So apparently, I'm not experiencing life.

[Sir Dutchman]

It's a shallow view, but that's what a few people have told me so far. When they ask me what I like, I say I love to play video games. When they ask me what I do in my free time, I'll say I mostly play video games. When they ask me what my plans are for the weekend, I'll say I'll be gaming for most part.

Sure, I'm 25, may not have a girlfriend, may barely have a social life, etc. So okay, maybe I do wish my social life was "slightly" better. But I'm satisfied for most part. I don't care about having a lot of social contacts. I don't care about going out and partying. I'm enjoying my life well enough right now.

Yet these people are telling me that I have to go out and do various things to experience life, in order to really live. Just because they wouldn't be happy living like me, doesn't mean I don't like living like me.

Well, this topic isn't just about me. I'm wondering, with a varied society like we have, why people still expect others to do certain things in life. Not so much focus on it with children, but a lot on teens and what comes after that. They're saying everyone is unique, yet expecting everyone to go through pretty much the same things in life. If you don't, you're not living your life properly. It doesn't matter if you're satisfied or not, since, apparently it matters more what those others think.

What's with this ignorant view from western society?

And what's your own view on it? If you think deeply, do you think people aren't living life the way they should if they don't do some things you did, or some things that were very common in the environment you grew up in and live in?

*Note: I mention western society, due to not knowing how it's handled in other cultures.

[Infinita]

Everyone experiences life in many different ways and really, it doesn't seem right for someone to tell you or dictate to you that you need to experience life differently. If playing games make you happy and if that is what you like to experience in life then there is nothing they can do about it. If it's something you greatly enjoy, there is nothing they can do to stop it.

I go to school, party every now and then, hang out with great people, go swimming and do other activities, I play games on the rare occassion. To me, being with people and being spontaneous is how I experience life. Or something adrenaline rushing is another thing that I love about experiencing life.

It may seem that everyone does the same thing to experience life such as going to the bar but everyone's experience of that certain event is different. I find that it's a pretty ignorant view since you don't need to do something that extravagant to experience life. It's what you do that makes you happy and content with life that makes the experience of life great. :3

[Sir Dutchman]

Hmm... I suppose that is a good reply. What is also an important point, is that people often don't realize how they're contradicting themselves until they find out their own logic/beliefs clash amongst each other, causing them to reconstruct a more logical view/answer. They usually just haven't put much thought in it.

I'm guessing it'll be a while until society advances far enough that they can just accept something that can only be subjective. People generally seem to feel, about a lot of things, that it's not subjective, while it is. Of course, if they think logically, it is. But that's not how they feel it. That's why a soccer supporter from one club can become enraged if someone mentions they like a different club, or that they don't like the supporters club.

[Miss Moonlight]

Every one every day, experiences life, so it's absurd to say anyone conscious, doesn't.

Not everyone experiences it the same way though, so obviously the way each person does, is different.

[Token Black Guy]

Loke what Infinita said:

Everyone experiences life in many different ways and really, it doesn't seem right for someone to tell you or dictate to you that you need to experience life differently. If playing games make you happy and if that is what you like to experience in life then there is nothing they can do about it. If it's something you greatly enjoy, there is nothing they can do to stop it.

People in my neighborhood think i need to experience life by getting drunk and high, go out to nightclubs and strip clubs, wearing the latest hip hop fashions, drive a Chevrolet with 24's with alligator/crocodile skin interior with a loud movie theater sound system in the trunk, date loose women, and some other bullcrap. I don't want to do that stuff. I just want to be me and do my own thing. I want to do stuff like:

Take up a few martial arts
Build some sweet tuner/muscle cars
Go snowboarding with my uncle in Colorado
Become a better skateboarder
Learn more BMX tricks
Travel to China, Japan, Australia, and some other countries
Make a few comic books
Become a Graffiti artist
Learn Parkour/Free Running
Put on some muscle and get strong enough to do stuff like this:


But you decide you own path in life. Have fun and may the Elder Gods watch over you.

[Elukien]

Well those people who say that you aren't experiencing life are right but then again they are also wrong. From their point of view, your are not experiencing life the way they know it likewise for them. It's nice that people want to share with others their way of "experiencing life". However, they don't understand that other people don't share the same passion for their "experiencing life". Why do people interfere with someone else life style, it's easier to let them be.

[Lily Rock]

Everyone has their own lifestyle, if people complains about it, they're just ignorant bastards or want others to be like them, AKA full of themselves.
I always game and such, and it won't change, but if someone says that I have no "life" or not doing something out of it, who cares really? I do what I think is fun, if they can complain about it, it's not really my problem.

[Anime Forum]

Never really understood when someone says they aren't experiencing life when obviously they are doing something they love to do, and they are obviously as of right now alive and MAYBE healthy. Do what makes you happy and do stuff that makes you feel like you are living your life to the fullest. No one person or group of people can change your views on life, just because they either like to party or hang out with friends on every given minute they have. Though, to be honest having friends and hanging out with them is a key part to growing up, and also really fun to do. Continue your lifestyle, because I don't see a problem with it, though adjust it maybe. Your 25 now, so you need to start planning your future at least. If you don't have a job, maybe get one and maybe from time to time hang around with friends. Though, you don't need to take video games out of your life.

[sugarburn]

I asked myself more or less the same question, about how much energy should go into fantasy, as opposed to real-world objectives. Anime, manga, gaming -- they aren't my job or very much related to a social life, so to me they are pure diversion. They take me out of the real world.

Leaving the real world is a real luxury, but I insist on it. Imagination is where some of the things I enjoy most are happening.

The test for me is, can I afford the real-world costs of my fantasy life? And if that means never going outdoors or living on snack food or any other otaku cliché... then no, the penalties are too high. Because even a sci-fi brain in a jar of chemicals depends absolutely on the world outside to live. So that aspect of things needs to be running right.

If my friends were telling me I had no life, I would have to at least error-check my version of life against theirs, without favoring my own too much. Because there needs to a difference between crack cocaine and my favorite pastimes, and sometimes the pursuit of pleasure is just too easy.

[under the rain]

Partying seems... boring. Like, why does one need to engage in boring and pointless activities like that to live?

Having a life is overrated. Social conventions are meaningless unless they benefit you or those around you.

[Hanamaru Kunikida]

You live/expirience life...by living..therefore, your friends are wrong.

[Bulf]

If you can't please everyone then just please yourself. Regardless of how many different things you do in life people are still going to tell you that you haven't lived it to the fullest because you haven't done what they've done. Even though they probably haven't done what you've either....it doesn't work that way though. I'm told to get a life at least 4 times a week, and each time I tell them to "define life". Until they can then I'll keep doing what I like doing.

[Hanamaru Kunikida]

If you can't please everyone then just please yourself. Regardless of how many different things you do in life people are still going to tell you that you haven't lived it to the fullest because you haven't done what they've done. Even though they probably haven't done what you've either....it doesn't work that way though. I'm told to get a life at least 4 times a week, and each time I tell them to "define life". Until they can then I'll keep doing what I like doing.

You have a life, otherwise you wouldn't even be here. It's as simple as that. v_v

[TadashiED]

Just live your life the way you want to live it. Don't let what others say change who you are or what you like to do. This may sound cliche, but do what your heart tells you, and live that way (unless you heart tells you to go walk around in a desert or something for fun xD)

As long as you're satisfied with the way you're living, everything should be fine!

[TenguSan]

Video gaming is more used to momentarily escape life's stresses. Those who do little besides gaming use it to avoid life and all that comes with it.

Do you experience life by sitting there and playing games? no. The very small exception being if you use a microphone to talk to others, in which case your gain SOME social skills. But that factor is extremely small.


want a definition of life? Life is to experience and learn. If you do only one thing, then you are only learning one thing. With that in mind, can you say that one can have a fulfilling life by experiencing one thing over and over? Even if you say "oh, well i watch different shows and play different games", they are nothing more then variations of the same thing.

If you only like to stay in your house, you are doing nothing more than hiding from the unknowns of life itself an can be called nothing more then cowardly.


Unlike most, i do not sugarcoat things -_-

[Ranshiin]

If you only like to stay in your house, you are doing nothing more than hiding from the unknowns of life itself an can be called nothing more then cowardly.

Maybe you need to stop, take a minute and put yourself in someone else's shoes ... and along with that their clothes and most importantly their manner of thought and the society around them.

Maybe to you the society around you is all peaches and you're happy to walk around and experience 'life' but ... in reality, society is not the same for everyone. Someone like you might be able to walk around but someone like say, me, doesn't fit into society. You will probably go ahead and tell me that I'm wrong, or that it's because "I haven't tried to."

Well maybe some people are just naturally unable to integrate into society or even SEE it in the same way that you can.

There are several reasons for this: a lot of the time it's natural but a lot of the time it's also environmental. Someone like myself, for example, have a lot of reasons to avoid society ... growing up in a small area where there was little to do with others besides watch TV, lack of confidence due to disabilities and related bullying due to said disabilities at school, simply having a different mindset of the world that other people don't agree with or follow - these are all logical and realistic reasons. You can hardly expect someone who has, not due to their own fault, been pushed to society's side, to be able to understand and integrate with it. Such people therefore learn to pass time with activities they can do by themselves - the most common and easiest of which is gaming.

So now, will you call me a loser for the way I was brought up and the way society has treated me for being the slightest bit different? If so, I will gladly go ahead and call you a loser in return due to the way you sub-consciously push me aside from the society you so desperately suggest I must conform to.


So please, bear that in mind from now on and try to see life from other perspectives.

[Sir Dutchman]

Never really understood when someone says they aren't experiencing life when obviously they are doing something they love to do, and they are obviously as of right now alive and MAYBE healthy. Do what makes you happy and do stuff that makes you feel like you are living your life to the fullest. No one person or group of people can change your views on life, just because they either like to party or hang out with friends on every given minute they have. Though, to be honest having friends and hanging out with them is a key part to growing up, and also really fun to do. Continue your lifestyle, because I don't see a problem with it, though adjust it maybe. Your 25 now, so you need to start planning your future at least. If you don't have a job, maybe get one and maybe from time to time hang around with friends. Though, you don't need to take video games out of your life.

Well, I don't have a job. But I am studying Applied Psychology. I like psychology. I like games. And in the future, I hope to do something involving both. Gaming and psychology is a new world, mostly still unexplored and unresearched. Personally, I see a lot of potential in it. Suppose I'm a bit old and started it late, but a lot of things didn't go as planned. Long story, blabla, but I'll get where I want in time.

Video gaming is more used to momentarily escape life's stresses. Those who do little besides gaming use it to avoid life and all that comes with it.

Do you experience life by sitting there and playing games? no. The very small exception being if you use a microphone to talk to others, in which case your gain SOME social skills. But that factor is extremely small.


want a definition of life? Life is to experience and learn. If you do only one thing, then you are only learning one thing. With that in mind, can you say that one can have a fulfilling life by experiencing one thing over and over? Even if you say "oh, well i watch different shows and play different games", they are nothing more then variations of the same thing.

If you only like to stay in your house, you are doing nothing more than hiding from the unknowns of life itself an can be called nothing more then cowardly.


Unlike most, i do not sugarcoat things -_-

Oh, this is exactly the kind of response I was hoping to see.

Video games are an escape from life's stresses? In some ways, it does reduce stress. BUT, people have various ways of coping with stress. Partying, drugs, sex, talking, watching TV, etc. Literally a millions of ways. A lot of ways aren't very great ways of handling stress, but that's not the only reason why people do those things. They also do those things, because they like to do them. So... they get a bit less stress from it, but at the same time they're doing something they enjoy. Same can be said for me and gaming. I grew up with them. I've been gaming for more than 21 years.

Okay, your definition of life... 'to experience and learn'. For one thing, I have learned a crapload from games. And a crapload through games, since they often involve certain subjects I'd like to dive a bit deeper in. As for experiencing... why does experiencing life require social interactions with others? I must admit, I do socially interact. Not nearly as much as the average person, but some anyway. And like I admitted, while I would enjoy a little bit more, that's pretty much what I'd be satisfied with. This would still be much less than that of the average person. Anyway... in what way, does experience relate to social interactions? It does not. Experience can be done in various ways that do not require social interaction at all.

And you're also saying I'm doing the same things over and over again? How is interacting with different people, different from playing different games? Just... how? You're just doing the same over and over again. Meet a person, decide if they become friends or not, hang out, talk, etc. With a girlfriend you make out, you have sex hundreds, if not thousands of times, etc. At work you'll do the same things, except with slight variations, over and over again. Repetition is a returning element in life. Bashing me for constantly doing the same with slight variations is ignorant, considering you're doing exactly the same.

Like I stated before, I don't care about socially interacting a whole lot. It wouldn't make me happy at all. I'm living the way I want to. My life isn't perfect and could use some improvements, but I'm working towards them and everyone has some things they want to improve. You can go and be delusional about just how much more you're experiencing life than me and others that aren't living up to those "living standards for experiencing life".

[Forgotten Show]

Video gaming is more used to momentarily escape life's stresses. Those who do little besides gaming [tend to] use it to avoid life and all that comes with it.

Including a minor edit, this bears repeating, and by and large I agree with TenguSan.

When people refer to experiencing life, they're referring to a lot of things under the same 'umbrella' term: the road to financial independence, developing interpersonal relationships, achieving stable employment, creating a family, and the stress that comes with all of these. If you're making enough to live the lifestyle you have, have no inclination for anything more, and aren't draining your family or society, rock on. Just don't think that because it's a lifestyle you're comfortable with that it's experiencing life as most people understand it.

Understand that the American cultural standard is achieving independence without isolation. That's the standard people will judge your lifestyle by.


Bad Memory

[TenguSan]

Maybe you need to stop, take a minute and put yourself in someone else's shoes ... and along with that their clothes and most importantly their manner of thought and the society around them.

Maybe to you the society around you is all peaches and you're happy to walk around and experience 'life' but ... in reality, society is not the same for everyone. Someone like you might be able to walk around but someone like say, me, doesn't fit into society. You will probably go ahead and tell me that I'm wrong, or that it's because "I haven't tried to."

Well maybe some people are just naturally unable to integrate into society or even SEE it in the same way that you can.

There are several reasons for this: a lot of the time it's natural but a lot of the time it's also environmental. Someone like myself, for example, have a lot of reasons to avoid society ... growing up in a small area where there was little to do with others besides watch TV, lack of confidence due to disabilities and related bullying due to said disabilities at school, simply having a different mindset of the world that other people don't agree with or follow - these are all logical and realistic reasons. You can hardly expect someone who has, not due to their own fault, been pushed to society's side, to be able to understand and integrate with it. Such people therefore learn to pass time with activities they can do by themselves - the most common and easiest of which is gaming.

So now, will you call me a loser for the way I was brought up and the way society has treated me for being the slightest bit different? If so, I will gladly go ahead and call you a loser in return due to the way you sub-consciously push me aside from the society you so desperately suggest I must conform to.


So please, bear that in mind from now on and try to see life from other perspectives.

i AM the kind of person who does not leave the house, can not socialize with others well, and has SEVERE trouble integrating into society. =_=

And unless there is a physical reason why one can not experience life.. then it is fear. And unless you are making efforts to get over this fear (and i mean ACTUAL effort), you are hiding from it.

To hide from life? To lower ourselves in order to be safely away from it? To make excuses and even say that we like where you are? Cowardice. Even if you have a good reason, it is still cowardice. Am i a coward? mostly, yes i am.

And it does not matter the reason for it, a lack of life's experiences is still a lack of like's experiences. If you don't like it, grow up

And I NEVER ONCE said that one can not be excused for being afraid.


I will not call you a loser, but I can safely say that you are a fool. You make bias judgments because someone says something which you don't want to hear, twist the words into something completely different, then insult the person who said it

So please, bear that in mind from now on and try to see life from other perspectives.

[Ranshiin]

Maybe what you need to be doing is practicing what you preach.

Why tell people that they shouldn't hide inside and they should be outside 'getting a life', if you in fact hide inside? That makes you a hypocrite.

Also I'm not a fool; after twenty-three years of ridicule, bullying and abuse from the so-called 'society', I think that can justify my reasons for my views.

[Forgotten Show]

i AM the kind of person who does not leave the house, can not socialize with others well, and has SEVERE trouble integrating into society. =_=

And unless there is a physical reason why one can not experience life.. then it is fear. And unless you are making efforts to get over this fear (and i mean ACTUAL effort), you are hiding from it.

To hide from life? To lower ourselves in order to be safely away from it? To make excuses and even say that we like where you are? Cowardice. Even if you have a good reason, it is still cowardice. Am i a coward? mostly, yes i am.

And it does not matter the reason for it, a lackof life's experiences is still a lack of life's experiences. If you don't like it, grow up.

And I NEVER ONCE said that one can not be excused for being afraid.

Bad Memory

[TenguSan]

Maybe what you need to be doing is practicing what you preach.

Why tell people that they shouldn't hide inside and they should be outside 'getting a life', if you in fact hide inside? That makes you a hypocrite.

Also I'm not a fool; after twenty-three years of ridicule, bullying and abuse from the so-called 'society', I think that can justify my reasons for my views.

=_=

i am doing what i preach, and i never said i wasn't. I am actively making my way into having a normal life. (hence, MOSTLY a coward, not fully)

and if you have no idea why i am calling you a fool yet..... *facepalm*


your only making it worse.. best stop now. seriously

[Geo635]

For me, I have a social life but I do not like it. I'm having a better time being a no-life than being that guy who goes to party and hangs out with friends. Why? Because nobody really cares about my values, they say the songs I listen to sucks, they say anime is stupid and I don't feel like I'm getting anything out in my social life. So I guess everybody has a different of what's going on in the world around them... For me... I don't care...

[Anoleis]

Oh, this is exactly the kind of response I was hoping to see.

( -__-)

Get a life.

[TenguSan]

Oh, this is exactly the kind of response I was hoping to see.

Video games are an escape from life's stresses? In some ways, it does reduce stress. BUT, people have various ways of coping with stress. Partying, drugs, sex, talking, watching TV, etc. Literally a millions of ways. A lot of ways aren't very great ways of handling stress, but that's not the only reason why people do those things. They also do those things, because they like to do them. So... they get a bit less stress from it, but at the same time they're doing something they enjoy. Same can be said for me and gaming. I grew up with them. I've been gaming for more than 21 years.

Okay, your definition of life... 'to experience and learn'. For one thing, I have learned a crapload from games. And a crapload through games, since they often involve certain subjects I'd like to dive a bit deeper in. As for experiencing... why does experiencing life require social interactions with others? I must admit, I do socially interact. Not nearly as much as the average person, but some anyway. And like I admitted, while I would enjoy a little bit more, that's pretty much what I'd be satisfied with. This would still be much less than that of the average person. Anyway... in what way, does experience relate to social interactions? It does not. Experience can be done in various ways that do not require social interaction at all.

And you're also saying I'm doing the same things over and over again? How is interacting with different people, different from playing different games? Just... how? You're just doing the same over and over again. Meet a person, decide if they become friends or not, hang out, talk, etc. With a girlfriend you make out, you have sex hundreds, if not thousands of times, etc. At work you'll do the same things, except with slight variations, over and over again. Repetition is a returning element in life. Bashing me for constantly doing the same with slight variations is ignorant, considering you're doing exactly the same.

Like I stated before, I don't care about socially interacting a whole lot. It wouldn't make me happy at all. I'm living the way I want to. My life isn't perfect and could use some improvements, but I'm working towards them and everyone has some things they want to improve. You can go and be delusional about just how much more you're experiencing life than me and others that aren't living up to those "living standards for experiencing life".

to be honest.. i have no idea what you were trying to prove

but if it makes you feel better.. i loled under my facepalm

sorry, but it seems you did not at all comprehend what i was saying. picking all that apart to tell you how you did not even come close to comprehending it will simply take too long. in many ways you actually reinforced what i was saying


people, PLEASE stop trying to attack me because you don't like what i say.

i am done with this discussion. I am feeling ill, and have now been put in a fowl mood through excessive ignorance.