SimpleBlob's Life

Sometimes, great wisdom is found in the strangest of places. This time, at GameDev.net forum:

Petr, aged 15 from the Czech Republic, writes in his signature...

There are two life senses [note: 2 purposes in life]
1. Be happy.
2. Make others happy.

When I think about living my life like this, I found peace.

Alice: Oh, no, no. I was just wondering if you could help me find my way.
Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.
Alice: Oh, it really doesn't matter, as long as...
Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn't matter which way you go.

I just got a degree in one field and now want to work in another. In just one short year, I have changed my mind 3 times about where I want to go. The Cheshire Cat was right, it all depends on where you want to go.

Oh, and when you've really nailed down your career choice, this Japanese proverb perfectly tells you what to do next.

好きこそ　ものの　上手なれ
Become good at what you like doing.

Cheers, career changers.

I've been to SIGGRAPH'08 conference and I had a blast.

Many new things in computer graphic world. Many interesting people.

I had even shaked hand with one of the lead art designer from Blizzard.

More than that, going to Pixar night and watching "The Pixar Story" have changed my perspective about life (in a good way.)

We look at Pixar now and see a very successful company. Everybody wants to work at Pixar.
But you know what?

Pixar was almost got bankrupt many times and John Lasseter, the main guy behind Pixar, had been fired from the company he loved (Disney), just because the executives didn't like his work.

Success doesn't come easy, indeed.

I guess it all came down to perseverence. Just keep doing what you love. And I found that what I love to do is not exactly Finance. (Long story for another time)

Anyway, for any 3D artist/programmer/enthusiasts who has never been to SIGGRAPH,

just go.

It's worth it.

PS. random thought: people like playing The Sims or games like this because they feel like they're improve their life. And it's easy to measure with all the "money" and "happiness" stats.
(I love watching green bars go up too.)

What if we do this in real life? Putting huge chart/screen in front of you with the stats you desire, ex: money, fame, etc. Would it motivate you?

A second piece about time waster.
I'll keep it short this time because I'm lazy.

Is playing video game a time waster?
Mostly Yes. But sometimes, no. It depends.

Ultimately, it's our intention and our goal that decides what it is.
If you use the "playing game" activity to have fun with your family & friends,
that's not a time waster at all.
If you play games and learn something from them, then they could be called "educational tools."

Unfortunately, when we play purely for pleasure, that's when we play games for games' sake.
So just be careful, games are designed to be addictive. Some people become so addicted that they devote their life to playing games. (WOW Addicts for example)

That's it for today. But before I end this, let me share with you a very unique game. You can finish it in 5 minutes. I can't promise that it will be fun for you, but I assure that you will have a unique experience.

It's the game call "Passage." Download Here. Then unrar and play.

Time is a precious thing. It's one of the rare instance in life where everybody is equal. Everyone gets 24 hours per day, whether they are rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, lucky or unfortunate, etc.

But even knowing that, we still often do activities that are categorized as "time waster."
A time waster is, for me, an activity that is unimportant or not relate to our real goals.

Why do we still do such things, even we are fully aware that they "waste" our time?

Simple: Instant Pleasure.

We always choose to do something base on how much pain or pleasure it will give us.

Important activities give us pleasure when we achieve them.
Time waster(TW) activites also do the same, but they're so easy to achieve it's instant.
Also, they are set up in a way that is addictive. You'll keep coming back to do them.

The bad thing is that they give "fake" pleasure. True, we achieve something but it's unimportant, it's not what we actually want. That's what makes them dangerous.

Next post will talk about games as time wasters.