Whats the attraction?

Anywhere else and you'd have been called a troll by now!

What I mostly get out of gaming is that I quickly become hyperfocused. Whether it's digging for gold (not a euphemism) in Minecraft, or shooting random evil dudes in Destiny 2, dropping blocks in Tetris, or solving endless Sudoku puzzles, my brain just engages 100%; everything else fades away. And that always present inner critic just shuts the heck up for a while. Ah, bliss.

Of course, this is followed by me wondering why I've been wasting my life for the past eight hours "doing nothing" (the critic is back), but I do feel more relaxed and recharged.

Gaming may be about as productive as staring at the flames in a fire, or watching the eddies in a flowing stream, or counting the bees and flowers in a spring meadow, but what's wrong with doing any of these things? It's all the same, really: just chillaxing.

Why would I be called a troll?

You're in an online forum with a bunch of adults. The demographic is going to include an unusually high proportion of people who are really, REALLY into gaming. You post, "I really don't get it". What happens next?

NT gamers would probably have gone apoplectic with rage and foamed at the mouth at the mere idea that you think that they are losers (because they're good at reading minds and subtexts like that). NT's would think that obviously you're just a troll (someone who posts just to start an argument) because they couldn't possibly be wrong about games being awesome for everyone!!!! (#NotAllNeurotypicals)

Here, however, the nice ND gamers, who are probably even more passionate about their gaming, just take your question at face value and gently and lovingly try to explain what gaming means to them. If it still means nothing to you, well then, that's just OK, too. (#NeurodivergentsAreLovely)

Does that answer your question?

I look at all this social media stuff and ask 'what's in for me?' and I can't find a lot, just more of what the late Robert Anton Wilson called 'Assholes looking for a human being to attach themselves too'.

TheCatWoman said:

Do you think I'm a troll?

Nope. Let's call it a healthy scepticism for modern technology. We need more of you. Look at the state of the world!

I don't have a FaceBook/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat/MySpace account. I never saw the point. "Hey! Look at the wonderful time I'm pretending to have!" Meantime Zuckerberg is hoovering up all my details to sell me stuff I don't want or telling me that I should be hating on immigrants like everyone else in my "friend" group. No thanks, Mark. I don't want to be told what to think or what to be interested in. Maybe that's a PDA thing. PDA has its benefits, I suppose.

TheCatWoman said:

Do you think I'm a troll?

Nope. Let's call it a healthy scepticism for modern technology. We need more of you. Look at the state of the world!

I don't have a FaceBook/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat/MySpace account. I never saw the point. "Hey! Look at the wonderful time I'm pretending to have!" Meantime Zuckerberg is hoovering up all my details to sell me stuff I don't want or telling me that I should be hating on immigrants like everyone else in my "friend" group. No thanks, Mark. I don't want to be told what to think or what to be interested in. Maybe that's a PDA thing. PDA has its benefits, I suppose.

I look at all this social media stuff and ask 'what's in for me?' and I can't find a lot, just more of what the late Robert Anton Wilson called 'Assholes looking for a human being to attach themselves too'.