Binary Value Vs Applied Value

I think i see what you are saying. Curiosity driven? Not so much about what it is, but you'd like to see where it goes? Fair shout.

Are people fighting here again?

I tried so hard to keep it passive and balanced... But nope. Immediate fight... Aahhhh Torn >_<

Just showing how me losing isn't a surpise...

A human being needs 3 things to continue to function. Food, medicine and sufficient heat.

Anything someone values beyond that is entirely on the individual, and I wouldn't say a physical thing is inherently worth more or less than an imaginary thing based solely on merits of said things. The value is what you decide the value is.

And a sense of purpose/will to live***

damn you did pretty good versus them ngl

I think you can take the same approach with real life if you wanted. Its just the arranging and re-ordering of atoms, nothing objectively matters at all. But we can make meaning in our life, real or Torn..

Had that convo with a member of ours here. I'm for sure not fully at the side of 'only binary value' in real life. But recently i've come to realise i'm likely closer to that end than many out there. A perk of not having a wife and kids i think >_>

Ahhhhh, beautiful freedom >_<

The only thing that has value in Torn is the people you meet and connections you make.

The thing with torn money, weapons and donator packs is that as soon as they're in the system they are LITERALLY worthless in real life, so there's no reason to chose pixels over people.

Yes it sucks to have your torn bucks stolen regardless if it's lost at the casino, mugged or stolen by a vault thief, but in the end the money that I have put into the game is not converted into torn money. It is converted into time I spend with people.

I know at the end of the day, it's only numbers, and to a degree words, on a screen. If I had to, I could just leave the game and I'd be fine other than a bit more bored. But honestly, you can break down a lot of things down to a bunch of meaningless numbers and ideas, so whatever. If the value given to things is already arbitrary enough, there's not much difference between whether its numbers in a game or a pile of postcards in my opinion. Spend your time how you feel, and value it as you wish. Personally, I think I value this game more than I should, while not going to a truly unhealthy degree. Hopefully.

People have gotten married after meeting each other on this game, so clearly the interpersonal relationships are real enough. Not sure how else to easily get that point across.

I think overvaluing the stuff in the game is counter to the interpersonal relationships. For example. If a big loss caused someone to not want to play, it loses them all those relationships. If you can get through any level of the loss, then all the relationships are safe regardless.

Its a tough thing to balance. Sounds to me like you have it close to right if not nailed it. I think i was too far the binary way, but equally i do not want to allow the game to dictate my emotional state more than is healthy. Sounds a bit shit to be at the whim of the conflict here. Certainly can't dodge it all as an active player!

I think this is a great continuation of the overwhelmingly popular discussion. It is absolutely not just an attempt to get more eyes and numbers onto the poll. How dare you even consider such a thing >_>

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I feel like FOR ME, having my irl wife play with me adds alot of value to the game..... I think that is true for anyone who manages to find real life people to play with.

Torn provides the dopamine I crave!

Maybe the real 1’s and 0’s were the mortal enemies friends we made along the way

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YW!

What

The thread or my AI 'art'?

If you abstract far enough, gold is just atoms. The value comes from our inability to change the state of the system from within the system unless we play within the ruleset. If I could just turn atoms (1s and 0s) into gold ($, xan, merits) then it would hold no value to anyone. "They" are not just 1s and 0s, because you need to go through so many layers of abstraction to even get there, it loses all context. If you change the ones and zeroes, you're more likely to brick the system than to add more money to an account, let alone your account.

Any way you slice it, this debate is gonna get real ontological real fast.

No true hobbies provide value, they inherently make us poor but you trade spare time and actual resources to facilitate them. I have several and all are complete money and time sinks but I enjoy partaking nonetheless.

I see torn as that, the value a game gives the player is a distraction from real life stress and pressures, My time in-game is mainly spent taking the piss with people in my faction , and have little interest in other factions outside whanau. I couldn't really care less about anything outside of my peripherals. If those factions disappeared I would likely leave the game.

Could I put this time toward something constructive, absolutely. But the same could be said for any hobby or activity that isn't contributing to income. If you spend your entire life being a slave to the workplace you're a complete moron.

The same people laughing at time in-game probably have their own vices they choose to ignore in the process of being judgemental ****s, like doom scrolling social media or watching TV (eugh)

So the value of Torn to me is just as any other game, a distraction. I largely couldn't give a shit about the plebs that populate the game outside my own sphere of influence who I care greatly for, to the point I would likely quit if we disbanded. I like posting on the forums and Q and A to pass time while on breaks and such.

The issue you're coming across I think is that people value their time, and wealth in torn takes a lot of time to accumulate. So by stealing that wealth it correlates to the realisation, all the time you spent to generate it has been wasted.

To use your own metaphor, it would be like if that comfort blanket had been hand woven with a needle and thread over the course of 100 real life hours, involving many stabbed fingers and spilled blood, for some degenerate with 100 other blankets to nick yours as well for no reason, and then set fire to it (waste it on DBs or SEs) So the money itself might be worthless but the time it took to generate that money is definitely not worthless.