[News] Marek - recent 1st round pick unlikely to play in NHL due to video game addiction

[Poe969]

Spending time with a wife and kid is a sport too! Dating is a sport, it's even televised. Talking about whats a sport is actually a sport too when you think about it.

If it's a growing industry, awesome. Hopefully it help the economy in some way. I just feel sorry for the people who do it so often but if that's what they want, so be it. It's just sad that most of the human interaction they have is talking to people they can't see or physically active interact with.

When you see people who spend so much time isolated from others, by choice, try to make human connections it's just sad. In the future when these people who spend so much time alone playing video games need to actually meet and talk to real life people they won't have the people skills to deal with it.

Then the health concerns of constant sitting, usually snacking, over exposure to blue light from screens, lack of physical activity, not doing the things they should... Fine, it's a sport but at what cost?

[18YrOldSamBennett]

The professional teams that hire these kids to play for them have a very well regimented workout plan and structured diets. The stigmatisms that still exist when talking about gaming culture are often dated and entirely wrong.

New screens have the ability to turn off blue light and there are protective glasses to prevent overexposure when that becomes a concern. I see very little difference between classic sports and esports. There are few spots for the most talented people at their craft to entertain an audience and get paid for it, they have short careers and have to dedicate almost all of their time to it.

That being said if this "Kid" in question is trying to maintain the playing time of a pro gamer they will never make it the NHL, people only have a finite amount of time and energy and with anything that requires you to be the best you don't have very much time for anything else.

[Poe969]

I'm guessing much like real sports, it's tough to become a pro at eSports. Meaning, not everyone will have dedicated coaches and trainers just like most people don't have actual trainers. For the few that make it "pro" in eSports, good for them! For the millions that don't, I'm guessing they're worse off than athletes that don't make it. I'd rather be someone who plays in the minors than someone who plays in their parents basement.

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Poe969

When you see people who spend so much time isolated from others, by choice, try to make human connections it's just sad. In the future when these people who spend so much time alone playing video games need to actually meet and talk to real life people they won't have the people skills to deal with it.

Do average people really need people skills in mundane life though? Barring job interviews and dates, do we really undertake important talks for which some specific skills are required?

[Poe969]

I guess if they're OK living life alone or with minimal human contact, as long as they get along with their parents. Not having people skills to get a job or find a date will I be of limit the life people have though, those are kind of important.

[Babby Daddy]

Do esport players really lack people skills?

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Pointman

Do average people really need people skills in mundane life though? Barring job interviews and dates, do we really undertake important talks for which some specific skills are required?

We're social animals. People need social contact to be emotionally healthy. Real, face-to-face engagement, along with a sense of belonging.

There's pretty solid evidence that the increasing rates of depression and anxiety in our society are linked to social isolation. And men tend to be more isolated and more depressed than women. Men are also much more likely to be spend lots and lots of time playing videogames by themselves.

It's pretty dumb to say videogames themselves are bad for people. But playing them to excess, to the point of social isolation, is bad for individuals. And the fact many people (mostly men) are playing them to excess and to the point of social isolation is bad for society.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I guess if they're OK living life alone or with minimal human contact, as long as they get along with their parents. Not having people skills to get a job or find a date will I be of limit the life people have though, those are kind of important.

This is just another stigma that you’re pedaling. You assume that gamers live alone in their parent’s basement like some kind of hermit and have virtually no human contact when in actuality, I’ll bet that the gaming culture of today is the complete opposite.

I’m not a big gamer myself, but I can only imagine that with the technology and the community that has beent built, people are now connected with others more than ever and are constantly communicating and are probably meeting new people and probably making new friends and possibly even dating because of online gaming.

[Poe969]

I agree, people are now connected with others and in constant communication. I just don't think they're making any human connections. Someone who devotes their life to playing hockey or any other sport is going to pretty much have constant human contact. People can play video games from virtually anywhere and even though they many be talking to someone, they're talking into a mic or to a screen. I think in order for them to be considered a sport there has to be some kind of human contact (and no I don't consider talking to a screen, a mic or to a phone human contact).

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

We're social animals. People need social contact to be emotionally healthy. Real, face-to-face engagement, along with a sense of belonging.

There's pretty solid evidence that the increasing rates of depression and anxiety in our society are linked to social isolation. And men tend to be more isolated and more depressed than women. Men are also much more likely to be spend lots and lots of time playing videogames by themselves.

It's pretty dumb to say videogames themselves are bad for people. But playing them to excess, to the point of social isolation, is bad for individuals. And the fact many people (mostly men) are playing them to excess and to the point of social isolation is bad for society.

I agree mostly with your point, but there’s really pros and cons for everything. Look at sports for instance, you’re never going to see gamers tieing up the courts because of rampant steroid use or all the brain injuries and concussions that have lead to dementia or people taking their own lives. There’s good and bad for everything.

[rage2]

Anyone have any more info on Porno World Cup 2022?

[renny]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I agree, people are now connected with others and in constant communication. I just don't think they're making any human connections. Someone who devotes their life to playing hockey or any other sport is going to pretty much have constant human contact. People can play video games from virtually anywhere and even though they many be talking to someone, they're talking into a mic or to a screen. I think in order for them to be considered a sport there has to be some kind of human contact (and no I don't consider talking to a screen, a mic or to a phone human contact).

You realize that most of the major eSports teams have team houses where teammates train together and live together? If anything this probably builds even stronger human connections to your teammates than a hockey player who leaves their teammates once they leave the rink.

I think a lot of people just imagine some kid hiding in their parents' basement if they play video games for a living. In today's world, this assumption is just false. The players are treated like assets by their teams, they're trained on how to interact with media etc., just like traditional sports.

[Winsor_Pilates]

To be good enough at a video game to be professional level, you simply have to be playing a ridiculous amount of hours per day.
A lot of the top players have been quoted saying they play 12-15 hours/day.

To suggest these players are living otherwise normal lives, with normal human interaction (not in game) is actually impossible.

[Snuffleupagus]

I keep checking this continuous bumped thread for a confirmation on who's 1st round pick this is only to see a debate that's been going on for over 10 years

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

To be good enough at a video game to be professional level, you simply have to be playing a ridiculous amount of hours per day.
A lot of the top players have been quoted saying they play 12-15 hours/day.

To suggest these players are living otherwise normal lives, with normal human interaction (not in game) is actually impossible.

Hey! Common sense is not tolerated in a thread about video games!

[Party Elephant]

I think there's another distinction to be drawn between serious esports competitors and people who just spend all day on their ps4 playing gta/fallout/fortnite etc - there's far more of the latter in the world than the former.

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

We're social animals. People need social contact to be emotionally healthy. Real, face-to-face engagement, along with a sense of belonging.

There's pretty solid evidence that the increasing rates of depression and anxiety in our society are linked to social isolation. And men tend to be more isolated and more depressed than women. Men are also much more likely to be spend lots and lots of time playing videogames by themselves.

It's pretty dumb to say videogames themselves are bad for people. But playing them to excess, to the point of social isolation, is bad for individuals. And the fact many people (mostly men) are playing them to excess and to the point of social isolation is bad for society.

Developing people skills is a different thing than having enough contact for mental well-being. The initial point was that gamers don't develop people skls and as such are handicapped in real life. Which is a false stigma, a people skills are not really all that important at the first place and kids, who hang around together, don't develop people skills either. To develop people think one has to put in a focused and largely solitary effort of learning how human works and what you need to say in different situations.

Now when it comes to interactions just for mental well-being, isn't school enough for it? If anything, a kid, who is good at gaming, is going to be quite popular, as kids are actually talking about games a lot.

Then there is huge difference between online games and not online ones. Online gaming gives you not just communication, but even self-expression. Creating clans, recruiting members, discussing politics regarding other clans, sharing tricks, and driving your team forward are all activities which involve a lot of interactions and are arguably impossible to find without online gaming.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by renny

As we speak there are over 1.6M viewers watching video game streamers on twitch and there isn't even a major tournament or anything like that going on. Twitch delivers these numbers on a daily basis, and it's pretty much constant throughout the day. There are YouTubers that do daily shows that pull in more than 2M views each day on each new video. To put into perspective, Game 2 of the NHL finals hit "record" numbers with 3.788M viewers.

That is nowhere near a record. Game 1 averaged 5.2 million viewers on NBC and another 3.2 million in Canada. I don't have the figures handy for overseas viewers, and perhaps they are not publicly available yet, but obviously that figure is not zero. The numbers you cite for Twitch are worldwide and thus not directly comparable.

[Pellanor]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

That is nowhere near a record. Game 1 averaged 5.2 million viewers on NBC and another 3.2 million in Canada. I don't have the figures handy for overseas viewers, and perhaps they are not publicly available yet, but obviously that figure is not zero. The numbers you cite for Twitch are worldwide and thus not directly comparable.

It was a market record for Vegas.[1]

The most watched hockey game I could find was Canada vs US gold medal 2010. It had 27.6 million US viewers and 16.6 million Canadian, peaking at 34.8 US and 26.5 Canadian, for a total of 61.3 million [2]. As I mentioned before, the LoL finals last year peaked at 80 million [3]. They're both international events, and sure we don't have viewership numbers for hockey outside of North America, but do you really think those add up to another 20 million, or that there's any other hockey game out there that had 30% more viewers than the Olympic gold?

However, I don't think renny was trying to make a point about peak viewership, but rather the day to day numbers. He mentioned that there were 1.6 million viewers on twitch at the time of his posting. To give better perspective, in 16/17 CBC's Hockey Night in Canada averaged 1.63 million [4]. You can qualify that all you want (international english speaking gamers vs canadian only), but it still gives a good idea just how big spectator gaming is.


[1] https://www.nhl.com/news/stanley-cup...ds/c-298834348
[2] https://www.nhl.com/news/olympic-fin...years/c-519476
[3] https://www.lolesports.com/en_US/art...by-the-numbers
[4] http://awfulannouncing.com/nhl/2016-...se-canada.html

[Samonadreau]

I had to Google lol esports. Spent 10 minutes on their website and still have no idea what it is.