[lhorie]

The takeaway for me wasn't so much that he was trying to rationalize wasting time instead of being productive, but rather that we all do waste time sometimes one way or another and that playing games isn't a "bad" way of wasting time.

[jonmc12]

I would agree with you if not for the last 2 paragraphs. Combine the quote I referenced above with "it's good and healthy and productive for us to like to play computer games".

Its just a reckless way to say 'we all waste time..' - not without making the distinction of the need for self-discipline and noting that there are some people that are very prone to addiction. I have an extended family member who's life outside of games has been completely destroyed by a sustained addiction to video games. He has stated repeatedly that he would rather be dead than give up gaming.

This is a real problem for a percentage of the population, and that percentage is increasing as video games are being engineered to be more and more addictive.

[lhorie]

The whole "who am I to tell my brain otherwise" seemed to meant to be tongue-in-cheek, and you kinda sound like you're twisting that to try to push your agenda... (no offense intended, I do think addictions in general are bad).

FWIW, just to put things into a bit of perspective, I recall reading some stats saying that the average american spends something like 5 hours per day in front of a TV. (And numbers for, say, surfing the web during work hours weren't particularly exemplary either.)

Regarding social withdrawal, and things like hikikomori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori), perhaps the issue isn't so much of self-discipline, but one of social environment, e.g surely such gamers must develop above average game playing skills, but they might not want to put similar effort into real life challenges because of fear of the unknown, or out of spite of parental/social pressure, etc.