• @Gustephan@lemmy.world
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    572 days ago

    As somebody who has published cybersecurity research AND a good number of youtube videos about niche video games, I can promise you making a YouTube series on an obscure video game does not get in the way of doing scientific research. With the magic of unrestrained autism, both are possible.

  • @merc@sh.itjust.works
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    462 days ago

    In 1820s Germany, the only guys documenting every beetle were basically the idle rich. The average person was working 12 hour days on a farm, or weaving cloth, or sorting through sewage for something useful.

    • @conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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      22 days ago

      This here. I’ve thought about going the way of old school naturalists, but I just don’t have the resources, chiefly in time.

      • @merc@sh.itjust.works
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        12 days ago

        This is also why the modern trend is making YouTube videos. The people who do that are frequently hoping the channel takes off and they can get paid. It’s not just public service or documenting an interest. The scientists of the early 1800s were frequently people who didn’t have to work. They had estates that generated money for them, allowing them to pursue science as a hobby.

    • @Dogyote@slrpnk.net
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      82 days ago

      Well would you rather have the idle rich making gaming youtube videos or documenting beetles?

  • @Teppichbrand@feddit.org
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    82 days ago

    Creative boredom died with smartphones, mine as well. I hate it! But I hate being bored and having to come up with shit to do more. :(

    • @ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      32 days ago

      I deleted Facebook and Xitter from my phone, I got a lot of my time back. Neither social media I still actively use are addictive as much, and I became much more productive. That reminds me that I have a very important code documentation work to do, including documenting version changes.

  • @Rooskie91@discuss.online
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    884 days ago

    Personally, I find the insinuation that I can’t make a 26 part YouTube series about how collect all the rings in every sonic game, AND document every kind of beetle in my local province, belittling and insulting.

    • Poplar?OP
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      52 days ago

      I dont think so. I think theyre just trying to be accurate about whats its like to be the sort of person that gets very into their interests.

    • @Slein4273@feddit.org
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      64 days ago

      This did not in fact make me jealous and vie for His love in unhealthy ways.

      Well i hope there are also over 10 species of you.

  • @philpo@feddit.org
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    273 days ago

    The same guy would have very likely have died before he was even 10. And if he wasn’t dead very likely to work in a meaningless job to even survive unable to spend time on things on bugs.

    It takes resources to do “useless” things.

    • @antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      354 days ago

      Controversial take: advancing science is better than spending weeks optimising how to play video games for children.

      • @CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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        22 days ago

        Controversal take: humans don’t have maximize productivity in every moment of their lives. It’s perfectly acceptable for someone to spend their spare time making in depth videos if that is something they enjoy doing.

        Every moment of every day does not need to be spent maximizing productivity, otherwise what are doing on Lemmy instead of cataloging beetles?

        • @antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          02 days ago

          There’s so much black and white thinking here, and maybe my previous comment is partly to blame too…

          “Documenting beetles” can be exactly what you do in your spare time because you enjoy it, without productivity being your goal. You can do it just so. It’s nothing unusual.

          The point of the OP is that some people have a lot of focus and curiosity that makes them fixate on solving stuff even if it seems mind-numbing to outsiders, and that a lot of that mind-numbing stuff-solving can actually be incredibly valuable for others, expanding our understanding of the world, etc. It does feel wasteful that such energy ends up spent on something that has way smaller or entirely nonexistent benefit for others.

          I should have said this in my comments sooner, while the thread was still active, but here it goes anyway: we still absolutely need this sort of meticulous, “mind-numbing” work. Wikipedia is probably the best and most prominent example of such an effort that is run basically just on people’s free time and curiosity and willpower.

          This also isn’t meant to say that playing video games should be avoided completely. I joked about my “utilitarianism calculator” in an another comment, but hopefully it’s obvious it’s an exaggeration. OP specifically talks of people who spend exorbitant amounts of time and effort optimising how to play a game, they’re not just enjoying it and relaxing with it as is otherwise normal for games and sports and similar activities. So it’s basically just the same sort of work as documenting beetles, but without the eventual benefits…

          • @PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            I get your point but I question the value of a hobbyists research vs that of a scientists. Documenting beetles as a hobby may mean jotting down their shape and color while a scientist would dissect the thing and index their internal organs. Not saying a hobbyist wont do that, but it will be restrictive to do so. It may require education or special equipment and in the end, will still be less credible work unless published in the same scientific fashion scientists are accustomed to. Fact is, we don’t mind coloring outside the lines in a hobby. I may be wrong here but the areas hobbyists can usefully contribute to are few, so we opt to studying digital worlds instead.

          • azuth
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            22 days ago

            If we absolutely need this work we should pay somebody to do it. Also set up some quality requirements and guarantees of the task being completed.

      • @kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        74 days ago

        Science has already done as much beetle documentation as one can do without a bunch of resources, though. You wouldn’t be advancing it, just redoing it for fun. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s also nothing wrong with playing video games for fun.

    • @criss_cross@lemmy.world
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      04 days ago

      I also don’t think it follows. A person who does nothing but play video games isn’t going to magically go and advance science.

  • Nyadia (she/they)
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    93 days ago

    Shoutout to the oldschool runescape wiki people. One of the best and most thorough video game wikis I’ve ever used. If they never got hooked on medieval cookie clicker a decade or two ago who knows what else they would’ve achieved.