Name: G.I. Jonesy
Location:
Posts: 2441
As any athlete knows, there is no future in athletics. You play your game for a while, and then you must retire, regardless of your choice. It comes to be, for every professional athlete, the point is reached where they must leave what they love. And when they do, the beginning is a depressing time. Anything you live with for enough time, when it is gone, you will miss. If they were there long enough, even prisoners will miss jail. Sports are things of the times, which is probably why they are so preferred by males (being that males are usually left-brained and therefore more interested in timely things). This doesn't mean you shouldn't play sports, or be involved. It's more a matter of, ensuring once you are finished with sports, you have something else ready. Depression in one area can be naturally-countered by growth in another. If you start something new though, the growth will be slower than the depression, which will still make you feel depressed.

Beyond the personal problems though, sports are incredibly conservative. When I say conservative, I mean it in the true sense: sports are aristocratic and authoritative. In sports, exploitation is often the most rewarding thing, and teamwork the least. In other words, selfishness is rewarded and selflessness punished. How can one selflessly give their opponents wins or points, when their careers, the respect of their peers, and their emotional state of being (however temporarily it may last), is so dependent on defeating their opponents? Winning (power), is an addiction. The more you win, the more you need to win and the more tragic losing becomes. Like a heroin-junkie, you rob the elderly, just to win another game.

Sports are the endless conflict you might think Orwell was covering in his famous book 1984. And why exactly do people enjoy sports, or play them? Is it a natural-urge, dating back to the beginning of time? Part of natural-selection? We instinctively compete, because it was once necessary? It brings us back to a time when we were animals, not living in civilization... competing with every squirrel and sparrow we came across?

Whatever the case, I wonder how many people prefer consoles because they are afraid to learn how to use a mouse and keyboard? I remember when I first started playing computer FPS's, I refused to learn how to use the mouse and keyboard. I used a joystick instead. The only reason I switched, is because my joystick broke, I was too impatient to wait for a replacement, and then when my replacement came, it broke after only a week. In between the two joysticks, I got comfortable enough on the keyboard and mouse that buying another joystick was not worth it. Being that i'm talking about me, not some random, casual console player, it says a lot about the state of mind people have, when considering whether to play a computer FPS (or even to simply use a mouse and keyboard on a console), or to stick with what they're used to, what is comfortable enough for them, and, most importantly, what does not require any additional learning.