I’m right there with you Kirrus. Honestly, I could just sit around all day and read. History, social theory, sci-fi, fantasy, poetry, cookbooks, memoirs it doesn’t matter. Nothing beats that feeling of sinking into another life. Like pulp crack.

For myself, I jumped deeply into videogaming during grad school because: it was convenient, ie I didn’t have to travel; it was relatively cheap, high initial buy in but the per hour cost of entertainment outshines movies and is only potentially rivaled by books and music; it could be social, my wife, friends, and family could easily jump in on a round of Donkey Konga or throw it down in Dead or Alive. But, Dale, you are spot on in your assessment that there is a push to delay “adulthood” and that manifests itself in many of the pursuits and interests that my generation is involved with. Scott is right in saying that these forms of entertainment are valid but when dropped in the context of adults collecting Transformers and Hello Kitty paraphernalia things appear a little skewed. On my reading list for the past year or so has been Rejuvenile which looks at how and possibly why adults continue to cling to vestiges of their childhood with something beyond a strong sense of nostalgia. The dust jacket rgues that it is an effort to maintain that sense of child-like wonder but that only scratches the surface for myself.

As a child of the 80’s I find myself imbued with a deep distrust of “adults” and “the establishment”–two incredibly loaded words that conjur up the most cliche of the antiwar movement of the 60’s and 70’s with a surface account of Lord of the Flies. That decade saw the opening of The War On Drugs, PLT scams, realty investment scams, The Evil Empire, the compassion of the conservative in “ketchup is a vegetable” and “the homeless want to be homeless”, and endless mergers and aquisitions. At the opening of the 90’s I saw my father cut loose from a job he performed with more energy and heart than he might have invested in my family–something I no longer begrudge him as I better understand the realities of modern life, marriage, and parenting–and while he was one of the lucky few to recieve a severance package friends who toiled alongside him for 29 years were lucky to get a box with which to pack up their belognings as security showed them the door. This was and is the domain of adults: Fear, Aggression, Egotism, War, Debt, Poverty. Growing up in this morass the last thing I ever wanted to do was become one of them and today Bread and Circuses are about all one can do without going insane.

Before I let this comment meander further, the real problem is not with what medium we entertain ourselves but in what context and for what purpose. One can learn as well as be social with videogames just as one can sink themselves into anti-intellectual and solitary mush between the pages of a paperback.

(I live in the middle of no-where public transport wise, and I’m only now learning to drive.)

Hopefully, I’ll cut back my gaming when I get some friends a bit closer to home. Till then, I’ll keep on playing R6V etc.

Dale, I hope you’re not suggesting that people who play video games are necessarily shirking their families and responsibilities. Everyone needs some down time. Whether you spend it reading books, watching tv/movies, exercising, playing games, or whatever, it’s all good. You can’t be productive 24/7 !

You guys should read Everything Bad Is Good For You by Steven Johnson and Don’t Bother Me Mom, I’m Learning by Marc Prensky for some positive looks at gaming and their role in contemporary culture.