Video Games and/or other hobbies.

[Nehaita]

I was way to lazy to search through the forums to see if you guys have done this already, so I will start a new topic B)

I have seen a trend that most objectivists I know tend to be 'crazy' about only a couple of video games or other hobbies. So my (obvious) questions to you:

1)What do you guys do for fun?

2) If applicable what type of video games do you play and why?

Here are my answers:

1) I love playing tennis and swimming. I also enjoy reading ;)

2) I play Rock band , Star Wars battlefront ( I know an old game), and World of warcraft ( but i swear I am not one of those weird guys who are on ALL the time )

Answer away........

[BaalChatzaf]

I was way to lazy to search through the forums to see if you guys have done this already, so I will start a new topic B)

I have seen a trend that most objectivists I know tend to be 'crazy' about only a couple of video games or other hobbies. So my (obvious) questions to you:

1)What do you guys do for fun?

2) If applicable what type of video games do you play and why?

Here are my answers:

1) I love playing tennis and swimming. I also enjoy reading ;)

2) I play Rock band , Star Wars battlefront ( I know an old game), and World of warcraft ( but i swear I am not one of those weird guys who are on ALL the time )

Answer away........

I am not partial to kinetic video games. At my age (middle 70's) my hand-eye co-ordination is pretty well shot. I prefer open board games like chess and Go.

As to activities, I walk and I ride my bike a lot. When I am not getting my heart to race I do math, study physics and make audio books for blind and dyslexic folk.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[kiaer.ts]

Like most egoists, I enjoy short-selling and torturing kittens.

But in my spare time, I like reading about science, history, linguistics, philosophy, religion (yeah, I know) and many other subjects. I have to read some fiction in order to fall asleep.

I used to play Dungeons and Dragons when I was in high school. I am not a huge fan of video games. I used to play Sim City when I had a PC. Now that I use a Mac I haven't bothered to get any games for it. I enjoy chess with friends.

[Chris Grieb]

Tearing the wing off flies and burning ants with a magnifying glass is also a lot of fun.

[Mikee]

I love Crossfit. I check out OL almost everyday, and a couple other forums, a few news blogs, I rarely miss the hubble picture of the day. I love watching our cat play in the back yard. I like just hanging out with my wife. That and work is about all I have time for. I used to play minesweeper...

Ted: "torturing kittens"??....we have to talk.

[sbeaulieu]

I enjoy reading fiction...I sway from fantasy to sci-fi every couple of years. I love movies. I enjoy getting out to the beach with the wife and kids. Just about anything that has my kids smiling is good for me.

I started out playing D&D for many years since HS. Haven't done pencil & paper gaming for some time...that got taken over by WoW. Can you say four level 70s on Moonrunner? I love the community of players where you can hang out without hanging out with people all over the world. First-person shooters = great stress relief. But I mainly love games that are incorporated into a great story. So my faves would be RPGs. Board games like Chess, Monopoly and Risk top that list.

~ Shane

[Mindy Newton]

I enjoy reading fiction...I sway from fantasy to sci-fi every couple of years. I love movies. I enjoy getting out to the beach with the wife and kids. Just about anything that has my kids smiling is good for me.

I started out playing D&D for many years since HS. Haven't done pencil & paper gaming for some time...that got taken over by WoW. Can you say four level 70s on Moonrunner? I love the community of players where you can hang out without hanging out with people all over the world. First-person shooters = great stress relief. But I mainly love games that are incorporated into a great story. So my faves would be RPGs. Board games like Chess, Monopoly and Risk top that list.

~ Shane

Went Sat. night to something called "Video Games Live" which is a sort of concert with lights, a theatre screen showing video game clips, an orchestra and chorus, vocal solos and a pianist who has composed some of the biggie scores for games, and a few other effects. My daughter loved it. Surprisingly, the audience was quite old, very few young teens even, largely college and older. The music was good, if way too loud. It tours the world, I understand.

I like reversi. Very quick to learn how to play, but very intricate strategy. I play minesweeper occasionally, it becomes a cognitively myopic trance sort of thing. I think it's good for the brain, though not much fun. There's a great puzzle book called 1001 Playthinks, very challenging.

I play tennis, only doubles these days, well, mixed doubles with my husband a little, there's not much mixed doubles around any more. I have a horse and ride several times a week. That is very effective at taking your mind totally away from other things. I collect rocks and have lapidary equipment to cut and polish gem material. I live in a glacial-terminal-morraine area so there are many types of rock and minerals here, and some very nice gem material. It's like treasure-hunting. There's lots of stooping, bending, lifting, and carrying involved, so it's good exercize, and being outdoors, especially at beaches, adds to the experience. I do some music. Performing is another activity that takes you wholly away from the everyday world.

= Mindy

[Nehaita]

Tearing the wing off flies and burning ants with a magnifying glass is also a lot of fun.

Lol my cat likes to do that as well, except for the magnifying glass part. He also gets scared by people knocking at my door and likes to answer my phone (only to realize that he can't and therefore meows at it ). Maybe thats why I tell him that we will make chinese food out of him if he causes trouble

I taught my boyfriend and a couple of other friends how to play tennis. I also taught myself how to swim about 4 yrs ago. Yes, I am tooting my own horn right now

Between the boyfriend and I we have 2 horde 70s on Korgath. We actually just went to this thing where a bunch of people who where in our guild got together in western Maryland. I must say that we expected to see either some little emo-punk kid or someone who is older and creepy but we were pleasently surprized to find out that these people were actually smart and fun to hang out with.

Shane: what kind of fantasy did you read?

[Nehaita]

By the way Ba'l Chatzaf, I am an Astrophysics and Engineering major. I expect us to have interest and stimulation discussions

Neha

[Selene]

Morning folks:

Love tennis wonderful sport. Up until last year, minimalist backpacking in the Shenandoah which is incredibly beautiful. Swimming anytime, anywhere.

In terms of video/sit down games. Not enamored of video games, but I believe to a great degree that is age related. Chess always, I teach chess every Tuesday night at the library.

Backgammon is an interesting game and various card games.

If I can find someone who still plays, almost any Avalon Hill game. Gettysburg being my all time favorite, Tactics II is superior, Midway, Jutland and almost anything they create is superior. RISK was always fun, but we had to add navies, air forces and nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons defense systems to make RISK really risky.

I just was able to find a football board game which was the most realistic to play which I did for five tough years in an unlimited money league in NY City. This board game was called Pro Quarterback and it replicates the plays calling and resolution of plays about as well as I have ever seen.

And of course any gravity fed pin ball machine at any time and anywhere, it is almost yoga-like to play.

Adam

[sbeaulieu]

Between the boyfriend and I we have 2 horde 70s on Korgath. We actually just went to this thing where a bunch of people who where in our guild got together in western Maryland. I must say that we expected to see either some little emo-punk kid or someone who is older and creepy but we were pleasently surprized to find out that these people were actually smart and fun to hang out with.

Shane: what kind of fantasy did you read?

If you play Alliance, like me, then you will most likely get the "little emo-punk kids". Horde, statistically, has more adult players. The guild I'm in has mostly 25-yr olds and up.

As for fantasy, I've stuck with Terry Goodkind the past 13 years. I've read Piers Anthony, Anne McAffrey, Magaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman, and J.K Rowling. I like series as they allow for more storytelling. But there are other authors with single books that are great, too.

~ Shane

[Nehaita]

One of my flaws is that I always just assume that I am the the oldest one in the group (or that several other members are my age). So, I agree with you all about age being a huge factor in video games. I could also never get into chess. My boyfriend is REALLY good tho .

Shane, you should convert to horde. From what I have heard, it is much better than alliance .

Neha

[kiaer.ts]

If I can find someone who still plays, almost any Avalon Hill game. Gettysburg being my all time favorite, Tactics II is superior, Midway, Jutland and almost anything they create is superior. RISK was always fun, but we had to add navies, air forces and nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons defense systems to make RISK really risky.

My brother-in-law (an Objectivist, with two Objectivistlets in the nest) has every Avalon Hill game. Do you go to conventions? He does every year. I stick to Risk and Diplomacy. He spends more time learning the games, I suspect, than he does playing them.

[Matus1976]

I was way to lazy to search through the forums to see if you guys have done this already, so I will start a new topic B)

I have seen a trend that most objectivists I know tend to be 'crazy' about only a couple of video games or other hobbies. So my (obvious) questions to you:

1)What do you guys do for fun?

2) If applicable what type of video games do you play and why?

I'll take my turn, I do alot of 3D Animation and 3D modeling for fun, using Lightwave. My current big project is the Enterprise D from Star Trek, my 3D model is more detailed than the physical model used in the "Generations" movie. Here's a recent image of it

http://www.matus1976.com/3d/Star_Trek/Ente...erprise_033.jpg

I also created a huge highly detailed 3D model of the Star Destroyer from Star Wars,

http://www.matus1976.com/3d/sd/images/star_destroyer_6.jpg

Naturally, I'm gonna make em duke it out =P

Here's my current work in progress of the 'showdown' this is done with lo res models just as place holders and is basically just an animated storyboard until I get everything worked out.

There are movies of the hi res versions of the models at the end.

This has been a heck of a lot of fun to work on, ultimately I want to build my character modeling and animating skills as well and do an animated version of "Anthem" and make my own movies / stories.

I also love motorcycling, and have been designing and building a motorcycle for a few years now, it's a recumbent motorcycle styled after the bike from the movie "Akira", this is just a prototype right now

http://www.matus1976.com/akira_bike/curren...nov07_small.jpg

but this is alot what it will look like when it's done

http://www.matus1976.com/akira_bike/refere...ges/kbike01.jpg

Just do a google search for "Akira Bike" and my page is usually the top hit. ;)

My favorite fun time is spent designing things, or researching or investigating. Physics and mechanical engineering are my favorite areas of study, followed closely by philosophy. Reading of course, history is my new favorite area in that regard. I particularly like classical greece and roman history right now. I like writing essays, and having healthy intellectual discussions with friends. Big fan of Joss Wheedon shows.

For video games, I was a huge Starcraft fan, I played alot of Battlefield 1942 and Desert Combat, I havent liked Battlefied 2 or 2142 very much though. I'm thinking about giving "spore" a try but given the other projects video game playing has been demoted =( I havent tried WoW yet, but it looks like alot of fun.

I'm not a fan of professional sports, but I like playing soccer, basketball, and tennis.

[sbeaulieu]

Matus,

Awesome 3D work! And Kaneda's bike...wicked! I always hoped that someone would come out with his bike, or even Cloud's from Final Fantasy VII.

~ Shane

Edited September 24, 2008 by sbeaulieu

[Richard Uhler]

...

If I can find someone who still plays, almost any Avalon Hill game.

...

Wow, that takes me back. I *loved* Panzerblitz & Panzer Leader as a teen. I haven't played since my college years in the early '80s though.

[kiaer.ts]

My bro-in-law plays Panzer Leader. But he lives in MA and I in NY and everybody else seems to live in the wrong state as well.

[Selene]

Ted:

I play chess on line by e-mail, but the Avalon Hill paradigm is fully gridded so that you can send your next moves by e-mail, some folks take a digital picture of the board and send that. Tactical combat resolutions can be effected by random dice roll number programs.

One of the incredible aspects of Gettysburg, Tournament version was the secret movements behind ridges and lines of sight and weather, e.g., fog.

Adam

[Matus1976]

Matus,

Awesome 3D work! And Kaneda's bike...wicked! I always hoped that someone would come out with his bike, or even Cloud's from Final Fantasy VII.

~ Shane

Thanks Shane! I can't wait to finish the thing up and take it for a ride. I've been contacted by a few people who say they are interested in building the bike from Final Fantasy, but I've yet to see anyone actually start their projects. That is quite a bike as well.