“How is playing games going to help you in the future?” Japanese gamer has perfect comeback

Tired of being told there’s no point in playing games, he shows how the question misses the point.

The video game industry is bigger than it’s ever been, and many of the world’s most successful hardware and software developers are Japanese companies. Even still, not everyone in Japan is a gamer, and especially from older people it’s not all that uncommon to hear derogatory remarks about the hobby.

The go-to criticism is that playing games is a waste of time, and that said time would be better spent on more productive endeavors. It’s an unsolicited piece of advice that Japanese Twitter user Prime (@SF4prime) has gotten tired of hearing over the years, but the upside of having heard it so much is that he’s developed a pretty airtight comeback, which he shared in a recent tweet.

“When older people ask me ‘What’s the point of playing games? How is that going to be useful for you in the future?’ I ask them right back ‘When you eat good food, are you eating it because you thinking it’ll be useful for you in the future?’

Then they say ‘No, but when I eat good food, it’s an enjoyable experience. It makes me happy and refreshes my motivation to work hard again tomorrow.’

And then I tell them ‘That’s why I play games.’”

年配の人に「ゲームなんてやって何になるの？将来何の役に立つの？」って聞かれた時に『おいしいもの食べるときにこれ将来何になるんだろうって食べます？』って聞いたら「いや、それは楽しい体験して元気になって明日も頑張ろうって気になるからでしょ」って返ってきたから「それです」って答えた

— ぷらいむ (@SF4prime) December 14, 2021

It’s a very rational rebuttal, and it highlights an unusual aspect of the criticisms that usually get lobbed at playing games as a hobby. While there certainly are hobbies where something is produced as an end result, such as cooking or painting, there are just as many leisure activities that are non-productive in nature, whether it’s fine dining, watching sports on TV, or listening to music. No one ever says “What was the point of eating that deluxe sushi set?” or “How is listening to that song going to help your future?”, so it’s kind of odd to start requiring any greater justification for playing games beyond “I think it’s fun and I had free time.” Granted, you could say that spending all your free time playing games doesn’t make for a well-rounded lifestyle, but that holds true regardless of what the hobby in question is.

With 84,000-plus likes, Prime’s tweet looks to be an eloquent way of conceptualizing what many other gamers feel, and he invites like-minded fans of electronic entertainment to check out his gaming YouTube channel. And while not everyone approves of the hobby, at least video game culture got an extra boost in respectability at the Tokyo Olympics.

Source: Twitter/@SF4prime via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
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