It’s funny you mention that circumstance, I finally got around to finishing all three endings and S-ranking most missions of Armored Core 6 while I was recovering from rolling my ankle slipping on a ledge while hiking.

More to the point of the post, I also spent a good bit of time researching the ecology of my local lakes and rivers for summertime for when I estimated my ankle would heal and once I was better I was equipped to get back out on the water.

I see it as an addiction like gambling. You put in some time but don’t always win. That causes a bigger positive feedback for when you do win.

Then the win is a delicious fish and you’re hooked.

Meditation.

So there’s a few different ways of fishing. I also am not a big fan of the bait a hook and wait style. I mostly fish with lures and spinners and this has a different appeal. One, it’s far more active. I’ll cast and retrieve a lure a few times in five minutes. I’m not sitting around waiting for a bite, I’m trying to make one happen.

That brings me to point two, I get to learn, practice and exercise different techniques while fishing. I’m constantly learning what works and what doesn’t under different circumstances. If it’s cloudy, I’ll throw a particular set of lures vs when it’s clear. The water conditions matter, too. Is it clear? Is it murky? Is there a lot of vegetation? I’ll also change up how I retrieve a lure to try and better imitate prey fish. Do i retrieve fast? Slow? A combination? Do I wait until I see a fish following it then let it stop for a second to trigger a strike? Will jerking the rod a bit help? All these factor into a decision making process and experimentation element that keeps me engaged.

Three, to put that theory into practice, I have to study the very thing I’m trying to catch. I’m researching the fish I intend to target. What are their behaviors during different times of day? Different seasons? When are they mating and how does this change what they want to eat? And this changes for each fish! So there’s a great deal of study that I can do off the water to help improve my success on it.

Four, its simply a great excuse to be outdoors. More often than not, I’m not hoping to get a fish, I’m enjoying the beautiful lake or river I’m at. I’m relishing the hike I took to get here, the exploration and excitement of finding a new fishing spot or even finding out something new about one I’ve fished dozens of times. Also, to be an effective and conscientious angler, I need to participate in the ecology of the waters I enjoy. I’m as much a part of the environment as the fish I catch and I owe it to myself and them to be a good steward of the land.

Fifth, I also LOVE cooking as a hobby and fishing plays into that in a nice way that I don’t feel I need to explain further. I mostly fish catch and release, but sometimes you gut hook a fish and it makes no sense to return it to the water because it’ll die. So, now I gotta figure out how to cook this thing.

All that said, there’s the rare occasion (usually when I got a few friends with me) that I’ll set up a chair, throw out a hook on a bobber with some bait, sit back, sip a beer, and enjoy the weather and conversation with my buddies. Or the peace of nature alone.

But I understand it’s not for everyone and that’s a-okay. I just think fishing is a fun activity that’s fairly inexpensive that a lot of people sleep on because they think it’s inactive and boring.

I think hunting and fishing are mostly an excuse for meditation or hanging out with friends. I have some family members in hunting/fishing geographies and they never seem to care whether they actually catch anything.

I generally do that waiting in a beautiful place chilling with friends. It’s the journey not the destination, etc. Although actually catching fish is great as well.

Nah.

You are hunting the right spot, with the right lure, with the right cast and return. You want to match the right gear with the right lure.

People many years ago didn’t understand the purpose of looking at, and even copying, the squiggly little lines found in what we today call books, so as with every generation, you’re in company.

Such a great example of ‘reality is what you’re conscious of’, I feel! ‘Just throw the lure in and wait’ could for another person be ‘arrive at a beautiful waterside location, ritually prepare your tackle, cast it into the water (a skill that can be a minigame in itself, with all the associated space for practice, improvement, and intermittent positive reinforcement), then enjoy the wonders of being still in nature, but also focus on your task and be ready to react instantly.’ It takes all sorts.

Fishing is hunting done on water. Sometimes you wait, sometimes you’re actively searching for your prey.

You do get the bonus of being outside, seeing the world as it is today, and if you hunt successfully you get to eat better than anything you can get from the finest restaurant. And even if you catch nothing, you get to keep the memories of just being there. Maybe alone or with friends.

You also drink a ton of beer. That’s my favourite part, really.

I can see some indie games as being easy to pick up and put down without a huge time commitment.* However, we shouldn’t discount the fact that a lot of games today, especially some of the “AAA” types, are purposedly designed to be addictive.

*Despite being a small indie game, Cracktorio Factorio will ruin your life. The factory must grow.

It’s way too easy for people to be exploited through video games, just as with gambling, for it to be “just another hobby”. They can also become addicted.

Yes, it can be a very nice hobby; with some games you can even show something for the time spent (As in skills, not “achievements”).

But it can also become a symptom of dangerous reality abandonment. The worst for this is in my opinion still better than substance abuse, but a danger nonetheless.

I want a TV show about wood working addicts. Please Jeff, you must stop crafting intricate cabinets. No more driftwood tables either. I’m sick of cleaning up resin goddamnit.

It’s possible, but it can really change the type of games available to you too. I used to love Skyrim and similar, but eventually found I needed a minimum session of 2-3 hrs, otherwise I hadn’t even done any real playing, just inventory management, or getting crafting supplies. These days, with kids and work, I like rally simulator games, it can be satisfying to just do one or two stages, which can take as little as 5-20 mins. But it’s a whole different thing, no story, character development, surprises…a bit like going from watching Kurosawa films to watching the sports highlights.

The ability to see the entirety of an environment as a single entity, find synergistic relationships and figure out how to exploit those relationships to force a system to do something it was not designed to do. Like those people that make really niche character builds that suck 99.99% of the time but given this unique set of environmental variables it will suddenly hit you with infinite fireballs with one million points of crit damage or something like that.

The problem is that a mind like that is one requirement, another is years of experience (been there, done that, I know what that is) and really deep and wide knowledge in the field, which is also very hard to find. Finding someone with all of them is like finding a jedi unicorn. These are the people that make very high six or low seven figure salaries.

I’m being relatively vague on purpose.

Sorry, had work. I replied to another comment and gave more context.

Longer than that. 2500 years ago ancient greek philosophers complained about the youth in the same ways.

Well, I’d rather the youth were reading books instead of watching 5 second clips

“Stop sitting so close, you’ll damage your eyes! Sit farther back!”

Thank you very much for sharing that article! t’s an awesome read.