TK is pretty much right that the popularity of guitar hero and the dancing games is the product of an instant gratification culture which is built around meaningless second-hand experiences, and that actually learning a real instrument or how to dance would be more rewarding, but its a fun gimmick nonetheless.
Most computer games are a waste of effort and a diversion of time away from other potentially more fufilling activities though so I'm not really sure how valid a criticism it is. Yeah, learning how to a play a real guitar is a better way of spending your time than playing Guitar Hero, but then its also a far better way of spending your time than playing ****ing world of warcraft. While the things you can achieve in GH are meaningless in a broader sense, and the 'skills' you gain are useless, at least it actually contains achivement and skill rather than replacing them with what is essentially just a metric of the time youve spent playing. WoW is a parody of computer games and using it as example of a worthwhile activity is laughable
PS I haevnt played WoW just lke you havent played GH..
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Originally Posted by Achilles
You want to rationalise fun and for it to be explainable to you. Maybe in 2011 when the LHC proves that the Earth actually revolves around Tomkat and not the big yellow scareball. Until then you may well have to accept that someone else's enjoyment of the world doesn't have to make sense to you and frequently won't. I just can't believe you actually think people should have to rationalise why Guitar Hero is fun to you or that they would even be able to do so. Do you realise how fundamentally, egocentrically retarded that entire line of "reasoning" is?
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Something being 'fun' doesnt make it a worthwhile pursuit. Things which offer short-term gratification are often unfufilling and meaningless in the long term - yeah, someone might have 'fun' playing GH but theyre never going to get the tangible sense of achivement and purpose that can be obtained from learning a real instrument, even if the latter is more difficult and less enjoyable at first. And when the person stops playing GH in a few years then the time he has invested in it will be wasted, while the person who learned an instrument will have gained something they can take with them through the rest of their life. Very few people are likely to look back at their youth and regret not having played more computer games.