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Does Gaming Reduce Productivity?
Scott Taulbee writes "Bob Mandel of AVault has given us his interesting views on why playing games does not reduce productivity, but rather is a stimulating alternative to 'snoozing, daydreaming, overconsuming food and beverages, or sitting like a mindless slug waiting for time to pass.' He suggest that '..compared to other forms of recreational activity that could be enjoyed during work breaks, computer gaming has the greatest chance to hone skills useful for productivity in the workplace.' Should we all take this article to our bosses with requests for installing a GameCube on every desk?"
I'm going out to get some!
Later, dorks!
They do drastically interfere with moral. Deathmatch grudges tend to get sorted out on the coding floor instead of in the realms of quake.
Also, since you have to consider the fact that I'd be opening myself up to a discrimination lawsuit for allowing men to 'fragg' but not allowing women to 'IM'; I'd rather just cut the whole deal out.
So my office is a no-games office. Instead, I try to encourage people to bring in inspirational reading, such as the bible.
The employees seem to rather like the 'guess which book this verse came from' game that I started up. IT's the one that usually gets picked during our state-mandated ten-minute break periods.
Hey, asshole, I'm proud of the pimples and of being a Linux geek. I'm damned proud to say I run Mandrake. I'm also damned proud of my homosexual attraction to guk. So if you don't like it, fuck you.
You go to hell. You go to hell and you die.
you go to hell !!
you go to hell and you die !!
Artists have a habit of calling any time-wasting activity "inspirational" and declaring that it improves their so-called "work".
Life in Orange County
Actually, I've found that 'surprise inspections' tend to do that rather well. Even though they were originally instituted to make sure that people weren't downloading porn, a pleasantly surprising side-benefit seems to be that people are less inclined to waste company time when they know they could get caught at any moment.
Except for the couple in closet. But two less homosexuals in the work place is a Good Thing[tm] (it's esp satisfying when they both break company policy and prove what I've always said about homos, in one swoop!)
Hell, gaming isn't near as distracting as wanking, and my coworkers don't get nearly as grossed out. That and none of those pesky sexual harassment suits. Or messy stains under the desk.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Weightlifting always provides me with a good break from work. You should try it sometime.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It'
Computer game addiction is rampant. During a fit of depression, I spent approximately 2 weeks doing NOTHING at work but play Diablo 2 and hit alt-tab when the boss came around. I didn't mean to, but I had gotten into the habit of doing a Morpheus run first thing in the morning... but when I turned the game off, I got overwhelmed with work, came to slashdot, didn't find any new stories, then went back to diablo. Then when I'd have bad fights with my girlfriend (the reason I was depressed), I'd go to the office at 1 in the morning to play. Bad bad bad. A few weeks after that happened, I realized what I had been doing, and deleted all traces of diablo from my computer. I was still too much of an addict to delete my battle.net characters, but I haven't been back for over 3 months, so I'm comforted to know that I CAN'T go back to that.
OTOH, nothing breaks the stress in my office on a deadline like a 15-minute round of Unreal Tournament on one of the boards I made in my not-so-busy days. And since I've got the leeway to make levels on those not-so-busy days, I'm grateful, so more willing to stay late and work harder for deadlines.
You were a gymnastic jew thief?
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