Video Games Revisited

The following was a response I got from my email 3 days ago about video games from a friend named Mark:

As a kid, I spent 6-8 hours a day playing games. My mother, struggling with depression, didn’t impose many restrictions, so I had free rein. By the time I was very young, I had beaten several hundred Atari games, and later, probably around 500 NES games. Looking back, it's incredible that I didn’t break my brain with all that dopamine. But the signs of a problem were there.

I remember one night at a friend’s house, playing Quake III. He went to bed and told me I could keep playing if I wanted. I was still at it when he woke up the next morning. That was a wake-up call—a moment when I realized I had a problem. I had no control. When I hear about that Korean kid who died after playing 60 hours straight, I knew what that would have been like.

This realization led to an existential crisis in my early twenties. I began to ask myself a difficult question: would I live in the real world or retreat into a virtual one? It was an incredibly tough decision, and for a while, I didn’t know the answer. 

Eventually, I broke free by deciding to treat life like a video game. I resolved to develop real skills and acquire real resources, setting out on an adventure in the real world with the same determination and obsession I had in gaming. I aimed to win it all or die trying. This decision became a defining moment for me. From that point forward, I channeled the obsessive focus of a gamer into tangible goals in real life. Had I not done so, I might have ended up as an overweight, socially isolated gamer dweeb living in my mother’s basement. 

Instead, I married the girl of my dreams and now, I’m involved in revolutionary green power technology deals that could bring power to millions worldwide. We’re finalizing financing for projects that collectively represent about 10 gigawatts of electrical power, and I feel like I’m just getting started on this level.

Gaming taught me a powerful lesson: how to creatively solve a continuous stream of complex problems under high pressure—an invaluable skill for an entrepreneur.

I asked if I could share this because it seems to be a useful story for some of us. I have a cofounder who turned his love for video games into a love for playing the game of life and winning. My own kids seem to learn most of their math and strategy from their favorite games. I love watching my youngest play Minecraft and Roblox where she can build in a 3D world and explore the creations of others.

There is a tendency for the generation before the next to be suspect of how the next generation uses time, especially online and with gaming. Whenever I am tempted to think it’s not ideal, because maybe it’s different than how I was raised or used my time, I stop reevaluate.

Here is a theory, the youth that game and do online activities with ease are going to be very well suited for a world that is mixed with ai and virtual reality and robotics. I believe in introducing the next generation to all the technology and games as soon as possible. This is my theory and doesn’t have to be yours, but it seems that love of video games can have a great outcome if the individual playing them can make the connection to the game of capitalism and business.

Happy 420

Scotty P

Below is a screenshot of the game my teens play called Genshin Impact. They have jobs serving food in a memory care facility to help pay for their habit. They have spent an upwards of $1200 each to acquire their favorite characters and weapons.