How many fallacies can you spot in this article?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/12/14/modeling_a_skrym_shock_to_the_us_economy.html
Bunk through and through.
The economy isn’t a beast that exists outside of the world of men. It is the world of men. If we find more utility in playing Skyrim, then that improves our situation.
Plus, he makes the mistake of spending=good:
I forgot about two obligations, blew off a dinner and a concert, and purchased no goods or services." Normally people do a lot of different stuff to keep themselves amused. But if a single $56 purchase can keep you fully entertained for a long time, that might result in dramastically reduced demand for goods and services.
Apply the same argument to vacuum cleaners. If my vacuum cleaner does a fantastic job, then it slows down the economy, because I’m not buying new vacuum cleaners. Well, no. Using this logic we’d want highly deficient goods just so that we can keep making said deficient goods. This analysis is not only wrong, but also ignores, as Bastiat would chide, what is not seen. If 1 million people save $50 while playing Skyrim, this is $50 million that can be invested or spent elsewhere.
This is the spending=economy fallacy destroyed by Friedman here:
Next,
The other is of Skyrim as a supply shock. Maybe the possibility of spending your time playing Skyrim has massively increased the value of leisure time, and people will start retiring early, downshifting to part-time jobs, declining freelance assignments, and otherwise avoiding active participation in the labor market in order to play Skyrim.
For a long time, really? I was uber-hyped for the game and I’ve largely stopped playing it. I mean, sure, I’ve spent maybe 35 hours on it, but the game doesn’t end the world for us.
As to the rest, it’s written as a joke (I hope). This suggests that the first part is also a joke.
Yes, some people actually believe such arguments in the real world. In this case, however, I advice caution so as to not provide cannonfodder for people to point to how insane Austrians are 
I thought the article was a joke, but if not that is as weird an article as one could write - I mean in a mind boggling way - as in I am stumped for words and fludded by thoughts by it’s bizarre nature.
Either way:
The economy isn’t a beast that exist outside of the world of men. It is the world of men
This is a good quote. I think this is why Austrian economics is superior to other schools. It takes most seriously the implications of the market not as a “thing” but as a process and consequence of intersubjective fact
It’s semi serious I think. Many of the arguments he makes sound vaguely familiar at least. Wheylous pretty much pinned it for me especially pointing out the fallacy of spending=good (or inherently good). This, I think, is the GDP argument, that is, the “consumption is xx% of the U.S. economy” kind of talking points.
Also, these kinds of arguments seem to me to be making a case for planned obsolescence, or perhaps a limit on how much time you can play the game until you have to make a payment or buy the game again.
For the record, I have 100+hours put into Skyrim and even more into Dark Souls lol.
For the record, what large quests are there besides the main story, thieves’ guild, assassin’s guild, rebellion, and mage college? I’m trying to find something to do that is not a fetch quest
Did you get all of the dragonpriest masks? There are various dungeons that have their own little stories and just exploring and doing dungeons is fun too. I don’t know how you did all of that stuff in 35 hours you must’ve just blazed through everything and not getting sidetracked on anything lol.
This assumes that everyone gets the same utility from one product or service. I, on the other hand, don’t really play video games (Mario 64, and it’s generally when I’m wide awake and my girlfriend is sleeping). With $56 I can think of other things I’d rather buy: new bookcase, more books, fix my car, buy beer, new contacts, etc. Playing an expensive video game for hours doesn’t appeal to me.
Sort of the belief that tapes killed vinyl, and then cd’s killed tapes, and then mp3’s killed cd’s, and iPod’s killed everything before it, so no one would want records, tapes, or cd’s. If that’s the case the collection of records above my record player must be an illusion, or I’m just not a good consumer.
“This assumes that everyone gets the same utility from one product or service”
You obviously haven’t played Skyrim. Man, it’s awesome! Although your girlfriend might leave you if you start playing it because you will forget about doing anything else. The rubbish will not be taken out, meals will not be cooked, appointments will be missed. But it will ALL be worth it.
Objectively 
You obviously haven’t played Skyrim. Man, it’s awesome! Although your girlfriend might leave you if you start playing it because you will forget about doing anything else. The rubbish will not be taken out, meals will not be cooked, appointments will be missed. But it will ALL be worth it.
My friend tried to make me interested in it by saying “I don’t see why you wouldn’t like Skyrim since you like mythology and all”, but I fail to see the connection in a video game in the modern world and something that relates to religion, culture, customs, and rituals from long ago. Also, I was doing some cheesey mural of a dragon, and he had the audacity to say “What are you basing this on? Should look at the dragons in Skyrim.” Last game I had an addiction to was Roller Coaster Tycoon, and luckily I think all my saved levels are gone.
but I fail to see the connection in a video game in the modern world and something that relates to religion, culture, customs, and rituals from long ago.
I thought God of War was a faithful rendition of Homer and Hesiod. Anyway, not much into video games aside from a few titles (I don’t even know what the game in question is - and most of this post is “Greek to me”). In gerneral, and especially in today’s market especially with Hack and Slash and/ or “dark gritty” Dungeon and Dragon BS video games butcher history and mythology pretty badly.
However, I have noticed a decent integration of the “spirit” of some of that stuff with board games and video games in the past.
Even if we would believe his story of a negative supply shock combined with a negative demand shock, there would not be a problem.
-people want to sit at home, play video games and consume fewer goods (negative demand)
-people want to sit at home, play video games and produce and produce fewer goods (negative supply)
So fewer goods goods are produced and consumed. Everyone is happy. There wouldnt be any unemployment or any nasty stuff.
To be honest I don’t know much about the game either. From what I gather you kill dragons and go on quests. Only game that I’ve played that I feel has a nice plot with some “spiritual” aspect is the Zelda series (specifically A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, even though the new Skyward Sword looks to complicated for me to bother with).
I get the impression the Japanese in general seem to be better in dealing with mythological themes in their games. That said, there were some US video games I remember playing as a kid that were OK - off the top of my head was the King’s Quest series - though that is more fairy tails.
It may have to do with the fact that America simply doesn’t have much in the way of an implanted culture or any real mythology in that sense. so to speak, nor does it seem to mind - it is a thouroughly modern history, culture, and people with a more modern mindset. If I had to speculate a poetic guess
That might be the case, but it’s rather odd that you can come across Japanese games that have this sort of early/Medieval European theme to it. In the various Zelda games I’ve caught myself thinking how a part (or whole) of the game seems to be inspired Beowulf, the Norse Eddas, various sword lore, etc. The idea of the hero’s quest to over come hardships and reach some state of bliss or to triumph over an all powerful/evil force (something Joseph Campbell goes over in Hero with a Thousand Faces, a reoccuring theme that shows itself across the world in various religions/myths).
Might have to do with the Western influence on Japanese culture, they in turn take historical parts of Western/European folk tales and myth, make anime and games out of it, and sell it back to us in a way better than we could have done ourselves.
Interesting. I seem to think at the center of all the Japanese games I’ve played (which isn’t many, nor have I really played video games with any regularity in a long time - so once again I’m not an expert) there were very far Eastern themes and motifs (Shnto, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc) - though they do tend to run the board with bringing in all types of mythological elements and older cultures. I guess some did have a european medieval theme to them.
I think this is kind of going by what I was saying earlier though - maybe not so much Western influence over Japanes culture (though that probably has a bit to do with it) but also the differences between all those Eurasian cultures and America. In the end, that is kind of pure speculation..and there really is no way to tell, because as far as I know there are no real major developers other than those in the US and Japan - and if something wants to sell it has to pander at least somewhat to US tastes.
There’s definitely games out there with a more Eastern persuasion, but I’m not someone who’s really into RPG’s (or video games in general anymore) to dive into all the titles. I have friends who are really into anime and RPG’s and they lean towards things that seem more Eastern than Western in culture and influence (I don’t watch anime at all, but I’ve seen some Hayao Miyazaki films and they were pretty awesome - especially Princess Mononoke).
This conversation makes me want to play Final Fantasy VII again. Had a pretty awesome theme and plot even if I was too young to understand it at the time.
Yeah, I’m with you on the anime. From what I noticed it is mostly really bad stuff - with some very amazing exceptions. I do sort of feel like going back to some of those old RPG’s and looking at how he mythological themes present themselves, I just kind of thought of that in retrospect whil I was answering / thinking about your comments. I think overall it may be why I tend to enjoy the Japanese RPG vs the Western ones whenever I play them, and I always had a hard time explaining why (it certainly was not the androgynous males) - I think that may be a subconscious part of it. The Japanese sort of “get it” more when it comes to culture/ mythology - or something like that.