It wasn't too long ago that the "video-game" industry was deemed "recession proof"

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: It wasn't too long ago that the "video-game" industry was deemed "recession proof"

This is a really interesting post, since you identify yourself as the anomaly in your family.

My father was a man of modest intellect, growing up in a small New England farming community. When he was a child, few his age would go on to earn a living based on their schooling. The town had one doctor, one lawyer and a few teachers. The rest earned their way with the strength of their backs, farming and trade skills or a talent for running a small, local business. My dad knew early, and correctly, that he would never be one of those few depending on schooling for a living.

My mother's side of the family has Masters and above degrees going back several generations. I inherited that talent for schooling from my mother side, not my fathers. While still a child, back in the late 1950's, I recognized that my ticket to the future went through school, and I rode that ticket out of town. There was a deep and long wave of economic growth, favoring those with a broad and solid education, especially in math and the hard sciences. That wave could be felt even then. by those who read widely, such as myself at age twelve.

My son might have the raw talent, based on test scores, for such a studious life, but whether by genetics, upbringing, opportunity or something else, he will do better in jobs that depend on his technical and people skills than years of study. He's employed now, but as you suspect, not exactly succeeding yet.

Though others my age warned that we should be careful in exposing our children to the internet and we should limit our children's computer game playing time, I provided my son wide access to the web and I like swgprop above, played many a computer game with my son, from ages about 6 to 16. I consider my sons social skills to rather seamlessly include his local, face-to-face interactions and his distant interactions with all manner of people around the world. Children today live in a different world in many ways than my father did as a child.

However, even though, as for many of us, my life's roots go deep into my childhood and my parents diverse talents, still I did not hit my stride and find a means of earning a good living that suited me well until my early thirties. What I ended up specializing in, multiple-microprocessor system software, didn't even exist before then, for the simple reason we didn't have microprocessors before then, much less multiples of them wired together.

When, how and if my son will hit his stride and find a way to earn a comfortable living I don't know. As I've told others here and my son and his cousins individually, ones twenties are a great time to try a bit of this and that, to live in strange places doing oddly different things. Thus one gains a better sense of just who ones self is, independent of ones circumstances. Thus one is better situated to commit fully to such opportunity as might come along for which one is well suited, with minimal regret as to what might have been had only one taken the other fork in the road. One also develops this way a repertoire of talents, experiences and associations that may serve one well in the future, often in ways one could not have predicted.

I do wish my generation could have left the country, the government, the economy and the society in better shape than we did for his generation. Intergenerational studies such as at the site http://www.generationaldynamics.com/ suggest that the young adults of today will have the "opportunity" to become like the greatest generation of my fathers time. That is to say, we're handing off to them a sufficiently bollixed up basket case that they are going to have to go through hell and back to remedy things. Those who survive will be strong, wise and respected fifty years from now. That may be a more optimistic outlook than we deserve.

[BiscayneSunrise]

Re: It wasn't too long ago that the "video-game" industry was deemed "recession proof"

Intergenerational studies such as at the site http://www.generationaldynamics.com/ suggest that the young adults of today will have the "opportunity" to become like the greatest generation of my fathers time. That is to say, we're handing off to them a sufficiently bollixed up basket case that they are going to have to go through hell and back to remedy things. Those who survive will be strong, wise and respected fifty years from now. That may be a more optimistic outlook than we deserve.

PC,

There is no doubt in my mind that the kids in their late teens and early 20's now will be the "greatest generation" of the 21st Century. I see it in everything they do. They are already far more wise and mature than I was at those ages.

What is interesting about those generational studies is how different generations are defined and delineated by world events. In my family, the most wise children are between 18 & 24. Those a bit older, I'm not so sure about, they may have missed the greatest generation cutoff. They're good, but not quite great. Those younger than 18, perhaps a bit to early to tell if they are in the "greatest" group.

[Techdread]

Re: It wasn't too long ago that the "video-game" industry was deemed "recession proof"

Somebody, anybody, explain to me what would be the impact on the future of the world if as of midnight tonight, all video gaming stopped, no longer worked, no longer would be produced?

Computer games are arguably the best art form ever devised by man, combining art, music, story telling and interactivity.


If they did not exist the world would be a much duller place:eek:.

[Ghent12]

Re: It wasn't too long ago that the "video-game" industry was deemed "recession proof"

I see many good points now, and much more clearly than before. Thank you for this expounding.

Ghent, you make a valid point that my wording of "pure waste of time" was ill chosen. There is probably some value to "fun," but I don't know that as a psychological fact. Reader's Digest used to have a section of humorous anecdotes titled "laughter is the best medicine," but again I don't know that is a fact. I tend to largely believe that childhood should be the time of least responsibility in one's life, and things that lend themselves to that are not necessarily bad. And it is my opinion now that probably few things are bad for humans when engaged with moderation.

I agree for the most part. An issue so intangible as "fun" or "humor" can be tricky to analyze, especially in a macroscopic sense. The best indicator is related to the original article posted--the economics driving the distribution of the this type of fun for people. That goes a long ways towards explaining how valuable it is considered.


One aspect which perhaps did not exist previously in video games but is one of the most noticeable elements now is the culture. I'm not speaking of the "nerd culture" or what-have-you, but on a more general national sense. Japanese games have long been importing elements of Japanese culture into America, along with most of their other exports. Blizzard Entertainment probably exerts more influence over the Korean peninsula than the UN, due to the absurd popularity of both StarCraft and WarCraft III.

I would liken the significance of this to the significance of the cultural influence of Hollywood between the 1920's and the 1960's. I don't know the exact statitistics, but I would guess that well over half of the world's movies were made in America in that time period, and they had minor but untold significance upon the rest of the world.

You and roxtar are right to be worried about the drawbacks of video games. If you want to see the results of socially retarded generational training in person, spend a few hours at a local comic book and tabletop game store. Who could know if or when such people will grow out of their shells?

However, as a somewhat typical nerd, more than one of my best times with my friends have been spent in front of the tube, controller in hand. Video games have been a net positive influence, in my opinion.