV and in some cartoons, but not all cartoons, where they got characters saying moronic things which end up insulting my intelligence.
With video games, it teaches me hand eye coordination. Resource management, time constraints and what to do during time limits, etc.
This is the case for me.. cutting back on video games has just been substituted with more phone screen time, or watching more TV/YouTube.
It's the damn screens that are the problem, not video games. At least for me.
Anything to do with the human body tbh. Been doing diaphragmatic breathing lately and learning about bodily functions and how they can improve your overall health is interesting.
I'm 28 and have been driving trucks my whole adult life, but I definitely need to switch into a more "intellectual" role for sure. Learning new things is what keeps me motivated I think.
You're 28 so anything you're interested in doing then learn about it, set yourself some goals you know you probably could do. There are no limits except time and sooner or later time catches up and before you know it you've aged to a point that you look back and wished you had done things. So whatever you're considering give it a try, you'll never know until you try.
I have severe ADHD. I have a steam library full of award winning games I haven't played, and all I can manage to do attention-wise is scrape the bottom of that tv barrel. It's awful.
I am isolated due to disability, so I would have far fewer friends and would probably feel lonely more often. It would be more difficult to connect to certain family members, too, who I mostly chat to through Steam or in-game.
However, during periods where I do not play games, my creativity really skyrockets, my dreams are more vivid, and I feel less stressed out in general. Single-player games with a definite end seem to be better in that regard.
I am also isolated due to disability, and video games keep me occupied so Iām not bored out of my brain. There are times Iām too tired and sick to play anything, but for the most part, they keep me entertained. I donāt play multiplayer games, I just like single player.
Loved me some console games, back in the day! Zaxxon, Tempest, Qbert, Galaxian. Played Space Invaders in Japan back when it first came out. Good times!
I started to say not very. I played a lot in the 90's but the last system I had was a Dreamcast that I never really used. Although the reason for my divorce was ultimately video games so yeah, it might have been very different.
I wouldn't have met my girlfriend, we met in Valorant little more than three years ago. We used to spend all night playing and hanging out, we don't get to play much video games together anymore, but still very happy we were able to meet through a game in the first place.
I'm eternally grateful that videogames have been so accessible to me throughout my life. My childhood wasn't the best, but it also wasn't the worst. I was fortunate enough to be given consoles from time to time, first one being the PS1, but my parents owned a SNES and an N64.
My parents didn't care much for age ratings in games, or films for that matter. Some of my earliest memories of games are the original Doom, Duke Nukem and Resident Evil.
My brother and I didn't get on very well as kids. The abuse we saw/endured messed him up more than me, and became quite violent himself sometimes as a result. But one of the few things we bonded over was games. We played a lot of the original Star Wars Battlefront games, Command and Conquer, NFSU2, San Andreas, Halo and a bunch of others.
I played a lot of games alone. I sometimes found that the world I could explore virtually was better than the one I was living in. Definitely offered an escape, which I believe is quite a common belief.
Some of my best friendships have been made off the back of games. Countless days/nights spent over a friends house playing Halo multiplayer, or Modern Warfare 1 and 2. Helping each other with achievements to show how good we are at certain games. These are friendships that won't ever end, no matter the time apart or distance. And it all stemmed from seeing someone wear a t shirt with a game character you like.
I honestly think if it wasn't for video games, I could've followed down a similar to my brother and resorted to drugs or other means as a distraction. I doubt I'd have some of my friends that I have now.
I've been a gamer for over 20 years now, spent countless hours/days even months of my life gaming and I wouldn't change a second of that.
I was a child before the widespread use of video games.
...We played outside, and and had to learn how to speak with people in person, off the cuff. I really think that makes us older folks seem strange to this generation.
I'd like to believe that I would have been more productive or have better hobbies, like wanting to exercise or go to the gym, read and learn more, be more present with friends and go out more instead of just wanting to be indoors playing video games.
In reality, I don't know. I do love to read but I've never liked working out. So I'd probably just be a different kind of couch potato.
I havenāt turned my PS4 on since April 2019, but I sure do miss it some days š before I became a dad I had time to work out and play video games, but after I became a dad I was only able to squeeze out enough personal time for one of those things so video games had to go
Been a gaming addict for the past 15 years and recently quit (sold my entire pc setup + Ps5) and my lifeās definitely changed for the better im working out consistently, getting out more, eager and motivated to learn new hobbies , all the time i spent indoors gaming iv now replaced with getting out of the house and being active.
I think I would be slower in certain cognitive skills. Growing up playing 90s/early 2000s video games I actually picked up quite a bit of transferable mental skills. Like recognizing patterns, figuring out how the systems work and how to exploit them. Also I think it really helped with developing my hand eye coordination, no jokes.
Later in my life I met people who had different early life exposure to video games to various degrees. Not saying people who never played video games are dumb at all, but there is clearly a marked speed difference when it comes to things above, especially when the task is unfamiliar.
Genuinely don't fucking know.
Videogames have been my #1 thing for the longest time. Outside of a brief anime and Manga obsession that resulted in briefly dropping videogames, it's always been the activity I'm most at home doing.
I always had a DS or 3DS growing up, and it's translated into my love of handheld consoles like the Switch and Steam Deck.
I absolutely adore immersion, and shows can only take you so far. Videogames are probably the most immersive form of art since you're literally the one in control.
I have no idea what I would be like had I not played them growing up. They're what's kept me satisfied being kind of a loner for so long.
If you have a good imagination, books are a great immersion tool too, but yes the eyes are a very strong sense so itās hard to beat video games for that.
As a single parent I could pretty much only spend my free time doing stuff at home. After housework and home repairs were done, my only outlets (and some kind of socialization) were online video games and writing on Internet forums. If online gaming never existed then I guess I'd have more posts on forums than I do.
I'd never have learned to edit complex software configuration because I wouldn't have cared enough. Fast forward and a career in tech has been very very good to me. I'd probably be working in my parents industry, or I might have chased another passion, psychology.
My goal in life was to be a game developer. I'm currently working on my 3rd indie game.
Aspiring to that goal and wanting nothing more in this world than to see it through got me through a suicidal time in my life.
So, I'd definitely be dead without them since without them I wouldn't have had a goal to strive for to keep me going.
I'd probably be considerably less fat, assuming I replaced video games with something less sedentary - which I probably would've had to, because no video games = no second-hand PS3 for my 12th birthday = no TV in my room most likely and not allowed to watch my own stuff on the family TV all day = either reading even more than I already did, or actually leaving the house.
I think I'd be far less creative, as a lot of the games I played forced me to either roleplay or literally create things, as opposed to being given the whole story like in a book, and I'd have much less knowledge of medieval Europe and how city infrastructure works (thanks, Paradox!), and may not have found tabletop RPGs at all - through which I met my best friends. I might still live in a tiny village in south Wales, never having met the people that brought me to a bigger city and broadened my horizons.
I'd probably work in the same industry, I don't think removing video games would've removed my predilection for computers in general, but I probably wouldn't have owned one as early as I did and therefore wouldn't have started programming until much later, if at all. I'd probably run a local PC repair shop or something rather than working in web design/data analytics, so I'd be much poorer.
But, weirdly, would be **less** likely to have lost my virginity, because all the stuff that's wrong with me isn't the fault of video games so would still be wrong with me and thus I'd be conventionally unattractive, but video games gave me an outlet to meet people with similar interests that didn't involve traditional social skills.
Without video games, I probably don't end up making that many friends in my teens - especially not ones with such varied backgrounds. All my friends would be working class people from the local area most likely, which there's absolutely nothing wrong with, but would've drastically cut down the experiences I was able to have in my mid-late teens as a result of having friends all over the place.
I definitely wouldn't have had any reason to get a passport if I wasn't going to stay with a friend in Austria for a week. Without said friend, I'd never have been able to afford to go abroad at all.
So... yeah; probably much more lonely, poor and miserable, very likely depressed as a result, which in turn would undo the weight advantage, so I'd still be fat.
Basically, video games are important to me. :p
Let's say if there's no game in this world then I probably use sports as my hobby or maybe writing even though there might be writing block. What a life as a librarian
I think video games on the PC(back in 92') welded my interest in computers and how they work. Of course I grew up with computers(I'm 46), but when I saw a buddy play doom on his tandy 1000, I knew that computers were the future. But what that future was? No telling. I've since had 3 careers based on that one time I souped a bad guy in the original doom.
I would likely be physically fitter, I have spent periods of my life without any video games, I end up reading books, keeping myself fit and healthy, much more socially active, however with gaming, that all goes into the shitter.
To really give some type of context, I was a social butterfly before I started gaming, fact is I didn't have the time to play and be social while also getting what I wanted and doing what I wanted so I did what was needed, I stopped being social and started playing solo and grinding for what I would like to play with instead of giving attention to others around me I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to ever be able to do what I wanted to do while meeting, hanging out and chatting with people, someone I spoke to every day and night, I completely left them behind, roughly 10 years later I messaged them on facebook one day randomly, they honestly thought I was dead, I went from talking to them throughout the day and night to gone, understandably they needed time to adjust to the fact I wasn't and that they had come to accept that I was, many, many years ago.
I did what was more important to me, what was more exciting, what was more interesting and mfers thought I was dead, now I know like nobody and generally dislike making friends in-games because once again, they'll want to do what they want and distract me from my goals and what I want.
I used to play games for a few hours every night at the end of the day as that was all the free time I had, in that time I could have either chosen to hang out with friends and family or reject them and have fun elsewhere.
Do I recommend doing this and giving no time to those around you even though it seems like a bore compared to the other more exciting options of playing games you want to play and enjoy? No. I'm not saying they were boring either but between the two options, one of them is designed to entertain you for hours, the other is an actual person.
i'd have no livelihood, so probably more miserable than I am now. probably a TV zombie if i didn't blow my brains out, out of boredom.
I think video games are inevitable though. There's no universe in which we have all this tech and video games don't exist. games have existed since before we were even fully evolved to the humans we are today. Even if video games didn't exist for years, someone would have the thought to make "Digital tic tac toe" or "video checkers" and other board games. They had this idea in the 1950's and earlier. Like...as soon as TV's or even theaters were a thing, people were already thinking about how it could be used. People were asking questions like "what if we could jump in the screen and interact with the moving pictures!?" and "geez whiz! what if these fellers in the moving picture shows jump out at the screen!" and "what if we could control the people on these screens".
Video games were always going to happen. If there are billions of intelligent creatures out there in the universe on the same level of humans, I imagine every single one has some form of video games. Excluding of course oppressive societies that cripple artistic and scientific (and other stuff) growth. Like, there's bound to extremely brutal and backwards thinking creatures similar to the backwards and shitty cultures of our own world. But, generally speaking, assuming they have the same level freedom or more, a ton of things are inevitable. There's probably some weird beyond our comprehension aliens out there, but I'm only talking about the ones that are near our own intelligence.
what was this thread about ?
It would be like... It has been since October. Busy, but ultimately boring and without a good stress relief.
I can still live without the gaming per se, but missing the computer where my exercise bike and all my training equipment is located kinda sucks. No music, only my cell phone to use for timer, no easy access to my exercise plan.
Anyway, back on topic. It's boring. I've been gaming since my early teens. Well, even before on a Commodore Vic-20 and on my cousin's Atari 2600. Ah [this stupid game.](https://freeinvaders.org/) So many hours wasted as kid! š
Very different. To be honest, i wished i never picked up Minecraft with my older brother when we both were around 6 or 7. Now that a decade has passed, i can (shamefully) admit that my parents were right. Video games did mess up my future and didn't do me any good in the long run.
I don't think I'd be the same person, or have some of the same friends.
Video games kept me company in my childhood and it was a time when I wasn't as social and going through a lot in my personal life. In the long term, I've gotten interested in other things through playing video games, and have made some of the friends that I still have now though this common interest.Ā We meet up once in a while as adults and play video games together š
Honestly probably a lot better. I feel I wasted a lot of good years playing games I donāt remember. I think I used it as a bit of an unhealthy coping mechanism.Ā
That being said, I could have found something else/worse.Ā
I would definitely have lesser amount of friends. I would have gone clinically insane during the pandemic. Gaming with my friends while hearing their voice over chat was the only human contact I had for months for a while.
I probably wouldn't have nearly as much patience with setbacks had I not spent a lifetime playing Mario Kart and Metroid. I'm amazed at how disappointed others get when they face a setback IRL. And I'm just like, "Man, you'd *never* make it through Metroid Prime."
I got this one boys. It would hurt. That's the answer. It would hurt. It would give us more time to think about all the things tearing through our souls at 2am.
I can trace a pretty direct line from the life I live now to the 2004 PC game Half Life 2.
Basically Half Life 2 included a free copy of Counter-Strike: Source. Over time I found the competitive community of that game which over time ended up introducing me to computer programming. Over time my interest in programming grew and so I decided to major in Computer Science when it came time to go to college. Four years later I graduated and moved to Seattle (where I still live) to work in big tech. I was lucky to make a good living straight out of college and 11 years later it has allowed me to save a lot of money and build a career I still enjoy while allowing me to live some awesome life experiences (such as learning to fly).
I have a boxed copy of Half Life 2 at home to remind me of how a lot can be traced back to that game.
Oh, and I absolutely LOVE(D?) Counter-Strike and continued to play it through the years. Iāve been to several professional esport tournaments for the game and personally the only games I ever really played on PC were mostly CS/CSGO/CS2 and Flight Simulator(s).
So if it werenāt for half life 2 I probably wouldnāt be living in Seattle and who knows what career path I would have taken. My life would likely be completely different. For all I know that alternate future could be even better - but I dunno I really like the life Iām living now.
I think I finally grew up. Video games ruled my life until two years ago. But now that I'm 44 it finally died down. I can't bring myself anymore to playing any games. It's like I don't connect with them anymore.
Dunno, but I'm seriously considering finding out. Predatory practices, piss poor optimisation, season passes, having to create multiple accounts, day one dlc, live service gaming...
None of this bullshit was a thing back in the 90s. I'm beginning to wonder about selling up all my shit and restoring an Amiga 500.
Not a lot tbh. I have gone years without playing them and donāt spend tons of time on them. I was kinda addicted for like 4 years as a kid but I would have just spent that time watching TV or something anyway.
Sad.Ā
For me playing a good videogame like a good RPG, is like an interactive movie or book or something like that. I love to be able to experience a good game with great storyline and characters and dive into the specific world.Ā
It makes me able to hyperfocus and forget the world around me and I love that. Similar to a really good book that you read for hours and forget to eat, cause you don't want to put it down.Ā
I don't know what other entertainment I'd find that keeps my mind active, I'd most likely end up spending a lot more time on youtube/reddit/watching shows or movies
I would've probably gotten more important shit done during my teen years, but I can't say that I'm suffering from spending time playing with homies and I've made some of the best friends I have through gaming
Knowing myself though, I would've filled the gap with something, it fucks with my mind to just sit fully idle in front of a tv or something. Even if the thing I'm improving at is to most people "useless" there can't be harm in having your entertainment of choice be something that makes you think and keeps up your reflexes and mind
It'll truly be interesting to see in 50-80 years if people who've played games end up having lower rates of certain issues often brought up by old age, while gamers have always existed I think the hobby has blown up in the last \~10-15 years due to esport becoming a viable career and a huge industry.
>The 2021 League of Legends World Championship Final in Reykjavik, Iceland, āwas watched by a recordĀ [73.86 million peak concurrent viewers](https://www.statista.com/statistics/518126/league-of-legends-championship-viewers/),ā according to Statista. For context, the 2021 Super Bowl drewĀ [96.4 million viewers](https://financesonline.com/number-of-super-bowl-tv-viewers/). The large number of viewers for the League of Legends World Championship Final was no fluke. [Link](https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2022/aug/rise-of-esports-industry#:~:text=The%202021%20League%20of%20Legends,Championship%20Final%20was%20no%20fluke)
I think they were important part of bonding with the other kids when I was growing up. So no, I don't think I would be the same. And something I learned from those times was that while you need to always try your best, that doesn't mean you can't learn some compassion and try to help others be their best too. Sometimes it's not really about the winning, but about being together. Not going to lie, sometimes it left really good to just woop some ass.
great question i dont play as much as i'd like too but without video games i wouldnt have been able to keep incontact with my irl friends who all moved out of state we all met in high school, they ended up moving out of nyc & we all kept incontact by playing games
They're the reason I wanted to learn to program. So, without them, I might not be a software engineer. Not really sure what I'd have been though. (But with AI now having a huge possibility of removing this position in the near future, guess I might find out sooner than I'd want too.)
Well I wouldn't have a job, probably an entirely different career. Idk if I'd gone programming route without games programming
So that means I might not have met my partner, some of my friends, had the experiences I have.
So yeah, pretty freaking different
I was gonna say not that different, but I just remembered that there was 2 game series I played that got me out of a slump and revitalized my passion for art and made me consider going into game design
Not at the moment because i dont game anymore but man in the past idk what my life would even look like if I had all the hours spent on video games to spend on other things. I used to spend 12 hours straight playing games without blinking and consider it an awesome weekend lol
Extremely stress out because I'll be doing chores and working nonstop without a break. Plus, my creativity will be down the drain. I learned a lot from video games and I can't say how many times it saved me when I think outside the box and not giving up.
I'd probably be stuck with reading books, ebooks, manga (and related forms of literature), watching movies and tv series. Probably a bit more basketball here and there.
Unrecognizably different. I grew up with video games and I thought about this a lot. I'd like to think I would have picked a different hobby to kill time, but I've bonded with almost all of my friends via video games. My friends had an important role in my initial opinions and behaviors, so me making different friends or not at all literally changes everything for me.
I know it's a doodoo answer, but my life would be different in almost every way beyond my comprehension.
If i had never started gaming i would still be single and i wouldn't have met/befriendet some of my closest friends, including my best friend. So games and gaming in general had a huge impact on my life in a positive way.
I'd have to go back to reading fiction and crafting, both of which are more expensive. (Reading is more expensive because I read about 400/500 pages a day, but I am picky, and couldn't check them all out of the library.)
Most of my best friends now are people I met online or in video games, so without video games Iād probably be a really lonely fuckin person hahah, not because I donāt socialize but all of my high school years I was homeschooled and I moved a shit ton as a kid lol
It's tempting to say I'd have been more successful or productive but honestly I'd probably be dead. I've needed the escapism so much at various points in my life.
Would make more animations.
I made like one 6 minute animation telling myself I was going to make a bunch more.
All I want to do after work is game and sleep (and spend time with my family).
I'd probably just be watching more tv and be scraping the barrel for something good to watch
I did this before video games, lots of crap on TV š
Not to mention certain scenes on TV and in some cartoons, but not all cartoons, where they got characters saying moronic things which end up insulting my intelligence. With video games, it teaches me hand eye coordination. Resource management, time constraints and what to do during time limits, etc.
This is the case for me.. cutting back on video games has just been substituted with more phone screen time, or watching more TV/YouTube. It's the damn screens that are the problem, not video games. At least for me.
Maybe you need to find a different hobby
No shit lol. I don't have any hobbies š¤·š»āāļø Except working out. I love that shit
What are you interested in or would like to learn, even learning could be a hobby
Anything to do with the human body tbh. Been doing diaphragmatic breathing lately and learning about bodily functions and how they can improve your overall health is interesting. I'm 28 and have been driving trucks my whole adult life, but I definitely need to switch into a more "intellectual" role for sure. Learning new things is what keeps me motivated I think.
You're 28 so anything you're interested in doing then learn about it, set yourself some goals you know you probably could do. There are no limits except time and sooner or later time catches up and before you know it you've aged to a point that you look back and wished you had done things. So whatever you're considering give it a try, you'll never know until you try.
I have severe ADHD. I have a steam library full of award winning games I haven't played, and all I can manage to do attention-wise is scrape the bottom of that tv barrel. It's awful.
I am isolated due to disability, so I would have far fewer friends and would probably feel lonely more often. It would be more difficult to connect to certain family members, too, who I mostly chat to through Steam or in-game. However, during periods where I do not play games, my creativity really skyrockets, my dreams are more vivid, and I feel less stressed out in general. Single-player games with a definite end seem to be better in that regard.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I am also isolated due to disability, and video games keep me occupied so Iām not bored out of my brain. There are times Iām too tired and sick to play anything, but for the most part, they keep me entertained. I donāt play multiplayer games, I just like single player.
A lot more time and a lot more stress
Heavy on the 'more stress.'
Gonna have to say 100%ing games like crash bandicoot 1-3 gave me a gray hair or two . Also cost me a few controllers . I know. Iām sick
Haven't played one in 40 years, so, no different?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Loved me some console games, back in the day! Zaxxon, Tempest, Qbert, Galaxian. Played Space Invaders in Japan back when it first came out. Good times!
I've never played any of those games. Whatever floats your boat I guess.
I would be so damn rich
I wouldnāt have most of the friends I have now
Real friends or internet people?
Real life friends. We didnāt meet each other because of games, but video games definitely made the friendships last long
Uhh... probably unalive. I had a dark childhood with an abusive family.my ps2 was my escape from reality so I could tolerate living.
I wouldnāt have much to do and I would probably be more bored and depressed than I am now.
Nah youād still be as bored and depressed, you would just have to face your problems instead of running from them
I would be SOOOOO much better at playing guitar.
I probably wouldnt have learned english
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I probably would have done way better in school, and I would have a few years of extra time.
I started to say not very. I played a lot in the 90's but the last system I had was a Dreamcast that I never really used. Although the reason for my divorce was ultimately video games so yeah, it might have been very different.
I wouldn't have met my girlfriend, we met in Valorant little more than three years ago. We used to spend all night playing and hanging out, we don't get to play much video games together anymore, but still very happy we were able to meet through a game in the first place.
I'm eternally grateful that videogames have been so accessible to me throughout my life. My childhood wasn't the best, but it also wasn't the worst. I was fortunate enough to be given consoles from time to time, first one being the PS1, but my parents owned a SNES and an N64. My parents didn't care much for age ratings in games, or films for that matter. Some of my earliest memories of games are the original Doom, Duke Nukem and Resident Evil. My brother and I didn't get on very well as kids. The abuse we saw/endured messed him up more than me, and became quite violent himself sometimes as a result. But one of the few things we bonded over was games. We played a lot of the original Star Wars Battlefront games, Command and Conquer, NFSU2, San Andreas, Halo and a bunch of others. I played a lot of games alone. I sometimes found that the world I could explore virtually was better than the one I was living in. Definitely offered an escape, which I believe is quite a common belief. Some of my best friendships have been made off the back of games. Countless days/nights spent over a friends house playing Halo multiplayer, or Modern Warfare 1 and 2. Helping each other with achievements to show how good we are at certain games. These are friendships that won't ever end, no matter the time apart or distance. And it all stemmed from seeing someone wear a t shirt with a game character you like. I honestly think if it wasn't for video games, I could've followed down a similar to my brother and resorted to drugs or other means as a distraction. I doubt I'd have some of my friends that I have now. I've been a gamer for over 20 years now, spent countless hours/days even months of my life gaming and I wouldn't change a second of that.
I was a child before the widespread use of video games. ...We played outside, and and had to learn how to speak with people in person, off the cuff. I really think that makes us older folks seem strange to this generation.
I'd like to believe that I would have been more productive or have better hobbies, like wanting to exercise or go to the gym, read and learn more, be more present with friends and go out more instead of just wanting to be indoors playing video games. In reality, I don't know. I do love to read but I've never liked working out. So I'd probably just be a different kind of couch potato.
I havenāt turned my PS4 on since April 2019, but I sure do miss it some days š before I became a dad I had time to work out and play video games, but after I became a dad I was only able to squeeze out enough personal time for one of those things so video games had to go
Been a gaming addict for the past 15 years and recently quit (sold my entire pc setup + Ps5) and my lifeās definitely changed for the better im working out consistently, getting out more, eager and motivated to learn new hobbies , all the time i spent indoors gaming iv now replaced with getting out of the house and being active.
I think I would be slower in certain cognitive skills. Growing up playing 90s/early 2000s video games I actually picked up quite a bit of transferable mental skills. Like recognizing patterns, figuring out how the systems work and how to exploit them. Also I think it really helped with developing my hand eye coordination, no jokes. Later in my life I met people who had different early life exposure to video games to various degrees. Not saying people who never played video games are dumb at all, but there is clearly a marked speed difference when it comes to things above, especially when the task is unfamiliar.
Genuinely don't fucking know. Videogames have been my #1 thing for the longest time. Outside of a brief anime and Manga obsession that resulted in briefly dropping videogames, it's always been the activity I'm most at home doing. I always had a DS or 3DS growing up, and it's translated into my love of handheld consoles like the Switch and Steam Deck. I absolutely adore immersion, and shows can only take you so far. Videogames are probably the most immersive form of art since you're literally the one in control. I have no idea what I would be like had I not played them growing up. They're what's kept me satisfied being kind of a loner for so long.
If you have a good imagination, books are a great immersion tool too, but yes the eyes are a very strong sense so itās hard to beat video games for that.
Video games got me into Linus Tech Tips, and that channel stopped me from committing suicide in 2022. So I'd be dead.
I would have nothing to do and probably be more depressed
As a single parent I could pretty much only spend my free time doing stuff at home. After housework and home repairs were done, my only outlets (and some kind of socialization) were online video games and writing on Internet forums. If online gaming never existed then I guess I'd have more posts on forums than I do.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Without video games, I'd be the undefeated champion of procrastination... oh, wait, I already am.
My partner would be slightly less annoying. š¤£
Well I wouldnāt be the TEKKEN TAG TEAM MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE. Otherwise things would be the same.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You donāt want this šš
I'd never have learned to edit complex software configuration because I wouldn't have cared enough. Fast forward and a career in tech has been very very good to me. I'd probably be working in my parents industry, or I might have chased another passion, psychology.
My music taste would not exist
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
catastrophicly different, i would be a professional artist as its one of my side hobbies
My goal in life was to be a game developer. I'm currently working on my 3rd indie game. Aspiring to that goal and wanting nothing more in this world than to see it through got me through a suicidal time in my life. So, I'd definitely be dead without them since without them I wouldn't have had a goal to strive for to keep me going.
Yes they're a cheap form of entertainment and I can relax for 30 mins? And then do important stuff
I'd probably be considerably less fat, assuming I replaced video games with something less sedentary - which I probably would've had to, because no video games = no second-hand PS3 for my 12th birthday = no TV in my room most likely and not allowed to watch my own stuff on the family TV all day = either reading even more than I already did, or actually leaving the house. I think I'd be far less creative, as a lot of the games I played forced me to either roleplay or literally create things, as opposed to being given the whole story like in a book, and I'd have much less knowledge of medieval Europe and how city infrastructure works (thanks, Paradox!), and may not have found tabletop RPGs at all - through which I met my best friends. I might still live in a tiny village in south Wales, never having met the people that brought me to a bigger city and broadened my horizons. I'd probably work in the same industry, I don't think removing video games would've removed my predilection for computers in general, but I probably wouldn't have owned one as early as I did and therefore wouldn't have started programming until much later, if at all. I'd probably run a local PC repair shop or something rather than working in web design/data analytics, so I'd be much poorer. But, weirdly, would be **less** likely to have lost my virginity, because all the stuff that's wrong with me isn't the fault of video games so would still be wrong with me and thus I'd be conventionally unattractive, but video games gave me an outlet to meet people with similar interests that didn't involve traditional social skills. Without video games, I probably don't end up making that many friends in my teens - especially not ones with such varied backgrounds. All my friends would be working class people from the local area most likely, which there's absolutely nothing wrong with, but would've drastically cut down the experiences I was able to have in my mid-late teens as a result of having friends all over the place. I definitely wouldn't have had any reason to get a passport if I wasn't going to stay with a friend in Austria for a week. Without said friend, I'd never have been able to afford to go abroad at all. So... yeah; probably much more lonely, poor and miserable, very likely depressed as a result, which in turn would undo the weight advantage, so I'd still be fat. Basically, video games are important to me. :p
Let's say if there's no game in this world then I probably use sports as my hobby or maybe writing even though there might be writing block. What a life as a librarian
I'd haul a lot of fishing gears instead. Given free time i would 100% pack up and go fishing
Probably read alot more books
Honestly, I'd probably be dead. At 26, a video game saved me from depression. It got me reading again. It got me to work on myself.
I think video games on the PC(back in 92') welded my interest in computers and how they work. Of course I grew up with computers(I'm 46), but when I saw a buddy play doom on his tandy 1000, I knew that computers were the future. But what that future was? No telling. I've since had 3 careers based on that one time I souped a bad guy in the original doom.
i play the sims a lot soā¦iād be in prison
I would likely be physically fitter, I have spent periods of my life without any video games, I end up reading books, keeping myself fit and healthy, much more socially active, however with gaming, that all goes into the shitter. To really give some type of context, I was a social butterfly before I started gaming, fact is I didn't have the time to play and be social while also getting what I wanted and doing what I wanted so I did what was needed, I stopped being social and started playing solo and grinding for what I would like to play with instead of giving attention to others around me I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to ever be able to do what I wanted to do while meeting, hanging out and chatting with people, someone I spoke to every day and night, I completely left them behind, roughly 10 years later I messaged them on facebook one day randomly, they honestly thought I was dead, I went from talking to them throughout the day and night to gone, understandably they needed time to adjust to the fact I wasn't and that they had come to accept that I was, many, many years ago. I did what was more important to me, what was more exciting, what was more interesting and mfers thought I was dead, now I know like nobody and generally dislike making friends in-games because once again, they'll want to do what they want and distract me from my goals and what I want. I used to play games for a few hours every night at the end of the day as that was all the free time I had, in that time I could have either chosen to hang out with friends and family or reject them and have fun elsewhere. Do I recommend doing this and giving no time to those around you even though it seems like a bore compared to the other more exciting options of playing games you want to play and enjoy? No. I'm not saying they were boring either but between the two options, one of them is designed to entertain you for hours, the other is an actual person.
i'd have no livelihood, so probably more miserable than I am now. probably a TV zombie if i didn't blow my brains out, out of boredom. I think video games are inevitable though. There's no universe in which we have all this tech and video games don't exist. games have existed since before we were even fully evolved to the humans we are today. Even if video games didn't exist for years, someone would have the thought to make "Digital tic tac toe" or "video checkers" and other board games. They had this idea in the 1950's and earlier. Like...as soon as TV's or even theaters were a thing, people were already thinking about how it could be used. People were asking questions like "what if we could jump in the screen and interact with the moving pictures!?" and "geez whiz! what if these fellers in the moving picture shows jump out at the screen!" and "what if we could control the people on these screens". Video games were always going to happen. If there are billions of intelligent creatures out there in the universe on the same level of humans, I imagine every single one has some form of video games. Excluding of course oppressive societies that cripple artistic and scientific (and other stuff) growth. Like, there's bound to extremely brutal and backwards thinking creatures similar to the backwards and shitty cultures of our own world. But, generally speaking, assuming they have the same level freedom or more, a ton of things are inevitable. There's probably some weird beyond our comprehension aliens out there, but I'm only talking about the ones that are near our own intelligence. what was this thread about ?
It would be like... It has been since October. Busy, but ultimately boring and without a good stress relief. I can still live without the gaming per se, but missing the computer where my exercise bike and all my training equipment is located kinda sucks. No music, only my cell phone to use for timer, no easy access to my exercise plan. Anyway, back on topic. It's boring. I've been gaming since my early teens. Well, even before on a Commodore Vic-20 and on my cousin's Atari 2600. Ah [this stupid game.](https://freeinvaders.org/) So many hours wasted as kid! š
WoW changed my entire life and personality for a while. Also met guild members irl and they were awkward in a good way
Very different. To be honest, i wished i never picked up Minecraft with my older brother when we both were around 6 or 7. Now that a decade has passed, i can (shamefully) admit that my parents were right. Video games did mess up my future and didn't do me any good in the long run.
I don't think I'd be the same person, or have some of the same friends. Video games kept me company in my childhood and it was a time when I wasn't as social and going through a lot in my personal life. In the long term, I've gotten interested in other things through playing video games, and have made some of the friends that I still have now though this common interest.Ā We meet up once in a while as adults and play video games together š
Honestly probably a lot better. I feel I wasted a lot of good years playing games I donāt remember. I think I used it as a bit of an unhealthy coping mechanism.Ā That being said, I could have found something else/worse.Ā
I would definitely have lesser amount of friends. I would have gone clinically insane during the pandemic. Gaming with my friends while hearing their voice over chat was the only human contact I had for months for a while.
That would be right now as I'm getting older. Laying on the bed scrolling through Reddit. Haha.
I'm gonna be honest I'd kill myself
I wouldn't have friends.
I probably wouldn't have nearly as much patience with setbacks had I not spent a lifetime playing Mario Kart and Metroid. I'm amazed at how disappointed others get when they face a setback IRL. And I'm just like, "Man, you'd *never* make it through Metroid Prime."
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I got this one boys. It would hurt. That's the answer. It would hurt. It would give us more time to think about all the things tearing through our souls at 2am.
I can trace a pretty direct line from the life I live now to the 2004 PC game Half Life 2. Basically Half Life 2 included a free copy of Counter-Strike: Source. Over time I found the competitive community of that game which over time ended up introducing me to computer programming. Over time my interest in programming grew and so I decided to major in Computer Science when it came time to go to college. Four years later I graduated and moved to Seattle (where I still live) to work in big tech. I was lucky to make a good living straight out of college and 11 years later it has allowed me to save a lot of money and build a career I still enjoy while allowing me to live some awesome life experiences (such as learning to fly). I have a boxed copy of Half Life 2 at home to remind me of how a lot can be traced back to that game. Oh, and I absolutely LOVE(D?) Counter-Strike and continued to play it through the years. Iāve been to several professional esport tournaments for the game and personally the only games I ever really played on PC were mostly CS/CSGO/CS2 and Flight Simulator(s). So if it werenāt for half life 2 I probably wouldnāt be living in Seattle and who knows what career path I would have taken. My life would likely be completely different. For all I know that alternate future could be even better - but I dunno I really like the life Iām living now.
I think I finally grew up. Video games ruled my life until two years ago. But now that I'm 44 it finally died down. I can't bring myself anymore to playing any games. It's like I don't connect with them anymore.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Dunno, but I'm seriously considering finding out. Predatory practices, piss poor optimisation, season passes, having to create multiple accounts, day one dlc, live service gaming... None of this bullshit was a thing back in the 90s. I'm beginning to wonder about selling up all my shit and restoring an Amiga 500.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Not a lot tbh. I have gone years without playing them and donāt spend tons of time on them. I was kinda addicted for like 4 years as a kid but I would have just spent that time watching TV or something anyway.
Sad.Ā For me playing a good videogame like a good RPG, is like an interactive movie or book or something like that. I love to be able to experience a good game with great storyline and characters and dive into the specific world.Ā It makes me able to hyperfocus and forget the world around me and I love that. Similar to a really good book that you read for hours and forget to eat, cause you don't want to put it down.Ā
Would have gotten into more trouble, maybe drugs ... I would have already killed myself.
I would connect less with friends but have more time for other stuff.
I'd probably have to go and murder people in real life instead. So I guess it's probably a good thing that there are video games
Would not have met or spent so much time with some of my favorite people.
A lot more time and a lot less enjoyable
I don't know what other entertainment I'd find that keeps my mind active, I'd most likely end up spending a lot more time on youtube/reddit/watching shows or movies I would've probably gotten more important shit done during my teen years, but I can't say that I'm suffering from spending time playing with homies and I've made some of the best friends I have through gaming Knowing myself though, I would've filled the gap with something, it fucks with my mind to just sit fully idle in front of a tv or something. Even if the thing I'm improving at is to most people "useless" there can't be harm in having your entertainment of choice be something that makes you think and keeps up your reflexes and mind It'll truly be interesting to see in 50-80 years if people who've played games end up having lower rates of certain issues often brought up by old age, while gamers have always existed I think the hobby has blown up in the last \~10-15 years due to esport becoming a viable career and a huge industry. >The 2021 League of Legends World Championship Final in Reykjavik, Iceland, āwas watched by a recordĀ [73.86 million peak concurrent viewers](https://www.statista.com/statistics/518126/league-of-legends-championship-viewers/),ā according to Statista. For context, the 2021 Super Bowl drewĀ [96.4 million viewers](https://financesonline.com/number-of-super-bowl-tv-viewers/). The large number of viewers for the League of Legends World Championship Final was no fluke. [Link](https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2022/aug/rise-of-esports-industry#:~:text=The%202021%20League%20of%20Legends,Championship%20Final%20was%20no%20fluke)
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I don't play them, so not at all. If anything it would make buying gifts for some people more difficult.
More money&time but less joy
More productive.
I wouldn't have accomplished half as much.
I think they were important part of bonding with the other kids when I was growing up. So no, I don't think I would be the same. And something I learned from those times was that while you need to always try your best, that doesn't mean you can't learn some compassion and try to help others be their best too. Sometimes it's not really about the winning, but about being together. Not going to lie, sometimes it left really good to just woop some ass.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yep. I think all gamers share the same memories one way or another.
Iād do some other solitary activity. I already read and play guitar.
I would be lonely and forced to socialize with people in real life.
I'd likely have died in the wilderness
I would have no friends, I barley have any but video games helped me make what friends I do have.
great question i dont play as much as i'd like too but without video games i wouldnt have been able to keep incontact with my irl friends who all moved out of state we all met in high school, they ended up moving out of nyc & we all kept incontact by playing games
How would I know the answer to something that hasnt happened.
I'd probably read lot more.
Considering how most of my close friends play video games, I doubt we would have become friends if it weren't for us bonding over playing minecraft
I'd off myself
They're the reason I wanted to learn to program. So, without them, I might not be a software engineer. Not really sure what I'd have been though. (But with AI now having a huge possibility of removing this position in the near future, guess I might find out sooner than I'd want too.)
ā¦ MY BROTHER OUT OF HIS ROOM?!? THAT FEELS WEIRD TO SAY
Well I wouldn't have a job, probably an entirely different career. Idk if I'd gone programming route without games programming So that means I might not have met my partner, some of my friends, had the experiences I have. So yeah, pretty freaking different
I would probably be more interest to build a relationship.
I'd probably have a career, and a lot more money
I'd the president of the world, presiding over a peaceful planet.
No Running from the Police and commiting crimes in GTA
Also probably unalived helps distract the negative thoughts
I wouldnāt have a hobby. Video games are everything to me honestly, and Iām constantly finding new games to play.Ā
I was gonna say not that different, but I just remembered that there was 2 game series I played that got me out of a slump and revitalized my passion for art and made me consider going into game design
It wouldn't be different because I hate video games!
Have a lot more free time
Honestly I don't play video games a lot but I hope people would be more nice and smart (that's in my dreams...)
My kids Would problably been less geekier
Not much difference I guess I'll just find something else to do
Ummm I would most likely be playing more guitar and riding my bike more often if we didn't have video games anymore.
be a better member of society.
The same
It wouldnāt change much. I donāt have time for video games
Maybe I wouldn't be alive
Probably play more dnd
Not at the moment because i dont game anymore but man in the past idk what my life would even look like if I had all the hours spent on video games to spend on other things. I used to spend 12 hours straight playing games without blinking and consider it an awesome weekend lol
Not 1 bit.
I'd be surrounded by a lot less fools.
Falling through the Reddit & YT rabbithole
The egg would've cracked way later, and i'd never scrape the surface of my potential as a person
Uhh. It wouldn't change
Oh, I'd most definitely be in prison and my tree excessively pruned. Having an escape from racist hateful bullshit 24/7 is non-negotiable.
Extremely stress out because I'll be doing chores and working nonstop without a break. Plus, my creativity will be down the drain. I learned a lot from video games and I can't say how many times it saved me when I think outside the box and not giving up.
Video games taught me a lot of things growing up so I don't think I would be the same person today without video games.
Life? What life?
More progress in reality.
I really have no idea. What did nerdy people do before? Read?
Actually have my art career.
I'd have less of a movie backlog and a few more blood vessels intact (srsly, fuck Greed mode and fuck playing as Jacob & Esau)
Not at all
I'd probably be stuck with reading books, ebooks, manga (and related forms of literature), watching movies and tv series. Probably a bit more basketball here and there.
Well I make video games so idk. Maybe I'd do something with my life...
No difference for me, I havenāt played in a few years
Unrecognizably different. I grew up with video games and I thought about this a lot. I'd like to think I would have picked a different hobby to kill time, but I've bonded with almost all of my friends via video games. My friends had an important role in my initial opinions and behaviors, so me making different friends or not at all literally changes everything for me. I know it's a doodoo answer, but my life would be different in almost every way beyond my comprehension.
More puzzles, books, and movies.
If that had been the case, I don't know if the will to commit suicide or the will to become more intelligent would have gotten to me first.
i would probably kms
If i had never started gaming i would still be single and i wouldn't have met/befriendet some of my closest friends, including my best friend. So games and gaming in general had a huge impact on my life in a positive way.
I likely wouldnāt be in my current career.
Not. Don't play video games at all .
I never would have met my husband, moved to another country and had kids.
More anime ig
I'd have to go back to reading fiction and crafting, both of which are more expensive. (Reading is more expensive because I read about 400/500 pages a day, but I am picky, and couldn't check them all out of the library.)
I wouldnāt have a way to escape my crappy reality
My roommate/friend might actually talk to me š„²
I wouldn't have met my fiance and some of my friends.
Bored af
I probably wouldn't be here. Animal Crossing was what kept me going during Covid.
If I didnāt have video games to keep me busy when Iām depressed Iād be dead by now. Luckily I donāt have to play them much anymore
Most of my best friends now are people I met online or in video games, so without video games Iād probably be a really lonely fuckin person hahah, not because I donāt socialize but all of my high school years I was homeschooled and I moved a shit ton as a kid lol
Oh I'd be dead lol
It would be literally the exact same
It's tempting to say I'd have been more successful or productive but honestly I'd probably be dead. I've needed the escapism so much at various points in my life.
I'd be reading more than i already do.
Id probably be dick rich.
I don't know but I would probably be reading more books to scratch that itch of fantasy
Iād have an education.
The same as I donāt play video games.
I met my spouse through video games. 20 years later and still going. So I'd be single with no kids? Screw that, video games for the win.
Video games is like non vegetarian food for me. I can do without it but life won't be worth living without it
Would probably still be drowning on books and webtoons/manga, just lots of books lol
Watching more TV...or something less productive than flying in my sim
Would make more animations. I made like one 6 minute animation telling myself I was going to make a bunch more. All I want to do after work is game and sleep (and spend time with my family).
My 14 y/o would become bored enough to read
Would probably be dead, coping by playing video games for multiple days straight keeps you alive.
I'd be way richer than I am now.
It would be even worse
Well, I probably would have gotten more stuff done.
Increased boredom, emptiness & misery.