Why are video games so much more stigmatized than other time wasting hobbies in America?

[GeneralMacArthur]

Everyone plays video games now... it's not that interesting.  It's like saying you watch TV.

As to why playing a lot of video games is stigmatized, it's because we have this mental image of what "playing a lot of video games" means and what that person looks like -- an unhygienic manchild staying up until 3 AM hammering away on his controller and screaming at people online while chugging sugary soda pop.

I was surprised once in my friend group when someone said "I think GMA definitely plays the most video games out of any of us" because I probably play maybe 10-15 hours of video games a week which feels like nothing.  Most of them are with my girlfriend.  We have spent the last couple weeks playing the re-release of Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) on the Switch.  Set the teams to 375 a side and see how badly we can beat the other team.  We have a scoresheet where we track our results by level based on how many troops we have left when the match ends.  We also play a lot of Smash Bros online and occasionally take on the latest Mario or Zelda game.  I spent about 50 hours last month beating the two Golden Sun games after they were re-released on Switch's GBA emulator.  Play a lot of Age Of Empires II.

So I don't think of myself as a "gamer" but maybe I am?  I'd be curious to see what the distribution is of time spent playing video games per week.

[GeneralMacArthur]

I think another aspect to it is that playing more video games doesn't add much to your personality.  If you play a handful of games, that's fun and interesting to talk about with other people who play the same games, and you can play together.  But past a certain threshold there's basically no returns whatsoever.  Spending 30 hours a week playing COD or playing 3 hours a week are basically the exact same contribution to your personality.  The extra 27 hours is just wasted time.

Compare this to books where if you spend 30 hours a week reading books, rather than 3, then you are probably learning a lot more and stimulating your imagination and creativity in ways that make you a more interesting person.

With live sports, every game is different, so if you spent 2 hours watching game A, and then 2 hours watching game B, then you can have conversations with people who only watched A, as well as with people who only watched B.  So there is some social return on investment.  If you follow a particular team or league very closely, investing hours every week into watching all the games, then you do have more to contribute to a conversation with someone else who shares that interest.  For example, last year I watched every single Cleveland Cavaliers game, which was about an 8 hour investment per week.  I didn't feel like it was a complete waste of time, since every game had something new and interesting to talk about and the team evolved over time to constantly have fresh topics of discussion.

[GeneralMacArthur]

One other thing about watching live sports -- it's passive.  It doesn't demand all your attention.

Most of the guys in my friend group who talk about sports the most are new parents, and I would guess that they spend a lot of time taking care of their kids while having sports on in the background.

This is unlike video games.  Can't no-scope noobs from across the map while also entertaining your toddler.