IF they play together... Five or six players staying in three different hotel rooms playing video games isn't team bonding. And it's not being banned. They can play when they are home.
It's banned on road games. Straight up.
Gaming being mainstream has nothing to do with anything we are discussing. I'm not saying gaming should be banned in society. I have been addicted to gaming myself, and I've always been skinny so I'm aware not all gamers look like that. Anyway, you can be skinny or normally built and be unhealthy. And recent studies in Sweden shows that 80 year olds are excersising more than young men (in Sweden).
Except it has everything to do with what we're discussing. Gaming being mainstream means that slapping the label "gamer" onto someone has become essentially useless, since such a large percentage of the world's population have become "gamers". You don't call people "TV watchers" or "music listeners" as well, right?
And I would like to see this study, because I have serious doubts that the lack of exercise of young men in Sweden has a causal link to video games
alone. They might play a role in it, but I would be willing to bet A LOT of money that it's not the sole cause.
Pro gamers often have sponsors, so they have more spare time to excersice than your average gamer. And again, the study I'm talking about tells a different story about gamers. Well, actually about young men, but it's obvious that gaming is part of reason along with benchwatching tv series. I'm not saying normal gamers can't excersice. I'm saying regular gaming isn't beneficial for a pro athlete. I don't define playing some mario kart while riding the airpline "regular gaming".
Again, would be cool if you can link the study. I'm always willing to learn.
And I feel like we mostly agree on all points, but we just have chosen the opposite hill to die on in terms of definitions and minor details.
Defining a "regular gamer" is entirely subjective anyway. Is some dude who plays Hearthstone for an hour on his phone twice per day while he is riding the train to his workplace a "regular gamer"? Because he clocks in at at least two hours per day, but still might have a completely normal and healthy lifestyle otherwise.
If you bake an unhealthy obsession with video games into the definition of "regular gamer" already, it's obviously impossible to see it as something in any way healthy.
Bolded part is the key here. Players should show up ready and in good shape, not only for training camp, but for every practice, every game and every team meeting. In all likelyhood some of the Canucks players have failed to do so. I mean, why else would we be here? As you are saying, gaming isn't new and players have done it for years. Do you think Canucks management cares what games are being played, and they hate Fortnite more than other games so they must ban it on the road? That seems a little farfetch'd. This became a problem right now, and they decided to something about it.
I... agree? I have stated multiple times in this thread that doing something about someone struggling with signs of addiction is the right thing to do.
But I criticize HOW they are tackling the issue, not that they are recognizing it as a problem in the first place.
I still stand by my assertion that a flat out ban of a specific game on road games is not helping the locker room at all. As you very well know from your personal experience, when you are already addicted to something, you don't react too well to it being taken away from you.
Monitoring on road games (even if it means to ask the hotel to cut the power to his room at 22:00) should prove to be a lot more effective than banning the game for everyone.
We are not talking about offseason. We are talking about right now, when the Canucks are on the road trying to win games.
Then I'm not sure how stuff like "taking care of your family" even got brought up. When you are on the road, you probably don't have too much time for your family aside from the occasional Skype call.
But again, I agree with you on that something needs to be done if the behaviour of one or more players is starting to become worrisome.
I doubt Brent Burns does much WoW playing on the road to be honest. As for the bolded part I can see where you are coming from. But then on the other hand, the guys who aren't playing Fortnite that much probably won't suffer anyway. Especially since they can play it when they are home.
Yeah, that's fairly likely. But you never know, he might still log in half an hour each day to do some world quests.
And while I agree that it probably won't be a big deal to most players (hell, it seems to be a team decision anyway), but I still feel like that it shifts the blame towards the game instead of the behaviour of the individual, which I believe to be dangerous. Especially since the behaviour at home might escalate even further, as it's now his only way to play the game.
I wanted to quote this post again and bold this part right here.
Actually, it's in the power of the coaches and especially the GM to decide what personell they want on their team. If they think a couple of players are not benefical to the larger group, right or wrong, they can trade, waive, buy out or simply not extend the contract with those players. So one could argue they are doing these guys a favour telling them to stop a behaviour that's gonna diminish their chances of staying with their team and maybe ultimately in the NHL.
That's fair, but just because they are allowed to do it doesn't mean it's right that they are doing it.