Why amazing video games could be causing a big problem for America.

Danny Izquierdo, a 22-year-old who lives with his parents in Silver Spring, Md., has found little satisfaction in a series of part-time, low-wage jobs he’s held since graduating from high school. But the video games he plays, including “FIFA 16” and “Rocket League” on PlayStation and Pokémon Go on his smartphone, are a different story.

“When I play a game, I know if I have a few hours I will be rewarded,” he said. “With a job, it’s always been up in the air with the amount of work I put in and the reward.”

Izquierdo represents a group of video-game-loving Americans who, according to new research, may help explain one of the most alarming aspects of the nation’s economic recovery: Even as the unemployment rate has fallen to low levels, an unusually large percentage of able-bodied men, particularly the young and less-educated, are either not working or not working full-time.

The new research, economists from Princeton, the University of Rochester and the University of Chicago say that an additional reason many of these young men - who don't have college degrees -- are rejecting work is that they have a better alternative: living at home and enjoying video games. The decision may not even be completely conscious, but surveys suggest that young men are happier for it.

Source.

Are vg destroying America!?

Amerigeddon

Gameocalypse

Wat

Its corrupting the youth already

It doesn't matter how much you love video games, if no one is supporting you, and you need cash, you'll be working. I work 50 hours a week a lot of the time and I love video games. I'm 23.

Well if you wanna game you have to pay.

To be fair reading is boring as hell, this ain't the 17th century.

And this is why a bunch of professors at Princeton dont understand video games.

Ive always found the opposite to be true.

We play video games a ton because its an escape, to kill time away from whatever. If we dont work because of the economy, then of course we play more. We dont refuse to work because of video games. There will always be some who dont work because they want to play, and those who dont play because they want to work.

I say the love for video games in itself drives a man to want to work, even if that work is playing video games for a living.

Playing a great game makes you want to play more, therefor you work and save.

In my almost 35 years of life ive never ran into a person who quit their job to play video games and didnt get paid for it, nor have i met (or heard) of anyone who refused to work so they can play games all day.

If im unemployed and play video games all day.........it doesnt mean i dont WANT to work.

I work so I can support my hobbies like video games etc....oh and family

Can't blame MS, no one is buying the X1.

I am terribly upset that actual science beat The Onion to this.

@Shewgenja: I wouldn't call that actual science.

People who play video games for a living must be the most depressing people ever.

Actually video gaming are one of my major motivations for working in the first place, nothing drives a man-gamer harder than that next sweet piece of upgrade for your gaming rig or an entire new gaming rig.

I just hope people can be honest about life and video games. Sometimes you need a good family or good friends to call you out. Like my mom was sick of coming home and me not putting the controller down to talk, and she let me know, I changed that habit.

My fiance supports my gaming hobby about as well as I can hope- wants me to play, wants me to even have a room in the house someday dedicated to gaming.

But you gotta go to work, you gotta try to find a job you love, and you gotta make enough money. Living at home with the rents is great so you can save money, but eventually life gets better once you have a teammate (significant other or roomate) and you can tackle the costs of living together- even if that means less hours a day and less money to put into games.

This is actually a real problem. But the problem isn't the games. The quality of entertainment goes up. And the quality of jobs and the prospects you have there may even go down. You're not going to forcefully lower the quality of entertainment. The solution is to offer better jobs by better people. Not necessarily change the work you do. But payment, prospects and respect go a long way. Bosses being complete assholes with no respect for the people who step in, and the socially unacceptable difference in payment between certain positions will have to change if they want people to stay motivated in the long term.

Businesses are exploiting foreigners paying them less than minimum wage and create 'meat grinders' of work that is too demanding of people with very short duration contracts. They try to squeeze through the cattle/people, hopefully without them breaking down in the little time they'll work there. You can't complain or you're fired. Or that's what is happening in my country. When the world is improving, jobs need to improve along. Or the system will stop functioning. The upper classes are saying 'You should work because it is so fulfilling.' or 'Oh I wouldn't want to live without doing work, it's a way to give meaning to yourself.' But for people who start working it's nothing like that. The only way to express yourself is outside of work. The only way to not break down is not to work. The social interaction to be had is mostly negative with the context that you may get fired if you make a wrong move. There's an ever increasing disparity between people who landed on the right spot and people who don't.

Of course it's more nuanced. You have the students who get bigger loans so they have to work sooner to pay for life + study, taking jobs from other people. There are the immigrants who take up a lot of jobs that you wouldn't want to do anyway because they seem almost 'designed' to be as shitty as possible with no prospects or anything. There are all the people who had short duration contracts who work for free and get in debt because the worst thing that can happen to you today is apparently a hole in your CV. So a lot of previously paid jobs are now for volunteers. But aside from all these other things that influence the jobs and the people looking for jobs, I do feel the elephant in the room is this increasing disparity between starter jobs and the world around it. The decreasing prospects, and the lack of respect and through time socially less acceptable pay versus the quality of life improving outside of work. And video games as a form of winding down or straight up escapism is becoming more effective. It's only natural that people are shifting from work to gaming. But the problem isn't the games really. Something working well shouldn't be designated as the problem in the equation.

Sorry I'm exhausted, this post is a mess.

As long as people remember that video gaming is a hobby, not your life then everything works out ok. Its really no different than spending free time watching tv for hours. Unless of course, you're a video game developer :D Or a reviewer....

You are right about spending time with love ones. I'dhappily put down my games many times to just sit down and talk with loved ones, its really awesome to just . But the thing is, you and I are lucky that we have loved ones that we can talk too, I've gamer friends who grew up with parents or sibs who aren't really that sociable even with their children other than being negative or criticial or only to tell them to do this or that errand. Its funny some parents complained that their children listen or spend more time with their friends yet they forgot that they also need to build a friendship with their children first and foremost. They are simply domineering yet emotionally distant authoritative figure. Video game become the cliche "escapism" mechanics, when the kid is stuck at home.

Also if i have kids, I rather that they play video games than watching tv. At least video games makes you think, force you to make decisions, strategic/tactical etc etc instead of staring at a box and just taking in whatever's in front of you. Heck I rather they play video games than watching some stupid youtuber bragging about their daily fake lives.

I'm glad my girl is a gamer too, shes crazy about Killing Floor 2 (i find it a bit boring though lol) and so support comes naturally. Now she wants to buy me a PS 4 Pro but I feel a bit guilty though coz I dont think that will get much playtime from me. Had a PS 4 once but recetly gave it away to my nephews.

So, is this a problem in other countries? Because if it is indeed video games, and not the deplorable state of our career system, then it should be a problem everywhere else, also.

Need to have a decent job here to afford the yearly 30k upgrades to be a PC gamer tho.

Like all things in life, moderation is a practice worth developing. I often wonder what the kids who have been raised with a controller as their solitary outlet will be someday. They have no other interest, no drive to be off the couch, no out door interests, no understanding of what lies ahead in adulthood. Just a fiction land where no moment it provides actually improves the quality of your life.

Truthfully, games for me have always been an outlet, one of many that I choose to be a part of and am quite content putting down because real life provides more quality memories. I raise my kids the same way. Love the hobby to death, but don't let it own you, because it was never designed to be the thing you base your only experiences in life around.

I know someone from Silver Springs, MD who plays Pokemon Go. I want to kill him when he does it during working hours or when we are in the middle of a job.

So to answer the topic, Yes. He has a big problem because he chooses to play a game and I want to harm him.

@TheEroica: As one of those kid let me tell you how my life is... It's a complete nightmare. My only interest in life growing up were video games, porn and spending time online.

The biggest problem I'm facing is a lack of interest for anything else. I gave up on girls because porn was easier and took me less time and effort. I never been social so the internet made it easier. I hated being away from my computer or my video games.

All this sitting and bad posture made my body a wreck. Neck, back pain, sore overall body, issues with stomach and a lot more. I'm not even fat, yet I wouldn't be surprised if there are fat people in way better health than me. Unfortunately for me, all the treatments I do are useless if I don't change my habits.

Working or having a job is the thing I hate the most in life so I have no motivation when I end up having one. I stay there a bit then end up quitting. I'm 29 and I never worked full time for more than a month in a half. I mostly quit jobs after the training is over. Yes my body is a big part why I quit jobs, but not the only one.

Now that my interest for video games is slowly dying I'm seeing how empty my life is: only one friend that I really talk to, no experience in many of life aspect. I'm doing my best to make something happen for myself, but it's a mountain to climb and the motivation is rarely there. I went back to school in another field, I'm doing yoga and biking a few times a week and I'm looking for a part time job. I'm trying to cut my virtual time as well.

Problem is there's very few decent jobs left they've all been off shored and due to Obama care all thats left now is part time min wage Jobs.

So people don't like having shitty meaningless jobs and that's a fault of video games? I mean in the future most menial jobs will be done by machines, people will have much more free time than we have now, we should start realizing that the job market will have to change to give people more time to "waste" on the things they like. I say go for it!

@da_illest101: Sorry to hear that things have been rough. Not to make point of your situation, but this is what I was trying to articulate. Getting caught in the great video game trap at the feet of rejecting reality is slippery slope.

When I was a kid and putting in 6 hours on a Sunday to play a game, my mother would nag the f*** out of me to go outside (we've all heard it I imagine). As a kid I thought she was just nagging, as an adult I understand it all completely. You just can't eat donuts at every meal man... Eventually it catches up to you.

Now, in my late 30s it's me having these conversations with my kids... You put an hour into a game you're putting 2 hours into playing outside. You want to play minecraft before school? Make yourself breakfast, get your work done and do it right before you even sniff around that controller. The hobby can be worshiped without giving it your soul and most importantly, your future.

The good news is that I'd imagine with your acknowledgment that an internet/gaming life left you feeling a bit empty, you'll start to put games down and realize that its never to late to start finding a better balance. Experiencing real life, having relationships, dedicating life towards servitude (work), building equity in your plans etc... Ill take beating that game over Dark Souls any day of the week.

I get the psychology behind it, gamers are lazy little shits who are fucking oblivious to the rest of the world. Makes perfect sense. The study focuses more on work is actual you know, work, and a game is the opposite of that. Especially modern ones focused on giving you some sort of reward for everything.

It's sort of what's funny when anyone takes pride in being a "hardcore" gamer, you're talking about

A: a fucking play thing
B: a medium that's inherently designed to be compulsive to the point of addiction, and in any other context an addiction is a negative context.

Why only America, shouldn't this be a first world problem? Anyways, I can relate.

I think it's funny and also pure bullshit that some of you are trying to argue that video games is the main driving factor for your employment, "drives a man to work". LOL. People work because it's a need. If someone is paying the bills this need is eliminated but no normal thinking person is working for the sake of playing video games. That's ludicrous.

Well, at least the Xbox One is inoffensive in that department.

Lazy people

Lazy people

No way, there's more interesting books to read now than ever.

I couldn't afford my hobby if I didn't work full time (or to pay my mortgage and feed and cloth my family)

So this 22 year old is comparing life to a video game and saying that it isn't fair that he isn't rewarded beyond pay for doing his job... thus saying being a lazy, entitled, prick is more important than getting an education and bettering yourself.

Yeah... he's going to end up being 40 years old living in his mom's basement or homeless.

Original man, way to contribute to the thread smfh.

Look at your contribution, smfh.

Too much of anything is bad.

Well people shouldn't do any work that can be done by robots in the first place.

Sounds good for me - less competition for well paid high qualification positions. Keep it on young folks. Someone needs to clean my golden toilet after all XD

Most people, unless they're happy camping with friends/family for the rest of their life, realize that you gotta work to pay the bills.

Also, pc gaming is kinda pricey, so it's a motivator to work hard!!!

+100. I say this all the time too. Theres nothing 'hardcore' about gaming, especially in this day and age when all the games have checkpoints and unlimited lives. Thats why I threw my kids out the house everyday for a couples hours rain or shine. Hardcore is cleaning up the yard lol.

“With a job, it’s always been up in the air with the amount of work I put in and the reward.”

This quote is basically his problem in a nutshell. Its not true at all and hes living a delusional life because his parents are empowering him. He's 22 yeas old. What has he been doing in the four years since graduating high school besides sitting around in his parents' house and playing games? His rewards are low because his work ethic is low. Go join the military, goto college, work two jobs. I'd have been embarrassed to live with my parents at 22. How do you bring a date home? You gonna cuddle her on the couch with mom and dad next to you? That was incentive enough for me right there. A lot of these kids nowadays are so coddled they have no shame. I blame my generation for raising them this way.

Also, I love how the biggest cows here always find a way to hate Xbox when the thread was about gaming in general. These cows have the same broken logic as the guy they interviewed. Whatever makes you feel good about yourself I guess, same as this loser.

My cleaning job has taken me all over the world.

I am.

Is that a politically correct way to say that you are an international assassin for hire ? XD

Video games? No.

In past generations, the manufacturing industry was a life blood of the American economy. There was no shame in factory work from WW2 through its disappearance. Beginning with the opening of trade with communist China under the Nixon admin, the US economy began its detrimental shift from a stake holder economy to a shareholder economy.

Workers had a stake in the companies they worked for earning higher, producing more. It tickled down in the form of wages and benefits. Now, in the shareholder economy, the largest employers like Walmart and fast food industry turn Billions in profits and the CEOs get the lion's share.

40 years ago the avg CEO salary was 300k/year and middle class earnings were 40-45k/ year.

As of 2011, the avg CEO is 10-20 million/year whereas the middle class is roughly 55k/year in the US. This is what is meant by income inequality. The percentage gain is just not proportionate at all. Why? Because the manufacturing is done at pennies on the dollar by foreign workers now.

So if Ronny McDonalds turns a 4-5 billion profit last year but the most readily available job to non college graduates doesn't pay enough to make ends meet, uncle Sam has to kick in through food stamps. Greed is what is killing America.

As with anything in life moderation is key. While I do agree that too much gaming and neglecting your responsibilities in life are bad I also think quality of jobs is the culprit here. Too many shitty jobs that are soul-sucking with employers that don't give a shit about employees and are only trying to maximize profit. It's all about growth for a lot of these companies and they don't care if their employees suffer in the process to get that growth. Some young people see this and it discourages them from working hard because they don't want to be a part of this modern day slave labor. They look to other things like video games as an escape from their dilemma. America needs to improve its education system, improve the quality of jobs, and also improve the quality of life for its workers to step out of the hole it has gotten itself into.

Video games aren't the problem its corporate greed that is the problem.

lol, unfortunately not. International assassin likely pays better :) We're literally cleaners, although being able to 'clean' (restore) machinery and electronic equipment damaged in fires and floods isn't exactly a normal cleaning job.

@TheEroica: I'm helping my brother deal with this with his 10 year old son. He didn't want to play baseball this summer for the first time, stopped playing soccer and I was told grandpa got him an iPad for his Birthday. I said HELLO!

He has an Xbox, an iPad and all he does is play games. Thank god he still goes to karate. I promised my bro and sister and law that Christmas will be sports or some other activity focused from uncle Caine. Can't let this progress dude.

I played school sports, neighborhood sports, acting, drawing comics and played games growing up. Can't let it become their world.

@quadknight: I assure you it is not escaping corporate greed that is keeping 10 year old children hooked to an electronic device inside on an 85 degree day in the summer. It is a lack of direction and discipline from a parental figure, who most likely uses video games the way folks use TV for their kids.... As the babysitter.

Now obviously it would be ignorant to assume every situation plays that way, but I'm willing to bet there are some pretty well defined trends if we dug deep that with increased stress on two income families, along with parents being more tired and generally more busy allowing certain gluttonous behavior to be ok, because it gives the parent the respite they require. . I also think some people just don't give a f***.

I've loved this hobby since it was a thing. Literally. A thing... It's ingenious, it's captivating, it's comforting, it's infuriating and it's gonna outgrow me someday I'm sure, but one thing I am grateful for is that I had parents who insisted there was a far more captivating world outside, where real challenges can be won, with greater rewards than any digital Mumbo Jumbo could ever provide.... They were absolutely correct.

To poison the mind with but one activity is to limit the humans potential at everything else. Life included.