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[Puscifer]

Games hire psychologists to make games even more addictive.

I don't think it's a stretch at all. Video games and the industry prey on their users.

The elites like Hillary Clinton used to hate video games. Remember Jack Thompson? But these days the elites are reallllll quiet about games. This is why the elite used to hate video games and considered them a recipe for violence but these days now that they see the potential and how much money games make you don't hear the elites decry video games as much. This is also why they normalize porn and allow porn to be acquired for free.


I do not have social media on my phone and I barely post on it.

Serious question I'm going to ask you, no different than anyone else when they start talking this.

Who are "they"
Who are "the elites"
Can you explain to me how "they" and "the elites" operate?

Because I can tell you that ultimately everything you mentioned comes down to your personal agency and what you value. 6 years ago I wasn't content running cable, I switched careers and worked hardcore in IT to make up for lost time and went from a shitty help desk to cyber security manager.

If you want life to pass you by so be it, but don't blame video games for a lack of passion or outright laziness on your part.

 

[Himuro]

The world we live in is a carefully constructed one where we go along with it without question. You are not wrong. The question is whether or not there are those to stand against it when the time is right?

Fantastic post. Yes, we live in a society that is carefully constructed and if you question anything people merely mock. It's not like they're all in one dark, ominous room like some Illuminati. Obviously the main intent behind gamings use of metrics, psychoanalysis, psychologists, pattern recognition, mathematicians, and gambling experts is to drive more money but a side effect is definitely an impact on societal behavior. For example, gaming is often attributed for the massive decrease in violent crime rates amongst young men but it can also be attributed to probably also significantly postponing family creation and thus depress fertility rates across across the world. But people aren't allowed to question that nor notice.

You bumped the thread to let us know that you've learned to take things in moderation, which is something many people in this thread suggested on the first few pages, to do in life with anything that provides entertainment or a dopamine hit.

There's a lot I could negatively say about the legitimacy of your thread, but instead I will simply congratulate you on reaching the epiphany when you did and I hope you continue to enjoy life in moderation.

I kind of disagree with many gamers' ideas of moderation. Some say an hour a day is playing games moderately. That is 7 hours a week minimum (more if played extra on the weekends) dedicated to vidya. Multiplied by 52, the number of weeks in a year, and that number amounts to 364 hours played on video games in a single year. Hardly a moderate number. The problem with the moderation argument is that moderation means different things to different people and many gamers are ouright addicts that spend either:

A. their spare time gaming

B. discussing games

C. researching games and watching gaming media/reviews/streams/youtube/playthroughs.

Look at all the content that's on Giant Bomb. Hours and hours and hours of guys playing games, and the fanbase plays games on top of that. Even done moderately gaming is a time consuming and money sink of a hobby. Video games is probably one of the most unhealthy hobbies one can have. We know that gamers do not do games moderately. You have to watch game reviews, discuss games on social media/forums, watch two to three hour game conferences. Gamers crank out list after list of the hottest new game. Back in the day there was E3 and we would spend the day watching long lectures on sales metrics. Then there's an analysis of sales data itself. Look at what happened any time there's a Steam sale. We're all guilty of buying games we won't even play just because they're cheap.

Even done in "moderation" you're often operating at a loss. What even is "moderation"? You have to no longer be a gamer. You would have to be a casual like me to play games in moderation rather than have them as an actual hobby. I didn't even know GTAVI trailer 2 dropped until a day after it came out because I do not follow gaming news.

Even in moderation it's an unhealthy hobby full of mindless consumption and huge time commitments.

 

[The_Observer]

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.

What you say is obvious, ignore the laughing simpleminded sheep. 2 of the most powerful weapons of the elite are divide and conquer + bread and circus

 

[Melon Husk]

I'm convinced subsistence farming is a tool to pacify us. We softened when we stopped hunting for our food.

 

[PlayStaytion]

You need it when you make progress in your life and lose touch with reality, it's pretty normal.

 

[Humdinger]

This thread makes the same mistake so many others make with this sort of thing. The primary motive is and always has been money. This industry made money and investments were made to keep it growing to make more money. People figured out efficient ways to keep people engaged and spending money.

Any secondary outcomes can be positive or negative for various parties but the fact is to blame manipulation is to ignore the fact that the industry is only giving people what they want because that's business. If it stopped making money investors would find something else instead.

tl;dr "elites" don't need to pacfiy society, society willingly pacifies itself

Yup. People get anxious* and they look for things to pacify their anxiety. People get rich off of offering those anxiety-reducers, whether it's drugs, videogames, porn, food, relationships, whatever. Most people can use those things more or less responsibly, but some cannot or at least do not. They get swept up. This dynamic is as old as time. We just have more tech-fueled options today than we did a millennia ago.

But it's not a moustache-twirling "elite" who are consciously scheming to pacify the masses. It is capitalism doing its thing - following the money. Anxious people will pay good money for anything that makes them feel better temporarily. The ones who get hooked are the whales. Naturally, companies try to make the thing as potent as possible, within the law. But again, the intent is to make money, not to pacify the masses. The people carrying this out (making games more potentially addictive, for instance) could give a shit about what the masses are doing. They're just trying to make profit.

*or upset, bored, frustrated, bereft of meaning/purpose, despondent, empty, demoralized, etc. I'm using "anxiety" as a shorthand, catch-all term here.

 

[Team Skoda]

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.

Indeed. I went through this thought the other day. Although I've kinda always known, but always justified as, "it's art and entertainment". Which it is, but ultimately, when reflecting on my childhood, it was no different of an "escape from reality", which there were many aspects of unhappiness (childhood was only "ok", personally.. could've been worse)... Videogames gave me that sense of happiness, although it was just dopamine hits and substituting time when I felt bored, or feared facing responsibility... I still suffer from it some, but as much as it's been a part of me, I think I'm at an age where I'm man enough to let it go sooner than later. I want to be with my family and enjoy the outdoors more; traveling, gardening and even bird watching. With age comes wisdom and a sense of inner peace. Everything will be just fine. Games will always be there, but our friends and loved ones won't, so choose wisely with what time you have.

 

[Lunarorbit]

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.

Monetary gain? You paying for porn? That's your first mistake. Nothing wrong with masterbating. Sounds like you have issues with porn addiction yourself.

Again what dummy pays for it when it's free all over the internet. If you think a man can be destroyed by porn they weren't a real man to begin with. They need to work on emotional maturity and not watch simps like Andrew tate

 

[Bridges]

Yeah gaming can pacify you if you let it, but like anything else it's about self control.

There are much worse vices out there. Things like pornography, marijuana (most drugs I guess) and social media are all much more damaging to the average person's motivation and well being, in my opinion. Online skinner box and gacha games definitely take their toll on some people but I've never seen someone's life collapse over Mario Kart.

 

[Krathoon]

Yeah. MMOs can be total bastards because they are engineered to be addictive.

Most other games are not that way.

 

[Himuro]

What you say is obvious, ignore the laughing simpleminded sheep. 2 of the most powerful weapons of the elite are divide and conquer + bread and circus

Don't worry. I always ignore idiotas.

Indeed. I went through this thought the other day. Although I've kinda always known, but always justified as, "it's art and entertainment". Which it is, but ultimately, when reflecting on my childhood, it was no different of an "escape from reality", which there were many aspects of unhappiness (childhood was only "ok", personally.. could've been worse)... Videogames gave me that sense of happiness, although it was just dopamine hits and substituting time when I felt bored, or feared facing responsibility... I still suffer from it some, but as much as it's been a part of me, I think I'm at an age where I'm man enough to let it go sooner than later. I want to be with my family and enjoy the outdoors more; traveling, gardening and even bird watching. With age comes wisdom and a sense of inner peace. Everything will be just fine. Games will always be there, but our friends and loved ones won't, so choose wisely with what time you have.

Yeah, I realized I used gaming to run away from life and escape rather than face it. It was a coping mechanism.

 

[Ishma3L]

Touch some grass OP.

 

[SJRB]

 

[DKehoe]

I think life can feel more coherent if you believe there's some guiding force behind everything, even a sinister one. But I think the truth is life is just chaotic. Shit happens, dynamics intersect with each other and there isn't always an overarching singular reason. Sure, there are powerful people. But they're not pulling every string.

People enjoy video games, and video games make money. So companies make them to turn a profit.

 

[poppabk]

Research on addiction (whether to games, drugs, sex, porn, relationships, gambling, etc.) shows that substances/processes do not in themselves have the power to addict - but rather, addiction is more about the predispositions that the user brings to the substance/process and the environment that person is in. In other words, addiction is more about the person and environment than the substance/process itself. One example is that many soldiers in Vietnam habitually used heroin, but when they returned to the states, only a small percentage were still addicted. We also know that most people use "addictive substances" without developing addictive patterns. Probably 90% of people who drink are not addicted. But about 10% are, to various degrees - and the difference has to do with those people's psychology and environment.

I'm not blaming people who develop addictions. I've known thousands of them, and most of them are damaged, struggling people, often in difficult circumstances. However, framing the issue as a nefarious plot by "elites" to mollify men doesn't help, because it doesn't locate the problem where it really exists - in the person and their immediate environment. It's a disempowering way to look at it. It frames people as victims. It is much more helpful to raise self-awareness (e.g., what am I doing and why) and focus on self-responsibility.

Now I'm convinced that the OP is actually working for the elites running some psyops trying to convince us that we are slaves to porn and video games.

 

[Humdinger]

Now I'm convinced that the OP is actually working for the elites running some psyops trying to convince us that we are slaves to porn and video games.

He's part of the cabal of Machiavellian puppet masters, twirling their moustaches.

 

[Himuro]

lmao Comical.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Wonder if those gacha games with HUGE tits are meant as a birth control mechanism.

 

[Himuro]

Wonder if those gacha games with HUGE tits are meant as a birth control mechanism.

Haha!

May not be the intention but it appears to have the same result looking at Japanese birth rates.

 

[Coconutt]

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

 

[Idleyes]

But if you spend your life doing things that make you happy then you'll feel content in your choices. That could be incredibly selfless things, but the key is doing it because that's what you want to do. Whether that's a personal moral code or even for the buzz, the point is that others come and go and their opinions with them but you have to live with yourself.

Like with your background. It sounds to me like your circumstances gave you the drive to not let history repeat itself with your own kids and you're seeing that through. You don't do it for their praise, you do it because you know it's the right thing to do as a responsible father.

To be honest, I think I would've been much happier as a deadbeat dad. Life was simpler when I only had myself to worry about. Strangely enough, I was at my happiest when I was homeless in New York , no bills, no obligations. Food was easy to find, a few bucks were never too hard to earn, and there was always someone to hang with.

When I met my wife in Florida, I was on my way to Jamaica, planning to leave the U.S. for good. New York, especially under Giuliani, had been a nightmare. But then she got pregnant. She saw something in me, loved my personality for reasons I still don't fully understand, and I felt it was only right to stay.

I've always believed I would've made music under my father's record label, and I still could, but I made a conscious choice: to be present for my kids in a way my father wasn't for me. That doesn't mean I hate my father. In fact, I respect his decision and I'm proud of what he's accomplished.

The point is, not every decision we make is for our own happiness. Sometimes it's about doing right by others, even if it comes at a cost. And while people might say, "Well, you must enjoy making others happy," I'll just say, if only life were that simple.

 

[MarV0]

Games hire psychologists to make games even more addictive.

I wish they would hire some competent psychologists as I find the vast majority of popular games complete and utter snoozefests.

 

[Super Lemon Drop]

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

companies just want your money.

entertainment is big big business.
10 dudes on a court, throwing a ball in a hole = billions upon billions of dollars.

if games're getting in the way of doing stuff, put them down, lick yourself in the ass and get to it.

 

[Soodanim]

To be honest, I think I would've been much happier as a deadbeat dad. Life was simpler when I only had myself to worry about. Strangely enough, I was at my happiest when I was homeless in New York , no bills, no obligations. Food was easy to find, a few bucks were never too hard to earn, and there was always someone to hang with.

When I met my wife in Florida, I was on my way to Jamaica, planning to leave the U.S. for good. New York, especially under Giuliani, had been a nightmare. But then she got pregnant. She saw something in me, loved my personality for reasons I still don't fully understand, and I felt it was only right to stay.

I've always believed I would've made music under my father's record label, and I still could, but I made a conscious choice: to be present for my kids in a way my father wasn't for me. That doesn't mean I hate my father. In fact, I respect his decision and I'm proud of what he's accomplished.

The point is, not every decision we make is for our own happiness. Sometimes it's about doing right by others, even if it comes at a cost. And while people might say, "Well, you must enjoy making others happy," I'll just say, if only life were that simple.

Well damn. We all have a different path through life, but yours is more interesting than most. It would probably make a good book.

 

[Rat Rage]

Games? I don't think so. The biggest and most dangerous tools to pacify people are social media and algorithms. Slowly they're rotting your brain and critical thinking away, until you become a zombie.

 

[Hideous Snake]

 

[Himuro]

I'm at a really unique period. It's like my brain refuses to play video games unless I have completed everything needed. Now that I'm fully aware or conscious of what video games can do to hijack I feel more in power with my consumption of them. I didn't play REmake for weeks because I had a lot going on. Even during free time it didn't feel right to play a game because I could be reading instead or learning about storytelling from a movie or show. But when I do sit and play now there's no nagging feeling of "there's something I have to be doing now that's more important". If I knock out my creative goals and work goals and other stuff like my daily step minimum, or the gym, I feel like I've earned the right to enjoy a game rather than playing during my regular free time. It's an interesting mind shift. I've played REmake only once since making this thread. I've been struggling with that "nagging feeling" for like ten years in relation to games. I can't explain it. I'm glad I finally found a solution.

 

[Hudo]

Touch some grass OP.

He should smoke it, imho.

 

[Danjin44]

He should smoke it, imho.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Whats the difference between playing games in your downtime or watching TV, YT, reading a book. Also dont tell me how people reading books are more intelligent when most read garden slop like 50 shades of gray, aint no education in there. I mean that is what downtime is for, to relax. I dont want to create and think whats my next move 24/7.

 

[IDKFA]

I switched careers, didn't take vacations

Is that normal in the US? If you want to progress in your career you need to skip out on annual leave?

 

[analog_future]

I'm becoming convinced that NeoGAF is a tool to keep birth rates down

 

[Puscifer]

Is that normal in the US? If you want to progress in your career you need to skip out on annual leave?

Context: big vacations vs taking time off

And at the time my Mom was going through her cancer treatment so by and large vacations were more like week long visits to see her.

Before this it wasn't uncommon for me to take a two week trip somewhere every year to someplace exotic lol.

 

[IDKFA]

Context: big vacations vs taking time off

And at the time my Mom was going through her cancer treatment so by and large vacations were more like week long visits to see her.

Before this it wasn't uncommon for me to take a two week trip somewhere every year to someplace exotic lol.

A single two week break in a year? Damn. Annual leave rules in the US sound brutal. I take it you didn't get paid for this time off either?

 

[Puscifer]

A single two week break in a year? Damn. Annual leave rules in the US sound brutal. I take it you didn't get paid for this time off either?

I averaged 3-6 weeks depending on the job. I take a week off for thanksgiving and christmas/new years and then some vacation elsewhere.

 

[SILKYSMOOTH30FPS]

Okay, but what happens to a human being that is "playing" the likes of Stellar Blade?

 

[Humdinger]

Whats the difference between playing games in your downtime or watching TV, YT, reading a book. Also dont tell me how people reading books are more intelligent when most read garden slop like 50 shades of gray, aint no education in there. I mean that is what downtime is for, to relax. I dont want to create and think whats my next move 24/7.

I think it depends more on the material than the medium. I don't think there's much of a difference between watching generic TV shows, watching junk on Youtube, reading schlock fiction, or playing games that require no real concentration or thought.

However, there's a big difference within each of those mediums. Huge difference between reading schlock and reading something that teaches and enlightens you. Big difference between watching quality TV and standard fare. Big difference between playing a game that requires a lot of thought vs. one that does not.

Sometimes it's fine to do things that require little or no, though. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. There are plenty of times when I just don't have the mental energy to play a challenging game, much less read a serious book. In those times, I'll usually just veg out with easily digestable stuff on Youtube. Or come on GAF, lol.

 

[Toons]

Just.... do something else on occasion and you should be fine lol

 

[jm89]

OP took the redpill from morpheus.

 

[Griffon]

 

[Drell]

You know what? Every form of entertainement invented by man has more or less this goal. Back then, in ancient Rome, gladiator fights were organized to entertain the people and divert them from thinking about revolting against them. It's the same thing for stuff like superball or world cup, people love these sports and forget about what they could blame on the government. And that works the same for video games.

However, I don't mean that video games were just made for that. They're made publishers who need to make profit and sometimes by creator who really wish to make a good product. The fact it's pacifying us is a side effect that benefit our governments.

 

[The Fartist]

So are politics.

No matter how perfect the world around us is, life will never suddenly become a picnic. We are each on our own way to the grave and subject to the bludgeonings of chance. Without control things would be chaos, which is their natural state. There is no ill will or malevolence in these mechanisms, simply they have evolved into being and are no more or no less than they must be in order to maintain order and enable history. Without them we would be lost. Adrift on a cruel ocean with no shore to be found, each of us a wave bound to die in obscurity, never leaving our mark on the beautiful shore. To remove these mechanisms would be pure folly. Our frail deeds might one day dance in a green bay.

I read this in Vegeta's voice and haven't laughed this hard in a long time, thanks!

 

[The Fartist]

You know what? Every form of entertainement invented by man has more or less this goal. Back then, in ancient Rome, gladiator fights were organized to entertain the people and divert them from thinking about revolting against them. It's the same thing for stuff like superball or world cup, people love these sports and forget about what they could blame on the government. And that works the same for video games.

However, I don't mean that video games were just made for that. They're made publishers who need to make profit and sometimes by creator who really wish to make a good product. The fact it's pacifying us is a side effect that benefit our governments.

The World Cup happens once every four years, though, and is only a four week tournament.

What the hell is superball? Sounds like a sequel to Baseketball

 

[Drell]

The World Cup happens once every four years, though, and is only a four week tournament.

What the hell is superball? Sounds like a sequel to Baseketball

Yeah world cup is only every four years, but it's in alternance every 2 years with the euro cup. Both last 4 weeks but these are 4 weeks were most people are glued to their TVs. You can also add Olympic games to that mix.

As for the Superbowl, I'm not american so not really used to that stuff even if I know it's huge, the fact it's about "football" made sense in my brain to spell "Superball" even if I'd already seen the world multiple time.

 

[SHAKEZ]

Everything is a tool to pacify us, or nothing is.
It all depends on how you treat the things given to you.
Will you dominate over it or let it overcome you?

 

[The Fartist]

Yeah world cup is only every four years, but it's in alternance every 2 years with the euro cup. Both last 4 weeks but these are 4 weeks were most people are glued to their TVs. You can also add Olympic games to that mix.

As for the Superbowl, I'm not american so not really used to that stuff even if I know it's huge, the fact it's about "football" made sense in my brain to spell "Superball" even if I'd already seen the world multiple time.

I would argue each country's football leagues are a bigger distraction since they run from early fall to late spring every damn year, ie the EPL, La Liga, Seria A, Bundesliga etc. on top of cups and of course the Champions League. Here in the Americas, Liga MX consumes almost everyone in Mexico, same goes for Campeonato Brasileiro in Brazil, Argentine Primera División and on and on. Hell, even the MLS is fast becoming the #3 most popular sport in the US, currently #4, but for sure NFL is king in the USA, but it's a short season. The NBA is more akin to a soccer season, in terms of length, MLB is pretty long, too.

 

[Himuro]

Yeah world cup is only every four years, but it's in alternance every 2 years with the euro cup. Both last 4 weeks but these are 4 weeks were most people are glued to their TVs. You can also add Olympic games to that mix.

As for the Superbowl, I'm not american so not really used to that stuff even if I know it's huge, the fact it's about "football" made sense in my brain to spell "Superball" even if I'd already seen the world multiple time.

Football, your team plays once a week (except bye week) from September to December. There are playoff games on top of that. But aside from those football is mostly a once a week thing spent with friends in person. Video games have become a solitary hobby that people do in dark rooms by themselves racking up hundreds, thousands of hours of in-game time. It's not even remotely comparable. At least back in the day games were more of a social thing.

 

[Jsisto]

I'll meet you halfway. I don't think there are elites meeting in dark rooms discussing how to pacify us through games and media. I DO, however, think that they effectively do have that effect and can be co-opted. Atleast as far as media and news media in particular is concerned, certain segments of that industry HAVE been co-opted by nefarious, self interested actors with their own agendas. Sometimes business, sometimes government.