[jxjnskkzxxhx]

I don't disagree with the benefits of community.

But the thing he describes with StarCraft Vs whatever the brainrot game is can be explained differently. I think the author likes the idea of liking StarCraft, but doesn't actually like playing it. Brainrot on the other hand is engineered to be addictive. Surely if he LIKED playing StarCraft he wouldn't have to be searching for motivation. Personally, I know that in my life I only need motivation for the things I don't like. The things I like I just naturally do a lot.

One insight that I've had is that people often don't really understand what they like and don't like. How many times have you heard "oh I wanna be a writer" "ok what have you written?" "I haven't written anything yet because I'm not a writer yet." These people like the idea of having achieved some end result, but they don't enjoy the process, and aren't even aware that the two are different.

In fact some times I think the word "to like" isn't that useful as it doesn't map well into anything in the mind. I think perhaps we should differentiate between the ideas of "things I planned to do", "things that I did", and "things that when I do make me feel such and such internally". If you re read the post with these ideas in mind, it makes a lot more sense what's happening: the author planned to do one thing and did another. You no longer need to invoke strange ideas like "I need community to give me the motivation to do the thing I already like doing because without motivation I do things I don't like".

[misschresser]

My experience is similar enough to the author's though. I was a Masters level dueler in starcraft2 and had a huge passion for the game, and a huge part of that was that the community was exciting at that time. I participated in the subreddit, I wrote articles, I casted games on the side. My friends played the game. I eventually had a go/no-go moment where I could've kept pouring myself into the community, potentially worked with folks like Artosis and Tasteless, etc.

But all signals were that the community was dwindling and blizzard wasn't properly invested in the game, which lowered my motivation a lot over time. So my decision was No.

[legacynl]

One problem with this is that people nowadays have a harder time figuring out what they truly like. Even disregarding the constantly pushed images and adverts of what companies want us to like, people are nowadays also just less bored. This stops them from trying new stuff and encountering activities that they truly enjoy.

Using the example of the writers; the writers that I personally know all seem to have started writing things as a fluke, often as children, not to achieve something but just to do something fun. Or as a result of a school assignment and finding out it's actually pretty enjoyable.

> I think the author likes the idea of liking StarCraft, but doesn't actually like playing it. Brainrot on the other hand is engineered to be addictive. Surely if he LIKED playing StarCraft he wouldn't have to be searching for motivation.

Although you're mostly right, I do feel there's some nuance to be made. Although this kinda ties in to like not really mapping well to how the brain functions.

This is kind of similar to something called 'health choices' in psychology. Although we all know that e.g. smoking is bad, it's still hard for people to make the 'right' choice every time. And that doesn't necessarily say anything about if people 'want' or 'like' to stop smoking.

Even if playing starcraft was fully alligned with the wants and likes as they exist in the brain of OP, the existence of an abundance of available snacks can still make it hard to choose the 'healthy' option.

As a side note, your comment really reminds me of Charlie Brooker's 'How TV ruined your life', especially the aspiration episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNGK9ni4aSY

[xeonmc]

> But the thing he describes with StarCraft Vs whatever the brainrot game is can be explained differently.

Author clearly hasn’t watched Artosis stream before.

(Context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbaT7zPskPM)

[HPsquared]

There's liking the process, then there's liking the overall experience (including end result). Like doing exercise or whatever.