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[hyperbertha]

I agree 100% with you on the porn part

Porn is a weapon and is used almost exclusively to exploit us for monetary gain and further, the studied have been done and concur almost exclusively that it damages your brain over the long term, the severity depending on the age you discover it.

It turns human intimacy into a product. It turns people, especially women, into consumables.
And it turns users (mainly men) into addicts.

Porn doesn't stay on a screen either because it trains us to expect real women to act like porn actresses, detached, degraded, and constantly available. You may be intelligent enough to see through it, but we like what we like, and if that is influenced we can not stop it unless we stop porn entirely and even then the damage is likely already done. It causes users to constantly want "more" and more "extreme" artificial stimulation to get the same rush. We see the effects every day. Nature didn't design sex to be cheapened or treated like a product. Once you are into fripple anal fisting and bdsm tranny dom thats it, you are stuck like that

This has led unquestionably to a spike in violence, abuse, and disconnection in real-world relationships.

Porn makes men weak. It kills drive, darkens the soul, and makes them spectators in life.
It drains ambition, hijacks attention, and slowly rots the will. It destroys what makes a man a man in my humble opinion...

the real conspiracy begins when you look into the rabbit hole of who owns, controls and distributes the porn. I will leave the result of that research upon to you, but lets just say it is absolutely not a coincidence.

what bulshit did i just read? Sex has always been dirty. Its religion that subverted it into the tame and boring shit it became. Newsflash: Humans haven't been monogamous for the vast vast majority of their history. If there were no porn, men would just go to other extremes to get sexual activity in their life. Stop this preachy religious shit.

 

[64gigabyteram]

In the past, men would rise up or try to improve themselves

No, they wouldn't.
Men in the past are hardly different from men now. Because men are not a monolith. There are many different groups of men, and those groups will exist and have existed for years.

Just like how there used to be men with a drive to improve themselves and men who didn't care, there are still men today with a drive to improve themselves and men who will not care.

Your lack of self discipline holds you back far more than any entertainment medium would ever do, so don't blame the vidya games.
Besides, you're unlikely to get a positive response on a board dedicated purely to gaming

 

[Bombolone]

Since there have existed the rulers and the ruled, kings and peasants, masters and slaves. One axiom has always existed.
How do we rule forever?
A strong, intelligent, healthy and focused populace is not what you want.
I empathize with your take OP.
I think there are broader institutions and levers used to achieve docility. Video games could be lumped into one of them.
Fairly easy fix though. Personal responsibility.
I can't control what the world behaves like but I can control myself.
Meditate, breath, study, read. Stay an unwavering force in all the chaos.

 

[Bloody5]

I agree 100% with you on the porn part

Porn is a weapon and is used almost exclusively to exploit us for monetary gain and further, the studied have been done and concur almost exclusively that it damages your brain over the long term, the severity depending on the age you discover it.

It turns human intimacy into a product. It turns people, especially women, into consumables.
And it turns users (mainly men) into addicts.

Porn doesn't stay on a screen either because it trains us to expect real women to act like porn actresses, detached, degraded, and constantly available. You may be intelligent enough to see through it, but we like what we like, and if that is influenced we can not stop it unless we stop porn entirely and even then the damage is likely already done. It causes users to constantly want "more" and more "extreme" artificial stimulation to get the same rush. We see the effects every day. Nature didn't design sex to be cheapened or treated like a product. Once you are into fripple anal fisting and bdsm tranny dom thats it, you are stuck like that

This has led unquestionably to a spike in violence, abuse, and disconnection in real-world relationships.

Porn makes men weak. It kills drive, darkens the soul, and makes them spectators in life.
It drains ambition, hijacks attention, and slowly rots the will. It destroys what makes a man a man in my humble opinion...

the real conspiracy begins when you look into the rabbit hole of who owns, controls and distributes the porn. I will leave the result of that research upon to you, but lets just say it is absolutely not a coincidence.

Listen to this man, guys.
He is right, porn is a blight and the sooner you stop exposing yourselves to it the better.

 

[Miles708]

I want to say that I love video games. I also want to say I'm not an addict or anything. I can go weeks or months without playing games. I fell out of love with games in my 20's. I still play them but I understand their limitations.

So yeah, I love games every now and then for a treat.

Which is why it pains me to say I think I'm becoming anti-video games and not just super into them.

I have some business to do (graphics for project, figure drawing samples for art school application;etc) and yet during my time off and not working my brain goes back to Resident Evil 1 Remake, which I started a new game of.

I am becoming wholly convinced that games help pacify men and steer us from our goals. Rather than being useful and doing important things in your downtime like the men of the past did, we wind down with video games. Many gamers cope by saying "that's no different than tv" but I don't really think about tv in my off hours. Games are unique in that you hit goals within the game. In REmake's case, it's solving puzzles, avoiding zombies, limiting crimson heads, resource management. The video game hijacks your brain dopamine so that when you've had a successful session you feel as if you've done a good job even though it's not something real or tangible. Afterwards I feel depleted and can't get to work on things that are tied to my actual goals because it's easier to achieve a goal within the game. No. Instead, my brain goes back to the game. Even during a walk I'm thinking about puzzle solving and doing the ultimate run of REmake.

I'm convinced the elite uses porn and video games to pacify men. Utterly convinced of it. Why go out and meet women when you've got porn? Why go out and do your own adventures when you've got video games? I started sailing as a hobby and it's nothing like sailing in a video game.

Since I have high aspirations I'm not sure what this means about my future relationship with video games. I'm still half convinced to sell my entire collection (goes as far back as SNES, Genesis). I'm still on the fence.

The more time passes the more I am fully convinced games are no different than porn. Just like porn isn't real love video games aren't real...anything and yet both manage to hijack your dopamine like nothing else. In a way tv, social media, books, whatever else don't seem to do.

Even without going full tinfoil hat, it's in the name:

Entertainment
Meaning, to entertain.

The Cambridge Dictionary has a couple different definitions, including this one:

Keeping people amused and distracted from everything around them is not the Illuminati's doing, it's what entertainment has always existed for.

And it's not a bad thing necessarily.
The problem is: entertainment can be really good with other forms of art (music, drawings, books, movies) because you can end up being more inspired. It's good distraction.

This rarely happens with videogames. Maybe it's because they are interactive, so inspiration leaves space for action and problem solving.

 

[Nocty]

what bulshit did i just read? Sex has always been dirty. Its religion that subverted it into the tame and boring shit it became. Newsflash: Humans haven't been monogamous for the vast vast majority of their history. If there were no porn, men would just go to other extremes to get sexual activity in their life. Stop this preachy religious shit.

Sounds like I struck a nerve!

Who mentioned anything to do with religion?

I posted nothing but scientifically proven things, if you don't like that I'm sorry but it does not change fact. Porn rewires your brain, and not in any good way. It also damages your dopamine receptors. It makes you crave porn rather than real sexual intimacy,

As I said at the start of the post, the studies have been done.

 

[hyperbertha]

Sounds like I struck a nerve!

Who mentioned anything to do with religion?

I posted nothing but scientifically proven things, if you don't like that I'm sorry but it does not change fact. Porn rewires your brain, and not in any good way. It also damages your dopamine receptors. It makes you crave porn rather than real sexual intimacy,

As I said at the start of the post, the studies have been done.

porn makes men only crave more real sex. Which they would anyway. But it has an effect of sedating men, which can be beneficial in modern society. Many of the 'studies' done on the topic come from conservative think tanks with agendas.

 

[Deerock71]

Couldn't this be said about any entertainment medium? Things not looking good in Rome? Throw some Christians to some lions!

 

[Reckheim]

Entertainment in general exists to release endorphins. I don't really think that is a crazy revelation that most people don't realize.

I quess if you would rather sacrifice happiness for success; then that's up to you. But life is too short to work day and night just so you can die like the rest of us .

 

[BlitzCraig]

I went through a phase where I played video games occasionally. I spent more time reading, sleeping, working out and meeting women. That was all good. But once you meet that one woman, it's a good idea to chill out a little more and just settle down. And that's how video games have come back into my life. We can't always be searching for the next thing and we have to accept the limitations imposed on us by our age at some point. Sometimes it's a good idea to just let things be.

 

[Hashassin]

Definitely the lalilulelo.

 

[blacktout]

If you want to procrastinate, you will find a way to procrastinate. The means to avoid a task that you don't want to do or don't feel confident you can do well are infinite. Books, movies, TV, social media, sports, exercise, day-dreaming. Hell, even if you were all alone in a dark forest at the beginning of time, you could still choose to masturbate instead of finding a mate or shelter. There's nothing special about video games.

Meanwhile, if you are in profound psychological pain and use video games as an escape from a life that you can't handle, that's actually far, far better than the primary historical alternatives: drugs, alcohol, and violence.

Anf if video games are tools to pacify the masses, they're not doing a great job, given the rising social unrest of the last decade or so.

 

[Hudo]

So, that means that if Half-Life 3 ever comes out, you are not going to play it?

 

[Krathoon]

It seems like the bubble is bursting with video games. The companies are becoming too greedy and the prices are getting too high.

Everybody wants to be Nintendo.

 

[Outlier]

They are, but no one is forcing them upon us.
Also, no one forcing them to be made.

So, there is no grand conspiracy to pacify the masses, with bread and circuses.
Humans generally choose to pacify themselves, because stress is a Deadly SOB.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I'm convinced the elite uses porn and video games to pacify men. Utterly convinced of it. Why go out and meet women when you've got porn? Why go out and do your own adventures when you've got video games? I started sailing as a hobby and it's nothing like sailing in a video game.

What? Don't you know the dating market and boat manufacturers are all plotting against you just to live off your hard work? It's all a plan by the upper class, keep you busy with sex and "relaxing" boat trips while making you pay for exorbitant gifts, premium tinder subscriptions and expensive sailing gear, all to keep you from actually improving your skills and developing your worldview in ways that could aid the overthrowing of the shadow rules on our society.

 

[M1chl]

Weaklink, probably have addiciive personality, which sort of smells from the text itself

me too btw

 

[Sooner]

Go do something else and STFU

 

[Ryno1221]

You are absolutely right. But it is not limited to video games. It is also sports, television shows ("programs"), social media, etc. The "elite" actually don't want their slaves to create and build things that are actually worthwhile.

 

[Lethal01]

@Edder1

I deleted all social media apps off my phone months ago and use my phone maybe an hour a day. I've gone pre-social media era and just use messaging apps like texting or the occasional whatsapp.

Bro still using his phone for an hour? Weak

 

[Madserb2023]

Feeling that you have accomplished something without actually doing something of value is basically the modern world. My wife says she has had a productive day of shopping. Trust me, people think about that too as that's another thing that releases dopamine. Sport is the same. Passing a ball around has significantly less value than a farmer. We like to give purpose to things that don't have purpose.

 

[HRK69]

Go do something else and STFU

I wouldn't advise that. Bro is going to see a conspiracy theory in everything once he goes into the real world

 

[Hashassin]

Feeling that you have accomplished something without actually doing something of value is basically the modern world. My wife says she has had a productive day of shopping. Trust me, people think about that too as that's another thing that releases dopamine. Sport is the same. Passing a ball around has significantly less value than a farmer. We like to give purpose to things that don't have purpose.

OK but keep sports out of it. Unless you're specifically talking about the commercial side of it, taking care of one's body is absolutely not without value. Even throwing a ball around is good. Of course I realise this might be hard to understand for most, especially on a website like this.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I was waiting for the word "elite" or "elites" and cheered when I hit that point of the conspiracy.

10/10, would build tinfoil hat again

 

[Krathoon]

Games do have a way of taking care of your sanity. The fun games in particular.

That is why the Mario and Zelda games have endured.

 

[flying_sq]

I mean, I don't think it is the "elites using it to control you" as much as it is a cope for not taking personal responsibility for your lack of will power. It's the same with any vice, you can stop anytime, it just takes a conscious effort to do so.

 

[Krathoon]

Yeah. You can also say the elites are trying to shorten your lifespan with fast food.

 

[Krathoon]

Really, it is better to say "the rich" than the "the elites". It is more accurate.

 

[JimmyRustler]

You overthink it OP. All things came up naturally, companies realized that they can make money with making us addicted and now they are exploiting it.

There is no big conspiracy. Just corporate greed, human weakness and governments that don't do anything about it…. Yet. Restrictions are bound to come sooner or later.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Maybe we ought to build a world where you don't have to spend most of time your time doing work that you hate for people you don't like. Feels like society is creating an unhealthy situation and then selling us the means to cope with it, rather than just, you know, building a social structure that doesn't make half of us terminally depressed.

I agree completely. I used to work a job that destroyed my mental health and i dreaded going to work every single day. I'd literally stay up all night because that was my only free time it felt like and i'd get nauseous even thinking about going into a building full of people i didn't like doing a job that crushed my spirit. On my breaks i'd sit in my car just cause i couldn't stand being in the building anymore and needed air to breathe. Luckily i left and never looked back and when i left i felt like 900 pounds of weight was lifted off my chest. There's sooooooo many soul crushing jobs like that nowadays and no wonder people r depressed.

 

[HRK69]

Yeah. You can also say the elites are trying to shorten your lifespan with fast food.

This is the kind of basement level conspiracy nonsense that keeps getting recycled because it's easier to blame some shadowy "elite" than to accept personal responsibility or look at actual data

Fast food exists because of demand, convenience, and profit, not some nefarious plan. Nobody's forcing anyone to eat it, people make their own choices. If anything, the real issue is lack of education, access to healthier options, and corporate marketing, not a James Bond villain stroking a cat and planning population control through burgers.

That's not how power works, and it's not how society functions

This whole "they're trying to kill us" narrative is lazy, intellectually bankrupt, and frankly insulting to real issues that deserve attention. Grow the fuck up.

 

[Sebastian1295]

This is true but on the other hand sometimes I think that if half the time I passed playing videogames had been spent doing something to elevate my life I'd probably be in a better spot.

I'm not a boomer in that regard, I think gaming is awesome and it is an hobby that makes your brain work and not rot, but still the dopamine aspect of it makes me feel guilty from time to time.

I could spend time doing other things than playing videogames as well but that takes money and i'm not rich sadly lmaooo. If i had the money i'd travel nonstop and go see and do everything i want too.

 

[Krathoon]

I notice that as I get older, I don't really get into games anymore. I do feel like they are asking too much of my time.

It is like my brain is flipping the "F this." switch.

 

[Skifi28]

Who is trying to pacify us? Corporation CEOs? The governments that don't have much involvement in game creation? Some super secret group of reptile Aliens manipulating us from the shadows?

 

[Krathoon]

This is the kind of basement level conspiracy nonsense that keeps getting recycled because it's easier to blame some shadowy "elite" than to accept personal responsibility or look at actual data

Fast food exists because of demand, convenience, and profit, not some nefarious plan. Nobody's forcing anyone to eat it, people make their own choices. If anything, the real issue is lack of education, access to healthier options, and corporate marketing, not a James Bond villain stroking a cat and planning population control through burgers.

That's not how power works, and it's not how society functions

This whole "they're trying to kill us" narrative is lazy, intellectually bankrupt, and frankly insulting to real issues that deserve attention. Grow the fuck up.

Yeah. I was joking when I said that.
It is one of those silly conspiracy phrases people say when they get paranoid.

 

[64gigabyteram]

sometimes I think that if half the time I passed playing videogames had been spent doing something to elevate my life I'd probably be in a better spot.

If you have enough money to afford video games, internet, and complain about their effect on your life on the internet, you're probably in a decent enough spot as it stands.
Could you be doing better? Yes! everybody can. It's just a matter of if the juice is worth the squeeze.
It might be for you, it isn't for me. I think a good videogame provides about as much value to my life as a Ferrari does to a rich guy's, so what's the point of putting in the years and hours to make the money to afford the latter.

I'm not the type of guy to feel stressed about whether i'm being productive or not, though. I don't like to think about that stuff unless i'm at a job or in school. Everyone's different.

 

[Shifty1897]

The elite? Bro it's 2025. Everything leaks, there are no secrets, the government is too incompetent to get away with anything.

Games are games. You determine if they hold you back or not in life. Stop passing the buck and take responsibility.

 

[HRK69]

Yeah. I was joking when I said that.
It is one of those silly conspiracy phrases people say when they get paranoid.

 

[Toots]

Pulling this take out of Neogaf, one of the prominent battlefield in the eternal console war, is wild.

 

[Ozriel]

Do you think video games are in way predatory?

in your own case, you've been thinking about RE Remake. How has that game preyed on you?

You are absolutely right. But it is not limited to video games. It is also sports, television shows ("programs"), social media, etc. The "elite" actually don't want their slaves to create and build things that are actually worthwhile.

and yet people are building electric cars, AI models, full factory automation and bullet trains. Not to mention more and more advanced consumer electronics devices etc.

The human race continues to innovate and build.

 

[E-Cat]

Yeah games make you passive, but there's no conspiracy you idiot

 

[Krathoon]

I do think that we need regulations to force businesses to make quality products. They cut way too many corners.

 

[poppabk]

I wouldn't advise that. Bro is going to see a conspiracy theory in everything once he goes into the real world

Probably become one of those people who think they are under constant surveillance by the 'elites' and think random passersby are secret agents keeping tabs on them.

 

[Fbh]

Sorry but this just sounds like someone with no self control that got addicted to games and now wants to blame it on someone else.
I myself do actually think I could have been in a better position in my life right now if I had spent less time playing games and more time studying and improving myself during my teens and early twenties. But ultimately the only one to blame for it is me.

As for games
Entertainment is something people have looked for throughout all of recorded history.
Games are a relatively new form of entertainment that got created through relatively new technologies
We (as in most of the developed world) live in a capitalist society
They quickly proved to be profitable.
Increasingly more companies became aware of this and they too started to exploit this new market.
It's as simple as that. There wasn't some shadowy group of elites behind Nintendo, it was literally an entertainment company exploiting a new type of entertainment.

 

[Bry0]

It's a for profit business, your time spent correlates to spending on monetization. Maybe you are anti-capital and have not realized it yet.

 

[duck_sauce]

I want to say that I love video games. I also want to say I'm not an addict or anything. I can go weeks or months without playing games. I fell out of love with games in my 20's. I still play them but I understand their limitations.

So yeah, I love games every now and then for a treat.

Which is why it pains me to say I think I'm becoming anti-video games and not just super into them.

I have some business to do (graphics for project, figure drawing samples for art school application;etc) and yet during my time off and not working my brain goes back to Resident Evil 1 Remake, which I started a new game of.

I am becoming wholly convinced that games help pacify men and steer us from our goals. Rather than being useful and doing important things in your downtime like the men of the past did, we wind down with video games. Many gamers cope by saying "that's no different than tv" but I don't really think about tv in my off hours. Games are unique in that you hit goals within the game. In REmake's case, it's solving puzzles, avoiding zombies, limiting crimson heads, resource management. The video game hijacks your brain dopamine so that when you've had a successful session you feel as if you've done a good job even though it's not something real or tangible. Afterwards I feel depleted and can't get to work on things that are tied to my actual goals because it's easier to achieve a goal within the game. No. Instead, my brain goes back to the game. Even during a walk I'm thinking about puzzle solving and doing the ultimate run of REmake.

I'm convinced the elite uses porn and video games to pacify men. Utterly convinced of it. Why go out and meet women when you've got porn? Why go out and do your own adventures when you've got video games? I started sailing as a hobby and it's nothing like sailing in a video game.

Since I have high aspirations I'm not sure what this means about my future relationship with video games. I'm still half convinced to sell my entire collection (goes as far back as SNES, Genesis). I'm still on the fence.

The more time passes the more I am fully convinced games are no different than porn. Just like porn isn't real love video games aren't real...anything and yet both manage to hijack your dopamine like nothing else. In a way tv, social media, books, whatever else don't seem to do.

I think you're onto something. You're right, video games and porn were invented to pacify us men. But I'll up the ante: NeoGAF is the tool used to enforce and solidify that control. It allows "them" to keep us locked in endless, meaningless debates about console wars and FPS rankings. "They" are preventing us from living like real men.


I say: Rise, NeoGAF! Rise and bring down the oppressive mods and their regime of meaningless distraction and pacification!

 

[Kerotan]

I've planted my seed yet I still game, work and sport. Their plan ain't working on me!

 

[PurePlatinum]

Everything we do in life is an attempt to pacify ourselves. Are you mental?

 

[64gigabyteram]

I could have been in a better position in my life right now if I had spent less time playing games and more time studying and improving myself during my teens and early twenties

Everybody could have. That's just life in your teens and early twenties. I feel like no matter what hobby you were into your life would have naturally gone that direction. That's just the cons of being inexperienced with life.

That being said, be glad for the internet. Up and comers like me now have an entire world's worth of recorded data, advice and experience to learn from rather than just our inner circle of close by friends

 

[ahtlas7]

There will always be an opioid for the masses. If not video games then opium.