Taking Time Out: Platypus Nostalgia

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My brother and I were talking the other day and he mentioned that he'd gotten into playing Evony. He said the nice thing about it was that no matter what else was going on in his day, he could spend a few minutes in a world where everything is just for fun. No matter how many times you die or fail you can always get up and try again. That put me in mind of something a family friend said once. He was out on the mission filed at the time and said that the fun of playing a video game was that it offered you thirty minutes of control no matter how out-of-control the rest of your life was.

That got me thinking. What is the proper roll of control in our lives? Our impulse is often to say that seeking control is bad. However, there are types of control that are vital to daily living: self-control, control over vehicles, control over our budgets, control over the materials that we use to do our jobs. Psychologists tell us that when we lose control in one area of our lives, we often seek to make up for it by tightening our control of others. This can lead to the destructive side of control which we rightly castigate. However, can hobbies and pastimes be a way to channel this desire for control down a path where it becomes less harmful or even beneficial? If so, then the above examples hint that video games may not be a waste of time after all.

Comments

Jessica Snell said…
I think hobbies can play a beneficial role in regards to our longing for order. For example, your post made me think about my hobby of crocheting; part of what I love about it is how soothing it is to rhythmically hook the yarn into rows. You do what you're supposed to, and a beautiful pattern results. The predictability (combined with the pleasing results) IS soothing. I don't think it's a bad thing, as long as you channel that desire for order into something productive rather than destructive. And, I suppose, as long as you don't let that taste of control spoil your appetite for dealing with the messier parts of life that are your duty to deal with.

Good stuff to think about, James!
11:14 PM
James said…
I agree. I wonder if there's a hierarchy of hobbies based on the good that they produce. For instance, video games produce nothing, but painting or crocheting produce finished goods that are of aesthetic value. Sports don't result in an external finished product, but they do produce bodily health. On the other hand, something like chess or a video game can produce mental health. I'm not sure how to put those into an order of ranks though.
6:19 PM
Graf Spee said…
I think it depends on what your needing. For me, I know I used video games and miniatures to get away from it all overseas. It provided needed downtime for me when I was really needing it.
9:53 PM
James said…
So rather than a hierarchy of goods, it would be more like taking medicine? Asprin is not "better" than antibiotics unless you're talking about what will cure a headache and what will cure an ear infection.
6:16 PM
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