What is your set-up?

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

Why (modulo the irrelevant jabs)? He's a computer hardware hobbyist who painstakingly built and tuned a piece of equipment. If he enjoyed it, I see no problem with what he spends some of his spare time on. Some gamers name their characters and construct elaborate backstories. Do they have a 'profoundly distressing lack of mentality'?

Yes, when the "hobby" turns into "obsession". Distraction (and that's what any of the above examples are) is the same as anything in life: best with moderation and balance. When one exceeds the balance, you're no longer practicing a "hobby". I would say Reason's (or STL's) publication and level of detail and time that he's invested into presenting his creation, much less creating it, falls into that category.

That goes for any activity: Overindulgence leads to imbalance. I would claim the same no matter what the activity: computer hardware, gaming, sports, model trains, writing, reading, playing, eating, drinking... ANYTHING.

When I was younger, I spent many hours playing computer games. I don't begrudge the time I could have spent more wisely. I had fun, and I learned from it. Growing up is a part of life, and it doesn't stop at age eighteen. If you're lucky, it never does.

Agreed. But unfortunately there is a large demographic that isn't "growing up" at all, in my opinion. Computer savvy, perhaps... but socially and environmentally retarded. Their "growing up" seems to start at high school graduation; leaving the cozy nest of home and finding the world a very odd place that doesn't quite fit in with their usual "interaction" practices.

I give my own sister-in-law as an example: Valedictorian, "book-smart", couldn't spell her way out of a paper bag, and upon trying to find an apartment when going to college in the fall was staggered to realize that houses have numbers on them as some form of "address".

Life is a funny thing. Its possibilities are what you make of it. I won't pass judgment on what STL will make of his life.

Maybe I see possibilities.

Accepted. Perhaps I don't have the right to pass judgment on STL's position in life or what I think he'll attain. Perhaps I have sufficient experience and examples of people just like him that I can pass accurate judgment. Moot point. There are equal possibilities that all his "possibilities" will overwhelm him into mediocrity and loneliness. I hope that I'm wrong in that... but I doubt it.

To quote Kris Kristofferson: "We take our own chances and pay our own dues".

Were STL my own child, or you for that matter... you would have found your "Xbox time" severely limited. That's MY call, as a parent.

*edit: Spelling... gah*