Seriously though, my point was that the true “individuals” tend to be looked down upon by the very people who should be seeking their advice. THAT is the sad part. If you have to flock to someone, at least find someone who has a clear idea of what they want in life.

It all comes down to the sheep mentality most people have. If you aren’t one of the sheep, then something must be wrong with you.

The sad part of it is that some of the greatest people I have known were true “individuals”, in every sense of the word.

. . .maybe that’s what makes both masturbation and video gaming so unacceptable. In laughing at the masturbator (or gamer), society is trying to deal with the power of the individual who stands on his own; who doesn’t need other people; who plays happily with himself.

What I’ve found that people in general find most dispicable in a person isn’t evil deeds or personal injury because those are easily forgiven and quickly fogotten. Instead, I submit that the reason is simply that gamers such as this tend to rely on their own judgement instead of the opinions of others. A person that finds success in their own way instead of spending their lives trying to impress others with their knowledge, wealth, or power (in whatever form it may take). People don’t like it when someone doesn’t feel compelled to ask, expect, or even bother to hope for the personal approval of others. I’ve spent my entire adult life observing this in action. To me, it seems to be the saddest and most pervasive part of the human condition that the majority of people have no opinion whatsoever save that which others tell them their opinion should be (or worse yet, what they think others think).

Let’s have a look at Tachikawa tantrism, and its outlawing by Japanese authorities.
If you look closely, the crime of the Tachikawa, even if it was the one invoked and perceived by most, wasn’t their sexual practices themselves, but rather that those were the result of a complete decoding and revealing of the sexual nature lurking behind mantric buddhist practices. People refused to see that the tools of the would-be sage for attaining wisdom were nothing more than highly refined sexual symbols.
On the other hand though, the Tachikawa themselves never really came back to a position that would make sex itself the wisdom they sought. They had toppled the system other itself and made sex the symbol of wisdom (nice triangulation here).

With that in mind:
People do not get post traumatic stress disorder from playing Call of Duty and the like.

Simply put: of course. That’s not war they’re (wanting to be) experiencing, but an acknowledged depiction of war. The stress, if stress comes, will not come from the same sources. A video game is a real life event, just one of a different nature.

I remember seeing some irate Street Fighter III tournament player smashing an arcade for losing because of a stick in sub-par conditon, just to go play his second match mere seconds after, his hands still dripping blood…

You forget that perception IS reality to the individual.

To which I could answer we’re data gathering/analysing/replicating machines capable of infinitely self-refering, we know when we’re having perceptions of perceptions (of perceptions, ad nauseam…).
But I’m not part of that debate.

Actually, let’s throw a diversion anyway: where do you think actions in video games generally take place if you try reading the thing via Goethe’s three worlds theory ?
What does it tell you about the perceptions we’re having of it ?

(Do I sound gratting enough yet ? ^_^)

Thanks for the link Carl. :)

http://www.gameology.org/node/1341