As I've grown older, I completely sympathise about the habit of playing video games being a turn-off. I have unfriended and blocked someone who I've known from my old days playing League, because of his consistent failure to answer my calls and messages -- he would always tell me he's doing a raid for his guild in this MMORPG, or doing some raid in Escape from Tarkov, which is another demanding game.

On a call with another friend, I asked him if we could watch something together. "Nope," he went, with palpable silences that punctuate his state of distraction. "I'm grinding zombies so I can unlock attachments for the latest meta weapons in Warzone."

With another friend, he exclaims how he doesn't feel well-rested after hours of sleep, while he grinds Elsword.

What is a game? A modern game, in particular? It is a grindfest which drains your time and energy away from the meaningful aspects of life. A hamster wheel and slot machine, rolled into one, so that the player is under the illusion of being stimulated, while the friends list is used to discourage you from leaving. The ability to stream gameplay with a facecam is a benefit for the game companies, who help keep viewers thinking about their game even when they're not playing it.

But I am not naive in blanket-labelling all video games as bad. The truly honest game is an expression of the human spirit, in much the same way as a film, a novel, or a piece of music is, and I would much rather play Bart Bonte's puzzle games on the phone, or replay Commander Keen on DOSBox than pretend to have fun any longer over grindfest microtransaction crap, whose motto is "Enough is never enough!"