[bpodgursky]

I don't think the question is whether games _can_ improve mental health, but whether the opportunity cost is activities that are dramatically better to this end (ie, exercise, going outside, or socializing).

[MatekCopatek]

Getting an IV is a dramatically more effective way of hydration than drinking a glass of orange juice. Yet life isn't an RPG where you minmax and pick the task that increases your stat the most.

[epicureanideal]

> Yet life isn't an RPG where you minmax and pick the task that increases your stat the most.

Actually, that's basically how I try to organize my life...

[MatekCopatek]

I didn't mean to imply that rationally optimizing your decisions is a bad idea. Just that things are deeper and more complex.

Exercising might improve your mental health more than playing a video game for the same duration, but both activities will also affect many other "character stats" in various different ways.

[ch4s3]

But you obviously don't have to, rather there is no moral or material requirement that you do so.

[andai]

Each stat carries with it the opportunity to level it up and do more good in the world.

[ch4s3]

That doesn't seem so obvious that it should be taken as true on its face. You could perhaps reason your way there, but it may not pan out in reality.