As someone who has loved video games his whole life, I have to say that some attitudes towards gaming is strange to me. Here are some of my observances:

The idea that gaming is a waste of time is an opinion, not a fact. So much of what we as humans do can be viewed as a waste of time. For example, is learning to play the piano a more valuable activity than playing video games? Most parents I've talked to would rather have their kids practice piano for an hour than play video games for the same amount of time. Learning piano makes beautiful music, they can share their art with others, it grows their mind and so forth. That is true but if the piano player only plays songs others composed, hates playing in songs in front of people but they love playing the piano as a means of relaxing and recharging after a long day, mastering a song and then finding a new song to master. Sounds a lot like my gaming hobby. I see nothing wrong with the piano player in my example because the activity is enjoyed and helps bring them life after giving in so many other ways through the day. In the same way I wish my hobby wouldn't be looked at as a waste of time.

When video games get in the way of other things that are important than yes I see that as a problem but I believe this isn't a problem with video games themselves as anything can seem to get in the way of what's important. Working hard or spending a lot of time with friends is great, but not if you have a family at home that feels neglected. I have seen a lot of things tear families apart, I can't think of case I've seen that had video games at the root but I'm sure it probably happens.

When it comes down to it no matter what we do someone might come along and tell us we are wasting our time. Playing video games? Waste of time! Working hard to amass a ton of money? Waste of time? Being a stay at home parent? Waste of time! Being involved in a religion? Waste of time! I could go on and on, and I don't think any of these things are necessarily a waste of time but I have heard them all talked about as being such. I know someone who spends a lot of money and time on video games and related stuff and people look at that and think it is such a waste, and they could be right, that money and time could be used for all sorts of other things. What people who don't know this person always account for (mostly because they don't even know) is how much more money they give away to more noble purposes, how much time they actually spend volunteering, most of which is behind the scenes and you wouldn't even know it if you didn't look for it. Sure this person could give more money and time to these things if they didn't like video games, but their family is well cared for, the work they do is done well, if there family or friends need something they can count on them for help. So who cares if they play video games to unwind? You can tell a cook that they could feed more people if they didn't waste food and cooking times to feed themselves but that's ridiculous because we know if the cook doesn't feed themselves they will soon collapse and no one will get fed. If we don't spend time on activities that we enjoy and refresh us we will burn out.

I know someone else who spent their teen years under pressure to do their best at everything. They were well respected in the community for their intelligence, athletic ability, musical ability, as well as their personality among other things. She felt a lot of pressure to become a doctor or some other important profession but before becoming and adult the pressure broke her and she became severely depressed. She eventually had to learn more about herself and what she needed to do for herself on order to also serve others because a lot of what she did before was based on what she thought others expected of her. On the other side of depression she is an excellent, wife, mother and teacher now and she also knows the importance of recharging her batteries which sometimes now includes wasting her time playing video games.

I know I am often long winded on here so I am going to conclude but I could go on and on about this topic. In conclusion, video games are among the various activities that can make life more enjoyable. Love them or leave them.