[zemvpferreira]

I find a lot of comfort in the idea of unintended consequences. I spent the majority of my youth playing games: CounterStrike, Magic: The Gathering, D&D. I paid a lot more attention to useless hobbies than to school.

In hindsight, I attribute my strongest mental skills to all that gaming. Abstract reasoning, strategic/tactical thinking, english fluency...things that separated me completely from my peers once I began my career.

Life's long and you never know. If you enjoy cooking, sure, it stacks with a lot of other benefits. I think that's a good framework to keep in mind. But there's no reason to believe nothing good can ever come from some hours spent on Call of Duty. Heck, if you enjoy them that's enough good gotten.

[pruetj]

Totally agree, some of my best friends today were found through Halo/dota/RuneScape/Dark Age of Camelot/etc. These are not regrets I have - just more of a point forward perspective in what I do with my time now.

I have a family of my own now so that has played no small part in shifting my perspective.

[zemvpferreira]

Understood. I think that as we get older we move to a different point of the explore-exploit continuum naturally. Nothing wrong with that either.

I moved from gaming to tennis and the gym myself.