Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I'm sure you're well-intentioned and want what's best for your kids, but I'm going to push back a bit. My ability to play video games in general has improved over the years, and for me it's a source of pleasure. It's not ephemeral because many of the games I play now have the same mechanics as the ones I played when I was a kid.

People like listening to guitar, but there are also a lot of people who love watching others play videogames on sites like Twitch. Of course both playing videogames and playing guitar professionally aren't a realistic goal for most people.




I don't think the amount of utility for guitar is the same as for video games.

I understand very few people get to be professional guitarists or gamers. However, after that there are rapidly decreasing returns for video games. Guitar can be a source of pleasure for people you meet. It's a far more interesting skill than playing video games decently well. Guitar challenges the brain more; its learning curve extends farther than any video game. Guitar opens up a world of creativity and improvisation, name me a video game that can provide something at that scale (I'm an avid gamer so I'm sure there are none). Plus, it can get you laid.

I just don't buy that playing video games can provide much benefit. It seems like a meager reason to justify a questionable habit.


Personally I would much rather watch someone play videogames than listen to someone play guitar, but that might be an unpopular opinion and I agree with you that actually writing music is more artistically creative than what you can do with the vast majority of videogames.

We can probably agree the type of game matter. To me the skill that people display when expertly playing a real-time strategy game is really interesting and takes a certain kind of tactical/strategic genius to do well. It is basically speed chess with a lot more rules and space for creativity.

You've definitely got a point that guitar probably is a better way to impress most of the ladies.

I just want to make the additional point that video games are how a lot of us began our interest in computers that later turned into a fulfilling career. Many people first experienced a command line while installing DOS games. The modern equivalent is probably modding PC games, which can take a lot of technical literacy depending on the game.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: