Games vs Social Media

[MrsWargamer]

Well, I don't know about Monopoly, people love to hate that game , but, there are certainly some great board games out there.

Most people will claim they are not interested in board games, right up until you wow them with some really great designs.

One of the best I have played in recent years, was 7 Wonders, a sort of Civ derivative. Well, only vaguely Civ-like. I also have the rather awesome Civilization board game (will include the image). It's a rather daunting game to set up, but very engaging once you understand the rules.

There is something special about enjoying actual human company in person. I don't play multiplayer online games for reasons of vision-related reasons. But I doubt I'd ever pick one over playing something in person too.

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: Red2112

Not that long ago, when NO cell phones were available (to the most of us), people meet at the usual "hang-out". If you wanted to see someone (friend) and/or talk to them, then you had to go to the hang-out/meeting place, bar or what ever place was your usual meeting point. If you wanted to go out with your friends on a Friday, you had three choices, call them home, go to there home, or meet at the hang-out and hope he/she showed up.

Somtimes you just didn´t want to go out, but then some friends would show up at your house and in a way convince you to go out (face to face).

In short, there was MORE social movment/contact in those day´s.

Now day´s all you have to do is send them a "whatsapp" msg saying Staying home tonight, and that´s it! Besides all that has been mentioned regarding being totaly isolated in a family dinner while your chatting with someone, or just surfing the web with your cell-phone.

Even most work lunch meetings are like that!

It´s quite sick to be honest...

I just happened to remember something I had read some years ago. In a novel Beyond this horizon written by Robert A. Heinlein a man wakes up from cryogenic sleep. One man comes to talk with him with a presumption that things were better in "the good old times". Man from the times past immediately shoots that idea down without hesitation. Compare to wild west and middle ages as those are romanticized in the American made movies.

Otherwise what comes to the "social media", that could be older thing than you thought. In one computer magazine (MikroBitti 2/2017) is an interesting article about certain computer family. PLATO was central mainframe computer system designed for education purposes. It had graphics and easy to learn programming language. Students liked the thing better than their teachers. Can you guess what students did with it besides studying? Games, bulletin boards, mails, chat... Does this sound familiar? All back in the 1970's.

Social media isn't anything new nor recent. Only thing that has changed is it has gone from universities and the likes to mainstream. Just like Star Trek. "It's popular, now it sucks". Now get those nostalgia glasses out of your head.

[Red2112]

Life would be very boring if we all had the same opinion, that´s what make´s each of us unique, even in the 70´s! Mankind is "still" fighting for the same things, and making the same mistakes, so evolution is quite overated. Everything has a background from where you feed, in order to advance, in what direction is the question. There is always a hidden reason for everything being done, be it mainstream or not. I just don´t belive in coincidences for the most part. Since World War I mankind has been studying social behavior and how to manipulate it, so no surprise here either, at least for me. While military contracts buy most of the future advancements, we will never "truly" evolve! Saving our planet dosen´t make money! Like I said, it´s just my opinion and not facts about rocket science.