And Back to Video Games

by General Vagueness , The Vault of Sass, Saturday, August 31, 2013, 10:03 (4101 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I got into trouble at work for refusing to live the way "they wanted me to live" and was not considered for promotion.

Do you mean they wanted you to work longer hours i.e. devote more of your life to work?

Isn't it fascinating that while our productivity greatly increased, through the use of technique and technology, instead of choosing to work less and have more free time, we instead chose to work MORE? It's perhaps the greatest cultural mistake we have ever made! I mean, if back in the day it took you 8 hours to do some task, but now it takes 2, then why are we not working 2 hour days with the same pay? Instead we work 8 hours and do 4 tasks.

I think it's pretty clear that this is the result of cultural narcissism, in that working more results in more money which can be used to buy more shit which indicates status. As the quote shows, perhaps we should question these metrics as an indicator of worth.

See why it's so bad that things like level and loot now indicate success in games? It's invading our leisure time, something which should be immune to status seeking behavior since it's ostensibly time to do what interests you personally, only because the activity is enjoyable for its own sake.

or, you know, inflation, greed, wanting to give their families and themselves the best they can...