This may be a strange place to post this, but this is the only forum related to games that I'm active ( I had another account with WAY more posts ). Anyway what I wanted to talk about : What's the point of games in a long-term sort of way? In short term it's just fun, i know that... but how does it contribute to your life in longer amounts of time? Is 40 000 gamerscore or 500 hours in Skyrim be a good legacy? I have a life outside games obviously: Athlethics, friends, girlfriend, ect. I'm just wondering if this part of my life is going to mean something. If I have kids what'll they do with a lot of outdated consoles and a ton of old games?

I play games to have fun, not set a legacy, to get lost in another world and ignore reality for a few hours.

Games are a source of entertainment for me so, I don't expect my kids to worry about what their dad played for fun

Yeah me too. I'm just saying you're going to have achievments in a virtual world and not where it actually matters

It's a way for game companies to make you feel more invested in their games and in gaming in general in the long term, thus getting you to buy more things from them.

Hahaha yeah, I'm probably just thinking I should go do something that matters

I play games to relax but to also forget about life for a while

I'm talking more like your long-term achievments in games

A release myself. I work, I sleep, I eat. But in video games I don't have to!

Lol Then you get hungry and pause the game

More like personal goals, in that case.

Well truth be told I have a schedule I adhere to. So ill game...Eat..work...sleep...game...Eat...work...sleep etc

Games are today what TV was for our parents and what radio was for our grandparents. Entertainment.

I get this amassive achievement in a game. I'm happy about that for a while. Then I have to go study and I realize it didn't help my life as a whole

True...I guess there is no long-term reward for something like this Unless someone is one of those people who are super, super, super obsessed with achievements in gaming (Not trophies, bragging about something for a very, very long time).

Thats true, but I dont think they would have the same attachment to it. Because you actually make the story yourself. If you didnt play a game the story would not be there for you...

It would be one thing if it was only Call of Duty or something. But if its a game like skyrim where you have like 400 hours play time...

Not from that angle man.. What games contribute to your life

Entitlement.

That something to do with fatty's tatoo?

Games which contribute to life is hard to say really, a lot of games I play portray man to be an all evil selfish, manipulative race (arguably we are) but I try not take that mentality into the real world heh.

Yeh.. don't want to go discussing philosophy. If you go thinking how little you actually mean your going to be depro

The point in games (or anything) is whatever you decide it to be. Meaning is something associated with our mental states, not something 'out there'. You could just as well ask yourself, what is the point in athletics / friends / etc.

As for long-term rewards, you kind of have to weigh them up against short-term rewards. Different people have different preferences, I tend to discount future rewards heavily in favour of rewards NOW, whereas many people I know seem to be very focused on future rewards.

I really have no long term desires for achievements in games. I play to relax and forget about my real life issues.

What I'm wondering is how many people here in off topic forums have a life away from games. I have my martial arts, wife, family, job and so on and I pay attention to them all. But I'm still first and foremost, a gamer that plays to escape from RL.

No long term goals though.

But it's really just down to fun and emotional investment for me. A gripping story will have me invested for a good while with multiple playthroughs likely, as when I am really into a games story I'm reluctant to finish it because I don't want it to end.
Examples for me would be Mass Effect and Thw Witcher.