Ashiene
Well-known member
Some say that a life alone can be made very enjoyable and fulfilling if one is always looking for hobbies, taking up new interests, improving oneself, etc.
But there is a hiearchy of human needs, the most basic survival needs which are obviously food, water, shelter, etc. Above that, one of the core non-survival needs is social interaction. That is why SAD is one of the most disabling of all disorders (both physical and mental). It deprives many of us of what makes life more bearable, tolerable, pleasurable and meaningful.
An example can be found in video games. For those of you who are gamers, you will understand this analogy. A person who lives alone is like playing a single-player game. Sure it is fun, but once you complete it, no matter how good the single-player replayability is, it will not be as fun as the first time trying it. So we keep looking for new games, an addictive process that keeps us on a perpetual high state of stimulation and interest.
But the social person plays a different game- the multiplayer game. Almost every video game that has a multiplayer component (like Left 4 Dead, Battlefield, etc) outlives any singleplayer game in terms of replayability. Imagine if Left 4 Dead were only singleplayer, could you fathom yourself playing the same thing over and over for 1000 hours? Maybe you wouldn't get past 100 hours on doing it solo with AI-bots.
But Left 4 Dead and other multiplayer games like League Of Legends, where everyone mostly just plays the same map all the time, can occupy a gamer for hundreds or thousands of hours (seen a L4D2 gamer with 6300 recorded hours of gameplay) even though it is basically very repetitive, but because there is a social aspect to it, and every game you play with different people, each new person you meet a new experience to make friends, to try different strategies and employ new tactics.
That is what gives multiplayer games a very long lifespan. Look at Starcraft 1, a game that has existed for more than a decade, still going strong in tournaments, because the multiplayer keeps it alive and fresh. If Starcraft 1 had no multiplayer, there is no doubt its life would have fizzled out a long time ago.
Likewise, a non-social life that most of us lead, is like playing a singleplayer game. It gets really boring, no matter what the optimists say about it able to be as fulfilling as one with a social life. Because you cannot deny humans are social creatures and in pre-civilised times, no person could survive alone. Humans have almost no natural defences, are very delicately weak, and so we have become social creatures to increase our chances of survival in nature. Being social is at the core of being human. It is a natural instinct and behavior to want social contact.
A social person is playing a multiplayer game with his life. He might do the same thing (going out with friends, going on dates, etc) over and over for a lifetime, but he will never be truly bored, because he always has the chance to meet new people (as each person is a whole new experience and insight into different ways of living). He takes what would otherwise be boring to a non-social person, and makes it so that he derives greater enjoyment through social interaction and bonding.
But there is a hiearchy of human needs, the most basic survival needs which are obviously food, water, shelter, etc. Above that, one of the core non-survival needs is social interaction. That is why SAD is one of the most disabling of all disorders (both physical and mental). It deprives many of us of what makes life more bearable, tolerable, pleasurable and meaningful.
An example can be found in video games. For those of you who are gamers, you will understand this analogy. A person who lives alone is like playing a single-player game. Sure it is fun, but once you complete it, no matter how good the single-player replayability is, it will not be as fun as the first time trying it. So we keep looking for new games, an addictive process that keeps us on a perpetual high state of stimulation and interest.
But the social person plays a different game- the multiplayer game. Almost every video game that has a multiplayer component (like Left 4 Dead, Battlefield, etc) outlives any singleplayer game in terms of replayability. Imagine if Left 4 Dead were only singleplayer, could you fathom yourself playing the same thing over and over for 1000 hours? Maybe you wouldn't get past 100 hours on doing it solo with AI-bots.
But Left 4 Dead and other multiplayer games like League Of Legends, where everyone mostly just plays the same map all the time, can occupy a gamer for hundreds or thousands of hours (seen a L4D2 gamer with 6300 recorded hours of gameplay) even though it is basically very repetitive, but because there is a social aspect to it, and every game you play with different people, each new person you meet a new experience to make friends, to try different strategies and employ new tactics.
That is what gives multiplayer games a very long lifespan. Look at Starcraft 1, a game that has existed for more than a decade, still going strong in tournaments, because the multiplayer keeps it alive and fresh. If Starcraft 1 had no multiplayer, there is no doubt its life would have fizzled out a long time ago.
Likewise, a non-social life that most of us lead, is like playing a singleplayer game. It gets really boring, no matter what the optimists say about it able to be as fulfilling as one with a social life. Because you cannot deny humans are social creatures and in pre-civilised times, no person could survive alone. Humans have almost no natural defences, are very delicately weak, and so we have become social creatures to increase our chances of survival in nature. Being social is at the core of being human. It is a natural instinct and behavior to want social contact.
A social person is playing a multiplayer game with his life. He might do the same thing (going out with friends, going on dates, etc) over and over for a lifetime, but he will never be truly bored, because he always has the chance to meet new people (as each person is a whole new experience and insight into different ways of living). He takes what would otherwise be boring to a non-social person, and makes it so that he derives greater enjoyment through social interaction and bonding.
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