19 Comments
founding
Sep 30, 2021Liked by Resident Contrarian

Not a video game player, but this is the most beautiful ode to the pursuit of perfection that I have read in a long time. Thank you for writing it!

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Oct 1, 2021Liked by Resident Contrarian

Fantastic article!

I'm a gamer and a car enthusiast. The compulsion to spend hours cleaning and detailing a vehicle PERFECTLY, despite knowing full well that it will soon get dusty and dirty, seems to be another example of the phenomenon that you describe.

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Man... I am right there with you. I had so much sympathy reading this, although I never played TOME (but I would recommend Synthetic if you start looking for another frustrating but wonderful game.) There is an awful lot to having some small things in life that you are just interested in and good at. Arguably that is one of the problems of being connected with people all over the world: we can't just be "Best in the town" at something and have it mean anything, we kind of feel like we need to compare ourselves to people all over. A bit harder to reach the top echelons.

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Oct 4, 2021Liked by Resident Contrarian

I would have liked this better without all the pot-shots at me personally.

/s

When my daughter asked why boys play video-games so much (after the Jr. High all nighter) I told her it was the false sense of accomplishment. Not that it isn't actually a struggle and self-improvement, but that it is one that is unmoored from reality.

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Oct 2, 2021Liked by Resident Contrarian

This gave me the same vibes as 17776 - a story that has a lot of characters who are looking for one impossible challenge or another.

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founding
Oct 2, 2021Liked by Resident Contrarian

Good stuff, very well written. My daughter plays Super Meat Boy, one of the hardest platformers out there. Still trying to get through the last mode (dark, or hell, not sure.)

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I went through some tough times this past year, and I found (still find) myself deriving tremendous value from playing Twilight Struggle. It’s different, because it’s human-vs-human, but the sense of *personal* value I feel when I make an excellent move or win a game is profound. Thank you so much for sharing this.

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Sep 30, 2021Liked by Resident Contrarian

I've never played TOME, but I've been playing NetHack since about 1992 without ever ascending, or indeed even finding the amulet that is the game's main quest object. By far the most frustrating game I've ever played, but also the one I've doubtless spent more hours playing it than any other—bar one.

The exception is Kerbal Space Program. Landing on the Mün for the first time gave me a sense of achievement at a time in my life when, if I am honest, I was not really achieving very much else. I have mixed feelings about this: unlike you, my lack of achievement was not "not for want of trying", and KSP probably contributed to my delinquency. But boy am I absurdly proud of all the things I've done in that game over the years.

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Sep 30, 2021Liked by Resident Contrarian

Book rec : That's what the Humanists faction are all about in Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota!

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I haven't played this but it looks great. I still play Nethack from time to time (with the original ascii graphics).

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Coming from ASX and very much enjoyed this. I've always had a penchant for really games.

According to Andrew Huberman, this kind of thing isn't too suprising. The randomness of dopamine release *is* addictive, so there's not too much difference between a hard unforgiving pursuit, and casino gambling.

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