Nightmare The Pit

[adeyke]

What is wrong with my 'get a life' argument?

To preface this, I'm not looking for an argument. I'm just going to answer your question.

Terry Pratchett (of Discworld fame) already gave a good answer about this in this interview:

The kind of people who say "get a life" typically don't have any life at all. You look at some guy with friends all over the world--no girlfriends, maybe, but still a full social life, mainly talking about computers--and you tell him to get a life ... well, he's got a life. We've all got lives. If people are having a lot of fun doing something different from what you want to do, well, that's not your business.

By saying "get a life," you're saying that what your own life more meaningful than that of those who are into D2. In essence, you're insulting the entire D2 community, saying that they're wasting their time with a stupid game while you have much better things to do.

This is also hypocrisy, since just becoming a regular at the LL indicates quite a lot of devotion to the game.

You're also making the assumption that no one else "has a life." This is false. I'd venture to say that most people here either have a job or are getting their education, or both. They don't just play D2 day in, day out.

However, with your argument, it seems you're assuming that they don't have a life simply because they know a lot about D2 (what other information do you have about their life?). In other words, having knowledge is a sign of "no life" and is thus a bad thing. Surely you see the problem with this reasoning.

So, the "get a life" argument really boils down to this:
1) See that someone knows a lot about something and is arrogant about this.
2) Say that the subject is meaningless.
3) Say that those who know a lot about the subject are obviously wasting their entire life on this.
4) Say that you have better things to do.
5) Assume a position of superiority because you don't know as much about the subject and thus haven't wasted your time on something like that.

It's a very petty and illogical argument.

Again, I'm not attacking you. I'm just answering your question and attacking your argument.