Jim Sterling said:
Taking Videogames Seriously
When will games be taken seriously? Why isn't anybody taking videogames seriously? How many times can Jim say the word "seriously" in a single video? Does any of it matter? No. None of it. Ever.
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Definitely agreed.
We keep poking around for the same validation we deny everyone else, because we don't
understand their passions.
Do all of us take NASCAR seriously? Do we all take collectible card games seriously? Sports statistics? Weight lifting? Fine dining? The stock market? Or do we tend to ridicule the people that take these things seriously, simply because we don't understand the passion they feel toward that?
I know I don't take golf seriously.
That's why I can still enjoy it. I don't keep score, I live from swing to swing, and socialize with the guys. And this infuriates some of them
to no end. "If you're not keeping score, what's the point?" For me, the point is
not keeping score. It's to just have fun with the activity and the company.
And on the other side of things, I take my discussions and debates pretty "seriously," in a sense. Not in the sense that I believe the outcome of the debate will change the issue being debated, or even change the mind of the person I'm debating with, but because it will change (refine, streamline, alter)
my own mind, and how it works.
There are three baffling categories of people out there, and everyone is
all three:
1. The kind of person that asks, "Why do you take X so seriously? Can't you just
enjoy it?" Without realizing that they're talking to:
2. The kind of person that enjoys X
specifically by taking it seriously. And we all have that thing, so we're just big raging hypocrites.
3. The kind of person that doesn't enjoy or participate in or understand X at all, and wonders what all the damned fuss is about... when they feel exactly the same as #1 or #2 about Y or Z instead.
The same car is enjoyed four different ways by the casual driver (It gets me to and fro, and it has a TV in the seat), the competitive/career driver (I've got so much horsepower I have to feed this damned thing oats, bitches), and the casual mechanic (I just installed a new exhaust system because it makes it sound cooler), and the competitive/career mechanic (I just got some new tools so I can get more jobs done per day and increase my output/income).
Now, which one is "right?" Should I have to know what the hell an idle air control valve is to "enjoy" my car, or am I not taking it "seriously" enough?