» Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:05 pm http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/12/skyrim/
I know what you’re thinking: it’s the second-best selling game in the world right now. In the first 48 hours that Skyrim was available, 3.5 million copies were sold, a number that has continued to grow. How can a game that will generate millions possibly be bad for the economy?
The answer is quite simple: Skyrim is incredible. The game’s world is so big and there are so many quests to complete that those millions of dollars in sales are being nullified by players’ lost productivity and lack of economic participation in the real world....
....A few weeks ago, on Black Friday, that most important of all retail days, I did not contribute a single penny to helping our failing economy rebound. The same goes for Cyber Monday. Instead, I was busy stealing from others in my quest to help the Thieves Guild return to its former glory.
Just last Monday morning, while I should have been working, I was researching the best ways to spend perks. Instead of taking lunch with a friend, I sat at my desk and shared war stories with some XBox friends on Skype(rim). And, in an afternoon meeting, while I should have been thinking about marketing strategies for 2012, in my head I was going over my plans for assassinating a certain soldier with my battle axe-wielding Imperial striker, Flatulence, that evening.
I know what you’re thinking: it’s the second-best selling game in the world right now. In the first 48 hours that Skyrim was available, 3.5 million copies were sold, a number that has continued to grow. How can a game that will generate millions possibly be bad for the economy?
The answer is quite simple: Skyrim is incredible. The game’s world is so big and there are so many quests to complete that those millions of dollars in sales are being nullified by players’ lost productivity and lack of economic participation in the real world....
....A few weeks ago, on Black Friday, that most important of all retail days, I did not contribute a single penny to helping our failing economy rebound. The same goes for Cyber Monday. Instead, I was busy stealing from others in my quest to help the Thieves Guild return to its former glory.
Just last Monday morning, while I should have been working, I was researching the best ways to spend perks. Instead of taking lunch with a friend, I sat at my desk and shared war stories with some XBox friends on Skype(rim). And, in an afternoon meeting, while I should have been thinking about marketing strategies for 2012, in my head I was going over my plans for assassinating a certain soldier with my battle axe-wielding Imperial striker, Flatulence, that evening.
I didn't buy anything on Black Friday either... due to playing Skyrim. Yes I complain about the beat-down given to mages... because I have well over a 100+ hours of missing the magic of old, but Skyrim is [minus everything magic] a near perfect template for modders, a Microsoft Paint for RPGers. It is a bottomless time-sink.
